User blog:Gardimuer/Information from the new BioShock Infinite demo

Irrational Games recently unveiled a new 15 minute hands-off demo for BioShock Infinite in front of the press at the Viceroy hotel in Los Angeles. You can read summaries of the demo footage at many gaming news websites, such as Eurogamer, Joystiq, and VideoGamer.com.

New information highlights:

 * A new Vigor, the "Bucking Broncos Vigor", comes in a horse-shaped bottle and allows the player to bounce enemies and objects into the air.
 * A man named Z.H. Comstock is the leader of the ultra-nationalist group The Founders.
 * Irrational Games had previously been referring to Elizabeth's monster caretaker as "Him", but during the demo they revealed that its name is "Songbird". At one point Songbird's eyes cycle through colors from red, to yellow, to green to signal its different states of alertness. Levine described Elizabeth's connection to Songbird: "Elizabeth and he have known each other since she was five years old. He doesn't speak, per se, but she can understand his mood. He is sentient. She has very weird, complicated feelings about Songbird, and I think you can tell, he's a bit of a jealous, abusive ex-husband. He's programmed to take her leaving very personally; that's part of his conditioning."
 * The demo reveals that gameplay may include quick time events during scripted sequences.
 * Elizabeth has the ability to manipulate "tears" in the world to give existence to objects that otherwise would not be present. This ability can be used a limited number of times during combat to create cover, ammunition, or other advantages, and over time (as Elizabeth learns to control her powers) she will be able to manipulate the tears more often. Many reviewers speculate that this ability may be connected to time travel or linking to alternate dimensions.
 * The Sky-Lines are not just for transportation- they offer a dynamic way of navigating battlefields to get to more strategic ground. Moving on the Sky-Lines is designed to be intuitive, with an aiming reticule that will indicate when it is safe to jump, and the player has the ability to adjust DeWitt's trajectory mid-air. Elizabeth can also open tears that change the Sky-Lines and derail enemies.

Other minor news

 * Ken Levine says he is pleased that the gaming community picked BioShock to be in the Smithsonian Art of Games exhibit.


 * In a response to a question on Twitter, Levine revealed that meetings about the creation of a BioShock movie will be taking place some time during the week of May 23.