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Vote for BioShock Infinite's b-side cover
Irrational Games is asking the community to vote for BioShock Infinite's reversible cover art. Studio head Ken Levine asks in a post on the Irrational site for fans to vote on one of six covers:"But what's that you say? You want even more choice in covers? We're also going to be arranging a whole mess of MORE alternate covers which will be available to download and print yourself," Levine writes. "Of course, these are free and we'd love to hear your thoughts in the [Irrational] forums as to what you'd like to see."The cover art PR campaign comes a week after the brotastically boring cover for the fantastical Infinite was revealed. Levine mentioned shortly after the cover art drama that the box art was made for uninformed players who don't read news on gaming sites. So, you know, if you're reading this, go vote on what you want the actual cover for BioShock Infinite to be on your shelf.
Ken Levine on the evolving corporate culture of Irrational and hiring Rod Fergusson
"When you work at a company, people leave and people join. We were up to almost two hundred people at one point and just mathematically you're going to have some turnover," Irrational Games president and creative director Ken Levine told Joystiq when asked how the studio's corporate culture changed after key members of its team had left.Irrational's corporate culture really shifted, Levine said, when the studio expanded the team to tackle the scale of BioShock Infinite, the long-awaited follow-up to Irrational's 2007 critical and commercial hit BioShock."That's when things got a little complicated on the management side, because you have to develop structures we had never really developed before." Yet again, the mathematics of a video game project alter the way in which a team operates, Levine noted, saying that when a team is comprised of around 180 staffers, it becomes more complicated to keep a team's culture and vision while expanding structures to facilitate an expansive project and building the game itself."Everybody's got tasks," Levine said, clarifying that even as president of the company he is the studio's lead writer and is constantly writing material for the projects Irrational develops.Adding Epic's former director of production Rod Fergusson to Irrational's impressive staff roster was an opportunity Levine said he had to explore immediately. "When you get a chance to hire and bring on board a guy like Rod Fergusson to work on BioShock Infinite, you're a fool if you don't do that.""I learn from everybody," Levine said of his team at Irrational, "but Rod has just so much experience he really brought a lot to the table. I think he made it an even better game. Everything benefited from having him on board."For more on BioShock Infinite – which was recently delayed to March 26 – make sure to read Joystiq's recent hands-on preview and watch the first part of our Ken Levine interview detailing the game's evolution.%Gallery-172852%
Ken Levine: BioShock Infinite box art is for the uninformed
Irrational Games boss Ken Levine talked with Wired recently about the cover art for BioShock Infinite, which was unveiled just over a week ago to the groans of many. Levine compared games to salad dressing when talking about the intentions of the game's box art, saying, "I don't read Salad Dressing Weekly. I don't care who makes it, I don't know any of the personalities in the salad dressing business."Levine said that members of the team went to frathouses to ask if gamers have played BioShock, and "not a single one of them had heard of it." He makes the distinction that the box art for BioShock Infinite is for those uninformed players that don't read news on gaming sites. So, it's not for you, dear Joystiq reader, though Levine addressed you as well, noting that the developer will be releasing a "whole set of alternate covers that you can download and print. We're going to be working with the community to see what they're interested in."Levine added that the BioShock team had to "make that tradeoff in terms of where we were spending our marketing dollars. By the time you get to the store, or see an ad, the BioShock fan knows about the game. The money we're spending on PR, the conversations with games journalists - that's for the fans. For the people who aren't informed, that's who the box art is for."BioShock Infinite will launch March 26, 2013 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Levine also recently spoke with Joystiq about the game's themes of faith and evolution of its central character, Elizabeth.
Irrational's Ken Levine on the faith of BioShock Infinite and evolving Elizabeth
In BioShock Infinite, the world of Columbia is under the command of man who refers to himself as a prophet and savior. Father Comstock and his flock rule the streets of the cloud city, but what kind of world is it? And why is Elizabeth, the woman players are tasked with taking out of Columbia, so crucial to the people of the city?In an interview with Joystiq, Irrational Games boss Ken Levine details the themes of faith, how political and social issues shape gameplay, and how Elizabeth has evolved since we were first introduced to her many years ago.For more on BioShock Infinite – which was delayed to March 26 – read our detailed impressions of the game's first two hours.
