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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.
How Irrational's cancelled 'The Lost' found itself in India
Irrational Games opened up its virtual "Vault," delivering information about its appropriately named PS2/Xbox game The Lost. "It was Silent Hill meets Zelda meets Devil May Cry in the sense that it was a series of levels in linear fashion, but within the levels, there was freedom," explained Games Design Director Bill Gardner. Though Irrational decided not to release the project, it ended up making it to retail -- in India. Irrational decided to license the game to an Indian studio called FXLabs, whose CEO was working to build up the Indian game industry. FXLabs kept the game design, but localized it for PC as Agni: Queen of Darkness, even adding Bollywood actors. Above, actress Malaika Arora performs in a music video built around footage of the game. In other words, there's an Irrational game out there you haven't played. Try to live with that!
We wish The Crovel was in every game
It's fairly normal to see things in video games and wish that they existed in real life (gravity gun, ASHHPD, etc) but it's not every day that the opposite happens, where we come across something so ingenious that our favorite gaming heroes seem woefully ill-equipped in comparison. See, ever since we found out about The Crovel (pronounced crow-vel, like a crowbar-shovel), we can't stop daydreaming about all the different ways we'd like to slaughter hundreds and hundreds of zombies/orcs/demons with its various points and edges. Designed as a multi-purpose survival tool, The Crovel combines a spade, a sharpened edge for machete-style hacking, a serrated edge for saw-style sawin', a hammerhead for blunt-force trauma hammering, and a crowbar claw for good measure. For added Batman utility, the rope wrapping the handle can be unspooled for use as a tourniquet, or to transform the device into a grappling hook. The end of the handle can also be capped by an optional "Z Spike" for stabbing; it's basically the greatest makeshift anti-horde device ever created. Look, we know this isn't strictly video-game related, but it's awesome, and the only way we're going to see The Crovel in the next Valve or Irrational Games title is if we raise public awareness. Make it happen, developers.
Report: Sony producing 'special' Move peripheral for BioShock Infinite [update: 2K says no]
We haven't heard exactly how BioShock Infinite will make use of the Move peripheral, only that it will; however, we now know that you'll have the option to play Infinite with its very own "special" Move device. Videogamer caught the following note in a Move article on the UK PlayStation site: "A special PS Move peripheral is being produced that will draw you even deeper into this stunning vision of a parallel future." The article no longer makes any mention of a specialized peripheral, suggesting that this news got out a little bit early, and Sony and Irrational are now trying to open a tear in the fabric of reality into a parallel future where we don't know about this. We're contacting Sony and Irrational now to try to learn more. Until then, let your imagination run wild! Is it a Skyhook? A bottle with a glowing ball on top? [Update: 2K told CVG the purported device is not real.]
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.
Ken Levine and Guillermo del Toro talk films, monsters, and narrative on latest Irrational Interviews
We've got a perfect excuse for you to once again don that Big Daddy costume from Halloween of aught seven: a podcast. Wait, wait, hear us out -- the podcast is Irrational Games' own "Irrational Interviews," and stars none other than BioShock and BioShock Infinite creative lead Ken Levine. Oh, also, it's totally Halloween again, so you probably need a costume anyway. Furthermore, Mr. Levine's speaking with film director slash game developer Guillermo del Toro -- behind films such as Pan's Labyrinth and Blade 2, and heading up creative duties on THQ's inSane -- and it's just the first half of a two-parter. If it were ever a good day to hear two creative virtuosos wax philosophical about making scary monsters, today is that day.
Levine: Occupy Wall Street and tea party mirror revolution in BioShock Infinite
Irrational Games' creative frontman Ken Levine started Occupy Wall Street in a city in the sky, a year before the first tent was pitched on the ground in Manhattan -- and if his timeline of events in BioShock Infinite is any indication of our own future, we'd better start building some evacuation skyhooks yesterday. Levine draws parallels between the fighting political factions in Infinite, the Founders and the Vox Populi, and the OWS and tea party movements, in an interview with the Washington Post. But it doesn't start -- or stop -- there: "In this world, we came up with the idea of looking at what was happening at the time of the game [the 1890s], with the jingoism movement and the nationalist movement versus internationalist movement," Levine said. "This was before the tea party, before Occupy Wall Street. Actually, when people saw that demo, they thought we were aping the tea party; they thought it was a hit piece on the Tea Party. But these movements tend to happen. There have been nationalist and nativist movements many times through history. "As we developed these opposing groups," Levine continued, "the Founders versus the Vox Populi, it was interesting to see this play out in real time, so that the fictional movements we're creating that are set in this heightened past are almost being duplicated in reality." The polarizing views in the game mirror real-life partisan perception of the BioShock games, Levine said, with people on both sides vilifying them for opposing reasons. Infinite demonstrates a possible outcome of such political extremes, with Columbia seceding from McKinley-era America and devolving into violent drama. "I hope the real-life movements don't head to the same place, though," Levine said. "I'm not going anywhere nice, I'll tell you that much."
