If you played BioShock, you remember the opening level of the game. Who could forget it?

While many game companies have been contracting in the past several years, Ubisoft exploded in size without many people noticing. In fact, it may soon employ more people than any other gaming company, if it does not already.

It really sucks that Irrational Games is shutting down, and I hope that everyone who was laid off finds new employment soon. It's a bad situation, yes, but for gamers, there's something to be optimistic about -- a new digital game by Ken Levine.

Irrational Games, the studio that makes BioShock, is shutting down. BioShock creator Ken Levine said today that he plans to move on to smaller, narrative-heavy games that will be released digitally.

Though there have been some awful moments today -- please don't make me watch PewDiePie again -- this stood out as one genuinely great segment of the 2013 Spike VGX.

What to make of Burial at Sea? Planned as a two-part episodic expansion for BioShock Infinite, it takes us back to where the series began: The majestic underwater city of Rapture. One part BioShock nostalgia trip and one part extraneous BioShock Infinite epilogue, Burial at Sea's first episode falls unfortunately short of both its predecessors.

Irrational Games laid off a small number of employees this week, Kotaku has learned. The studio behind BioShock Infinite, now working on two downloadable content packs for the critically acclaimed shooter, says the layoffs won't affect development of the DLC "in any way".

A beautiful city with a seamy underbelly. A girl in danger. Weird magic. Beheadings. Junk food. Am I talking about the recently-released BioShock Infinite, or am I talking about the just-updated Dishonored? Could be either one.

It may be the fact that there is absolutely no gameplay footage whatsoever, it may be the weird pacing of it -- it doesn't really lead to a climax, and ends strangely. It may be the fact that, as people engaged in gaming culture, we come to BioShock Infinite with a different set of expectations -- but I can't help but find the newest TV commercial for the game a little bit strange.

Each week it feels like the video game industry is coming up with new ways to get you to pre-order games. Packaged bonuses, collectors' edition cases, limited edition figures, in-game items, early access to betas, and more.

No topic appeared in the rumour mill this year as much as the coming next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft.

Turns out we weren't the only ones impressed by the "lifelike" imitation Russian cosplayer Anna Moleva could do of BioShock Infinite's Emily. The game's creators, Irrational, were too.

Back in August, we told you that we'd heard BioShock Infinite was having problems with its multiplayer, a feature that hadn't actually been publicly announced. They're problems that, come November, seem insurmountable.

Two more developers have left Irrational Game, makers of BioShock Infinite. According to LinkedIn, Artificial intelligence lead Don Norbury and combat design director Clint Bundrick are the latest to depart the Boston-based company.

A string of bad news about one of the most anticipated games on the planet might be giving BioShock Infinite fans cause for concern. But the game's creative director, Ken Levine, tried to allay concerns during a call with Kotaku today. He did so on the heels of us learning some surprising details about Infinite's development from sources close to the game.

In case you were on the fence about preordering a copy of LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation Vita, LittleBigDaddy and LittleLittleSister are here to push you over the fence, and maybe kill you just a little.

To celebrate the opening of a new, international store for its merch, BioShock developers Irrational are offering this limited edition Andrew Ryan figure.

Perhaps you heard today that Ken Levine and Irrational's much-hyped, ambitious Bioshock Infinite has ben delayed until 2013.

This Saturday, at PAX East, I had the pleasure of attending the "Plot vs Play" panel, moderated by Joystiq's Ben Gilbert and Kotaku's own Jason Schreier. The panel brought together three developers who have all worked on landmark, story-driven games to discuss their differing philosophies on the presence and purpose of story in gaming.