BioShock Infinite delayed once again, now launching on March 26
"Let's start with the bad news," Irrational Games boss Ken Levine told a packed room of media this week, revealing that his studio's long-awaited title BioShock Infinite has once again been delayed. The follow-up to 2007's critical and commercial hit BioShock is now scheduled to launch for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 26, 2013."The game has to be the best game it could possibly be," Levine said, relaying the team's feeling – specifically from recent Irrational Games hire Rod Fergusson – that BioShock Infinite would benefit from a few more weeks of polish and bug fixing. According to Levine, the team is getting an extra month. In May 2012, publisher Take-Two announced Infinite was pushed to February 26.As for the good news? You'll have to read our upcoming preview detailing the first two hours of BioShock Infinite for that.
BioShock Infinite won't feature multiplayer, Levine confirms
The game may be Infinite, but the number of players is limited to one. The third BioShock game doesn't include multiplayer, as confirmed by series creator Ken Levine on Twitter.There's been speculation about multiplayer features in Infinite, with reports of modes cut in conjunction with staff changes at developer Irrational Games. BioShock 2 introduced competitive multiplayer to the series, a divisive move given the acclaim for the first game as a story-driven, single-player experience.With BioShock Infinite due in a few months, fans are already looking ahead to the series' future on the next batch of consoles. One Twitter user asked Levine if he'd prefer to work on a new IP, or would he be taking BioShock to next-gen platforms. Levine's reply? "Not sure." Maybe he's stuck on how he'll mathematically number the next one.
Play as Sid Meier, Ken Levine in XCOM: Enemy Unknown
An XCOM: Enemy Unknown Easter egg allows players to bring in the heavy hitters when times are bleakest. PC Gamer points out that certain soldier names will activate "XCOM Heroes," who are pre-designed super soldiers.Name alterations for soldier unlocks that have worked so far are Sid Meier, Ken Levine, Joe Kelly and Otto Zander. The one caveat for this phenomenal cosmic super soldier creation power is that once these heroes are summoned the achievements for the game will be turned off.We also concur with PC Gamer's request that you make sure Levine lives, since after saving humanity from aliens we'd appreciate him finishing BioShock: Infinite.
PlayStation All-Stars features writing by Ken Levine
The PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale team has been very careful to treat the game's many franchises with respect, said director Omar Kendall in an interview with Polygon. "We take this very seriously, and sometimes the IP holders know best, and obviously we want to present the characters in the best way for the developers and the fans," he said, after noting that Irrational creative director Ken Levine wrote the dialogue for the Big Daddy / Little Sister character. According to Kendall, Levine "wrote every line of script and dialogue" for the pair.The same care went into every character, with each studio getting "complete, 100 percent approval" on its characters, he said. That includes characters owned by Sony studios, like Nathan Drake, the star of Naughty Dog's Uncharted series.As for Levine's script, we're presuming it includes several instances of "Mr. Bubbles" and "MMMRRUUUNGGHHH!"
The Art of BioShock Infinite wants you to pre-order its propaganda
The Art of BioShock Infinite, a compendium of concept art, character designs and production stills, will launch on February 27, the day after the game itself drops, MTV Multiplayer reports. The art book is published by Dark Horse, who is behind the Hyrule Historia and many other gaming-comics crossovers, such as the Valve and Mass Effect collections.The Art of Bioshock Infinite will feature an introduction from franchise creator Ken Levine. Along with confirmed character designs for Booker, Elizabeth and Songbird, we expect to see a few sketches of the game's notable enemies as well. Amazon has the book available for pre-order, with a list price of $40 and a release date that doesn't yet match up with the official announcement.See the full cover for The Art of BioShock Infinite below.