BioShock Infinite's main voice actors explore the creative process
What's it like expressing a total lack of remorse for a dying virtual horse in a fantastical city in the clouds? BioShock Infinite voice actor Troy Baker explains just that in this behind-the-scenes look at the voice actors playing Elizabeth and Booker in next year's big Irrational game.
Too many chefs: Ken Levine's thoughts on auteurship, editorship, and his work on the BioShock film
When it comes to the development behind BioShock 1 and BioShock Infinite, Irrational Games studio head Ken Levine described his role as that of "editor of a magazine ... but I'm also a writer for the magazine," putting things into terms that my word-addled brain could understand. "I believe more in editorship. Auteur sounds like you do everything," he began, making a point to preface his following description with a nod to the other 100-ish folks employed at his Massachusetts studio. That aside, Levine was clear that his role on Infinite is absolutely that of creative lead, not just creative oversight. "This is my game. And I love the fact that we sit down and chat with each other [Levine and other game devs outside of Irrational], but at the end of the day ... this thing's gotta be my decision." When it came to the translation of BioShock 1 from game to film, however, Levine's role changed -- even though he had been creative lead (head editor?) during the game's development. "If I were to make a game that was based on somebody else's franchise, you need somebody there who's going to say, 'This is true to the franchise, this isn't true to the franchise.' So that was more my role in the film," he explained.
Irrational's Ken Levine on BioShock's final boss and how Infinite's solution is 'more in our wheelhouse'
"So every game we make, we always say to ourselves -- back on BioShock 1, we had that terrible showdown fight at the end -- we're not good at that, let's not do that again. And then somehow, we end up ... it's like ... 'Baby I'll never hit you again, I'm changed, I'm changed!' And then we did it!" Irrational Games head and BioShock 1 creative lead Ken Levine struggled through that explanation this past weekend, pausing often, sighing a lot, and doubling back to be extra clear. His sentiment was certainly definitive, though: even he wasn't a big fan of the game's final boss fight with Atlas. "I think the boss battle in BioShock 1 -- the real boss battle -- is Andrew Ryan." I had asked about how BioShock Infinite, the studio's next game, would deal with boss fights, as the Atlas battle in the first BioShock title was seen by many as the lowest point in an otherwise spectacular experience. "I think we need to stay in our wheelhouse," he explained. "We're not Shadow of the Colossus. Those guys have a genius for that. We don't have that particular genius." Without getting into anything specific, and recognizing that it would be a "missed opportunity" not to do something with Songbird (Infinite's airborne antagonist), Levine said gamers should expect something more akin to the Andrew Ryan resolution in BioShock 1.
Ken Levine gives us an update on BioShock for PlayStation Vita
"We're still sort of in the paper design stage," Irrational Games head and co-founder Ken Levine told me this weekend. Sitting in a nondescript conference room four floors above Manhattan's Union Square, sipping on his second Diet Coke, Levine was referring to the new BioShock game coming to PlayStation Vita, which he announced himself on Sony's E3 press conference stage earlier this year. Despite the naming convention, BioShock on Vita isn't planned as a portable version of the upcoming game, Infinite, or the former two games set in the underwater city of Rapture -- at least, not right now. "That's not the current goal for what we're doing," Levine explained. While he admitted that "things can change," he added, "I think for us, the idea we have is a really good expression on a platform like that [Vita]. It's a different goal. And it has to sort of have its own voice in the franchise. If it just feels like a quieter voice in the franchise, I don't think that works. For us." Which isn't to say he derides other developers for taking the pared-down port approach. "I think there's room for every kind of game and every kind of approach. But just for what we do. That's not to say I won't play a lot of those games. I'd love to have that kind of game on a handheld." It simply means the development of the BioShock Vita game isn't taking that route. "I'd rather do something that's an experiment and that's a little different. And is unique for the franchise," he teased.
BioShock: Infinite voice actors caught on film
Eager to put faces to the voices (and digital faces, we guess) behind the lead characters of BioShock: Infinite? Look no further, as MSNBC's In-Game took some time to chat with Courtnee Draper and Troy Baker, who play Elizabeth and Booker Dewitt in Irrational's upcoming followup. Check out the video above for a look at the voice acting process, and just what goes into creating Booker, Elizabeth and the relationship between them.
The RPG/RTS that Irrational never made: 'Dungeon Duel'
Back in 2002, the folks leading up development of next year's highly anticipated, high-flying FPS, BioShock Infinite, were hard at work on a game that never made it off the ground. It was a role-playing game crossed with a real-time strategy title, and it was aimed at consoles. As revealed on the Irrational Games blog, the game was known as "Dungeon Duel" never got past the concept stage. The gameplay seems to be a mix of dungeon crawl and card-based strategy, with cards representing actual monsters and spells rather than operating on a numbers level. Combat was described as both "fast-paced" and "real-time," though the design doc fails to go into too much detail -- it's an early pitch, after all. A handful of concept art shots and in-game artwork were also made available, which you can see over on the Irrational blog.
