Bioshocking Developments Monday, August 13, 2007 : 7:00 PM PDT By: Chris

Super late newspost this week, my apologies. Unless my recollection of the archives is flawed, I believe the above comic may be the first strip I've done dedicated to an Xbox game. Fitting, since I finally picked up a 360. The Bioshock demo was one of the first pieces of software I played. It would seem that it's the quintessential intro to what "next-gen" gaming is all about (as oppossed to the Wii's so called "new-gen"). Bioshock uses the power of the 360 to provide an immersive atmosphere that would simply be impossible using last-gen's technology. This isn't just a ho-hum FPS with higher polygon counts and better texture resolutions, which is what many games on the 360 have struck me as in the past. It's a truly cinematic experience that, for the first time, has really opened my eyes to the possibility that games can weave a narrative into the gameplay on par with a quality film while still maintaining the all important interactive elements of a game. Bioshock does away with the traditional pattern of alternating gameplay and cutscene sequences. The environments in Bioshock, for lack of a better term, radiate the story of the game constantly as you play. It's up to you as an independent observer to either soak it up or not. I'm happy with the 360 thus far. I'm beginning to see its strengths, which, combined with the thrilling gamble of whether the hardware will catastrophically fail, makes for much excitement.