“BioShock Infinite” is set in 1912 at the height of American exceptionalism. Booker Dewitt is sent to the city in the sky, Columbia, with the mission of retrieving a woman named Elizabeth from captivity amidst a civil war between two factions: the Vox Populi and the Founders.

Developer Irrational Games (the original team behind the first BioShock released in 2007) has been slowly, painstakingly slowly, building BioShock Infinite since 2010. Three years of “content in progress” videos, concept art, gameplay videos and most recently released the actual first five minutes of the game. Ken Levine, co-founder of Irrational Games, has been resolute in Irrational’s development of Infinite even as some employees left Irrational in the middle of Infinite’s development.

Despite setbacks, fans were still excited, that is until Levine discussed the target audience for BioShock Infinite. Apparently, Levine and his team intended the game to appeal to gamers who are fans of games like the “Call of Duty” franchise. Levine has interviewed these fans in an effort to understand what makes them play certain games over others. It is understandable that Irrational Games would want a demographic that is as lucrative as the young male demographic since they buy the same types of games over and over again. However, this means some things about the game will be tailored to that demographic; such as the protagonist, Booker Dewitt, being the only featured character on the box art. This is questionable because there are two main characters: Booker and Elizabeth. Irrational made an attempt to remedy this by having fans vote on a reversible cover.

In classic “BioShock” style, the player is aided by supernatural powers. These powers are gained by ingesting “Vigors” and grant the player control over elements such as electricity or even crows. Dewitt’s partner, Elizabeth, comes with her own power which only she has control over: the ability to summon objects through space and time to assist the player in combat situations. She brings objects called “Tears,” which can be determined from their gray, fragmented appearance over objects nearby. For example the player may come under heavy fire and may want Elizabeth to bring a cover into the space from another reality. She can do so only if a “Tear” allows her to. In addition, Elizabeth’s abilities cannot be overused as they require a cool down period, causing the player to think about every “Tear” they use.

Moreover, the actual gameplay is akin to a free for all, all out chaos with enemies shooting, tears being ripped open by Elizabeth, Dewitt being hurled from skyline to skyline while using his “Vigors” and guns to aid him. Such a dynamic combat system is overwhelming to watch and take in. However, when one has the controller in their hands they could become lost in the combat and feel more immersed in Dewitt’s role as the one who needs to protect Elizabeth and escape the madness that Columbia has become. The tag team dynamic that Elizabeth and Dewitt share can only give the player more choices on how to handle a particular fight, which in the end is a positive and intriguing aspect of the gameplay.

Another interesting aspect of “BioShock Infinite” is the “1999 mode” which is much more than a hardest difficulty setting. The player will need to plan out every single choice they make in order to survive. Ken Levine states on the BioShock Infinite website that “1999 Mode will demand that players pick specializations, and focus on them.” This mode promises to frustrate gamers, but in a good way. Levine advises to save often in result.

In the meantime, players who pre-ordered any version of “BioShock Infinite” can play the online flash puzzle game “Industrial Revolution.” In the game you are a worker in a factory and it is your choice whether you want to support the Vox Populi or the Founders. In line with BioShock heritage, the choice the player makes effects the story. The player is also able to unlock money and powers that they can use in “Infinite” when it is released.

Irrational has also jumped on the special edition bandwagon in which players have a choice of two editions: “Premium Edition”($79.99 USD) or the “Ultimate Songbird Edition”($149.99 USD). Both editions come with unlockables, an artbook, keychain, handyman figurine, avatars and themes for the Xbox 360 or PS3. The only major difference is the “Ultimate Songbird Edition” comes with a statue of the Songbird, the monster that holds Elizabeth captive. The player has a choice to make here as well:  is a statue worth the price of $149.99? According to Ken Levine, it is. Moreover, in addition to all of these goodies, on January 22, 2013, Irrational announced an e-book, “BioShock Infinite: Mind in Revolt,” will be free for gamers that pre-ordered with Amazon.com. The prequel covers the lead up to the events in “Infinite” and delves deeper into the conflict between the Vox Populi and the Founders.

