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John Riccitiello, Little Sister Killer
Posted by Leigh Alexander at 4:20 AM on July 17, 2008
John Riccitiello, CEO of EA, harvested BioShock's Little Sisters.
But it was totally an accident, he swears. Riccitiello played BioShock in two sections, first on a long plane trip to London and then finished it on his way to Singapore — "which will prove I'm a slow gamer", he said. Having just gotten a new computer from Apple, he found himself switching back and forth between it and Windows.
"The problem was... the key for saving the little girls didn't work", said Riccitiello. "My keys were wrong, and I needed to go online to figure out how to re-map the keys on my own while I was in the game. I'd already harvested six by the time I landed in Heathrow".
"When they turn into slugs, I was a little horrified. I flew to Singapore, finished harvesting and then re-played it".
So first EA's boss ate the souls of innocents due to some major mistakes, and then he went back over it to do things the kinder, gentler way? Art imitates life, perhaps?
Incidentally, Riccitiello has also played Portal 2, and said we're in for major awesome: "It took my breath away".
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Pezdispenser
Posted 5:02 AM 17/7/08
Been playing through Bioshock for the first time recently (bought it at launch, didn't have a computer that could run it until recently) and I'm doing things the hard way. No harvesting or saving at all, I'm leaving the Little Sisters and Big Daddies to their business.
Things are going quite well actually, it just feels a little dull since I'm completely ignoring the fun Adam upgrades, etc.
Pezdispenser
TomHayden
Posted 4:59 AM 17/7/08
Kotaku <3 Riccitiello
TomHayden
Pi-face
Posted 4:56 AM 17/7/08
@Protector one: The plane is powered by the souls of little girls.
Pi-face
antialias02
Posted 4:54 AM 17/7/08
@bobdisgea: I did some searching and it turns out a Bioshock version of Caramelldansen doesn't *actually* exist.
I did find the image in question on a couple of random places on the internets, but that's it. There doesn't actually seem to be a video.
Which makes me sad.
antialias02
FLYBOY611
Posted 4:54 AM 17/7/08
Portal 2!!!!
I want to play Portal 2!!!!!
FLYBOY611
Protector one
Posted 4:51 AM 17/7/08
He played Bioshock on a plane??
This could mean one of three things:
1) Bioshock PSP, confirmed.
2) JR has a BH Xbox360 Laptop.
3) John flies a big ass luxury EA plane.
The correct answer is (1), natch.
Protector one
Mr. Fluffykins
Posted 4:50 AM 17/7/08
The game totally sets you up to be evil. It wants you to get the bad ending. Then it wants you to play through again as repentance. At least, that's what it would feel like if I ever played through again.
Mr. Fluffykins
jello44
Posted 4:50 AM 17/7/08
@bobdisgea:
I think it's just that one picture that you see above.
Though, try youtube, I'm sure there is someone who made a animated one.
jello44
dowingba
Posted 4:46 AM 17/7/08
CEO of EA harvests little girls!
Oh, and he likes Bioshock, too.
dowingba
Werrick
Posted 4:45 AM 17/7/08
There's something disturbing about a CEO of a major multi-national company who can't even stop himself from harvesting souls when he actually wants to.
Werrick
Snokie
Posted 4:44 AM 17/7/08
When they turn into slugs, I was a little horrified
Well, imagine your horror when you realize they don't "turn into" slugs, but rather, THE SLUGS ARE TORN FROM THEIR LIFELESS BODIES.
I never really though EA was evil until now :)
Snokie
mistake
Posted 4:43 AM 17/7/08
Exposed~
mistake
Doshi
Posted 4:43 AM 17/7/08
I wish I was the CEO of EA, I want to play Portal 2. D=
Doshi
Pi-face
Posted 4:43 AM 17/7/08
Fortunately, no one would want it.
Pi-face
Pi-face
Posted 4:42 AM 17/7/08
I'd better keep a tight hold on my soul around this guy.
Pi-face
antialias02
Posted 4:42 AM 17/7/08
@Odin:
@Karisu-Zero:
@HateFate:
I was about to say, when I first saw this go up... "Is that a ... are they doing.... no way."
So now I have to go queue up Caramelldansen on my playlist and listen to it for the next half hour. Thanks Leigh.
Also, Riccitiello, if you hand over some of that Portal 2, I think people could be inclined to show quite a bit more forgiveness to EA. If you know what I mean. Nudge, nudge.
antialias02
Anarchist_Gamer
Posted 4:42 AM 17/7/08
I think by Portal 2 he means Portal: Still Alive - an expansion pack, of sorts. Portal 2, if it is coming, is far from release.
Anarchist_Gamer
GyrFal
Posted 4:41 AM 17/7/08
@HateFate: It's like the clean version of rule 34.
