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Interview: Ken Levine talks Irrational site, next game announcement and BioShock 2 relationship
Irrational Games' head-honcho Ken Levine spoke to us today about the developer's new website and stronger community focus -- but of course, we wanted more. We tried to get an answer on when the studio's new project will finally be announced, asked him what the company's plans are for PAX East, and finally got to the bottom of what his actual involvement is with BioShock 2 -- which isn't much. Joystiq: Why does a studio that's well-known for focused single-player experiences need such a robust community site? Ken Levine: I don't think that single player ... I don't think community is just for multiplayer. People like talking about the games. You go to Cult of Rapture, BioShock was a single player game and there's a lot of people on that site. People want to learn about us, they want to learn about other people playing the game, they want to learn what's happening at the studio. They want to know about the the integration behind stuff we did. Maybe I'm high, I just don't make the connection between multiplayer titles and a web page. We've known this change has been in the works since last March during GDC, where members of your studio were wearing shirts that hinted toward this name change. What was the impetus for putting so much effort into trying to create a community around Irrational with the site? Why was that so important? We've had a big community, back in the day when we did Freedom Force. We had a huge website that supported them. It kinda broke our heart a little bit when that went away and we converted to 2K Boston. When we took the name back, Take-Two was kind enough to agree and allow us to build our community. ... I really wanted a website that was about interacting with fans. I don't really care about the marketing stuff, that's handled elsewhere. This is not a site where you get five flash videos selling you a product. This is a site about the audience and about the audience getting a better understanding of what it's like to work here, be here and getting us a better understanding of what they like and don't like about our games.
First (and only) look at Irrational's canceled zombie game 'Division 9'
It was rough yesterday when we heard that Irrational Games had a really incredible sounding zombie game called "Division 9" buried under its floorboards, never to be released. Ask our loved ones, we cried, moped, cried some more, and then consumed tubs of Chubby Hubby. We lost count -- it was that bad. And now that we've seen screens and video of the project, via Game Informer; now that we know the game has a dark, desperate, realistic feel that's even better than we imagined? Well, it's frankly more than we can bear. If you need us, we'll be in the frozen desserts aisle ... or maybe the whiskey aisle. Jury's still out.
