Look To the Skies (Part Deux)- Bioshock Infinite Mega Demo is GO!

15 Minute BioShock Infinite Demo - Xbox 360 News at IGN

I'm sure anyone who's been paying the mildest bit of attention to my blog knows how nerdy I am, and how meaningful and profound I find 2K's Bioshock series to be. Its commentary on objectivist utopia was brilliant and chillingly effecting. The hype-o-meter has been on overdrive about its pseudo-prequel Bioshock: Infinite for months now, and I've had a metaphorical hard on about it since reading about the narrative behind it. 1920's Imperialist Americana set in a fantastical steampunk inspired city in the sky. Whats not to nerdgasm over?

The fine folk at 2K have been toying with the curious about this game for weeks now; Releasing a steady yet evasive stream of information about the combat system, the increasingly fascinating character Elizabeth, the various factions that people the floating city Colombia. And now, finally, they've released the 15 minute demo amid a fair degree (much of it warranted by my mark) of fanfare.

Tags: GameTrailers.com, GTTV - BioShock Infinite, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Several things jump out at me upon review of the video that make the fanboy in me giddy, but in the interests of seeming less like an irrational boob, I'll point out some gameplay and story mechanics that make Bioshock: Infinite stand out:

• Elizabeth- As a sociologist and optimistic equality advocate it used to annoy me as a boy to watch Princess Peach get kidnapped and be so utterly helpless and reliant upon the Mario Brothers for her liberation. It becomes a very complicated undertaking to make a believable, modern female characters who reinforce any other idea to the typically male audience that women are to be fought over, controlled or at worse, silent partners in their own stories. Its too soon to tell if Elizabeth won't fall into the typical damsel tropes, but I'm very much liking what I'm seeing. Elizabeth's relationship with the protagonist Booker DeWitt seems based on mutual benefit and quid pro quo. Elizabeth's relationship with Dewitt differs drastically from that of the Songbird, who has been charged with "protecting" her ...which basically caused her to live a very sequestered life in a guilded cage. She expresses quite plainly she'd rather die than live that isolated life again. In 15 minutes 2K has hand waved the stilted motivations of earlier female protagonists (I'm looking at you Princess Peach) and created a person of depth, weakness and resolve. Note how when she encounters the dead horse, she reminds Booker that she's not merely someone he can control, that she doesn't need his permission. Despite being a game mechanic- a tool for the game player to use to get to point B, she reminds the player she's a character with her own ideas and feelings, and not going to be simply content to be supplicant. And despite the setting (1920s America) not offering a lot in the way of progressive thought on gender equality, this in its own way evidences a sort of empowerment I only wish was more prone to the time period.
• (Red?) Factions- The original Bioshock's narrative was about a shimmering city built on the capitolistic ideals of a tycoon fleeing what he feared was socialist tendencies of the modern world (and really really keep restrictions off of genetic experimentation...), but by the time your cipher of a character arrives, the civilization is already in tatters. Colombia gives us the distinction of seeing this "Worlds Fair" like experiment of American exceptionalism grapple with itself in "real time". The original Bioshock essentially imploded under the weight of unchecked greed and psychotic side effects of science run amuck but Colombia has two initially well intentioned groups- the Founders- xenophobic conservatives who want to preserve their vision of Columbia and protect their way of life at the exclusion of would be interlopers, and the Vox Populi- the marginalized, disenfranchised youth movement turned militant and increasingly misguided. Ideas even now ripped from the headlines (of places like Arizona). Given this blog is oft about dystopia its important to note that both fractions have at least in the demo, descended into both anarchy and a "win at all costs" mentality that harms only the civilization they're all so invested in.
• EasterEgghunt- Note the scene in the middle where Elizabeth accidently opens a tear into the 1980s? Tears for Fears is playing, people. Nuff said.
• Kerion Gillen, the heir apparent to the Uncanny X-Men comic, has a miiiindblowing interview up at his former (present?) digs- Rockpapershotgun. Both the site and the commentary it has on Bioshock: Infinite is worth the attention.
• Another interesting (if much more console technical) interview is up at IGN.com

There's given the sheer amount of pretty and thoughtful here, there's likely to be a few more fanboyish posts down the pipe for Infinite, you can pretty much count on that. In the meantime- enjoy the pixel porn and mindfuckery.

Look to the Skies: Bioshock Infinite

BioShock Infinite Video Interview Video - Xbox 360 - IGN

Look on this and be amazed. I won't gush about how much I love the concept and themes at play in Bioshock (much), but needless to say I'm eagerly anticipating Bioshock:Infinite. Which is in some ways a prequel (?) and some ways a bold continuation of the exploration of socio-political ideology through video games. (Yay!)