Levine: 'I'm not going to stop people' from leaving Irrational
Art director Nate Wells worked at Irrational Games for 13 years, beginning in September 1999 and the company's System Shock 2 days. Yesterday we discovered Wells and a handful of other people working on BioShock Infinite were no longer with Irrational, and Wells' Twitter briefly teased a job change before being deleted. While the bulk of people leaving Irrational can be chalked up to industry turnover, Wells' departure stands out for the public and Irrational Games founder Ken Levine."In a company of 200 people you're going to have turnover," Levine tells Kotaku. "We never like to see a guy like Nate leave because he's been here for a long time, but it's been 13 years and I think sometimes people want to spread their wings. I'm not going to stop people. We love Nate and I think we all remain friends. After 13 years he sort of finished his work on BioShock Infinite, as you will be able to tell when you see the game again... I think Nate's moving on to something else."Replacing Wells is Scott Sinclair, the art director for the first BioShock. This rounds out the core BioShock team that has stuck with the franchise – which is an achievement all on its own, Levine says:"As far as the team itself, the lead artist, the art director, the creative director, the lead effects artist, the senior sound guy, the lead programer and the lead AI programmer from BioShock 1 are all on BioShock Infinite. I don't think there's a single senior BioShock team member that isn't here, which I think is amazing and a testament to their commitment to the studio."
'Critical Path' trailer is loaded with games industry talent
A trailer for Critical Path, a "transmedia project exploring the art, philosophy, politics and psychology of video games" recently surfaced. The trailer, created by a Los Angeles-based studio named Artifact, shows dozens of game designers talking about their craft and the place games take in the history of expressive media. The project aims to "give game designers their due as innovators and influencers of culture."Critical Path is described as the culmination of "two years of filming and archiving" interviews, according to Artifact's site. "User feedback will influence future interviews, which will be added to the archive on an ongoing basis."Among the 37 names listed at the end of the trailer are Warren Spector, Jenova Chen, John Carmack, David Cage, Cliff Bleszinski, Ken Levine, Peter Molyneux, Tim Schafer and Hideo Kojima. You can watch the trailer here.
Irrational's Levine, BioWare's Gaider, and Obsidian's Avellone on why story matters in games
I grew up reading and loving fiction. As I've aged and taken up a profession in journalism, I've erred on the side of nonfiction. And these days, most of my storytelling experiences come from film, television, and video games. But I'd be lying if I said that many of those story experiences – especially in the gaming medium – left the same impression on me as the works of Marquez or Vonnegut.In late summer 2007, I played BioShock, and my tune began to change. Six months later, I played Mass Effect, and my stance on games as storytelling devices was altered even further. Somewhere along the line, between Jill sandwiches and lost princesses, game devs started implementing stories that I actually cared about.Fast-forward to 2011, and the concept of games as storytelling devices is more accepted than ever. But games haven't changed – they're still mechanically driven constructs, and they still allow player agency to run all over what the game dev set out for you to experience. I found myself having conversations with Kotaku's Jason Schreier over the course of the past year about this seeming duality within games. We felt it was time for a proper discussion.Enter: "Plot vs. Play: The Duality of Modern Game Design," the panel Schreier and I hosted at PAX East. Our idea was to gather several game developers who've tackled this duality head on, and have them discuss their individual approaches to navigating that issue. Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine, Obsidian Entertainment creative director Chris Avellone, and BioWare lead writer David Gaider were our first team of game devs to take up the challenge – something we hope to continue at future PAXes – and they did a great job.In our rush to prepare for both the panel and that weekend's coverage plans at our respective outlets, neither Jason nor myself thought to set up a video camera to catch the event on tape. Thankfully, Mash Those Buttons captured the whole hour and put it up on YouTube, which I've dropped above.Let us know what you think, and please suggest any devs you'd like to see play a part in future versions of "Plot vs Play." We're open to ideas!
An Irrational fear of monsters
"A good monster is a monster you can imagine in repose."That was the advice acclaimed horror writer and director Guillermo del Toro gave Ken Levine, the creator of the BioShock franchise, during a conversation on the Irrational Games podcast. Levine takes those words to heart in his own creative direction, and before building any terrifying monsters, he makes sure Irrational develops a rich, empathetic backstory that places each of the deformed, viciously homicidal creatures in routine settings, where they perform the most base of actions: contributing to society, petting a dog, relaxing, mourning.Four Irrational members – Levine, art director Nate Wells, lead artist Shawn Robertson, and sound man Pat Balthrop – gave the PAX audience a glimpse into the secret lives and creation of five major BioShock Infinite villains: the Motorized Patriot, Handyman, Siren, Boys of Silence and Songbird.
