The Problem

The next hour was spent on google and searching forum after forum, filled with comments like, "juzst get a new grafix card jeeeez." Yeah, in a world filled with computer fairies and money-shitting unicorns, that would be a viable option. However, in the real world where bills are more than just that thing on the face of the mythological Duckdragon, spending an extra $300 to play a $50 game isn't what I'd consider sane.

Quiet contemplation.

The gaming community in general agreed with me. Someone made a petition, signed by approximately six thousand six hundred people (as of the publication of this article), basically telling the creators of Bioshock, "Here are several thousand people who would like to buy your game but can't because you excluded support for their already-capable graphics cards. We believe that the game could easily be patched to include these cards."

Though I haven't found any statements from the makers, several forums claim that the company has said more or less, "We're sorry for the inconvenience, but the game is made for graphics cards that support 3.0 shaders. Your graphics cards only support 2.0 shaders, and therefore, they cannot run the game."

Fifty dollars.

However, one gamer in particular took exception to this statement. He calls himself ScottJG, and he happens to be a member of Bioshock's own forums. Scott not only believed that the game could be easily reprogrammed to play on the 2.0 shader cards, but he actually did it. In less than an hour. Ouch. That bitchslap had to hurt.

Others took Scott's lead and began work on their own improvements to his patch. That community - not associated with the actual paid programmers - is now churning out fixes for the game faster than a World of Warcraft player can churn out incomprehensible misspellings.

???

So what's the problem? Why is this such a big deal? The reason it bothers me is because the second logo on their intro screen is for Nvidia. That's not free advertisement. The makers of Bioshock aren't just huge fans of GeForce graphics cards and decided to give them props. No, Nvidia had a partial hand in the making of the game (at least financially) because Microsoft has a partial hand in Nvidia. In a sense, it's a way to sell more graphics cards. Before we go any further, don't get me wrong here - I'm not saying this is some sort of scam. Nvidia made a very common deal: they helped fund the making of the game, and in doing that, they get their logo and some ad space on the game itself. That's very common, and I don't believe there is anything wrong with that at all.

I understand that games of this magnitude take a huge amount of funding, and I understand that without the financial help from giants like Nvidia, Bioshock could not exist. However, I feel that this game has put us into the following gamer's nightmare situation:

Gamer: Damn, I want to play this game, but it's not compatible with my graphics card.

Bioshock: Ooooh, man, that's got to suck. You should buy a new graphics card. Have you met my friend, Nvidia?

Nvidia: [rubbing hands together] Sup, bitch?

It doesn't take an incredible amount of logic to see that. I may be way off base here, but when I see the actual programmers of the game telling us in effect that, "It's impossible to run the game on your current card. If you want to play it, you'll need a new one. We recommend Nvidia," I get a bit skeptical. I become even more skeptical when some random guy who's not even a member of their staff comes back and says, "No, wait. It can be played with the cards we already have. All you have to do is _______. Here, let me show you. In fact, the fix took me less than an hour. I'll take it a step further and put together a package for you. No, seriously, it's not a problem at all - the package itself only took twenty minutes to throw together."

The Solution

Sadly, there is no easy way to solve the problem, though it can be done. It just takes lots and lots of determined people who are willing to voice themselves and then follow through on their statements. It's going to take an army of gamers who are getting a little fed up with graphics card companies controlling who can and cannot play the games they sponsor ("Can't play the game? You need to upgrade!"). They're going to have to email the gaming companies - not the card makers - and tell them the following:

"I don't mind a gaming company programming their games to cater to a specific graphics card. I don't mind seeing the advertisements of that card on my game. I don't mind seeing their logo in the intro. I don't mind either company telling me that they recommend that card as the best way to experience the game. However, I do want the programmers and the gaming company itself to put forth the effort to include me as a potential customer. If my card is able to run the game, I don't want to be lied to and told that it's impossible. That mentality of trying to strong-arm a gamer into buying the products of your sponsors will not be tolerated, and you will forever lose a customer in me, no matter what game you bring out in the future. If my system truly cannot handle your program, then I have no problem upgrading, and I will take your recommendation into serious consideration when buying new hardware. However, please use the advertisements as just that - advertisements. There's a defined line between 'pushing a product' and outright lying and bullying consumers into an unnecessary purchase. Crossing that line will cost you present and future revenue. Word of mouth is still the most powerful advertisement in the world."

Bioshock Team: I'm afraid your cards just can't run it. You'll need an upgrade.

ScottJG: Really? That's odd because I seem to have proven you wrong.