Accusations fly that post-release DLC for BioShock 2 is already sitting on the game disc.

VIA MCVUK:

Members of the 2K Games forum are up in arms this afternoon following accusations that recently released DLC for popular FPS BioShock 2 is in fact already sitting on the game disc.

The claims come after users spotted that the total size of the download for the PC version is just 24k and the Xbox 360’s just 108k. The assets needed to play the content promised by the DLC would need a far heftier download, leading to the conclusion that players are in fact paying for a digital key to unlock content that’s on the disc they’ve already paid for.

Responding on the publisher’s official forum, 2K community manager ‘2K Elizabeth’ stated: “I noticed there was a bit of confusion about our Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack file size, and I wanted to clear things up for you.”

“The way our engine and game structure works is that people need to have the exact same content for people to play together. One of the challenges with post launch content for MP is that it can split the player base, and we want to avoid that whenever possible.”

“For this content, creating the DLC package the way we did allowed for us to not split the player base – so whether you purchase the new content or not, you can still play with your friends.”

However, several users have subsequently questioned the technical validity of these claims. And even if true, the statement makes no defense to the content already being on the disc.

The debate highlights an increasingly common issue as post-release digital content becomes more prominent – can DLC be a tool for increasing revenue on a per-disc basis as well as being a means of monetizing the continued development of a title?

Clark Kent says: Well as long as you have to pay to play there will be folks who look the other way. Me? Well, I’m waiting to see what 2K says officially about this mess. Until then I’ll be playing ‘Bad Company 2′.

2K Games announced today an aggressive post-launch downloadable content plan for BioShock 2 that extends and enhances the single and multiplayer experiences by adding more glimpses into the award-winning world of Rapture. Downloadable content will be made available soon beginning with the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack.

VIA PR:

Available this March from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows-LIVE for 400 Microsoft Points and from the PlayStation Network for $4.99. Future expansions into the world of BioShock 2 are slated to arrive over the coming months and will continue to expand on the stories of the denizens of Rapture.

“The fans who waited in the snow, rain and cold for the midnight launch of BioShock 2 have spoken and their message is that Rapture still has many fascinating stories to tell,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Downloadable content is a key part of our efforts to continue to entice the fans that have made 2K a household name – we intend to deliver single and multiplayer content that respects and expands upon one of the greatest fictional worlds ever created.”

Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, the first of several planned downloadable packages, contains a number of customization features that will allow players to further their character’s development in BioShock 2′s multiplayer modes and provide a deeper multiplayer experience. The pack includes:

* Rank Increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
* New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
* 20 new trials*
* A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
* Five additional masks*

*Some items are only available after a player achieves a rank of 41 or higher.

In the coming months, 2K Games will also be publishing downloadable extensions of the single player experience that provide new insight into the world of Rapture. These packages will include more narrative, new tools and new challenges that extend the lore and fiction of the failed Utopia under the sea.

Clark Kent says: Excited. Yes. Will I download these joints, probably not… They don’t call Don’t Lose Your Day Job “The Recessionist’s Guide to Entertainment” for nothing… Lol

Clark Kent says: Fans of 2K Marin’s bizarre tale of Andrew Ryan and his underwater city called ‘Rapture’ will welcome the changes they’ve made with ‘BioShock 2′. But did some of the first game’s message get lost in the current? Find out after the jump.

GOOD: The first ‘BioShock’ was a critical and commercial success; proving that you didn’t have to sacrifice intellect for the big sales. For the sequel, there are fewer questions about what a splicer is, why the city failed, and more about who you are and what you’re doing. The approach works well keeping the action and story on a pretty even keel. ‘BioShock 2′ is a AAA title that will force you to ask the question, ‘Am I killer? Or am I human?’ Your actions do have an affect on the game and those around you in it. Changes like the ability to wield dual plasmids, new trap rivets, and the addition of a remote hack dart put players through the ringer — in a good way. ‘BioShock 2′ is still a thinking man’s game but with some well received changes this add onto 2K Marin’s legacy.

BAD: While players may have the ability to use Big Daddy to skewer your opponents, ‘BioShock 2′ suffers a miscue in casting. Andrew Ryan was a fascinating figure from the first game, but the new queen of the underwater castle — Sofia Lamb — isn’t as polarizing of a character. Also the game doesn’t give the same kind of mystique that was created so originally in ‘BioShock’ — leaving the sequels potency kind of lackluster — a penalty of re-use. This makes ‘BioShock 2′ feel more like a side-story (see: ‘Halo: ODST’) instead of a full-fledged sequel jam packed with maniacal action.

