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Irrational interviews Marvel's Brian Michael Bendis on writing
Moving from game development to multidisciplinary writing, Irrational Games' Ken Levine and Shawn Elliott chat with Amazing Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis on the second episode of Irrational Interviews, released this week. Did you know that what became BioShock was heavily seeded by a trip Levine and his wife took to Rockefeller Center? You would've if you'd already listened to the episode! What're you waiting for, dummy? Direct Download / iTunes Feed / Irrational Interviews RSS Feed [Image credit: Pinguino]
Irrational Interviews launches with Levine, Todd Howard
Usually, these miniposts are for smaller stories, but this time we're just trying to hurry to the good bit: Irrational's launched a new audio show called Irrational Interviews. In the first episode, Ken Levine and Shawn Elliott talk with Bethesda's Todd Howard. So, uhh ... what are you waiting for?
PAX East: Podcasting (f)or PR
If you're interested at all in starting up a podcast or want to know more about what goes into creating one, the PAX East panel hosted by Gamers With Jobs' Julian Murdoch and attended by podcasting professionals Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Insomniac Games' James Stevenson, Irrational Games' Ken Levine and Shawn Elliott, and EA's Jeff Green is a pretty enlightening listen We were anxious to hear what the group had to say on the subject of using podcasts for promotion -- and we recorded it because, well, you might be interested too! For the full, unedited (and very NSFW) audio, click on the play button below. Highlights include outlining the value in podcasting, being on the front lines of PR when something bad goes down and answering questions on how to get a podcast off the ground and cultivating an audience. Feel free to give a listen below.
Irrational revisits scrapped BioShock, System Shock 2 features
Irrational Games' new community-oriented website continues to impress us with its candid peeks at the inner workings of the studio and interesting developments that may have eluded the public eye. In an update posted today, Shawn Elliott examines five features that were cut from Irrational's beloved pair of 'Shocks. "In one fell 30-second swoop, we could have prevented about 80 percent of the complaints, or at least redirected them toward Xerxes and the Many, and away from the development team," says designer Dorian Hart on the infamous ire directed at System Shock 2's degrading weaponry. And how would said swoop combat arguments about the unrealistic, accelerated rate of weapon malfunction? An in-game audio log "would have explained that as part of their takeover, the Many had released a special corrosive gas into the Von Braun that damaged weapons but was harmless to organic creatures." If that seems maddeningly simple, consider "Nav-Bot," a mechanical fellow intended to guide lost players through BioShock's city of Rapture. Designers had several concerns -- what happens if the helpful bot gets stuck in a scrap with enemies? -- but the player's familiarity with a plain ol' map dealt the death blow. "In the end, someone (maybe Jon Chey at Irrational Games Australia) made the executive decision that we needed to suck up the extra work and make a map," notes technical director Chris Kline. "Thus died Nav-Bot." May he rust in peace.
Irrational Games has new website, podcast ... and an abandoned zombie game
It's a great time to be a fan of Irrational Games. Not only has the developer recently gotten its nomenclature back into shape, it's got a gorgeous new website full of secrets and stories behind several projects (for example, Chief Ken Levine promises to talk about Irrational's new project there ... eventually). Heck, there are even achievements! Perhaps most exciting is a podcast called Irrational Behavior -- helmed by former 1UP Yours and GFW Radio heartthrob Shawn Elliott -- a sort of Irrational Games audio magazine presented with a Life Well Wasted/This American Life flavor. The first episode centers on abandoned ideas, including a game that blends SWAT, X-Com and zombies. And that we want right now, please.
