title: Tim Matheson

text: At age 13, Matheson appeared as Roddy Miller in Robert Young's CBS nostalgia comedy series "Window on Main Street" during the 1961–1962 television season. In the 1962–1963 season he appeared in two episodes of "Leave It to Beaver", cast as Mike Harmon, a friend of Beaver’s. In 1964, he provided the voice of the lead character in the animated series "Jonny Quest". He also supplied the voices of Sinbad Jr. the Sailor in the 1960s Hanna-Barbera animated series "Sinbad Jr. and his Magic Belt" and Jace in the original animated series "Space Ghost". He co-starred as Joe Hardy, opposite Richard Gates as Frank Hardy, in a 1967 pilot episode for what would have been a TV series called "The Hardy Boys", based on the novel series of the same name, but the series was not picked up.


title: Tim Matheson

text: He played the role of the oldest son, Mike Beardsley, in the film "Yours, Mine and Ours" (1968), which starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.


title: Tim Matheson

text: In 1969, Matheson joined the cast of NBC's television western "The Virginian" in the eighth season as Jim Horn. He had a guest role in the 14th episode of the second season of "Night Gallery", in the story "Logoda's Heads". In the final season of the television western "Bonanza" in 1972–1973, Matheson played Griff King, a parolee who tries to reform his life as a worker at the Ponderosa Ranch under Ben Cartwright's tutelage. He portrayed a corrupt motorcycle cop, Phil Sweet, who was part of a death squad with some other young cops in the film "Magnum Force" (1973). Matheson also appeared earlier in the CBS situation comedy "My Three Sons". In 1975, he guest starred in CBS's short-lived family drama "Three for the Road".


title: Tim Matheson

text: In 1976, Matheson appeared with Kurt Russell in the 15-episode NBC series "The Quest", the story of two young men in the American West seeking the whereabouts of their sister, a captive of the Cheyenne. In 1978, he was part of the ensemble cast of "National Lampoon's Animal House". The following year, he appeared with John Belushi again in Steven Spielberg's "1941". In 1980 he auditioned for the role of Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", for which Harrison Ford won the part.


title: Tim Matheson

text: Matheson appeared in the film "To Be or Not to Be" (1983) starring Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. He and Catherine Hicks played Rick and Amanda Tucker, who operate a detective agency in Laurel Canyon in CBS' "Tucker's Witch", which aired during the 1982–1983 season. Then Matheson starred in the comedy films "Up the Creek" (1984) and "Fletch" (1985). In 1989, he starred in the short-lived sitcom "Nikki and Alexander" produced by Reinhold Weege.


title: Tim Matheson

text: He had a recurring role as Vice President John Hoynes on "The West Wing". His work on "The West Wing" earned him two Primetime Emmy award nominations.


title: Tim Matheson

text: He has directed episodes of "Third Watch", "Ed", "The Twilight Zone", "Cold Case", "Without a Trace", "The West Wing", "Psych", "The Good Guys", "Shark", "White Collar", "Criminal Minds", "Suits" and "Burn Notice" (on which he also performed in a recurring role).


title: Tim Matheson

text: In 1996, Matheson took on the role of a con man who claims to be Carol Brady's thought-to-be-dead husband in "A Very Brady Sequel". He appeared in the movie "Van Wilder" (2002), playing the father of the title character, who was inspired by his own character in "Animal House"; Matheson's character even makes a veiled reference to the fun times he had had at Dartmouth, where the fraternity upon which "Animal House" is rumored to have "had a strong tradition of existence". He appeared in the auto-racing film "Redline". He also appeared in a Volkswagen commercial in 2008.


title: Tim Matheson

text: In 2009, Matheson directed the pilot episode of "Covert Affairs", premiered on USA Network in 2010. Matheson also directed the pilot episodes of "The Good Guys" (2010) for the Fox Network, "Criminal Behavior" (2011) for Lifetime, and "Wild Card" (2011) for USA Network. He played Dr. Brick Breeland on "Hart of Dixie" from 2011 to 2015. Since 2019, Matheson has starred as Doc Mullins in the Netflix series Virgin River.


title: Tim Matheson

text: Matheson has been married three times. He was first married to actress Jennifer Leak from 1968 to 1971, whom he met on the set of "Yours, Mine, and Ours". In 1985 he married Megan Murphy, with whom he had three children; they divorced in 2010. He married Elizabeth Marighetto in March 2018; the two live together in Hollywood, California.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Black Hebrew Israelites (also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites) are groups of African Americans who believe that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believe that Native and Latin Americans are descendants of the Israelites as well. Black Hebrew Israelites combine elements to their teaching from a wide range of sources to varying degrees, Black Hebrew Israelites incorporate certain aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of both Christianity and Judaism, though they have created their own interpretation of the Bible, and other influences include Freemasonry and New Thought, for example. Many choose to identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than Jews in order to indicate their claimed historic connections.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Black Hebrew Israelites are not associated with the mainstream Jewish community, and they do not meet the standards that are used to identify people as Jewish by the Jewish community. They are also outside the fold of mainstream Christianity. Black Hebrew Israelism is a non-homogenous movement with a number of groups that have varying beliefs and practices. Various sects of Black Hebrew Israelism have been criticized by academics for their promotion of historical revisionism.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The Black Hebrew Israelite movement originated at the end of the 19th century, when Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy both claimed to have received visions that African Americans are descendants of the Hebrews in the Bible; Cherry established the Church of the Living God, the Pillar Ground of Truth for All Nations, in 1886, and Crowdy founded the Church of God and Saints of Christ in 1896. Subsequently, Black Hebrew groups were founded in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from Kansas to New York City, by both African Americans and West Indian immigrants. In the mid-1980s, the number of Black Hebrews in the United States was between 25,000 and 40,000.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), "Some, but not all [Black Hebrew Israelites], are outspoken anti-Semites and racists." As of December 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center "lists 144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations as black separatist hate groups because of their antisemitic and anti-white beliefs".


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The origins of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement are found in Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy, who both claimed that they had revelations in which they believed that God told them that African Americans are descendants of the Hebrews in the Christian Bible; Cherry established the "Church of the Living God, the Pillar Ground of Truth for All Nations" in 1886, and Crowdy founded the "Church of God and Saints of Christ" in 1896. Cherry taught that the Talmud was authoritative, that Jesus would return in the year A.D. 2000, and in a "square earth surrounded by three layers of heaven." The playing of the piano and the collection of tithes during Black Hebrew Israelite worship was forbidden by Cherry, who also taught the eastward direction of prayer and "denigrated white Jews as interlopers". The Church of God and Saints of Christ, originating in Kansas, retained elements of a messianic connection to Jesus. Another early key figure was William Christian. The pioneers of the movement were Freemasons, and it was strongly influenced by Masonic traditions.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: In the late 19th century, Cherry's and Crowdy's followers continued to propagate the claim that they were the biological descendants of the Israelites, and during the following decades, many more Black Hebrew congregations were established; after Frank Cherry's death in 1963, his son Prince Benjamin F. Cherry took over leadership of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. After World War I, for example, Wentworth Arthur Matthew, an emigrant from Saint Kitts, founded another Black Hebrew congregation in Harlem, claiming descent from the ancient Israelites. He called it the "Commandment Keepers of the Living God". Similar groups selected elements of Judaism and adapted them within a structure similar to that of the Black church. Matthew incorporated his congregation in 1930 and moved it to Brooklyn, where he later founded the Israelite Rabbinical Seminary, where Black Hebrew rabbis have been educated and ordained.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The group sometimes employs street preaching to promote their ideology. Sidewalk ministers may employ provocation to advance a message that is often antisemitic, racist, and xenophobic. This primarily gained notice in the news through their street preaching that purportedly targeted students of Covington Catholic High School (Kentucky) in January 2019. One student reported the Black Hebrew Israelites called students 'racists', 'bigots', 'white crackers', 'faggots', and 'incest kids', and told an African American student that white classmates would "harvest his organs".