UGLY: ‘BioShock 2′ takes the best part of the action from the original and blends it with a fresh story arc that separates itself from Andrew Ryan’s philosophy of objectivism. Take away a few points due to game’s re-using of some tricks and deceptions implemented in the first game. Add to it the less exciting story arc and equally less fascinating Sofia Lamb and you still don’t have much to complain about when you play ‘BioShock 2′. While the game isn’t bad, it’s not a full-fledged classic, either.

Clark Kent says: In other words… Buy It! It’ll definitely be worth your money and the replay value on it is pretty good, too. If you haven’t peep the interview with Jordan Thomas, check it out here. Enjoy the trailer below:

Clark Kent says: Casual gamers who played the first BioShock may have been iffy when news broke about a sequel. But most casual gamers may not be familiar with the name — Jordan Thomas — and that’s why I’m here to help. More about 2K Marin’s finest after the jump.

BioShock 2 is a prequel… there I said it. That dreaded word that most people who love their franchises hate to hear blare across their airwaves. When Ken Levine decided to take a less than hands-on involvement in this new story-line, the challenge fell to Jordan Thomas. Creative Director for 2K Marin, Thomas’ got a chance to dig deep and tell a rich story while keeping the gameplay enjoyable for casual and hardcore gamers alike. While visiting New York, Mr. Thomas sat down with Don’t Lose Your Day Job and let’s us in on what Hollywood movie he’d “revise,” pushes for a ‘Deadly Shadows 4,’ and drops some jewels on what you can learn from playing ‘BioShock 2′.

DLYDJ: Do you think that BioShock 2 will reignite a need for an on screen adaptation?

Jordan Thomas: I don’t know if it will reignite it. It certainly expands the role of rapture and adds a type of detail to that ideological terrain that made the first game interesting. It’s just more compelling ammunition I guess if something does show.

DLYDJ: Yourself, ‘Heavy Rain,’ and ‘Army Of Two‘ have interesting takes on free will. Can you elaborate on how one is able to shape the conclusion of the game for BioShock 2?

JT: Well, I’ll have to do it very vaguely. I don’t want to spoil the way that it plays out. You have the ability to adopt and then harvest or rescue the Little Sisters. Treatment of them informs the ending and actually some significant content for how the whole ending plays out. Also, there are these adult characters who are morally a lot more kind of gray. Each one represents a different kind of ethics question to the player. Your answers to those also inform the way the story takes shape. It’s in a way that wasn’t really possible in the first game.

DLYDJ: In an interview you did recently, you speak on a sense of authorship. If you could re-write the ending to one of your favorite movies, what would it be?

JT: One of my favorite movies? Oh, snap… that’s a hell of a question to ask. I haven’t gotten that before. One of my favorite… Wow, I’m such a non-interventionist in that way. I suppose rather than re-write the ending I would probably try to revise the DOOM movie. I would want to add more conflict to it. The DOOM movie reminds me of the video games in that it has all of the heroic stuff and almost no opposition. No long dark knight of the soul, he just sort of kicks ass at the end.

DLYDJ: Hugo Chavez recently said that video games are poison. He says that games can actually teach you how to kill. To flip on that, what else would someone be able to learn from BioShock 2.

JT: I think perhaps it asks a question about what family means to them and what they would do with absolute power over an innocent. BioShock 2 doesn’t judge you in a sense of there being an objectively good or evil path to the game. It’s sort of more self interest to self sacrifice, which we don’t really moralize on so much as trying to reflect accurately. Certainly the players that I’ve seen so far have talked about the emotions that were elicited around the theme of family. It’s in a way that was exactly what I was targeting. That’s exciting for me because, again without spoiling it, that’s sort of where we wanted you to be. To be thinking a bit about your legacy and as a moral agent. My hope is that the treatment of the subject matter is not shallow. Perhaps by the end of the game some players will have a learned a bit about themselves.

DLYDJ: Since most AAA titles are getting ready for E3 and Killzone, Infamous and Resistance are all preparing their titles for mass consumption — is there any chance we can count on a BioShock 3?

JT: It’s definitely too early to talk about anything beyond the sequel. The company and brand are all focused on it right now. From there we’ll think about what comes next.

DLYDJ: If BioShock 2 does a billion sales and Universal 2K games asked you to pick a director for a movie, who would you want to have do it?

JT: Really, I’d love to see people as diverse as somebody like Sutterberg or Fitcher, take it on. Again that is very much a personal preference. Those two seem to be interesting as well.

DLYDJ: This is a quote I had pulled from an interview you did for ‘Deadly Shadows,’ “When pushing the right boundaries, promotion of simulation and free play spaces which are prone to an emergent systematic design that absolutely is the way of the future.” Would you do a Deadly Shadows 4 and where do you see gaming heading in the next few years?