According to this interview Levine et al seem committed to offering the gamer more choices still. Elizabeth looks like a compelling and endearing ally and I think this story, set amid the backdrop of 1912, American Ultranationalism, American Exceptionalism and Xenophobia (which seems particularly timely - if memory serves Bioshock: Infinite was announced right around the time the State of Arizona introduced its "immigration" bill justifying profiling). The propaganda posters littering the streets of Columbia seem pretty jarringly demonizing of would be interlopers, but we're talking about a steampunk reality springing from the initial salvos of the cold war (1912) so it makes sense thematically. Its a wonder how little society can change in 100 years. A post for another time, perhaps.

(Above is the 10 minute demo for the game for your pixel porn viewing pleasure)

Still, Bioshock Infinite looks thought provoking, gorgeous and immersive

and I cannot wait to get my mitts on it. More on this as it comes.

UPDATE: Gaygamer.net just did a keen post about Bioshock: Infinite's (intricately crafted) propaganda. Observe here. Also? I'd prefer to buy vigors that are "proven against hooligans". How this concept astounds.

This is Rapture. (Video Games and Objectivism)

The affairs of men: Politics in games- Destructoid

An interesting piece from Destructoid on the role of political movements in video games. I clicked the link hoping they'd cover the use of objectivist political ideology in Bioshock and happily was not disappointed.

The author criticisizes the fact that Rapture is, upon the player's arrival, a dystopia. Where all the lassies-faire capitalism and self interest ultimately led to the fall of one of the most prosperous utopias in "existence". Rapture fell because corporate greed and personal interest in genetic splicing without checks and regulations so changed the otherwise brilliant population of thinkers, enterpeneurs and artists that they morphed gradually into homicidal maniacs. All of this socio-political intrigue painted against a backdrop of an undersea metropolis comprised of lavish art-deco stylings and steampunk trappings and made for a truly troubling, effecting atmosphere in which to explore the game's world.

Whether or not the story so artfully told in Bioshock's narritive is meant to be a cautionary tale, its narrative is one that is unique for both a first person shooter (which are so dime a dozen with their gritted teeth and space marines its slipped well past cliche) and a modern console game in that it creates a game atmosphere so steeped in story and so lavishly detailed that it is difficult to disconnect from it and "just shoot stuff" the way one would a Halo game. Rapture is a crumbling, yet fascinating world I found myself wondering about even while anxiously exploring its nooks and crannies, peopled with a majority of mad citizens its difficult not to pity as they shout incoherent jibberish and try to take your life. Very few of the characters encountered are even remotely sane by the time you stumble upon Rapture, very little of the city salvageable. And so many of the more fascinating characters display their ability to navigate the moral ambiguity of the world they've come to for profit and prestige.

Brigid Tennenbaum is one of the more (rare/sane) morally centered characters in the game. Contrast with the idea as a child in WWII concentration camps, she was introduced to genetics/science and found her calling (even if it was at the expense of others in the camps). Tenenbaum found a profitiable procedure that could allow for genetic augmentation, which came at a cost. And Rapture's children were ultimltely turned into soulless scavengers in the pursiut of ADAM, the genetic fuel which drove such augmentation. Her guilt and revulsion over what her research had done to otherwise innocent girls drove Dr. Tenenbaum to redeem herself by liberating the girls of their condition. It is here where the player gets confronted with one of many moral delimmas in the game. Liberate the innocent at a cost, or profit and become powerful and end the girls lives. Depending on how one internalizes objectivism, the player can just as easily exploit and benefit the way the figurehead who created Rapture envisioned. Saving the Little Sisters earns you their gratitude and the occasional assistance, but the game is notably more difficult sans the additional ADAM not sparing the children affords.

It of course speaks to my touchy feely politics that I could never bring myself to harvest the Little Sisters and was hobbled (somewhat) by it. Bioshock is successful because it connects the player to this ethical delimma- profit or protect but at a horrible cost. It dances with the idea that one can be a powerful self made man, on the backs of or at the expense of others, and dovetails some of the more unfortunate implications of this philosophy.

Many would in reality break with the idea of profit if it meant literally ending the life of an innocent child, but in the altered states of video gaming its a murkier and easier thought exercise to navigate. One Bioshock crafts exceedingly well. Sure, the people of Rapture are deranged, and the once gleaming city beneath the sea has become a tarnished fantasy, a failed scheme that the entirety of their culture has had to pay for with their sanity and lives- but its an incredibly thought provoking and meaningful game. The likes of which we rarely see amid all the plasma grenade launching gratuity of roided out Space Marines.

Below is just about the most hauntingly somber scores I've ever heard in a game. I used to choke up whenever it played during my first play through. Aptly named "Empty Houses" after the gorgeous ruined homes the increasingly mad abandoned.