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dozens of Black Hebrew organizations were established. In Harlem alone, at least eight such groups were founded between 1919 and 1931.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The oldest known Black Hebrew organization is the Church of the Living God, the Pillar Ground of Truth for All Nations. The group was founded by Frank Cherry in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1886, and it later moved to Philadelphia. Cherry, who was from the Deep South and had worked as a seaman and for the railroads before his ministry, taught himself Hebrew and Yiddish. Theologically, the Church of the Living God mixed elements of Judaism and Christianity, counting the Bible—including the New Testament—and the Talmud as essential scriptures.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The rituals of Cherry's flock incorporated many Jewish practices and prohibitions alongside some Christian traditions. For example, during prayer the men wore skullcaps and congregants faced east. In addition, members of the Church were not permitted to eat pork. Prayers were accompanied by musical instruments and gospel singing. Cherry died in 1963, when he was about 95 years old; his son, Prince Benjamin F. Cherry, succeeded him. Members of the church believed that he had temporarily left and would soon reappear in spirit in order to lead the church through his son.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The Church of God and Saints of Christ was established in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1896 by African American William Saunders Crowdy. The group established its headquarters in Philadelphia in 1899, and Crowdy later relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1903. After Crowdy's death in 1908, the church continued to grow under the leadership of William Henry Plummer, who moved the organization's headquarters to its permanent location in Belleville, Virginia, in 1921.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: In 1936, the Church of God and Saints of Christ had more than 200 "tabernacles" (congregations) and 37,000 members. Howard Zebulun Plummer succeeded his father and became head of the organization in 1931. His son, Levi Solomon Plummer, became the church's leader in 1975. The Church of God and Saints of Christ was led by Rabbi Jehu A. Crowdy, Jr., a great-grandson of William Saunders Crowdy, from 2001 until his death in 2016. Since 2016, it has been led by Phillip E. McNeil. As of 2005, the church had fifty tabernacles in the United States and dozens more in Africa.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The Church of God and Saints of Christ describes itself as "the oldest African-American congregation in the United States that adheres to the tenets of Judaism". The church teaches that all Jews were originally black and that African Americans are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Members believe that Jesus was neither God nor the son of God, but rather an adherent of Judaism and a prophet. They also consider William Saunders Crowdy, their founder, to be a prophet.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The Church of God and Saints of Christ synthesizes rituals from both Judaism and Christianity. They have adopted rites drawn from both the Old and New Testaments. Its Old Testament observances include the use of the Jewish calendar, the celebration of Passover, the circumcision of infant males, the commemoration of the Sabbath on Saturday, and the wearing of yarmulkes. Its New Testament rites include baptism (immersion) and footwashing, both of which have Old Testament origins.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Wentworth Arthur Matthew founded the Commandment Keepers Congregation in Harlem in 1919. Matthew was influenced by the non-black Jews he met as well as by Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey used the Biblical Jews in exile as a metaphor for black people in North America. One of the accomplishments of Garvey's movement was to strengthen the connection between black Americans and Africa, Ethiopia in particular. When Matthew later learned about the Beta Israel—Ethiopian Jews—he identified with them.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Today the Commandment Keepers follow traditional Jewish practices and observe Jewish holidays. Members observe kashrut, circumcise newborn boys, and celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and their synagogue has a mechitza to separate men and women during worship.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The Commandment Keepers believe that they are descendants of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Matthew taught that "the Black man is a Jew" and "all genuine Jews are Black men", but he valued non-black Jews as those who had preserved Judaism over the centuries. Matthew maintained cordial ties with non-black Jewish leaders in New York and frequently invited them to worship at his synagogue.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Matthew established the Ethiopian Hebrew Rabbinical College (later renamed the Israelite Rabbinical Academy) in Brooklyn. He ordained more than 20 rabbis, who went on to lead congregations throughout the United States and the Caribbean. He remained the leader of the Commandment Keepers in Harlem, and in 1962 the congregation moved to a landmark building on 123rd Street.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Matthew died in 1973, sparking an internal conflict over who would succeed him as head of the Harlem congregation. Shortly before his death, Matthew named his grandson, David Matthew Doré, as the new spiritual leader. Doré was 16 years old at the time. In 1975, the synagogue's board elected Rabbi Willie White to be its leader. Rabbi Doré occasionally conducted services at the synagogue until the early 1980s, when White had Doré and some other members locked out of the building. Membership declined throughout the 1990s, and by 2004, only a few dozen people belonged to the synagogue. In 2007 the Commandment Keepers sold the building while various factions among former members sued one another.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Besides the Harlem group, there are eight or ten Commandment Keeper congregations in the New York area, and others exist throughout North America as well as in Israel. Since 2000, seven rabbis have graduated from the Israelite Rabbinical Academy founded by Matthew.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Ben Ammi Ben-Israel established the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem in Chicago, Illinois, in 1966, a time when black nationalism was on the rise as a response to the Civil Rights Movement. In 1969, after a sojourn in Liberia, Ben Ammi and around 30 Hebrew Israelites moved to Israel. Over the next 20 years, nearly 600 more members left the United States for Israel. As of 2006, about 2,500 Hebrew Israelites live in Dimona and two other towns in the Negev region of Israel, where they are widely referred to as Black Hebrews. In addition, there are African Hebrew Israelite communities in several major American cities, including Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The Black Hebrews believe they are descended from members of the Tribe of Judah who were exiled from the Land of Israel after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE. The group incorporates elements of African-American culture into their interpretation of the Bible. They do not recognize rabbinical Jewish interpretations such as the Talmud. The Black Hebrews observe Shabbat and biblically ordained Jewish holidays such as Yom Kippur and Passover.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Men wear "tzitzit" on their African print shirts, women follow the niddah (biblical laws concerning menstruation), and newborn boys are circumcised. In accordance with their interpretation of the Bible, the Black Hebrews follow a strictly vegan diet and only wear natural fabrics. Most men have more than one wife, and birth control is not permitted.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: When the first Black Hebrews arrived in Israel in 1969, they claimed citizenship under the Law of Return, which gives eligible Jews immediate citizenship. The Israeli government ruled in 1973 that the group did not qualify for automatic citizenship because they could not prove Jewish descent and had not undergone Orthodox conversion. The Black Hebrews were denied work permits and state benefits. The group accused the Israeli government of racist discrimination. In 1981, a group of American civil rights activists led by Bayard Rustin investigated and concluded that racism was not the cause of the Black Hebrews' situation. No official action was taken to return the Black Hebrews to the United States, but some individual members were deported for working illegally.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Some Black Hebrews renounced their American citizenship in order to try to prevent more deportations. In 1990, Illinois legislators helped negotiate an agreement that resolved the Black Hebrews' legal status in Israel. Members of the group are permitted to work, and they also have access to housing and social services. The Black Hebrews reclaimed their American citizenship and have received aid from the U.S. government, which helped them build a school and additional housing. In 2003 the agreement was revised, and the Black Hebrews were granted permanent residency in Israel.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: In 2009, Elyakim Ben-Israel became the first Black Hebrew to gain Israeli citizenship. The Israeli government said that more Black Hebrews may be granted citizenship.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Today, young men and some women from the African Hebrew community of Jerusalem serve in the IDF, they have entered international sporting events and academic competitions under the Israeli flag, as well as having represented Israel twice in the Eurovision song contest.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The Black Hebrews of Israel maintain a popular gospel choir, which tours throughout Israel and the United States. The group owns restaurants in several Israeli cities. In 2003 the Black Hebrews garnered public attention when singer Whitney Houston visited them in Dimona. In 2006, Eddie Butler, a Black Hebrew, was chosen by the Israeli public to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The One West Camp is a messianic subdivision of Black Hebrew Israelite groups that believe in the Old Testament, the New Testament and the exclusive identification of the Twelve Tribes of Israel with ethnic communities of Black, Latin American, and Native American descent in the Americas. The camp is named after its first grouping, which was located at One West 125th Street in Harlem in New York City, then known as the 'Israeli School of Universal Practical Knowledge'. The movement has since splintered into numerous "camps", including the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, and the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge. Other notable groups descended from the One West Camp include the Gathering of Christ Church, Masharah Yasharahla, and Israel United in Christ.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: In late 2008, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote that "the extremist fringe of the Hebrew Israelite movement" has a Black supremacist outlook. It wrote that the members of such groups "believe that Jews are devilish impostors and ... openly condemn Whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery". The SPLC wrote that "most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence".


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: The Black Hebrew groups that are characterized as being Black supremacist by the SPLC include the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge, the Nation of Yahweh and the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ. The Anti-Defamation League has written that the "12 Tribes of Israel" website, which is maintained by a Black Hebrew group, promotes Black supremacy.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: As of December 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center "lists 144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations as black separatist hate groups because of their antisemitic and anti-white beliefs".


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: A 1999 FBI terrorism risk assessment report stated that "violent radical fringe members" of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement hold "beliefs [that] bear a striking resemblance to the Christian Identity theology practiced by many white supremacists". The 1999 assessment concluded that "the overwhelming majority of [Black Hebrew Israelites] are unlikely to engage in violence."


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Alberta Williams King, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, at age 69, by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old Black man from Ohio, who had adopted the theology of a Black Hebrew Israelite preacher, Hananiah E. Israel of Cincinnati, and had shown interest in a group called the "Hebrew Pentecostal Church of the Living God". Israel, Chenault's mentor, castigated Black civil rights activists and Black church leaders as being evil and deceptive, but claimed in interviews not to have advocated violence. Chenault did not draw any such distinction, and first decided to assassinate Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago, but canceled the plan at the last minute.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: On December 10, 2019, two people who had expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelite movement were killed in a shootout with police. They had killed a police detective at Bayview Cemetery, and three people at the JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey. The victims were the Jewish co-owner of the grocery store, an employee, and a Jewish shopper. Authorities treated the incident as an act of domestic terrorism.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Capers Funnye, who had been the rabbi for 26 years of the 200-member Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, condemned the attack and said that his community was "gripped by sadness" over "the heinous actions of two disturbed individuals who cloaked themselves in anti-Semitism and hate-filled rhetoric". He criticized the media reports by saying it was "unfortunate that the media uses the term 'Black Hebrew Israelites' without distinction as if the description is a one size fits all and it is absolutely not!". Funnye stated that "we don't want to be seen as some radical fringe group with a false narrative because we are black and profess Judaism; we are Torah-oriented Jews."


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: On December 28, 2019, a man with a machete attacked several Orthodox Jewish people during Hanukkah celebrations in a house in Monsey, New York. Authorities revealed that his journals included references to Black Hebrew Israelites, stating that "Hebrew Israelites" have taken from "ebinoid Israelites".