'Irrational Interviews' pairs Ken Levine with the BioWare docs on latest episode
When we tipped you in the past about Irrational Games' ongoing series of podcasts, dubbed "Irrational Interviews," we may not have been emphatic enough about becoming an ongoing listener. To date, not a single episode has been less than interesting, and this week's episode with the BioWare doctors goes far beyond that all-too-general adjective. The trio cover everything from their disparate, non-game industry backgrounds, to the myriad difficulties involved in growing a studio, to the requisite "where is the industry going" conversation (unfortunately, even these folks don't know for sure). And clocking in at around half an hour, you can easily fit it in while your significant other watches another episode of the Jersey Shore. [Image credit: Flickr user 'richcz3']
BioShock Infinite PAX panel video explores the importance of relationships, crying in tiny rooms
PAX can be a fantastic catalyst for news and breaking information about upcoming games, but it also provides a unique window into the development process that we as consumers don't often get a chance to see. This year's BioShock Infinite panel, for instance, dove into the art of voice-acting, the challenges associated with dynamic story telling in a first person environment, and the benefits associated with crying in a 5-by-6 closet while strangers viciously berate you. The panel, hosted by G4's Adam Sessler, starred Irrational Games' Creative Director Ken Levine, as well as voice actors Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper, who voice Infinite's Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth, respectively. The group covered a wide range of topics regarding Infinite's lead characters, their motivations, and the somewhat unorthodox techniques used to extract such emotional performances from the actors. Despite being fairly F-bomb heavy, the above video doesn't disclose any information we weren't already aware of, so the spoiler-cautious among you need not worry.
BioShock Infinite Gamescom screens make Elizabeth sad
Don't cry, Lizzy! We know it's going to be a while before we get to meet, but it doesn't mean you have to be all dramatic about it. Turn that frown upside down! Besides we hear your tears can do dangerous stuff -- wait, not those kind of tears? Oh, gotcha.
BioShock Infinite time rift uses assets from canceled Irrational project
The most striking moment of the thoroughly striking E3 demo for BioShock Infinite was, undoubtedly, the moment in which Elizabeth momentarily loses control of her powers, opening a rift to a more modern world than that of the floating city of Columbia. It was surprising, effective, and it almost didn't happen. In an interview with Gamasutra, Ken Levine explained, "It was supposed to be to this primeval forest kind of thing, and it just wasn't striking or different enough ... but we had assets from a game we abandoned." Levine added that the development team "made a bunch of changes to really sell it, but we had all those assets just sitting around from a game we never shipped." Well, great. Now we're going to spend the day trying to guess what that canceled game was. Maybe The Lost? Maybe it's something secret, like Freedom Force: Rise of the Multiplex Menace. No, that's probably not it at all.
Levine talks BioShock Infinite's Move functionality, no plans for Wii U
In a recent IGN interview, Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine discussed how he made that demo for BioShock Infinite so very, very good. Of course, we all know the answer to that is "witchcraft" -- however, Levine also talked about the game's Move functionality, a feature first announced at E3. He explains it will be entirely optional to the experience, saying, "my hope is that we'll succeed in the experiment and people will like it. But if they don't like it, they'll never know it's there. And that's cool." As for the franchise's future, Levine reiterated that the BioShock title planned for the Vita will be "a new game," which is going to be "strange and surprising to people." As for E3's other hot-ticket piece of hardware, the Wii U, Levine explained, "I'm not saying it can't happen, but we have no plans to do any games for that platform." That's a shame -- we bet that tiny screen would be perfect for an upsettingly visceral EVE Hypo-injecting metagame.
Brace yourself to watch the BioShock Infinite demo
Just above, you'll find about 15 minutes of BioShock Infinite gameplay that was shown on GameTrailers TV last night. But before you watch the demo ... well, you need to steel your resolve. Keep in mind, this is the Infinite footage that left jaded game journalists slack-jawed at E3 as they fell over one another to heap "Best of Show" awards on it. Do you really think you're strong enough to resist the hypnotic love thrall that so ensorcelled all of game writerdom? Actually, you may be ... we weren't getting enough sleep and green vegetables are hard to come by on the show floor. But you probably won't be. If you're unmoved by our warnings, prepare yourself for some touching moments with your partner and charge Elizabeth, a bizarre journey into an alternate dimension and some of the most impressive, high-flying combat ever rendered. Just don't blame us when that other game you were anticipating (whatever that may be) looks a little less enticing.
BioShock Infinite sweeps Best of E3 Game Critics Awards, PlayStation Vita wins Best Hardware
There was little confusion amongst this year's E3 judges as to which game was most deserving: Super Stick Man Golf. Unfortunately it wasn't eligible for nomination, already being out and all, so the judges (this writer included) had to settle on another game. Luckily, Ken Levine and his crew at Irrational Games brought the scrumtrulescent BioShock Infinite which, when the votes were all tallied up, managed to win an admittedly finite number of awards. While we're sure the team is disappointed, we'd like to remind them that Infinite won every award it was nominated for, including Best of Show. Other notable winners include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which bagged both Best Role-Playing Game and Best Console Game; Battlefield 3, which took home Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer; and Sound Shapes which scored Best Handheld Game and Best Social/Casual Game. We've assembled a list of all the nominees with the winners in bold just past the break. If you want some more stats (Xbox 360 was the lead platform with 14 wins) check out the Fast Facts link below!
