After revealing special Trophies a couple days ago for the "survivor mode" in the PS3 port of BioShock, developer 2K Marin finally saw fit yesterday to explain what the new setting is all about. The wait was definitely not worth it as the PS3 "exclusive" mode isn't much more than a very hard difficulty level for the game.
2K's BioShock site, The Cult of Rapture, explains that in survivor mode there are no extra enemies, but the citizens of Rapture are tougher and deal more damage. Vita-Chambers will also provide less EVE back when dying, so there is some penalty. Players are also expected to take their time in the new mode and learn to utilize some of the "hardly-ever-bothered-with-'em" plasmids like Target Dummy and Enrage. All this secrecy over an extra difficulty mode was just so contrived. 2K, would you kindly never do that again?