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: African American Christian apologetics organizations, such as the Jude 3 Project, have critiqued the theological and historical claims which have been presented by various Black Hebrew Israelite sects.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Zimbabwean novelist Masimba Musodza has stated that the doctrine which is taught by Black Hebrew Israelites "force[s] their own ideas onto the text to promote their own agenda, which serves no purpose at all except to engender antisemitism in Black communities in western countries". The historian Josephus, as well as theologians Emil Schürer and Friedrich Münter, wrote of Jewish slaves who were sold and served as labourers in Egypt and the Roman Empire, contradicting the Black Hebrew Israelite claim that Egypt is a metaphor for the Americas. Additionally, contrary to what is taught by Black Hebrew Israelites, no Kingdom of Judah existed in West Africa, and the Middle Eastern state has no connection with the Kingdom of Whydah. Black Hebrew Israelites have been criticized for making historical revisionist claims that do not acknowledge the poverty that Jews experienced as immigrants in the United States.


title: Black Hebrew Israelites

text: Fran Markowitz, a Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, writes that the Hebrew Israelite view of the transatlantic slave trade conflicts with historical accounts, as does the Hebrew Israelite belief that Socrates and William Shakespeare were black.


title: BioShock

text: BioShock is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K Games. The first game in the "BioShock" series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 platforms in August 2007; a PlayStation 3 port by Irrational, 2K Marin, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes was released in October 2008. The game is set in 1960, and follows Jack who discovers the underwater city of Rapture. Built by business magnate Andrew Ryan to be an isolated utopia, the discovery of ADAM, a genetic material which grants superhuman powers, initiated the city's turbulent decline. Jack attempts to escape, fighting ADAM-obsessed enemies and Big Daddies, while engaging with the few sane humans that remain and learning of Rapture's past. The player, as Jack, can defeat foes in several ways by using weapons, utilizing plasmids that give unique powers, and by turning Rapture's defenses against them.


title: BioShock

text: "Bioshock"s concept was developed by Irrational's creative lead, Ken Levine, and incorporates ideas by 20th century dystopian and utopian thinkers such as Ayn Rand, George Orwell, and Aldous Huxley, as well as historical figures such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Walt Disney. The game includes elements of role-playing games, giving the player different approaches in engaging enemies such as by stealth, as well as moral choices of saving or killing characters. Additionally, the game and its biopunk theme borrow concepts from the survival horror genre, notably the "Resident Evil" series. "Bioshock" is considered a spiritual successor to the "System Shock" series, on which many of Irrational's team, including Levine, had worked previously.


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock" received universal acclaim and was particularly praised by critics for its narrative, themes, visual design, setting, and gameplay. It is considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made and a demonstration of video games as an art form. "Bioshock" was followed by two sequels, "BioShock 2" and "BioShock Infinite", released in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Ports of "Bioshock" were released for macOS and mobile following its console releases. A remastered version of the game was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch as part of "".


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock" takes place in Rapture, a large underwater city planned and constructed in the 1940s by individualist business magnate Andrew Ryan, who wanted to create a utopia for society's elite to flourish outside of government control and "petty morality". This philosophy resulted in remarkable advances in the arts and sciences, which included the discovery of "ADAM": a potent gene-altering substance which is created by a species of sea slug on the ocean floor. ADAM soon led to the creation of "Plasmids", mutagenic serums that grant users super-human powers (such as telekinesis and pyrokinesis). To protect and isolate Rapture, Ryan outlawed any contact with the surface world.


title: BioShock

text: As Rapture flourished, wealth disparities also grew, and conman/businessman Frank Fontaine used his influence over the disenfranchised working class to establish illegal enterprises and attain power—enough to rival even Ryan himself. Together with doctors Brigid Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong, Fontaine would create his own company dedicated towards researching plasmids and gene tonics. As ADAM became addictive and demand skyrocketed, Fontaine would secretly mass-produce ADAM through slugs implanted in the stomachs of orphaned girls, nicknamed "Little Sisters". Fontaine was then killed in a shootout with police, and Ryan took the opportunity to seize his assets, including control of the Little Sisters.


title: BioShock

text: In the months that followed, a man amongst the poor named Atlas rose up and began a violent revolution against Ryan, with both sides using plasmid-enhanced humans (known as "Splicers") to wage war on one another. To protect the Little Sisters, Ryan created the "Big Daddies": genetically-enhanced humans surgically grafted into gigantic lumbering diving suits, designed to escort the sisters as they scavenged ADAM from dead bodies. Tensions came to a head on New Year's Eve of 1958, when Atlas ordered an all-out assault on Ryan and his supporters. The conflict turns Rapture into a war-torn crumbling dystopia, resulting in societal collapse, countless deaths, many Splicers becoming disfigured and insane from ADAM abuse, and the few sane survivors barricading themselves away from the chaos.


title: BioShock

text: In 1960, the protagonist, Jack, is a passenger on a plane that crashes in the Atlantic Ocean. As the only survivor, Jack makes his way to a nearby lighthouse that houses a bathysphere terminal, which takes him to Rapture. Jack is contacted by Atlas via radio, and is guided to confront the perils of the ruined city.


title: BioShock

text: Atlas requests Jack's help in stopping Ryan, directing him to a docked bathysphere where he says Ryan has trapped his family. When Jack first encounters the Little Sisters, Atlas urges him to kill them to harvest their ADAM, but Dr. Tenenbaum intervenes and insists Jack should spare them, providing him with a plasmid that can remove the sea slug from their bodies and free them of their brainwashing. Jack eventually works his way to the bathysphere, but Ryan destroys it before Jack can reach it. Infuriated, Atlas has Jack fight his way through various districts towards Ryan's lair, forcing Jack to contend with Rapture's deranged citizens along the way: such as the mad surgical doctor J.S. Steinman, and insane artist and musician Sander Cohen.


title: BioShock

text: Eventually, Jack enters Ryan's office, where Ryan is casually playing golf and explains Jack's true origins. Through his dialogue and the evidence the player can gather up to this point, it is revealed that Jack is actually Ryan's illegitimate son, sold by Ryan's mistress as an embryo to Fontaine, who then had Tenenbaum and Suchong rapidly age Jack into adulthood and turned into an obedient assassin, capable of accessing any of Rapture's systems locked to Ryan's genetic code and thus ensure Fontaine's victory in the war. Jack was then smuggled to the surface with false memories of a normal life, waiting to be called back to Rapture when needed. Ryan suddenly takes control of Jack's actions by asking "Would you kindly?"; Jack realizes this phrase has preceded many of Atlas' commands as a hypnotic trigger, forcing him to follow any orders without question. Jack also realizes he was responsible for the plane crash, having read a letter onboard containing the same trigger phrase.


title: BioShock

text: Ryan chooses to die by his own will, and compels Jack to beat him to death with a golf club. Atlas then reveals himself to be Fontaine, having faked his death and used "Atlas" as an alias to hide his identity, while providing a heroic figure for the poor people to rally behind for his own ends. With Ryan finally dead, Fontaine takes control of Ryan's systems and leaves Jack to be killed by hostile security drones. Jack is saved by Dr. Tenenbaum and the Little Sisters that had been cured, and is helped to remove Fontaine's mental conditioning, including one that would have stopped Jack's heart. Jack pursues Fontaine to his lair, where Fontaine transforms himself into a blue-skinned humanoid creature by injecting himself with a large supply of ADAM. The Little Sisters aid Jack in draining the ADAM from Fontaine's body, and eventually kill him.


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock" is a first-person shooter with role-playing game customization and stealth elements, and is similar to "System Shock 2". The player takes the role of Jack as he is guided through Rapture towards various objectives. The player collects multiple weapons and plasmids as they work their way through enemy forces. The player can switch between one active weapon and one active plasmid at any time, allowing them to find combination attacks that can be effective against certain enemies, such as first shocking a Splicer then striking them down with a wrench. Weapons are limited by ammunition that the player collects; many weapons have secondary ammo types that can be used instead for additional benefits, such as bullets that inflict fire damage. Plasmid use consumes a serum called EVE which can be restored using EVE syringes collected by the player. The player has a health meter that decreases when they take damage. The player can restore their health with medical packs found throughout Rapture. If the player's health reduces to zero, they will be regenerated at the last Vita-Chamber that they passed with limited amounts of health and EVE. A patch for the game allows players to disable these Vita-Chambers, requiring players to restart a saved game if the character dies.


title: BioShock

text: The game provides several options for players to face challenges. In addition to direct combat, the player can use plasmids to lure enemies into traps or to turn enemies against each other, or employ stealth tactics to avoid detection by hostiles including the security systems and turrets. The player can hack into any of Rapture's automated systems; the hacking process is done via a mini-game similar to "Pipe Mania" where the player must connect two points on opposite sides of a grid with a limited set of piping within a fixed amount of time, with failure to complete in time costing health and potentially sounding alarms. Early in the game, the player is given a research camera; by taking photographs of enemies, the player will cumulatively gain knowledge about the individual foes which translates into attack boosts and other benefits when facing that enemy type in the future.


title: BioShock

text: The player collects money by exploring Rapture and from the bodies of defeated foes; this money can be used at vending machines to restock on ammunition, health and EVE, and other items; like security cameras, vending machines can also be hacked to reduce the costs of items from it. The player will also receive rewards in the form of ADAM from completing some tasks, as well as from either saving or killing the Little Sisters after defeating their Big Daddy guardian. ADAM is used to purchase new plasmids from Gatherer's Garden machines scattered around Rapture. In addition to plasmids, the player will also collect and buy tonics that provide passive bonuses, such as increasing Jack's strength, using EVE more efficiently, or making Jack more resistant to damage. The player can only have a limited number of plasmids and tonics active at any time, and can swap between the various plasmids and tonics at certain stations located throughout Rapture.


title: BioShock

text: Lead developer Ken Levine had created Irrational Games in 1997 out of former members from Looking Glass Studios. Their first game was "System Shock 2", a sequel to Looking Glass's "System Shock", and was met with critical success, though it did not prove a financial one. Levine had attempted to pitch a sequel to "System Shock 2" to Electronic Arts, but the publisher rejected the idea based on the poor performance of the earlier game. Irrational would proceed to develop other games, including "Freedom Force", "", the canceled title "Deep Cover", and the completed "The Lost" which was never released due to legal complications. At this point, Levine wanted to return to a game in the same style as "System Shock 2", a more free-form game with strong narrative.