Levine wants to show you BioShock on Vita, not talk about it
"It's something completely different that we're crafting," Irrational Games boss Ken Levine tells me as I press him for details on BioShock for the PlayStation Vita. Levine revealed during Sony's media briefing at E3 2011 (pictured) that the new handheld would be home to a unique experience set in the BioShock universe."It's not BioShock Infinite ported to the Vita," he reiterates.Moments earlier, Levine highlighted a point of frustration that comes with making announcements. While happy to discuss BioShock Infinite's October 16 release date, his Twitter feed immediately filled with questions about the "next thing, or the 'Collector's Edition,' or the Vita game." And here I am, falling into the same trap as his Twitter followers -- asking new questions when old ones are answered.When might we hear more about the portable experience? "Look," he says with an emerging laugh in his voice, "we're working on it. We're trying to figure that [announcement timing] out. I ideally wouldn't have talked about the Vita game when I did. It was understandably important that, you know, Sony wanted us to share that information."
Introducing BioShock Infinite's second heavy hitter: George Washington with a mini-gun
There's a new breed of baddie coming to BioShock Infinite. Dubbed the "Heavy Hitters," these menacing foes are another in a long line of defense against Booker DeWitt, protagonist and trespasser in the floating city of Columbia.The 'Motorized Patriot' is a machine that wields a mini-gun and dons a horrifying wax mask, modeled after George Washington. Unlike the residents of Columbia, Heavy Hitters are relentless in their attack, and don't hesitate."We perceived a lack of variety in the enemies in BioShock," Irrational Games boss Ken Levine tells me over the phone. "There tend to be a lot of Splicers with weapons -- that was the primary thing you dealt with -- or there were a couple of them with plasmids. And then you had the Big Daddies. We really wanted to broaden out the pool [for BioShock Infinite]."A total of four 'Heavy Hitters' are featured in BioShock Infinite. The hunkering, horse-throwing beast from the original gameplay trailer -- dubbed 'The Handyman' -- is another. Each has unique characteristics, and each ask for different tactics if you hope to defeat them.Irrational's intent isn't for Heavy Hitters be the 'Infinite versions' of BioShock's iconic Big Daddy, Levine says. It was a matter of expanding the variety of enemies for players."We're not trying to recreate anything 'note-for-note.' If I have a C-Sharp in BioShock, I'm not really looking to necessarily have a C-Sharp in BioShock Infinite," Levine explains before apologizing for being "a music nerd.""I want the kind of vibe to feel the same and the piece to feel like they're connected." There are "a ton of things" that connect the two games, he says, but only because the team feels their inclusion "organically worked" in BioShock Infinite. Irrational doesn't want to fall into the trap of feeling forced to add something to its next game, simply because it was prevalent in the first one in the series.BioShock Infinite launches for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on October 16.
BioShock Infinite to include tougher '1999 Mode'
BioShock Infinite is gonna hurt you like it's 1999. Developer Irrational Games announced the "1999 Mode" for the upcoming RPG slash FPS this morning, and it appears to go beyond just messing with health stats for a more challenging game experience. "I'm an old school gamer. We wanted to make sure we were taking into account the play styles of gamers like me," said Irrational's creative director Ken Levine. "So we went straight to the horse's mouth by asking them, on our website, a series of questions about how they play our games." Levine continued, "94.6 percent of respondents indicated that upgrade choices enhanced their BioShock gameplay experience; however, 56.8 percent indicated that being required to make permanent decisions about their character would have made the game even better." The 1999 Mode will include unnamed tweaks and features that won't exist in the standard BioSchock Infinite experience. It will also "feature demanding weapon, power, and health management," along with a "Game Over" screen if the player lacks the resources for a respawn. The company is unlikely to cover incidental damages to property caused by playing 1999 Mode. For a look at a roughed up version of Elizabeth from the newly revealed mode, head past the jump.
