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BioShock 2 creative director Jordan Thomas leaves Take-Two
Jordan Thomas, creative director at BioShock 2 developer 2K Marin, has left the company. His departure should have no effect on the studio's current project, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, which he moved away from in early 2012, he tells GI.biz. Thomas makes his exit from the company to go indie with an unnamed partner and work on his own projects. He came to the decision after helping Irrational Games finish work on BioShock Infinite. "It cemented for me that while BioShock spoke to me, it'll never be for me what it is for Ken. I've expanded that legacy here and there, but I could never have created it from scratch. I need to build something that is, to me, what BioShock is to Ken. No matter how long it takes, I have to start now." Thomas already has a game in mind, of course: He wants to take some of the ideals found in Thief and BioShock and apply them "with a radically different focus." If it's well-received, Thomas says "we might expand the vision and explore further dimensions of the same theme with more content producers. But we'd love to keep it as lean as possible for now, in the hopes that we're not writing checks our asses can't cash. Indie ambition is its greatest strength and its greatest weakness."
XCOM Preview: Mass affect
2K Marin creative director Jordan Thomas wasted little time in addressing XCOM's year-long absence after E3 2010. "We're here to pull back the curtain on what we've been up to for a year," Jordan told us during a demo last week. "We've kind of been flying under the radar for a long time, and I wanted to start by talking about why that was." The studio was comprised of plenty of talent from Irrational who had worked on BioShock (including Thomas) and then developed BioShock 2 at 2K Marin. In other words, BioShock was their comfort zone, Thomas said. "Our first crack at XCOM kind of had a run-and-gun feel. It was very BioShock. It was contiguous first-person, it had a creepier, splicer-like alien enemy, and so on," Thomas said. Over the last year, they've tried to get away from that, making "several key alterations" to the XCOM reimagining we first saw last year. XCOM was a strategy game, the new XCOM is a first-person shooter, and that incongruity seems to be responsible for much of 2K Marin's second draft. "The main reason for that is that we are strong fans of the original XCOM series," Thomas said. "Basically, XCOM was about being the best of humanity repelling an alien invasion through cleverness and dynamism. Through taking the enemy technology and subverting it, to remove their strategic edge." Lucky for you, the "best of humanity" are on your team.%Gallery-126032%
2K Marin: Console wars 'drown out creative discourse'
The initially Xbox 360-exclusive BioShock was one of the major salvos in the ongoing console wars, waged on message boards and comment sections everywhere (including right here on this very site). Speaking with Destructoid, BioShock 2 producer Jordan Thomas expressed hope that the multi-platform sequel -- which launches today -- doesn't play a similarly divisive role. According to Thomas, "platform partisanship" is just silly and it "seems to flood the critical channels and drown out other creative discourse." Which sounds about right -- whenever a piece of news comes up that swings even close to the differences between the various consoles, the discussion usually degenerates into the same old arguments, and new and more interesting issues get drowned out like Andrew Ryan's old city. 2K Marin didn't ask in so many words, but we will: Would you kindly all just get along?
Interview: 2K Marin creative director Jordan Thomas on BioShock 2
We doubt you'll find a less forgiving job in video games than the team who has to take the reins from the driving force behind one of the most beloved titles of the last decade and try to make something of their own. As the creative director of 2K Marin, the studio behind BioShock 2, Jordan Thomas is all too familiar with the challenge. With development now behind him, Thomas took a few moments to tell us how the team kept from soiling themselves, and how they hope to make you do just that, except with excitement. Joystiq: When you first learned what you'd be tackling, what was the immediate reaction? Jordan Thomas: It wasn't a big spit-take or anything, I just felt humbled. On the original game, I was a level designer – and believe me, the guys at Irrational hold themselves to such a high creative standard that I can't do it honor in text without sounding like I want to kiss them on the mouth. Some of their games were formative for me, so I was overjoyed to have been involved with BioShock – even in a production role. 2K Marin barely existed at that point, but I told myself that if we were going to carry that legacy with BioShock 2, we'd treat their work with the proper respect. I still find myself thinking, "Gosh, I hope they all have fun" like some addled debutante. %Gallery-50342%
BioShock officially coming to PS3
We've heard rumors of it for months and now it seems that the most recent one circulated by 1UP's Quartermann is indeed on the money: BioShock is coming to the PS3. The news will apparently drop in the July issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly.All we know at this point is that the game may get some graphical improvements, it's due in time for the 2008 holiday season and that the port is being headed up by new BioShock creative director Jordan Thomas, a designer on the original. Check out the July issue of EGM for screens and some more info. BioShock developers 2K Boston and 2K Australia are owned by Take-Two. Get to know the company with our Take-Two Family Album.