title: BioShock

text: In 2002, the team had come up with a core gameplay mechanic idea based on three groups of forces; drones that would carry a desirable resource, protectors that would guard the drones, and harvesters that would attempt to take the resource from the drones; these would eventually bear out as the Little Sisters, Big Daddies, and Splicers in the final game, but at the time of the concept, there was no set theme. They began working on creating a setting for the game as to be able to pitch the idea to game publishers. A 2002 demonstration version was based on the Unreal Engine 2 for the first Xbox. This demonstration was primarily set aboard a space station overtaken with genetically-mutated monsters; the main character was Carlos Cuello, a "cult deprogrammer"—a person charged with rescuing someone from a cult, and mentally and psychologically readjusting that person to a normal life. Ken Levine cites an example of what a cult deprogrammer does: "[There are] people who hired people to [for example] deprogram their daughter who had been in a lesbian relationship. They kidnap her and reprogram her, and it was a really dark person, and that was the [kind of] character that you were." This story would have been more political in nature, with the character hired by a Senator. The team collectively agreed that this game was not what they had set out to make, and were having trouble finding a publisher. They considered ending development, but as news about their efforts to create a spiritual successor to "System Shock 2" began to appear in gaming magazines and websites, the team opted to continue development, performing a full revamp of the game.


title: BioShock

text: By 2004, 2K Games, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, offered to publish the game primarily based on the drone/protector/harvester concept, giving Irrational the freedom to develop the story and setting. By this point, the story and setting had changed significantly, taking place in an abandoned World War II-era Nazi laboratory that had been recently unearthed by 21st-century scientists. Over the decades, the genetic experiments within the labs had gradually formed themselves into an ecosystem centered on the three groups. This version of the game included many of the gameplay elements that would remain in the final "BioShock", themselves influenced by concepts from "System Shock 2". These elements included the use of plasmids and EVE, the need to use stealth or other options to deal with automated security systems, direction through the environment from a non-player character relayed over a radio, and story elements delivered through audio recordings and "ghosts" of deceased characters.


title: BioShock

text: While the gameplay with the 2004 reveal was similar to what resulted in the released version of "BioShock", both design and story changed, consistent with what Levine says was then-Irrational Games' guiding principle of putting game design first. These areas were also issued due to some internal strife and lack of communication between the various teams within Irrational, part of the result of having to expand the team from six to sixty members for the scope of the project. The environment was considered bland, and there were difficulties by the team's artists to come up with a consistent vision to meet the level designer's goals. A critical junction was a short experiment performed by level designer Jean Paul LeBreton and artist Hoagy de la Plante, setting themselves aside to co-develop a level that would later become part of the "Tea Garden" area in the released game, which Levine would later use as a prime example of a "great "BioShock" space", emphasizing the need for departments to work together. Levine also found that the cyberpunk theme had been overplayed considering their initial reject from Electronic Arts for "System Shock 3", leading towards the underwater setting of Rapture.


title: BioShock

text: The game's lead level designer was Bill Gardner. He cited Capcom's survival horror series "Resident Evil" as a significant influence on "BioShock", stating there are "all these nods and all these little elements that I think you can see where "Resident Evil" inspired us". The team were particularly influenced by "Resident Evil 4", including its approach to the environments, combat, and tools, its game design and tactical elements, its "gameplay fuelled storytelling" and inventory system, and its opening village level in terms of how it "handled the sandbox nature of the combat" and in terms of "the environment".


title: BioShock

text: The thematic core of "BioShock" was born when Levine was walking at Rockefeller Center near the GE Building in New York City. He saw the uniqueness of the art deco styling of the building along with imagery around the building such as the statue of Atlas near it, and recognized that these were spaces that had not been experienced in the first-person shooter genre. The history of the Rockefeller Center also fed into the story concept; Levine noted how the Center had started construction prior to the Great Depression; when the primary financiers had pulled out, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. backed the remaining construction to complete the project himself, as stated by "Edge" magazine "a great man building an architectural triumph against all the odds". The history of Rapture and the character of Andrew Ryan is loosely based on Rockefeller's story. He also considered that many of the characters of Rapture were all people who were oppressed once before in their lives and now free of that oppression, have turned around and become the oppressors, a fact he felt resonated throughout human history.


title: BioShock

text: At this point in the development, the backdrop of Rapture had been fleshed out, but they had yet to come on how to represent the drones, protectors, and harvesters from their original game idea. The Big Daddy concept as the protector class was developed early in the process, but the team had yet to reach a satisfying design for the drones, having used several possible designs including bugs and dogs in wheelchairs. The team wanted to have the player care for the drones in some way and create pathos for these characters. The idea of using little girls came out of brainstorming, but was controversial and shocking within the team at first, recognizing that they could easily be killed and make the game more horrific in the style of "Night Trap". However, as Levine worked on the story, he started to incorporate the ideas of dystopian and utopian thinkers from the twentieth century, including Ayn Rand, Aldous Huxley, and George Orwell, and considered their ideas "fascinating". He brought in the ideas of Objectivism that Rand primarily outlined in the book "Atlas Shrugged", that man should be driven by selfishness and not altruism, and used this to inform the philosophy behind the city of Rapture and Andrew Ryan's work, viewing them as quite ludicrous, and primed to be applied to an antagonist, tied in with his previous observations on Rockefeller and his writings. This was extended to the use of the little girls as drones (now Little Sisters), particularly the question whether the player should try to save the girls or harvest the ADAM for their benefit. 2K Games expressed concern about the initial mechanic of the Little Sisters, where the player would actively prey on the Little Sister, which would have alerted a Big Daddy and set up the fight with the player. This approach did not sit well with Levine, and 2K Games asserted that they would not ship a game "where the player gets punished for doing the right thing". They altered this approach where the Little Sisters would be invulnerable until the player had dealt with their Big Daddy, though LeBreton considered this "a massive kludge" into the game's fiction. The idea of creating the Little Sisters and presenting the player with this choice became a critical part of the game's appeal to the broader gaming market, although it was met with criticism from some outlets. Levine desired only to have one ending to the game, something that would have left the fate of the characters "much more ambiguous", but publisher pressure directed them to craft multiple endings depending on the choice of harvesting Little Sisters. Levine also noted that "it was never my intention to do two endings for the game. It sort of came very late and it was something that was requested by somebody up the food chain from me."


title: BioShock

text: Other elements came into the story design. Levine had an interest in "stem cell research and the moral issues that go around <nowiki>[it]</nowiki>". Regarding artistic influences, Levine cited the books "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "Logan's Run", representing societies that have "really interesting ideas screwed up by the fact that we're people". The idea of the mind control used on Jack was offered by LeBreton, inspired by films like "The Manchurian Candidate", as a means to provide a better reason to limit the player's actions as opposed to the traditional use of locked doors to prevent them exploring areas they should not. The team had agreed that Jack's actions would be controlled by a key phrase but struggled with coming up with one that would not reveal Atlas' true nature. Levine happened upon "Would you kindly" after working on marketing materials for the game that asked the reader hypothetical questions such as "Would you kill people, even innocent people, to survive?", later working that phrase into the first script for the game.


title: BioShock

text: Numerous tensions within the team and from publisher 2K Games continued during the development process. According to LeBreton, Levine was distrustful of some of the more egotistical newer hires and was often arguing with them to enforce his vision of "BioShock". 2K Games was concerned with the growing budget for the title, and told Levine to market the title more as a first-person shooter rather than the first-person shooter/role playing game hybrid they set out for. Near the targeted release date, Levine ordered the team into round-the-clock development, creating more strife in the team. Paul Hellquist, the game's lead designer, was often omitted from key design meetings, which he later recounted was due to his contrary nature to Levine, questioning several of his choices; he used his frustration to put into the design efforts for the Medical Pavilion level that he was in charge of at that time. Near the anticipated completion date, 2K decided to give Irrational another three months to polish up the game, extending the current crunch time the studio was already under. This left some hard-to-discover bugs and issues in the game undiscovered. One such case was an apparent Easter egg found in the remastered version in 2018, where under certain conditions, the player can end up looking at an object with the description "Paul Hellquist did not do his Job". Both Levine and Chris Kline, the game's lead programmer confirmed the message was a cheeky jab at Hellquist left as a debugging message; Kline and Hellquist were developing the systems to show descriptions of objects to players when looked at, and Hellquist offered to complete all the necessary descriptions in-game; to jokingly help prod Hellquist along, Kline put "Paul Hellquist did not do his Job" as the default message within the executable code. While the code message was changed for the original release, the remastered version likely used a pre-final version of the "BioShock" code, according to Kline. Hellquist took the revelation in good humor and tweeted that other Easter eggs should have been added to the game to display, "If you are enjoying this, Paul Hellquist did his job."


title: BioShock

text: A critical playtest of the game occurred in January 2007, where initial feedback from the players was mostly negative, including issues of the setting being too dark, having no idea where to go, and distrusting Atlas, who at the time was voiced in a southern drawl, described as a "lecherous Colonel Sanders". The team took this criticism to heart, revamping several elements during those extra months such as improving the lighting, implementing a quest marker, and using an Irish voice for Atlas to make him sound more trustworthy. During another late-stage playtest with the title "ninety-nine percent" complete according to Levine, the playtesters did not like the game at all as they felt no connection to the player-character Jack, and the person overseeing the tests told Levine that the game was likely to be a failure. At this point, "BioShock" did not have many cutscenes, as Levine was ideologically opposed to them. However, the following day, Levine and the lead group came up with a "cheap" way to correct this, by adding the initial cut scene within the plane and the subsequent plane crash, as this helped to set the time frame, place the player in the role of the character, and alluded to the "would you kindly" line later in the game. Levine likened this approach to the initial aircraft crash at the onset of the television show "Lost" to quickly establish character and setting.