“BioShock Infinite” will finally be released on March 26, 2013. As one of the most highly anticipated games in the New Year, one can only hope Levine has not let fans down. As Levine said in an interview with Adam Sessler, “Columbia is the memory of America that people think existed that never really quite existed.” Just from viewing trailers from the game, Levine and Irrational have definitely brought to life a highly concentrated version of American idealism from long ago.

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We have already covered various aspects of Nintendo’s peripherals from Nintendo’s Laser Guns to the infamous Power Glove. In part two of Nintendo’s peripherals, we examine devices from the Roll ‘n Rocker to the Wii U’s controller.

The Roll ‘n Rocker

In 1989 the company LJN develops the Roll ‘n Rocker for the NES. The Roll ‘n Rocker is a balance board with a ball on the bottom. The Roll ‘n Rocker works by plugging the NES Controller to the Roll ‘n Rocker. The A, B, and Start buttons are used on the controller while the Roll ‘n Rocker is used as a glorified D-Pad. That is all the Roll ‘n Rocker is good for. With shoddy controls, poor functionality, and only a 100lbs weight limit, the Roll ‘n Rocker is one of the most useless peripherals for the NES.

R.O.B.

Jumping back to 1985, Nintendo introduces the Robotic Operating Buddy (R.O.B.) to Japan and North America. R.O.B is one of Nintendo’s most intriguing inventions even today. R.O.B. is an interactive robo buddy that the user is able to interact with on various games that came out for R.O.B.

The two games that came out for R.O.B. are “Gyromyte” and “Stack-up”. Both games require R.O.B. to do various tasks in order for the user to progress through the game. R.O.B. may be primitive at best, but he functions well. Though there are not too many other games released for R.O.B., he still is a predominant player in the gaming revival back in the videogame saturation of 1983.

Nintendo up to Today

With the many different peripherals on the NES, Nintendo is continuing to focus on new means of gameplay, and a lot of what they have today seem to be variations of their past projects. For the Nintendo 64 (N64) and the Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo tries two different voice recognition gameplay with “Hey You Pikachu” on the N64 and “Odama” on the GameCube.

Though both work better than their Laser Scope counterpart, they both suffer from command issues and are panned greatly for that. As for the Wii Speak, its only function is to communicate with other gamers.

As part of a new focus to get its gamers healthy, Nintendo introduces the Wii Balance board with the Wii Fit. The Wii Balance Board shares a strikingly similar function with the Roll ‘n Rocker, except the Wii Balance Board actually works and offers a lot more features that the Roll n’ Rocker cannot do.

The biggest development to come from Nintendo is the Wiimote (Wii Remote). From what seems like a combination of the NES Zapper and the Power Glove, the Wiimote masters functionality as well as gives gamers a completely unique gaming experience that no other developer is able to offer.

This leads to the possibility that the Power Glove was probably to advanced for its time and also shows that Nintendo had the technology back then, but needed time to perfect it before it could be a viable function as a gaming device.

Currently known as the Wii U Controller, the WiiPad a combination of an iPad with a basic gaming controller. Its style is very similar to the DS’ base and functions just like it. It will be interesting to see how Nintendo’s WiiPad will function once the Wii U officially comes out to the public Winter of 2012. Nintendo has certainly come a long way through the years and still continues to push gaming to the limit in how people play games.

To classics like the Nintendo Zapper, which to this day the only thing the Zapper is not able to shoot is the dog from Duck Hunt, and the abysmal failures of the Roll ‘n Rocker, which only accomplished making games unplayable, Nintendo stood up to their mistakes and flaunted their triumphs. It will be interesting to see what others successes and possible failures Nintendo will come up with in their future of video game peripherals.

Image Courtesy of   Barone Firenze / Shutterstock.com

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The Nintendo Company is known for experimenting with different means of gameplay and coming up with the next big thing in interactive gameplay. With so many different types of games to choose from, Nintendo wants to introduce to gamers many different ways to play these games. What better way to examine Nintendo’s methods of gameplay than to look into its evolution from the experimental phase of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) to the more professionally established peripherals of Nintendo’s later systems.

Nintendo Laser Guns

One of the Nintendo’s first peripherals, and probably most famous one, was the NES Zapper. The NES Zapper came out in 1985 with “Duck Hunt”, but could also work on various games that used the shooting gallery type function. The way the Zapper works is when the user pulls the trigger on the Zapper, it causes the entire screen to go black for a split second, except for the target area, which flashes white. By doing this, the sensor in the gun reads the white area and if a shootable object is caught in the white block, it would register as a hit.