JT: Yes, I remain a fan of the franchise. I think its now 2K property so I can’t comment too much on it. I think it has been teased and that excites me. As far as where games are going, I think one of the things I was not taking home and owning a bit back then was the interest of cooperative play. It was traditionally a single player experience. It would be very interesting to see an immersive sim like BioShock or System Shock or any of these games; even exploiting all of those fantastic kinds of combinatory dynamics between players, as opposed to just between the player and simulation. I can imagine truly epic feats of mastery that would manifest from coordination between the two people. To segueway back to System Shock 2, some really great stuff came out of it for a very narrow fan base. It’s interesting to see where games of this nature could evolve towards with that sense of partnership.

DLYDJ: My last question is how would you be able to bridge the gap between titles that have a cult like following versus the AAA titles that get a big push within the media?

JT: BioShock 2 is a pretty good example of an opening argument. In the sense that the games which it draws its design from were thought of as niche, they appeal to a smaller audience. They generally made that audience extremely happy but they were alienating more of the broader kind of group. This group who felt they weren’t as visually competitive or that the effects of their actions weren’t very readable. That’s because it was not a major focus. Presentation was not a major focus on those games. Whereas with BioShock 2 we have labored long and hard, for better or for worse, on making that kind of gameplay. We dug deep and basically emerged with simulations that are based on generally the phrase a “merchant game player”.

This is where the player is crafting strategies that the designer didn’t specifically intend. He just sets up some general rules and let’s you sandbox. Taking those games and translating them into something that is presented as well as AAA shooters was one of the goals of BioShock. I think we’ve done pretty well there. I think that themes are another possible kind of inroad. One of the things that seem to be getting attention for BioShock is the connection to the real world philosophy and some of the contemporary people she was trying to shout out against. I think on one of the original interviews for BioShock we were interviewed by Forbes. [Laughs] That’s not standard gamer enthusiast press. That may be because it was trying to speak to all those demographics simultaneously. Which is no lean feat. It puts us in a position looking to the future saying, ‘Hey, what are the inroads to something like this?’ Lost examined from one angle is an incredibly nerdy show, but examined from another angle and it’s a highly marketable show. ‘Look at all these pretty people stranded on an island…’ [Laughs] Guys like me are constantly trying to figure out ways to bring things that they love to the world and doing so without sacrificing their integrity.

Clark Kent says: BioShock 2 is out TODAY… if you haven’t got it, yet, get it. The review will be up soon! Check out the BioShock 2 trailer below:

2K Games announced today its nationwide Return to Rapture with midnight openings celebrating the launch of the eagerly awaited BioShock 2, the shocking sequel to the 2007 Game of the Year.

VIA PR:

On February 9, more than 2,500 GameStop and Best Buy stores will open their doors when the clock strikes midnight to the hordes of Big Daddy fans hungry to get their hands on and devour BioShock 2. Additionally, those who pre-ordered the game through GameStop will receive two bonus characters* – Blanche the Actress and Zigo the Fisherman – to use in the game’s multiplayer mode. The road to the launch of BioShock 2 kicks off tonight, with the debut of a 3 minute 15 second trailer during the first commercial break of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

“One of the most exciting aspects of the original BioShock was how our fans responded with adoration for the game, from creating homemade Big Daddy suits to their own BioShock-inspired art and videos,” said Christoph Hartmann, president, 2K. “We felt it was only fitting to reach out to those passionate fans with nationwide Return to Rapture midnight openings where they can pick up their copy of BioShock 2 as early as possible.”

Debuting during the first commercial block of NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon exclusively in North America, the launch trailer is a realization of the elements that BioShock 2 fans have been clamoring for. Breathtaking action set against the backdrop of a decaying underwater Utopia provides players with the slice of Rapture that awaits them next week, all presented in a style that is distinctively representative of the BioShock universe.

BioShock 2 will provide players with the perfect blend of explosive first-person shooter combat, compelling storytelling and intense multiplayer to form one of 2010′s most highly anticipated titles. Set approximately 10 years after the events of the original BioShock, the halls of Rapture once again echo with sins of the past. Along the Atlantic coastline, a monster has been snatching little girls and bringing them back to the undersea city of Rapture. Players step into the boots of the most iconic denizen of Rapture, the Big Daddy, as they travel through the decrepit and beautiful fallen city, chasing an unseen foe in search of answers and their own survival.

BioShock 2 was developed by 2K Marin in collaboration with 2K Australia, Digital Extremes and 2K China. The game will be available worldwide on February 9, 2010, and is rated M for Mature by the ESRB.