title: BioShock

text: The game was successfully released in August 2007 with a final budget of about $25 million. In a 2016 interview, Levine felt that the game could have used about six more months of development to improve the gun combat system and fix lagging issues that occurred during the final boss fight. Despite the critical success of the title, many of those on the team would leave Irrational to pursue other projects due to late development strife that occurred.


title: BioShock

text: In an interview in 2018, Levine had come to recognize that "BioShock" reflected several Jewish themes, though this was not intentional. Levine, who considers himself culturally Jewish but does not follow Judaism, had grown up in New Jersey but spent much of his childhood time with his father who worked in Manhattan's Diamond District and visiting his grandparents in Queens, a neighborhood with a large proportion of Eastern European immigrants. Thus, Levine was exposed to much of the Jewish culture that flourished in the area following World War II and understood some of the anxiety Jewish people faced. In the 2018 interview, Levine recognized several of the characters, including Andrew Ryan (who was inspired by Ayn Rand who was also Jewish), Sander Cohen, and Brigid Tenenbaum, were written all as Jewish, and all seeking to escape a world they felt they did not fit into by going to Rapture; Levine said "'There's literal displacement and then there's a feeling of not fitting in, of 'I don't really belong here'. I think Jews are always going to feel a little bit like they don't belong wherever they are. There's always that 'what if we have to flee' mentality."


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock" uses a heavily modified Unreal Engine 2.5 with some of the advanced technologies from Unreal Engine 3. Irrational had previous experience with modifying and expanding on the Unreal Engine in "SWAT 4", and continued this advancement of the engine within "BioShock". One significant improvement they added was improved water effects, given the nature of the game's setting, hiring a programmer and artist to focus on the water effects. This graphical enhancement has been lauded by critics, with GameSpot saying, "Whether it's standing water on the floor or sea water rushing in after an explosion, it will blow you away every time you see it." "BioShock" also uses the Havok Physics engine that allows for an enhancement of in-game physics, the integration of ragdoll physics, and allows for more lifelike movement by elements of the environment. The Windows version was built to work in both Direct3D 10 (DirectX 10) and DirectX 9, with the DirectX 10 version supporting additional water and particle effects.


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock" contains both licensed music and an original score. The licensed music from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s can be heard playing on phonograph throughout Rapture. In total, 30 licensed songs can be heard throughout the game. The original score was composed by Garry Schyman. He composed his pieces to blend with the chosen licensed music as to keep the same feel, while also trying to bring out something that was "eerie, frightening and at times beautiful" to mesh well with Rapture's environments.


title: BioShock

text: 2K Games released an orchestral score soundtrack on their official homepage on August 24, 2007. Available in MP3 format, the score—composed by Garry Schyman—contains 12 of the 22 tracks from the game. The Limited Edition version of the game came with "The Rapture EP" remixes by Moby and Oscar The Punk. The three remixed tracks on the CD include "Beyond the Sea", "God Bless the Child" and "Wild Little Sisters"; the original recordings of these songs are in the game. "BioShock" score was released on a vinyl LP with the "BioShock 2" Special Edition.


title: BioShock

text: An initial demo of the game was made available in August 2007 for Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. This demo included cutscenes to introduce the player to Rapture, the game's tutorial section, and its first levels; the demo also included weapons, plasmids, and tonics that would otherwise be introduced later in the full title, as to give the player more of the features that would be found in the published game. The Xbox 360 demo was the fastest demo at that time to reach one million downloads on the Xbox Live service. The full game was released for these platforms on August 21, 2007.


title: BioShock

text: The first patch for the Xbox 360 version was released about two weeks after release to fix some of the game stability issues players had reported. The patch was found to introduce more problems to the game for some users, including occasional freezes, bad framerates, and audio-related issues, though methods to resolve these issues through the console's cache system were outlined by Irrational Games.


title: BioShock

text: In December 2007, a common patch was released for both the Xbox 360 and Windows version. The patch included additional content such as new Plasmids, new achievements for the Xbox 360 version, and additional graphics settings to address some of the field-of-view issues identified by players. (See below). The patch also added in an option to disable the use of Vita-Chambers, a feature requested by players to make the game more challenging, as well as an achievement to complete the game at its hardest setting without using a Vita-Chamber.


title: BioShock

text: In an August 2007 interview, when asked about the possibility of a PlayStation 3 version of "BioShock", Ken Levine had stated only that there was "no PS3 development going on" at the time; however, on May 28, 2008, 2K Games confirmed that a PlayStation 3 version of the game was in development by 2K Marin, and it was released on October 17, 2008. On July 3, 2008, 2K Games announced a partnership with Digital Extremes and said that the PlayStation 3 version is being developed by 2K Marin, 2K Boston, 2K Australia, and Digital Extremes. Jordan Thomas was the director for the PlayStation 3 version. While there were no graphical improvements to the game over the original Xbox 360 version, the PlayStation 3 version offered the widescreen option called "horizontal plus", introduced via a patch on the 360 version, while cutscene videos were of a much higher resolution than in the DVD version. Additional add-on content was also released exclusively for the PlayStation 3 version. One addition was "Survivor Mode", in which the enemies were made tougher, and Vita-Chambers provided less of a health boost when used, forcing the player to be more creative in approaching foes and to rely more on the less-used plasmids in the game. "BioShock" also supports Trophies and PlayStation Home. A demo version was released on the PlayStation Store on October 2, 2008. An update for the PlayStation 3 version was released on November 13, 2008, to fix some graphical problems and occasions where users experienced a hang and were forced to reset the console. This update also incorporated the "Challenge Room" and "New Game Plus" features.


title: BioShock

text: In early 2008, IG Fun secured the rights to develop and publish a mobile phone version of "BioShock". This version was developed as a top-down, two-dimensional platformer that attempted to recreate most of the plot and game elements of the original title; IG Fun worked with Irrational to determine the critical story elements they wanted to keep in the game. IG Fun recognized they would not be able to include the full storyline within a single mobile title, and so planned to split the title into three "episodes". Only the first episode was released.


title: BioShock

text: Another mobile port was developed by Tridev, known as "BioShock 3D", released in 2010. Several parts of the game were reduced to single image graphics and the main gameplay engine had to use low-resolution and low-polygon models due to the limitations of mobile phones at the time of its release.


title: BioShock

text: A port to iOS devices done by the 2K China studio was released on August 27, 2014. The iOS version is content complete and functionally equivalent to the original Xbox 360 and Windows version, featuring either the use of touch-screen virtual gamepad controls or the use of a Bluetooth-enabled controller, and with a graphics engine optimized for iOS devices. The game was later delisted from the App Store in September 2015; the game had become unplayable for many that upgraded to iOS 8.4 on their devices, and while a patch had been discussed, a 2K representative stated that the decision to remove the game came from the developer. 2K later clarified that they will be working on resolving the issues with the game's compatibility with the new firmware and will re-release the title once that has been completed. However, by January 2017, 2K officially stated that it will no longer working to support the game's compatibility with newer iOS system.


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock" has received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic, with the game receiving an average review score of 96/100 for Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows, and 94/100 for PlayStation 3. , it is one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic, tied with several other games for the fourth-highest aggregate score. Mainstream press reviews have praised the immersive qualities of the game and its political dimension. "The Boston Globe" described it as "a beautiful, brutal, and disquieting computer game ... one of the best in years", and compared the game to Whittaker Chambers' 1957 riposte to "Atlas Shrugged", "Big Sister Is Watching You". "Wired" also mentioned the Ayn Rand connection (a partial anagram of Andrew Ryan) in a report on the game which featured a brief interview with Levine. The "Chicago Sun-Times" review said "I never once thought anyone would be able to create an engaging and entertaining video game around the fiction and philosophy of Ayn Rand, but that is essentially what 2K Games has done ... the rare, mature video game that succeeds in making you think while you play".


title: BioShock

text: The "Los Angeles Times" review concluded, "Sure, it's fun to play, looks spectacular and is easy to control. But it also does something no other game has done to date: It really makes you feel." "The New York Times" reviewer described it as: "intelligent, gorgeous, occasionally frightening" and added, "Anchored by its provocative, morality-based story line, sumptuous art direction and superb voice acting, "BioShock" can also hold its head high among the best games ever made."


title: BioShock

text: GameSpy praised "BioShock" "inescapable atmosphere", and "Official Xbox Magazine" lauded its "inconceivably great plot" and "stunning soundtrack and audio effects." The gameplay and combat system have been praised for being smooth and open-ended, and elements of the graphics, such as the water, were commended for their quality. It has been noted that the combination of the game's elements "straddles so many entertainment art forms so expertly that it's the best demonstration yet how flexible this medium can be. It's no longer just another shooter wrapped up in a pretty game engine, but a story that exists and unfolds inside the most convincing and elaborate and artistic game world ever conceived."