Back in the day it was seen as a marvelous technical advancement, and even today the game Duck Hunt is still seen as a must-play classic with the NES Zapper, though the Zapper’s function can only work on CRT display TVs and cannot work on LCD or Plasma TVs.

In 1992 Nintendo came out with the Super Scope for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The Super Scope is about twice as large as the NES Zapper and functions a little differently by shooting out an ’0′ signal as it reads the various 1’s and 0’s that shoot through the TV signals. With this, the game retrieves the data to acknowledge the target position of the Super Scope and is then able to register a hit or a miss. But like the Zapper, the Super Scope can only work on CRT display TVs.

The Laser Scope, developed by Konami for the NES, is a device that the player wears like a headset. The Laser Scope is one of the first peripherals that introduces voice activated commands for gameplay. The Laser Scope includes a laser guided crosshair, which sits just above the user’s right eye, and a microphone attached to the left earphone.

The laser crosshair works just like the NES Zapper, but instead of pulling a trigger, the user merely has to say “Fire.” The issue with the Laser Scope is that it picks up any sound and causes the device to misfire. The device is big, clunky, and does not function the way it is intended to work. The Laser Scope came out in 1990 with the game Laser Invasion.

The Power Glove

In pop culture the Power Glove is seen at the butt of many jokes as well as a popular internet meme. As most of its critics discuss the Power Glove, they always refer back to the 1989 movie “The Wizard” and deliberately misquote the line “It’s so bad” when referring to the Power Glove, mainly because the Power Glove is in fact “so bad.”

Licensed by Nintendo, but developed by Abrams Gentile Entertainment, the Power Glove is intended to be one of the first interactive motion sensor games, in which the user’s hand was the controller. The Power Gloves works by having the user enter an input code found on the forearm of the controller.

This code is used to set the control system to designated games. Once the controller is “linked” to the game, the user’s hand movements are registered for gameplay. One of the games designed specifically for the Power Glove is “Super Glove Ball,” in which the user throws balls to destroy walls.

The Power Glove itself became an utter failure. The controls are unresponsive and it is almost impossible to get the device to function properly. Power Glove, now, is merely used as a glorified NES controller, since the controller buttons are also built on the forearm.

Part two will continue on Nintendo’s development from the Roll ‘n Rocker to the Wii U’s controller system.

Image Courtesy of   Barone Firenze / Shutterstock.com

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Earlier this week it was revealed in the German magazine GameStar that a new game in the popular “SimCity” series was in the works.  Although no worldwide announcement has followed, a host of details are already available.

The game will be called SimCity, with no number or subtitle following it.  The graphics have been reworked, leading to more intricate and beautiful details, such as signs plastered up around town and on buildings along with people walking around and going through their lives, occasionally visiting eateries and other stores.

These details also add an extra element to the gameplay: it is now possible to see how a factory is running based on its animation.  At this point, however, there are no screenshots that actually depict how the finished game will look, as currently the only thing available is concept art.

The camera can also now be repositioned, moved around, and zoomed in and out, meaning fixed viewpoints are a thing of the past.  It is possible to zoom in on individual buildings and people, and doing so has a quirky effect: the closer the camera is zoomed in on the city, the louder the noises of the streets and people will become, but the farther out it is, the more quiet everything will seem.

The grid format the series has become associated with is getting redone, and it is now possible to create curved roads, as opposed to only straight ones, which will give the game a more realistic appearance.

Multiplayer has also been added, enabling trade between friends for different materials and resources, as well as leaderboards to show how individual players rank in terms of things like finance.  In addition, prices for resources in single-player may be regulated by the actual online economy of the game (although GameStar was vague here, leaving room for the possibility that the economy will be actually fluctuate based on events that happen in the real world).

Other bits shown reveal that buildings do not stay the same over the course of the game.  As time goes on buildings can unlock new powers, like a fire station being able to put out a fire that much quicker.  Graphs and charts telling the player the status of their city have also been simplified and made more modern in order to help make them more player-friendly.

At this time there is little other information available, but stay tuned for more details in coming months.

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