Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better 
Resistance: Burning Skies: The Kotaku Review BioShock was a big hit. But, the way lead programmer Chris Kline sees it, the game should’ve been a MISERABLE FAILURE. BioShock was first planned in early 2002 when its developer, the then Irrational Games, decided it needed a big AAA title. The idea was to make a System Shock 2 clone, but development on the game stopped for about two years. “The very first failure”, recalls Kline, “was that we wanted to base this whole thing on System Shock 2. After a couple false starts, it wasn’t until the E3 2006 demo that the team really had to think about things like making the game work and creating a “compelling user experience”. Kline adds:
The latest Official Xbox Mag is running a rumour that’s been quietly – oh so quietly – doing the rounds for a few months now. That rumour concerns just what, exactly, 2K Boston (and I presume 2K Australia as well) are up to these days. With 2K Marin confirmed as the team behind BioShock 2, what could Ken Levine and the rest of the guys behind BioShock 1 be working on? Maybe a new X-Com game. Yes, X-Com. 2K quietly bought the rights to the series in 2007, so the rumour’s at least got a solid footing, though we’re still going to recommend you increase your daily intake of salt. If only because the thought of a new, official X-Com game is too awesome to mess around with. [Official Xbox Magazine, June 2008]
BioShock (so far) hasn’t popped up on the PS3. It’s an Xbox 360 and PC game. A job listing on the dev’s website mentions that 2K Boston is on the lookout for a Tools Programmer as it starts “pre production on its next project.” Possible hints about that next project are alluded to in the listing:
UE3, PS3 and production experience using Python or Ruby will be highly regarded.
So Unreal Engine 3 and PLAYSTATION 3. No real big surprises, but there ya go. Job Listing [2K Boston via Games Radar]
As much as we’d like to hold the physical embodiment of the rumor that BioShock is coming to the PlayStation 3 under water until we’ve forced it to spill the beans (or simply kill it), we can’t do that and make it go away. In time with EGM recently regurgitated the rumour that BioShock would be “Cell-enabled” in 2008 comes new job listings at 2K Boston clearly indicating that some sort of work is happening on the PS3. Compound that with further rumours that a BioShock prequel is in the works and, well, you wind up with absolutely no confirmation and a bit of a headache.
The folks at 1Up were able to pin down Ken Levine to speak with him a bit about the aftermath of BioShock, his upcoming projects and he thwarted GOTY acceptance speech at the Spike VGAs. When asked what he was gong to say on that momentous occasion, Levine had this to say:
I had a tireless, amazing team who was on a mission to make BioShock great. We didn’t have 300 people or five years. We had an insane amount of passion. I’d like to thank the people who made it with me, the families that patiently waited while we did our thing, the publisher with the guts not to make us change it, and the fans who showed that gamers have a much broader range of interest and intellect than anybody in certain parts of the media or the political space is comfortable giving them credit for.
It’s a relatively short article, but there is some great stuff in there regarding his thoughts on BioShock’s weaknesses as well as his pick for 2007 GOTY. A nice bit of weekend reading for your early morning coffee or late night holiday booze binge.
The Shacknews crew dug up employment listings from Gamasutra’s job board that point to a new development studio being established in Bay Area of northern California by “creators of the award-winning ‘Bioshock‘.” While that listing has since changed to exclude the BioShock reference, it jibes with a posting from the seemingly well informed Surfer Girl of blog Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars.
Girl wrote on her blog that “a good chunk of the BioShock team did not want to work with Ken ever again” and that publisher 2K “let them set up a new studio so that they can make BioShock 2, leaving Ken with Project X.” 2K Boston, Girl writes, is “essentially rebuilding a team from almost scratch again.” Consider it rumour for now, but, if true…
Ex-BioShock Staff Starting New 2K Studio in Bay Area, Next 2K Boston Project on Unreal Engine 3 [Shacknews] Disaster: Your Irrational Behavior is BioShocking [Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars]
It’s just a shame that 2KAustralia.com looks almost identical to 2KBoston.com – but that’s to be expected.
At least they’re separate.
Both sites are light on features, however, the Oz version has gone to the trouble of adding a nice section with bios for some of the guys from the Canberra studio. For example, Jon Chey wrote just five lines of code for Terra Nova. He also has a secret love of “18th century English Rococo chairs”. Certainly news to me.
2K Australia [Official site, via Sumea]
Watch The New Tomb Raider Trailer Broken Down, While It Breaks Lara Down
‘Resident Evil?… Lost Planet?… Forget Them. You Know Dead Space 3 Is Going To Annihilate Them On Horror, Thrills And Action.’
Those Adorable Mini Ninjas Get Kinect-ified For Xbox Live Arcade
Helicopters And Artillery Fire Fly In ArmA 3′s E3 Demo Video