title: BioShock

text: Reviewers did highlight a few negative issues in "BioShock", however. The recovery system involving "Vita-Chambers", which revive a defeated player at half-health, but do not alter the enemies' health, makes it possible to wear down enemies through sheer perseverance, and was criticized as one of the most significant flaws in the gameplay. IGN noted that both the controls and graphics of the Xbox 360 version are inferior to those of the PC version, in that switching between weapons or plasmids is easier using the PC's mouse than the 360's radial menu, as well as the graphics being slightly better with higher resolutions. The game has been touted as a hybrid first-person shooter, but two reviewers found advances from comparable games lacking, both in the protagonist and in the challenges he faces. Some reviewers also found the combat behavior of the splicers lacking in diversity (and their A.I. behavior not very well done), and the moral choice too much "black and white" to be interesting. Some reviewers and essayists such as Jonathan Blow also claimed that the "moral choice" the game offered to the player (saving or harvesting the little sisters) was flawed because, to them, it had no real impact on the game, which ultimately lead them to think that the sisters were just mechanics of no real importance. Daniel Friedman for "Polygon" concurred with Blow, noting that the player only loses 10% of the possible ADAM rewards for saving the Little Sisters rather than killing them, and felt that this would have been better instituted as part of the game difficulty mechanic. Former LucasArts developer Clint Hocking wrote a noted essay that claimed that "BioShock" exhibited "ludonarrative dissonance" between its story and mechanics, as while he saw the story as advocating selflessness in helping others, its gameplay encourages what he views as selfishness by preying on Little Sisters.


title: BioShock

text: At E3 2006, "BioShock" was given several "Games of the Show" awards from various online gaming sites, including GameSpot, IGN, GameSpy and GameTrailers's Trailer of the Year. "BioShock" received an award for Best Xbox 360 Game at the 2007 Leipzig Games Convention. After the game's release, the 2007 "Spike TV Video Game Awards" selected "BioShock" as "Game of the Year", "Best Xbox 360 Game", and "Best Original Score", and nominated it for four awards: "Best Shooter", "Best Graphics", "Best PC Game", and "Best Soundtrack". The game also won the 2007 BAFTA "Best Game" award. X-Play also selected it as "Game of the Year", "Best Original Soundtrack", "Best Writing/Story", and "Best Art Direction". "Game Informer" named "BioShock" its Game of the Year for 2007.


title: BioShock

text: At IGN's "Best of 2007" "BioShock" was nominated for Game of The Year 2007, and won the award for PC Game of the Year, Best Artistic Design, and Best Use of Sound. GameSpy chose it as the third-best game of the year and gave "BioShock" the awards for Best Sound, Story, and Art Direction. GameSpot awarded the game for Best Story, while GamePro gave "BioShock" the Best Story, Xbox 360 and Best Single-Player Shooter awards. "BioShock" won the "Best Visual Art", "Best Writing", and "Best Audio" awards at the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards. Guinness World Records awarded the game a record for "Most Popular Xbox Live Demo" in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. "BioShock" is ranked first on "Game Informer" list of The Top 10 Video Game Openings. GamesRadar placed "Bioshock" as the 12th best game of all time. In 2011 "BioShock" was awarded the number 1 spot in GameTrailers' "Top 100 Video Game Trailers of All Time", for submerging the viewer into the "BioShock" universe and its enduring impact. In August 2012, IGN gave it the top spot on their list of the Top 25 Modern PC Games, a ranking of the best PC games released since 2006. In November 2012, "Time" named it one of the 100 greatest video games of all time. In July 2015, the game placed 9th on "USgamer" The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list.


title: BioShock

text: The Xbox 360 version was the third best-selling game of August 2007, with 490,900 copies. "The Wall Street Journal" reported that shares in Take-Two Interactive "soared nearly 20%" in the week following overwhelmingly favorable early reviews of the game. Take-Two Interactive announced that by June 5, 2008, over 2.2 million copies of "BioShock" had been shipped. In a June 10, 2008 interview, Roy Taylor, Nvidia's VP of Content Business Development, stated that the PC version has sold over one million copies. According to Take-Two Interactive's chairman Strauss Zelnick, the game had sold around 3 million copies by June 2009. By March 2010, "BioShock" had sold 4 million copies.


title: BioShock

text: The initial Windows release was criticized by players for several perceived shortcomings. The game was shipped with SecuROM copy protection that required activation from 2K Games' servers over the Internet; the unavailability of these servers was reported as the reason for the cancellation of the game's midnight release in Australia. Players found that the SecuROM limited the number of times the game could be activated to two; user feedback led to 2K Games to increase the activation count to five, and later offer a tool that allowed users to revoke previous activations on their own. Ultimately 2K Games removed the activation limit, though retail versions of the game still required the activation process. Levine admitted that their initial approach to the activation process was malformed, harming their reputation during the launch period.


title: BioShock

text: The SecuROM software also caused some virus scanners and malware detector to believe the software was malicious. 2K Games assured players that the software installation process did not install any malicious code or rootkit. However, players observed that some of the SecuROM software was not entirely removed on uninstallation of the game.


title: BioShock

text: Some of the graphic capabilities of "BioShock" were criticized by players. The initial release of the game was found to have cut off the top and bottom of the field of view in order to fit widescreen monitors, resulting in less vertical view instead of more horizontal view compared to 4:3 monitors, conflicting with original reports from a developer on how widescreen would have been handled. 2K Games later stated that the choice of the field of view was a design decision made during development. Irrational included an option for "Horizontal FOV Lock" in the December 2007 patch that allows widescreen users a wider field of view, without cutting anything off the image vertically. "BioShock" was also criticized for not supporting pixel shader 2.0b video cards (such as the Radeon X800/X850), which were considered high-end graphics cards in 2004–2005, and accounted for about 24% of surveyed hardware collected through Valve's Steam platform at the time of "BioShock" release.


title: BioShock

text: On July 8, 2014, 2K Games released a DRM-free version of "BioShock" on the Humble 2K Bundle, and then re-released on the Humble Store.


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock" has received praise for its artistic style and compelling storytelling. In their book, "Digital Culture: Understanding New Media", Glen Creeber and Royston Martin perform a case study of "BioShock" as a critical analysis of video games as an artistic medium. They praised the game for its visuals, sound, and ability to engage the player into the story. They viewed "BioShock" as a sign of the "coming of age" of video games as an artistic medium. John Lanchester of the "London Review of Books" recognized "BioShock" as one of the first video games to break into coverage of mainstream media to be covered as a work of art arising from its narrative aspects, whereas before video games had failed to enter into the "cultural discourse", or otherwise covered due to moral controversies they created. Peter Suderman for "Vox" in 2016 wrote that "BioShock" was the first game that demonstrated that video games could be a work of art, particularly highlighting that the game plays on the theme of giving the illusion of individual control.


title: BioShock

text: In February 2011, the Smithsonian Institution announced it would hold an exhibit dedicated to the art of video games. Several games were chosen by the Smithsonian's curators; when the public voted for additional games they felt deserved to be included in the exhibition, "BioShock" was among the winners.


title: BioShock

text: The game's plot twist, where the player discovers that the player-character Jack has been coerced into events by the trigger phrase, "Would you kindly...", is considered one of the strongest narrative elements of recent games, in part that it subverted the expectation that the player has control and influence on the game. In homage to "BioShock", "Black Mirror" video game-centric episode "Playtest" includes the phrase.


title: BioShock

text: In response to the game's high sales and critical acclaim, Take-Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick revealed in a post-earnings report call that the company now considered the game part of a franchise. He also speculated that any follow-ups would mimic the release cadence of "Grand Theft Auto", with a new release expected every two years. 2K's president Christoph Hartmann stated that "BioShock" could have five sequels, comparing the franchise to the "Star Wars" movies.


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock 2" was announced in 2008, with its development led by 2K Marin. Levine stated that Irrational (then 2K Boston) was not involved in the game's sequel because they wanted to "swing for the fences" and try to come up with something "very, very different", which was later revealed as "BioShock Infinite". "BioShock 3" was also announced, with its release assumed to likely coincide with the "BioShock" film. "BioShock 2" takes place about ten years following the events of the first game. The player assumes the role of Subject Delta, a precursor of the Big Daddies who must search the fallen city of Rapture for his former Little Sister, Eleanor. "BioShock 2" was released for Windows PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and the PlayStation 3 worldwide on February 9, 2010.


title: BioShock

text: While "BioShock Infinite", developed by Irrational Games and released in 2013, shares the name and many similar gameplay concepts with "BioShock", the title is not a sequel or prequel of the original story, but instead takes place aboard the collapsing air-city of Columbia in the year 1912. It follows former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt as he is he attempts to rescue a young woman, Elizabeth, from the angelic tower in which her father has imprisoned her. "Infinite" involves the possibilities of multiple universes. In one scene, the game take place at the lighthouse and bathysphere terminus of Rapture as part of this exploration. However, no direct canonical connection is given in the main game. The episodic expansion, "", takes place in Rapture in 1959, before the war between Atlas and Ryan, while continuing the story of Booker and Elizabeth. This content links the two stories while providing expansion on the causes and behind-the-scenes events alluded to by the in-game background from "BioShock".


title: BioShock

text: After completing "BioShock Infinite" and its expansion, Levine announced that he was restructuring Irrational Games to focus on smaller, narrative-driven titles. 2K Games continues to hold on to the "BioShock" intellectual property and plans to continue to develop games in this series, considering the framework set by Levine and his team as a "rich creative canvas" for more stories.


title: BioShock

text: Following the creation of a fan petition for a special edition, Take-Two Interactive stated that they would publish a special edition of "BioShock" only if the petition received 5,000 signatures; this number of signatures was reached after just five hours. Subsequently, a poll was posted on the 2K Games operated Cult of Rapture community website in which visitors could vote on what features they would most like to see in a special edition; the company stated that developers would take this poll into serious consideration. To determine what artwork would be used for the Limited Edition cover, 2K Games ran a contest, with the winning entry provided by Crystal Clear Art's owner and graphic designer Adam Meyer.


title: BioShock

text: On April 23, 2007, the Cult of Rapture website confirmed that the Limited Collector's Edition would include a Big Daddy figurine (many of which were damaged due to a dropped shipping container; a replacement initiative is in place), a "Making Of" DVD, and a soundtrack CD. Before the special edition was released, the proposed soundtrack CD was replaced with "The Rapture EP".


