So we have exacting standards that differ from yours. You go ahead and enjoy it.

Here's one of the big issues surrounding the game:

"You will see more in widescreen. We use a different projection matrix; there is no squashing or stretching of the image involved."

Chris Kline, Lead Programmer, Irrational Games

http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=659

There is no squashing or stretching - that much is true. However, "you will see more in widescreen" is a load of dog poo, as widescreen is cropped!

So that's the reason people spend thousands of dollars for widescreen HD - so they can see less?

There are a few people saying the same in the 2K forums, and they associate it with the "zoomed-in" effect that you get with widescreens. 

I agree that people whinge about the most stupid and annoying things... today has been such a whingers day anywhere i've turned today.

Does it affect the game play?

No.

Does it affect the experience??

No.

What does it REALLY effect when you are playing the game other than seeing the floor and the roof more.

F'N NOTHING

Why the hell does it matter? I can't understand what the complaint is about... it's blown into something massive and it's just BS.

A different projection matrix is exactly the right way to do it. The evidence suggests that they used the wrong projection matrix, though, one that keeps the left-to-right distance the same and shrinks the top-to-bottom.

I agree that people are blowing this way out of proportion, but it's wrong to say that this has no effect on gameplay. Now, no one is playing Bioshock deathmatches, so it's not like widescreen players are at a disadvantage competitively, but the truth is, your field of view affects the way you perceive the game. The default FOV of 75 degrees is already zoomed-in somewhat compared to many first-person games which use 90 degrees. Zooming in even more could give a rather exaggerated, unnatural feel to the game, especially if you're viewing it on a large screen.

I am also not surprised to hear reports of motion sickness.  Subjecting yourself to an unnatural field of view is a surefire way to experience motion sickness.  I would suggest to anyone having this problem to sit farther away from your screen, which will lessen the zoomed-in feel. 

How does it affect gameplay?

Just one example: Enemies can be located in the clipped off regions. If you don't look up you get hit. This would not happen in the current 4:3 implementation. The reverse however does not hold true, because horizontally you see exactly the same whether it's in 4:3 or 16:9/16:10.

How does it affect the experience?

People on the forum are complaining about tunnel vision, knight's helmet vision and sniper scope vision. Others are complaining that this perceived zoom effect causes nausea, which does not occur in other games. Furthermore, the zoomed-in effect gives the textures a slightly blurred effect.

Then of course there's this:

This comes from the lead programmer of Bioshock, and soon after the reality of the situation was discovered Chris Kline, Irrational, and 2K games have pretty much kept silent. I am sure if Mr Kline would have simply stated the truth this fallout would not have occurred; people would have accepted the limitations of the game.

 Point 1)

That's BS, i've played the game heaps now and I cannot think of one moment when I got hit by something that was off screen to much because i'm missing a tiny bit from the top or the bottom.

Point 2)

Knight's helmet and tunnel vision? Are you f'n serious... the game is supposed to feel claustrophobic those people obviously haven't played it in 4:3 either because it feels the bloody same.

Point 3)

I don't have anything to say to that, he obviously didn't do his research and made the wrong answer.

Points 1 & 2)

Do look through the posts in the 2K forum. It seems to be a big enough issue to many. Many posts are well thought out responses that range from blurred textures to tunnel vision (yes, I'm f*n serious! Go check the forum yourself if you don't believe!) to messing up the mouse sensitivity to having to put up with this in the year 2007, being penalized for buying a widescreen TV to play a game that doesn't correctly support widescreen, to feeling claustrophobic not because of the game design, but because of the camera angle. Many complain about broken promises.

Here's just a select few posts: 

I got sick playing this game tonight because of the shitty way they implemented their widescreen. I just hope they fix this soon.

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Bioshock isn't changing the FOV appropriately for the display's aspect ration, it's always using the same FOV.

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I can confirm. FOV is not calculated correctly even on Xbox 360 version.

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God damn, what is the point in widescreen if all we get is part of the view missing and not something extra.

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Looks like I will be sticking to my CRT until they patch it.

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The widescreen users and surround users are enthusiasts who spend alot of money on thier hobby and are not the "loud" bunch who whinge at any conceivable issue that they would have done differently had they designed a game. It is expensive to buy a bigger screen, and it does have it's occasional issues, ala what we see here. The widescreen cummunity is mostly a mature enthusiast community and I hope that becomes obvious in this thread.

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I just got around to playing the demo. At 16:9 it feels so zoomed in I can barely stand it. Based on past experience looks like the default FOV is 75 degrees, which is really quite small for widescreen.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by raja I suggest that many (most?) of you wouldn't even have noticed this alleged 'issue' with the widescreen FOV if 4:3 displays didn't exist.

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PLEASE 2k, fix this, you promised us true widescreen, it would be nice of you to actually deliver on that promise to those of us who have spent our hard earned money.

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I knew while playing the demo that it felt awfully claustrophobic (and not in the good atmospheric, suspenseful kinda way). I immediately went to WSG and lo and behold, another Vert- game in 2007!!

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And yes the mouse is most probably affected if the FOV is changed, simple test for those that wanna feel it - load up any game that lets you zoom in (weapon or manual zoom like HL2 for example) and zoom in about 25% then look / walk around - how BAD does that feel? The mouse has gone from the most intuative controller to something completely different.

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Then there is the official statement (endimion, I'm looking at you):

Hey guys-

Sorry about all the conflict. IG development people (specifically Chris and Rowan who are both on vacation) were trying to take a day off today (we've been working about six months 6-7 days a week). I'm trying to see what everybody's concerns are and consult with the staff.

I know people are frustrated, but we are dealing with internet time here. It wasn't until 7 pm EST that I was able to even talk to anybody in our Australian studio, which is open today (9 AM their time).

I hear you that not everybody was thrilled with the PC launch. And I'm trying to collect information and see what the facts are. PC game development does not function in a matter of seconds or hours, especially when most of the team is on vacation. But I hear you, and we're looking into the issue. I'll only ask you have a bit of understanding as to the time scale that software development issues must occur in.

Best regards,

Ken Levine

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It might be BS to you, but it certainly isn't "f*n BS" to many. So yeah... I'm pretty "f*n" serious.

Hmmmm.... I just bought a 360 yesterday, Bioshock being the game that pushed me off the fence. Haven't booted it up to play yet. My HDTV is an older 4:3 model with a 16:9 "squash mode" -- maybe I ought to run it in 1080i 4:3 and compare.

Go ahead, don't buy the game because of a non-issue. Has the sky stopped falling yet?

Ignorance is bliss. Im sure most of the people who cancelled their orders or are now bitching about this minor issue wouldnt have noticed if they didnt read about it. 

Geez.