Levine gets dramatic when writing, directing for BioShock: Infinite
Irrational Games' Ken Levine writes video games through the lens of a playwright and stage director, having penned plays since the age of 14 and majoring in drama in college. This perspective on storytelling helped him write the audio logs in BioShock, and it's shaping the way he directs the voice actors -- in person for the first time -- in BioShock: Infinite, Levine told Gamasutra. Writing Elizabeth and Booker, Infinite's main characters, was a completely different process than writing BioShock's antagonist, Andrew Ryan, Levine said. "I always had Ayn Rand in my ear while I was writing him, and she is quite articulate in her viewpoints. So he was a pretty easy character to write, for me," Levine said. "Booker and Elizabeth, because there's a very different constraint set, because I haven't done this kind of writing for a game before, where you sort of have all this dynamism with a character you're walking around the world with, that you're speaking to, as Booker... just the mechanics of it!" Levine said he was inspired by the easy banter Naughty Dog placed in Uncharted, and he saw how it could transfer to a period piece. As he describes them, Levine's characters are unique to their time period and his own imagination: "Elizabeth is a person who sees nothing and wants to see everything, and Booker is somebody who's seen everything and wants to see nothing. They're at opposite ends of the spectrum." The full (and long) interview is here, if you're interested in details about how Levine makes women weep.
2K Australia is 2K Australia again and is working on BioShock Infinite, Levine confirms
So we don't run the risk of burying the lede, let's start with the news: MVC Pacific reports that the Canberra, Australia-based arm of developer 2K Marin is once again known as 2K Australia and is now working with former sister studio Irrational Games on BioShock Infinite. When asked for comment, Irrational boss man Ken Levine said, "We had a number of open positions on BioShock Infinite. When we found out our former sister studio 2K Australia was becoming available, we thought they would perfectly fill those roles." He added, "If every decision was this easy..." Now, some history. In 2007, after Irrational Games was purchased by Take-Two and just before the release of the original BioShock, the studio was split apart and renamed 2K Boston and 2K Australia. Since then, 2K Boston has become Irrational Games, once again, but 2K Australia hasn't had it so easy. After working with 2K Marin on BioShock 2, it was decided that 2K Australia would lose its name and become a part of 2K Marin (which is a tad geographically misleading, no?) and help develop the XCOM reboot. Less than a year later, the 2K Australia studio head Martin Slater resigned and just last month it was reported that 15 employees were cut from the studio. And now, over four years after the creation of 2K Australia, 2K Australia is back and once again working with Levine's team in Boston. We've reached out to 2K Games for any additional commentary on the shuffle and whether or not 2K Australia has any more involvement in XCOM. But while we're waiting, we wanted to say "welcome back" to the team in Canberra. Oh, and enough navel gazing. BioShock Infinite isn't going to make itself.
Levine: BioShock Infinite won't favor close-range weapons, Objectivism
Ken Levine and the team at Irrational Games are switching things up for BioShock Infinite -- instead of being based on the Objectivist society of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Infinite is aiming for more of an Erik Larson's Devil in the White City feel, with a focus on physics rather than gene splicing. Irrational is also switching up some of the most recognizable gameplay from the first two BioShock games, namely the ability to beat them almost entirely with the shotgun and Electro Bolt, Levine told PlayStation.Blog. "One of the first things we did when we started on BioShock Infinite was to draw a graph with y and z axes, and to say that one of those axes was the number of enemies in an encounter and the other was the range of those enemies," Levine said. "In the original BioShock, the entire game lived in one corner of that graph – few enemies, all at close range - so the Electro Bolt and shotgun were perfect. BioShock Infinite is going to have much greater ranges and, potentially, far more enemies, so we're greatly increasing the spectrum of encounters that are possible, and that requires the player use a broader set of tools." That sounds like a challenge if we've ever heard one. You're on, Levine. You're on.
Going even deeper into BioShock Infinite's voice acting
Last week we brought you the first half of a two part feature with Irrational Games head Ken Levine coaching BioShock Infinite's two main voice actors. This week, we've got Booker (Troy Baker) yelling at Elizabeth (Courtnee Draper) to elicit emotion-filled lines. Next week? Tigers.