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock" was remastered to support 1080p and higher framerates as part of the 2016 "" release for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One systems. The remastering was performed by Blind Squirrel Games and published by 2K Games. A standalone version of "BioShock Remastered" was released for macOS by Feral Interactive on August 22, 2017. The standalone version of the remastered version of "BioShock" along with "The Collection" were released on May 29, 2020 on the Nintendo Switch.


title: BioShock

text: "BioShock: Breaking the Mold", a book containing artwork from the game, was released by 2K Games on August 13, 2007. It is available in both low and high resolution, in PDF format from 2K Games' official website. Until October 1, 2007, 2K Games was sending a printed version of the book to the owners of the collector's edition whose Big Daddy figurines had been broken, as compensation for the time it took to replace them. On October 31, 2008, the winners of "Breaking the Mold: Developers Edition Artbook Cover Contest" were announced on cultofrapture.com.


title: BioShock

text: A prequel novel, titled "" written by John Shirley, was published July 19, 2011. The prequel book details the construction of Rapture and the events leading to its demise. The book follows multiple "BioShock" characters.


title: BioShock

text: Industry rumors after the game's release suggested a film adaptation of the game would be made, utilizing similar green screen filming techniques as in the movie "300" to recreate the environments of Rapture. On May 9, 2008, Take-Two Interactive announced a deal with Universal Studios to produce a "BioShock" movie, to be directed by Gore Verbinski and written by John Logan. The film was expected to be released in 2010, but was put on hold due to budget concerns. On August 24, 2009, it was revealed that Verbinski had dropped out of the project due to the studio's decision to film overseas to keep the budget under control. Verbinski reportedly feels this would have hindered his work on "Rango". Then Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was in talks to direct with Verbinski as producer.


title: BioShock

text: In January 2010 the project was in the pre-production stage, with director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Braden Lynch, a voice artist from "BioShock 2" both working on the film. By July, the film was facing budget issues, but producer Gore Verbinski said they were working it out. He also said the film would be a hard R. Ken Levine, during an interview on August 30, 2010, said: "I will say that it is still an active thing and it's something we are actively talking about and actively working on." Verbinski later cited that by trying to maintain the "R" rating, they were unable to find any studios that would back the effort, putting the film's future in jeopardy.


title: BioShock

text: Levine confirmed in March 2013 that the film had been officially canceled. Levine stated that after Warner's "Watchmen" film in 2009 did not do as well as the studio expected, they had concerns with the $200 million budget that Verbinski had for the "BioShock" film. They asked him to consider doing the film on a smaller $80 million budget, but Verbinski did not want to accept this. In February 2017, Verbinski said that his crew was about eight weeks from starting filming, with plans for many elaborate sets given that the setting of Rapture could not be something easily shot on existing locations, requiring the $200 million budget. Verbinski was anticipating on releasing the film with an R-rating when Universal approached him about changing the film's direction. Universal requested that he tone down the film and aim instead for a PG-13 movie, which would be able to draw more audiences to the film and recoup the larger budget he asked for. Verbinski insisted on keeping the R-rating and refused the smaller budget Universal offered to make the R-rated version. Universal felt that that expensive a film with the limited R-rating would be too much of a risk, and pulled him from the film. Universal then subsequently brought in a new director to work with the smaller budget, but Levine and 2K Games did not feel that the new director was a good fit with the material. Universal then let Levine decide to end the project, which he did, believing that the film would not work with the current set of compromises they would have had to make.


title: BioShock

text: In January 2014, artwork from the canceled film surfaced online, showing what an adaptation could have looked like. Verbinski said that there is "all kinds of crazy stuff" from the pre-production stage that still exists, such as screen tests for characters. He noted in the 2017 Reddit piece that with the success of the 2016 film "Deadpool", he believes that there is now justification for his vision of the "BioShock" film.


title: BioShock

text: In February 2022, Netflix announced it would be adapting the "BioShock" franchise into a film with Vertigo Entertainment and 2K, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc producing. Francis Lawrence was slated to direct with Michael Green to write, as of August 2022.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig; June 16, 1959 – April 8, 2014) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder. Best known by his ring name The Ultimate Warrior, he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from 1987 to 1992, as well as a short stint in 1996. He also notably spent a few months in 1998 for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he was known as The Warrior.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: After a career in bodybuilding, Warrior turned to professional wrestling. From 1985 to 1986, he would tag with fellow former bodybuilder Steve Borden as the Blade Runners, and split when Warrior left to pursue a singles career in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). Under the ring name Dingo Warrior, he was a one-time WCWA Texas Heavyweight Champion. In 1987, he joined the World Wrestling Federation, and became a two-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion within two years. At WrestleMania VI, Warrior won the WWF Championship in a title vs. title match over Hulk Hogan, making him the first wrestler to hold both titles concurrently. Posited as the new face of the company, he would fall out with Vince McMahon over a pay dispute, and attempted to leave the WWF, which was rejected. Warrior would return at WrestleMania VIII, but by November 1992, he had been released; it was later revealed that this was due to steroid use. In 1993, he legally changed his name to the mononym "Warrior" and was credited as a co-writer for a comic book based on his name and likeness. Warrior returned to the WWF at WrestleMania XII, but lasted four months, as he began no-showing events. Two years later, he joined World Championship Wrestling (who had tried to hire him in 1995), being used in a much-maligned storyline with Hogan, which culminated at Halloween Havoc. Warrior retired from professional wrestling and subsequently embarked on a public speaking career, but wrestled one final match in Spain in 2008.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior died on April 8, 2014, at the age of 54 in Scottsdale, Arizona. On the preceding three nights in New Orleans, he had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, appeared at WrestleMania XXX and made his final public appearance on "Monday Night Raw", returning to the promotion after an acrimonious separation in 1996.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior was born in 1959 as James Brian Hellwig, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, about 50 miles northwest of Indianapolis. He was the oldest of five children and was raised by his mother (along with, later, his stepfather) after his father left his family when he was 12. His father died at 57 and a grandfather died at 52. The family moved and he graduated from Veedersburg's Fountain Central High School and attended Indiana State University for a year.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Prior to his career in professional wrestling Hellwig was an amateur bodybuilder, competing in a number of NPC contests and winning the 1984 NPC Mr. Georgia crown. Hellwig started training with weights when he was 11 years old and described himself as "the small, insecure kid who wasn't into any sports". He moved to California where, after seeing bodybuilder Robby Robinson, he decided to take up the sport. His first contest took place in Florida, where he placed 5th. Later, while he was attending Life University in Marietta, Georgia, he won the Junior Atlanta contest and placed 5th at the 1981 AAU Collegiate Mr. America. In 1983, he won the AAU Coastal USA, before taking the Mr. Georgia title the following year. His last bodybuilding contest was 1985's Junior USAs, which was won by future IFBB Pro, Ron Love. Hellwig finished 5th.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In 1985, after spending six weeks in California training for a bodybuilding contest, he was invited to join a group of bodybuilders – Garland Donoho, Mark Miller, and Steve Borden – to form a professional wrestling team. Warrior accepted the invitation and abandoned his bodybuilding career as well as his plans to become a chiropractor.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Hellwig began his professional wrestling career as Jim "Justice" Hellwig of Powerteam USA, the group of bodybuilders trained by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman. Hellwig and fellow trainee Steve Borden (who later had success as "Sting"), formed a tag team called The Freedom Fighters (Hellwig was known as Justice and Borden was called Flash).