GyrFal
AndrewDB
Posted 4:41 AM 17/7/08
'Riccitiello has also played Portal 2'
Wait what? How far along is Valve with Portal 2 if he's actually played it?!
AndrewDB
Salen
Posted 4:41 AM 17/7/08
Oh. My. Gawd.
A Little Sister and a Big Daddy doing that dance... that's scary.
Salen
Cyanotic
Posted 4:41 AM 17/7/08
Big deal, so did I. Then I played it again and I realized you get more adam if you don't (seriously).
Cyanotic
bobdisgea
Posted 4:41 AM 17/7/08
btw does anyone have a link to bioshock carameldansen?
bobdisgea
bobdisgea
Posted 4:37 AM 17/7/08
@FP mind in rewind: ....sometimes
bobdisgea
Karisu-Zero
Posted 4:37 AM 17/7/08
This article wins just cause of Big Daddy and Little Sister doing the Caramel Dansen.
Karisu-Zero
(俗・ ) Grey Gecko
Posted 4:32 AM 17/7/08
'Riccitiello has also played Portal 2'
...son of a...!
(俗・ ) Grey Gecko
FP mind in rewind
Posted 4:31 AM 17/7/08
@bobdisgea: I dunno. Are you the CEO of EA too?
FP mind in rewind
ShaggE
Posted 4:31 AM 17/7/08
Somebody has GOT to use that as a murder defense.
"I tried to save him, your honor! Unfortunately, my "good samaritan" key didn't work. So I just broke a baseball bat against his skull instead."
ShaggE
dynendal
Posted 4:30 AM 17/7/08
New Kotaku story: Riccitiello humped my dog. In space.
Followed by: John Riccitiello, CEO of EA, likes pork and beans video.
dynendal
bobdisgea
Posted 4:30 AM 17/7/08
why the hell is he playing portal 2 and not me!?
bobdisgea
HateFate
Posted 4:29 AM 17/7/08
One day, there will be carameldansen of everything.
HateFate
Captain_Collide
Posted 4:28 AM 17/7/08
I'm surprised that he was able to touch Bioshock without burning his hands.
Maybe 2K hooked him up with a 'dummed down' version, where all of the Big Daddy's are replaced with Football Guy, and Car.
Captain_Collide
DaveKap
Posted 4:27 AM 17/7/08
Pfft... real gamers know how to rebind keys in-game. THROUGH THE OPTIONS MENU. This explains why so many EA game menus suck and require loading just to navigate, the goddamn President of the company doesn't even use 'em! :P
DaveKap
Gravnar
Posted 4:27 AM 17/7/08
That is one of the funniest things I have heard...
Me on the other hand, I went through saving them... and never replayed through as evil...
Gravnar
Aex
Posted 4:27 AM 17/7/08
*stands over a lifeless body....
"Ooops... Wrong button?"
Aex
Odin
Posted 4:27 AM 17/7/08
Oh gods, carameldansen... MUST RESIST.
Odin
Savior
Posted 4:25 AM 17/7/08
finished the escape in portal and never played bioshock...
Savior
NeVeRMoRe666
Posted 5:25 AM 17/7/08
Irony....
NeVeRMoRe666
theCornerinvasion
Posted 5:24 AM 17/7/08
ｳｯｰｳｯｰｳﾏｳﾏ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)
+ Watch video
theCornerinvasion
bobdisgea
Posted 5:21 AM 17/7/08
@antialias02: tried youtube...nothing also..lame
bobdisgea
EmeraldDragon
Posted 5:08 AM 17/7/08
This made me laugh for some reason.
EmeraldDragon
Comatose Turtle
Posted 5:07 AM 17/7/08
To be honest, I only clicked here hoping to find a link to the video the header image comes from.
John Ricci-who-wha?
Who harvests them when you get phat loot for saving them? It really puts a whole new spin on it when you realize that actually every incentive beyond your own sadistic pleasures points to saving the girls. Yep, guess he's just a terrible human being.
Comatose Turtle
TokeYo
Posted 5:05 AM 17/7/08
@Anarchist_Gamer: I dunno, Valve say (in thier developer commentary) that they try and make their games playable as soon as they can so they can playtest from the word go. So I suppose it's possible.
TokeYo
Zeouterlimits
Posted 5:50 AM 17/7/08
Ha ha, I can actually see this happening, some laptop keyboards can be a pain, especially if the game doesn't allow you to change the key.
Zeouterlimits
JerryJax
Posted 5:47 AM 17/7/08
Ok, just to confirm there isn't Caramelldansen Bioshock people. Owen Good confirms here:
[deadspin.com]
JerryJax
antialias02
Posted 5:46 AM 17/7/08
@Comatose Turtle: You do actually end up with about 700 more ADAM for harvesting all the little sisters.
