Grave Gamer News & Views — 2K games

Download the Whole Bioshock Trilogy for $20

“Trilogy” may not quite square it away, but who has time to argue semantics when you can buy two tickets to Rapture and a bonus flight out to Columbia for just $20?

The Bioshock Triple Pack deal is only available on Amazon for the PC digital downloads of each game. Don’t know what all the fuss over these games is about? Rectify that immediately. Also, if you already have Infinite floating on your harddrive, the first two titles are bundled by themselves for just $5.

Remember Andrew Ryan’s words, folks: A slave obeys, a man chooses…to jump on great savings!

Borderlands 2 Blow Out: New DLC, a Short Flick, and a GOTY Edition Leaked?

We’ll start with the official news and work our way down into the annals of rumor-ville. Cool?  Cool.

Gearbox’s looter-shooter Borderlands 2 has been making waves lately, proving that, despite nearing a year since the sequel’s release, the developer still has big plans for their cel-shaded, hyrbid hit.

Following on the heels of Krieg’s introduction film, A Meat Bicycle Built for Two – which surprised many in its concise, character wrought writing – Gearbox is teasing another short film set within the Vault Hunters’ universe.  All the details we have fit into a single sentence, so here’s the rest of it: the new video debuts this Thursday.

Then, on September 3rd, gain way for the Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2: Digistruct Peak Challenge DLC, a title big enough to crack a tooth if try to spit it out all at once.  The $5 pack, which conveniently launches at the same time as the level cap increase to 72, features a new map to kill on and new loot to kill for.  Fans of blistering difficulty and strife can look forward to the new “Overpower” ability, a system that opens up a field of more challenge by allowing you raise your level cap past 72 (here’s Digital Trends’ explanation on using and abusing Overpower).

After that, TK Baha’s Bloody Harvest steps in to provide us some Halloween-themed things to fill full of holes.  Releasing in October, this bite-sized expansion pits you against both the undead Mr. Baha and the pumpkin-headed menace, Jacques O’ Lantern.  The content is the first of three “Headhunter” DLC’s which I’m supposing play host to smaller outings where your mission is to murderlize bosses for nifty loot (like character customizations).And, while this last tidbit of news is by no means official yet, it’s certainly no cavernous leap in logic.  An IGN source has indicated Gearbox and 2K are hatching together a Game of the Year Edition for Borderlands 2.  The retail release is said to include every ounce of DLC dished out for the game thus far (which adds Gaige and Krieg into the mix).

However, leaked art assets for the GOTY release seem to exclude the aforementioned Vault Hunter Upgrade and the unreleased Headhunter packs.  Those pieces of DLC also don’t fall within the jurisdiction of the Season Pass, nor are there plans to create a “Season Two Pass.”  Hey, four extra campaigns, two new character classes, and an assload more of content still qualifies as a deal to me.  Keep your ears open for more official news on the GOTY Edition…Okay, fine, I’ll keep my ears open for you.

Phase by Drake Tsui

Irrational to Reveal Bioshock Infinite DLC in July

Irrational Games has confirmed to Joystiq that a public unveiling for new Infinite DLC is scheduled for late July…And that’s all folks!  Thanks for reading.

Hmm?  Still here?  All right, let’s get our speculative beanies on.  The prolonged wait for extra content – in this case, three promised story add-on’s as well as a small suite of weapon and ability upgrades – can be attributed to the decision to create DLC after the game’s launch.

Over the last generation, the normal course developers swing with is to start making extra content after their title has gone gold but before it has actually shipped.  This is where the Day One DLC phenomenon comes to be.  Of course, when DLC rolls out so soon after launch, consumers have taken to complaining that studios and publishers are withholding content in order to wring out additional dollars from us.

Avoiding this controversy altogether, Irrational instead began concocting DLC after Bioshock Infinite’s ship.  Hence why we haven’t seen or heard a damn thing about these content packs until now (that still didn’t prevent them from selling a Season Pass on day one, but I’m not going to shoot vigors their way; I bought that sucker at the midnight).

Joystiq points out that Irrational gave no solid word on whether this unrevealed DLC is story content, though, or if it’s even included with the Season Pass.  My guess is that it is both and – throwing caution over the edge of Columbia herself – I’d venture a further guess that story DLC will either feature brand new playable characters (rumors hinted at a new companion by your side) or, if Elizabeth and Booker are back, it’ll be another alternate Columbia thanks to one of (wait for it) infinite tears.

‘Course, it really could be anything.  Irrational have said in the past that Bioshock Infinite had enough content cut from it to make about five or six whole games.  Oh, the infinite possibilities…All right, fine, I’ll stop.

American Exceptionalism, religious dogma, bigotry, parallel universes, iconoclasm, fate, life, death, gigantic Steampunk bird-men…As the credits rolled on Irrational Games’ much belated, much more anticipated Bioshock Infinite, my head was spinning.  The game’s package isn’t slapped with a big, solid M just because the stylized people depicted within often meet gruesome, sky-hooking deaths.  It’s because that’s what Infinite is: mature.  Through and through. 

You’ve likely heard this old diddy, and are likely to have your ears assaulted by the same mantra in years to come, but video games have come a long way.  To put a finer point on it, storytelling in games have come a long way.  Years from now, when pricey college courses banking on the culture that’s sprung up around this booming medium reflect on the metamorphosis of its storytelling from crudely simple to deeply sophisticated, they’ll reference Bioshock Infinite as an example of the ladder.  Hell, it’ll get its own chapter.