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: The Freedom Fighters debuted in the Memphis, Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) promotion, run by Jerry Jarrett, in November 1985. The team played babyfaces at first, but fans were actually slow to take to the hulking duo in a territory that had featured sympathetic "good guy tag teams" like the Rock 'n' Roll Express and The Fabulous Ones. They were quickly turned heel under "coach" Buddy Wayne and soon afterwards manager Dutch Mantel. They left the CWA in January 1986.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In March 1986, the Freedom Fighters – now known as the Blade Runners – joined the Oklahoma-based Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). Hellwig was "Blade Runner Rock" and Borden was "Blade Runner Sting". According to Joseph Laurinaitis (aka Road Warrior Animal), UWF owner Bill Watts created the Blade Runners and the intent was to make them a parody of The Road Warriors. They were part of Eddie Gilbert's Hotstuff International group, before disbanding in June 1986 when Hellwig left the UWF.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In June 1986, Warrior debuted in the Dallas, Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) promotion, where he wrestled for $50 a night. He has stated that he adopted the ring name "Dingo Warrior" after a member of the WCCW locker room remarked that he looked like "a warrior". This stood in contrast with a claim made by Road Warrior Animal, who stated that the Dingo Warrior was a recreation of Warrior's Blade Runner gimmick and was an attempt to present himself as an offspring of The Road Warriors.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Initially, Warrior was still a heel in the territory, managed by Gary Hart, although he was cheered during a heel versus heel feud with WCWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude after the two fell out during a tag match. After switching managers to Percival Pringle III, Warrior turned babyface permanently after a falling out with fellow Pringle proteges Buzz Sawyer and Matt Borne after a six-man tag match. Warrior formed a tag team with Lance Von Erich, and the duo began competing for the WCWA World Tag Team Championship. On November 17, 1986, Warrior and Von Erich defeated Master Gee (substituting for champion Buzz Sawyer) and Matt Borne to win the title. They held the Championship until December 1 of that year, when they lost to Al Madril and Brian Adias.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In 1987, Warrior began competing for the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, losing to Bob Bradley in a tournament final on January 12. He won the title from Bradley on February 2 of that year. The title was held up in April 1987 after Warrior left the WCCW. He was reinstated as champion upon returning, but vacated it once more upon resigning from WCCW to join the World Wrestling Federation, where he adopted the ring name The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior began appearing on house shows in June and was initially billed as The Dingo Warrior in house card promos by Gene Okerlund, but soon had his name modified. There is a dispute over who created the full Ultimate Warrior name. Bruce Prichard stated that Vince McMahon did not know what a "Dingo" Warrior was, but because there was the "Modern Day Warrior" Kerry von Erich and The Road Warriors there should not be one more simple warrior, but the ultimate warrior. Warrior claims after one of his first matches, McMahon had him do a pretaped promo. It was there Vince said we want you to do Warrior, but we don't want Dingo. The Warrior then proceeded to cut the promo and stated that he was not this warrior or that warrior, he was The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior made his final appearance with WCCW in June 1987.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Hellwig joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in June 1987. First competing on house shows under his Dingo Warrior moniker, he defeated a series of jobbers, including Steve Lombardi, Barry Horowitz and Mike Sharpe. He made his television debut as The Ultimate Warrior on the October 25 episode of "Wrestling Challenge", where he defeated another jobber, Terry Gibbs. As The Ultimate Warrior character, Hellwig became known for his impassioned babbling, incomprehensible commentary and high-energy ring entrances, which featured him racing into the arena full speed, bursting into the ring, and violently shaking the ring ropes up and down. He was also known for his distinctive pattern of face paint. After several months of defeating jobbers, he was pinned for the first time in the WWF by fellow WWF rookie/future rival Rick Rude on December 28, 1987. In early 1988, Warrior entered into his first real WWF feud with fellow strongman Hercules Hernandez. The two faced off on the February 7, 1988 airing of "Wrestling Challenge", where Hercules was disqualified for using his steel chain. Warrior then grabbed ahold of the chain and in the midst of a tug of war over it, the chain snapped. This led to a match at WrestleMania IV, where Warrior was victorious in his pay-per-view debut. Warrior lost twice by pinfall shortly thereafter: cleanly to André the Giant in April in Italy, and to Dino Bravo, who put his feet on the ropes for leverage, in Montreal in June. In the summer of 1988, he wrestled Bobby Heenan in a series of weasel suit matches, in which Warrior won by sleeper hold.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Less than a year after his WWF television debut, Warrior, a surprise substitute for the injured Brutus Beefcake, won the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, defeating The Honky Tonk Man in a 27-second squash match at the inaugural SummerSlam on August 29, 1988, and ending Honky Tonk's long reign at 454 days. As champion, he captained a team at Survivor Series '88, where he was the sole survivor, pinning Outlaw Ron Bass and Greg Valentine in succession to win the match for his team.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: As 1989 began, Warrior entered a feud with Rick Rude over the Intercontinental title. The feud was sparked at the 1989 Royal Rumble, where the two met in a "super posedown". After Warrior drew the support of the live crowd in their judging of the contest, Rude attacked Warrior and choked him with a steel bar. This led to a championship match at WrestleMania V, where Rude pinned Warrior to win the title with the help of his manager Bobby Heenan, who held down Warrior's foot from outside the ring as he was being pinned. At SummerSlam, Warrior defeated Rude to regain the title and become a two-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion. Warrior then began a feud with André the Giant, leading to a number of house shows in which Warrior defeated André in short squash matches, establishing Warrior as a main event level talent. The feud culminated at Survivor Series where the two captained opposing teams. Warrior eliminated André by knocking him out of the ring, where he was counted out. Warrior was again the sole survivor, pinning Arn Anderson and Bobby Heenan to win the match.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: The Warrior received a push as WWF's main event level successor to Hulk Hogan, who had remained wrestling's biggest star throughout the 1980s. Following a few confrontations with Hogan, most notably at the 1990 Royal Rumble, the Warrior was written in as Hogan's opponent in the main event for WrestleMania VI at the SkyDome in Toronto. The match was billed as "The Ultimate Challenge", as both Hogan's WWF Championship and Warrior's Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship were on the line. Warrior pinned Hogan after a Warrior Splash to become the only wrestler to hold both championships simultaneously. Warrior vacated the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship (which Mr. Perfect then won in a tournament), as WWF rules prohibited a wrestler from holding both titles.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: After WrestleMania, Warrior successfully defended the championship against Haku, Mr. Perfect and Ted DiBiase. At SummerSlam, he retained the title over Rick Rude in a steel cage match. "Macho Man" Randy Savage was also introduced as a potential rival after interfering in a "The Main Event IV" title match at the behest of DiBiase.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior was inserted into the feud between The Legion of Doom and Demolition, leading to victories for the Warrior and LOD in six-man tag team matches in house shows as well as the October 13, 1990 airing of "Saturday Night's Main Event XXVIII". The feud culminated at Survivor Series, where The Warriors (Ultimate Warrior, LOD and Kerry Von Erich) defeated The Perfect Team (Mr. Perfect and Demolition). For the third consecutive year, Warrior was the sole survivor for his team. He later survived the "Grand Finale Match of Survival" with Hulk Hogan.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In January 1991, Warrior faced Sgt. Slaughter at the Royal Rumble. Slaughter's gimmick at the time was a traitor who had betrayed America by aligning himself with an Iraqi (kayfabe) military general, General Adnan. In the context of the Gulf War, this made Slaughter one of the most hated heels at the time. After rejecting an earlier request to grant a title shot to Savage, Sensational Sherri interjected herself in the Warrior's championship match to distract him. Her interference eventually led to a Savage sneak attack, where he struck Warrior over the head with a metal scepter and allowed Slaughter to pin Warrior to win the title. Warrior went on to feud with Savage, and the rivalry culminated in a "Career-Ending" match at WrestleMania VII which Warrior won, forcing Savage to retire.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: The next chapter of Warrior's career was an encounter with The Undertaker, after Undertaker and his manager, Paul Bearer, locked Warrior in a coffin on the set of Bearer's "Funeral Parlor". WWF officials worked feverishly to break the casket open, finally revealing Warrior's seemingly lifeless body, and the torn fabric inside of the coffin indicating Warrior's desperate struggle to get out. Warrior was finally revived by the officials performing CPR. This led to Jake "The Snake" Roberts offering to give Warrior "the knowledge of the dark side" in order to prepare Warrior to take his revenge on the Undertaker. This involved Roberts giving Warrior three "tests" shown on WWF television in consecutive weeks. For the first test, Roberts locked Warrior inside of a coffin for a second time.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: For the second test, Warrior was "buried alive" by Roberts. For the third test, the Warrior entered a room full of snakes, to find "the answer" in a chest in the middle of the room. Waiting inside the chest was a spitting cobra which bit Warrior in the face. As Warrior, weakened from the effects of the cobra's strike, Roberts made a heel turn and was joined by the Undertaker and Paul Bearer, revealing the three were working together all along. Roberts then uttered, "Never trust a snake." The stage was now set for a feud between the Warrior and Roberts. The feud never took place, as Warrior was involved in an alleged pay dispute with WWF owner Vince McMahon over the SummerSlam main event, where Warrior was teamed with Hulk Hogan in a handicap match against Sgt. Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa, and General Adnan.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: On July 10, 1991, Warrior sent a letter to McMahon requesting inclusions in his new WWF contract. He wanted $550,000 for performing at WrestleMania VII, a guaranteed number of working days, travel accommodations and a higher percentage of merchandise sales. He remarked that $550,000 "was fair", and that meant as much or more to the show than Hulk [Hogan]". He ended his letter with "Whatever your decision, I can and will live with it. Till then I remain home with one who cares".


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: The WWF responded on July 13, agreeing to $550,000 for WrestleMania VII, a higher royalty rate and promising no other WWF performer would be paid more than him on WWF pay per views. McMahon personally ended the letter by saying, "I would like to express my deepest appreciation and admiration for you as a performer, as a member of the WWF family, as a man, and as my friend".


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Following WWF's annual SummerSlam event, Warrior was handed a letter dated August 26, 1991, from McMahon, saying Warrior was suspended effective immediately. Among other things, McMahon said, "You threatened to stay at home thereby not even appearing at Titan's major summer pay-per-view event SummerSlam. I had no choice but to accede to your exorbitant demands. This was a serious mistake on your part". McMahon later testified that the only reason the company agreed to the contract was to "acquiesce to his demands temporarily" to ensure Warrior would perform at the SummerSlam event.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Upon receiving the letter, Warrior refused the suspension and left the WWF. Warrior formally sent a letter of resignation to the WWF in October 1991. The WWF refused to accept the letter since Warrior was under contract until September 1992.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: With Hulk Hogan about to leave WWF between mid-1992 and early-1993, McMahon contacted Warrior about returning. He made his comeback at WrestleMania VIII (to rescue Hulk Hogan from a beat down at the hands of Sid Justice and Papa Shango). Upon his return, he received a degree of creative control over his bookings. One storyline involved Papa Shango, a "witch doctor", casting a spell over Warrior, causing him to convulse and vomit in very odd colors, though Warrior says he hated that story and had no control over it. The Warrior was booked for a WWF Championship match against then-champion, "Macho Man" Randy Savage at SummerSlam in August 1992. The Warrior won the match by count-out, but not the title. In November 1992, Warrior was scheduled to team with Savage (as The Ultimate Maniacs) to face Ric Flair and Razor Ramon at Survivor Series. Weeks before the event, Warrior was released for disputed reasons and replaced by Mr. Perfect.