Besides, I'm not so sure that harvesting the little sister's makes someone a "terrible human being."
I mean, if committing that kind of violence and destruction in a video game makes someone a terrible human being, then a lot of GTA players might actually have something to answer for.
An interactive storybook is still just a storybook.
antialias02
otakuhouse
Posted 5:45 AM 17/7/08
I heard, but this is just a silly rumor, that Bobby Kotick harvested all the Little Sisters, pulled the trigger on The Boss, was a total jerk in Mass Effect, had horns in Fable, did all the pimping missions in GTA, was a dark jedi in KOTOR, and sold children slaves in Fallout.
otakuhouse
sir_carrot
Posted 5:44 AM 17/7/08
What? He's played Portal 2? Portal 2 is currently in a playable phase? Oh boy.
And here I thought we'd be waiting till Episode 3.
sir_carrot
Ashground
Posted 5:41 AM 17/7/08
@Protector one: Uh, or he just played it on his laptop?
Ashground
slacker164
Posted 5:40 AM 17/7/08
Bioshock Popotan dance... Scary. Also awesome. ^^;
slacker164
3inst3in
Posted 5:37 AM 17/7/08
MAJOR AWESOME!!!
Major A. Wesome, reporting for duty sir!
3inst3in
Billkwando
Posted 6:27 AM 17/7/08
Funny story. Sucks it ruined a little bit of the surprise for me since I've only gotten the good ending.
Billkwando
Terrorsaur.
Posted 7:52 AM 17/7/08
Wow where the hell I have I been?
Portal 2????????????????????
I thought Valve wasn't that far into development yet as to have a playable portal 2 already??
Terrorsaur.
Xenocide
Posted 7:49 AM 17/7/08
Just as I always thought.... gaming on Macs kills little girls!
*Just kidding*
.
.
.
.
*sorta*
Xenocide
superfrogsavestokyo
Posted 7:38 AM 17/7/08
Ooooh, do you think if I trade a piece of my soul, I could get some playtime with Portal 2? My soul is filled with innocent goodness.
I'd also throw in $60...
Anyway, I like to play the good part the first time, and have a pure evil second run through.(I'm glad that I don't have to account for my crimes in Mass Effect. :) ) Now I feel like playing Bioshock.
superfrogsavestokyo
janai
Posted 8:43 AM 17/7/08
@Xenocide: I must have been a lucky little girl indeed to have survived playing games on a Mac during my formative years, then. Well, either that, or I'm secretly one of the undead.
And every time I harvest a little sister, I feel the pain....
*crazed laugh*
janai
TheBoxNinja
Posted 8:40 AM 17/7/08
"ah ha! a creepy little girl... must... save... her." "oops... there goes her face..."
Amen to killing the little sisters. They're DAMN creepy... and oddly remind me of the girl from F.E.A.R. which gives everyone a reason to hit them in the face. Also the extra adam from killing them is quite nice.
TheBoxNinja
Foreign-Contaminant
Posted 8:30 AM 17/7/08
ITS A MARKETING STRATEGY!!!!!! DON'T BELIEVE THIS RICH ASS CEO WHO GIVES A RATS ASS ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THEIR PRODUCTS!!!!! HE JUST WANTS TO RUIN GAMING EXPERIENCE FOR THE REST OF US SO HE CAN MAKE MONEY!!!!WILL I BE SEEING AN NY GIANT'S FOOTBALL HELMET ON COMMANDER SHEPARD IN THE NEXT MASS EFFECT????? SAD THING IS I PROBABLY WILL
Foreign-Contaminant
man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.
Posted 10:14 AM 17/7/08
@HateFate:
That day...is yesterday.
man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.
Juthan
Posted 10:29 AM 17/7/08
Yeah, right. It was by "accident". He would bite the head off of them if he could.
Juthan
ToTTenTranz
Posted 11:20 AM 17/7/08
OMG, it feels like EA's CEO is an actual human being that plays games! O_O
ToTTenTranz
Oban
Posted 1:32 PM 17/7/08
Riccitiello, like Jeff Brown, is full of it. He's never played the game... he just read the cliff notes.
Oban
fuchikoma
Posted 3:12 PM 17/7/08
Wow. Lately he just cranked his campaign to win back the hearts of gamers to 11. lol... you don't run a company that size by being oblivious!
fuchikoma
aceshigh521
Posted 6:13 PM 17/7/08
Caramelldansen bioshock is just a css spray. [www.fpsbanana.com]
aceshigh521
mizeriq
Posted 2:51 AM 18/7/08
Sorry Westwood, wrong button!
mizeriq
Shadowstitch
Posted 5:43 AM 18/7/08
I don't know where this image came from originally, but this is the biggest one I have in my collection...
Shadowstitch