Remasters, re-releases and remakes is a very popular pastime for games publishers these days. Nintendo has made classic titles like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time available on five separate consoles, including the original platform it was made for. Meanwhile, many PS3 and Xbox 360 games eventually arrived on PS4 and Xbox One not long after the new consoles launched.
The BioShock series (in particular the first game) is probably pretty high on many gamers’ wishlists when it comes to remastered editions of previously released games. For many fans, these games were an unforgettable experience that offered solid first-person shooter gameplay and a gripping narrative. Squaring off against a Big Daddy is something that stays in the memory, and now it seems that you may get to save those Little Sisters all over again, as a listing for Bioshock: The Collection has surfaced along with what looks like the game’s box art.
Listings for BioShock collections have surfaced before. In September last year a South African retailer listed the title as coming soon for Xbox One and PS4. Then just last month, the Brazilian Advisory Ratings Board had it listed, coming for every major platform including PS3 and Xbox 360. Now, Bioshock: The Collection has appeared on a Taiwanese game rating website, marking it for an Xbox One, PS4 and PC release. Accompanying the listing this time, however, is some pretty convincing cover art. Spotted by an Xbox Live Arcade watchdog, it has many believing that it is the real deal.
BioShock: The Collection rated for PC/PS4/XB1 in Taiwan. https://t.co/UTJqx7RJDO pic.twitter.com/VA8aY2NPIi— lifelower (@lifelower) March 17, 2016
It is possibly some of the best cover art that has been put together for a rereleased game: a juxtaposition of sea and air used to represent both Rapture from BioShock 1 & 2 and the city in the sky of Columbia in Bioshock Infinite. That means that all three games should be bundled together, and inevitably all downloadable content from each title would also be included. Questions remain on whether it will be a simple port of the original version of the game or if extra treatment has been added. If it was a simple port, we probably would have expected for it to be released a lot sooner, so hopefully this means that it has been given a significant graphical improvement, some gameplay tweaks and maybe even completely new features.
Last November, the CEO of BioShock publisher Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, was asked about the franchise’s future. He said that “they’ll make announcements in due time about any upcoming releases. BioShock is unquestionably a permanent franchise for our company and on that we do believe in.” He was making this statement in regards to future titles in the series after Ken Levine - founder of Irrational Games, the developer responsible for creating BioShock - shut the studio down and left to concentrate on other projects. Zelnick wanted to reassure fans that it remains an important IP for 2K Marin and Take-Two Interactive and we haven’t seen the last of BioShock. Could this be the first sign if him fulfilling that promise?
Source: Eurogamer
