Joystiq had the opportunity to talk with Creative Director Ken Levine at the BioShock Infinite Announcement Event in New York last week. The conversation covers all areas from the last three years here at Irrational Games, the setting of BioShock Infinite, the Project Icarus codename, and more. Watch the entire interview and read the entire transcript over at Joystiq.com.
loganmclaine | August 15, 2010 10:30 pm
Wow! Great interview!
elementdelta59 | August 15, 2010 10:37 pm
i cant see either video! 🙁
IG.Collin | August 15, 2010 11:40 pm
If you can’t see the video, you can follow the links and watch them on Gametrailers.com.
nabeel | August 16, 2010 5:33 am
Heh, loved the end. Someone should make that game!
oneshock | August 17, 2010 10:24 am
Lol, by the sounds of it he’s referring to System Shock 2, a Ship with Ai? A hint to remake it I think. But you knew that
alfon1995 | August 16, 2010 6:35 am
Can you put subtitles? There are people who visit this page who don’t fluent in English very good… Especially spoken english
alfon1995 | August 16, 2010 6:36 am
Oh sorry. I didn’t see the link.
nohjo | August 16, 2010 10:18 am
Great interview, very excited about a game of which I only saw 1 trailer.
ruthven | August 16, 2010 10:49 am
Awesome interview.
johnmangold | August 16, 2010 12:17 pm
Great interview. I loved the first Bioshock and I am really looking forward to this game!!
One concern though. The first Bioshock certainly was part of a surreal world which imbued the type of optimism the creator speaks of. However, Rapture was its own country. Many comments were made on different political theories, but no nation was singled out for examination. We were allowed to come into this Utopian nation from the outside and judge it from our individual perspectives.
I think it is a mistake to make this new nation part of America. Now that it is grounded in a country that is well known, gamers will enter with their own preconceptions already intact. No matter if a comment on American ideals or policies is intended, this game will most likely become political in a way the first one was not. Wouldn’t it be better if we could engage the game’s ideas from a neutral position starting out, rather than entering with political viewpoints already engaged?
I humbly suggest that this should be a new, upstart nation that floats above America, divorced from the country below. If so, it should have its own flags and political agenda, even if its is just an exaggerated version of the government below.
This may already be the plan. If so, I will be relieved.
Either way, I can’t wait to play it! It already looks to be a wild ride.
borrego | August 16, 2010 10:52 pm
Don’t worry, johnman. They’re for sure going to rock this story! I really think the majority of us are going to be 100% satisfied in 2012!
dmonick1 | August 21, 2010 7:24 pm
I see your point, but I’m going to have to disagree. Bioshock would have been just as lacking in political sway even if rapture had been attached to a country, because the world is so separated physically anyways. I think the same could be said for Infinite, because although, yes, it’s supposed to be part of america, columbia is a city floating in the sky, which almost necessitates people who are very different from the actual people of the time period.
Obviously, I could certainly be very wrong and sound very stupid, but even if it did turn out to be political in some way, there are so many ways that can be used. For instance, can we exactly say that there was no political message in Bioshock when pretty much every aspect of rapture was some sort of play on objectivist philosophy, and anyone who knows anything about objectivism could giggle at all these references, both small and large? I for one could see great advantage in exploiting the political ideologies of the time for humorous little things like that, considering everything that was going on at the turn of the century.
Either way, looks pretty sick, I’m excited!
oneshock | August 17, 2010 10:23 am
@ Nabeel “Heh, loved the end. Someone should make that game!”
Lol, by the sounds of it he’s referring to System Shock 2, a Ship with Ai? A hint to remake it I think. But you knew that
jo | August 17, 2010 11:39 am
Yessss, SS2 remake?!? Yessss!
bioandrew | August 17, 2010 8:56 pm
Yea…! can’t wait to reserve the game!!!
systemaddict | August 18, 2010 6:44 pm
Great interview. I love how direct and clear he is with his message about what this game is. So many developers look over their should to the PR team. He keeps on point and talks about inspiration for games that can get people excited.
nodscene | August 18, 2010 7:01 pm
I want to eat Kens brain or at least borrow his splendid mojo of insanely kickass ideas.
rybow73 | August 18, 2010 8:17 pm
Saw the interview a couple days ago. Great interview.
ilsevelazquez | August 22, 2010 6:55 am
Thank you, Mr. Levine. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell people! Rapture was already a dead and decomposing city to begin with. Its story is over. There’s nothing more to be done there. I applaud you and the IG team for coming up with such a brilliant idea. Bioshock: Infinite looks and sounds amazing – I can’t wait.
chrisgrant | August 25, 2010 10:24 am
Thanks for the linkage! And thanks to everyone else for the kind words re: the interview, though most of the praise should go to Ken – he’s always a great interviewee.
May 3, 2011 2:41 pm
[…] more than just a new city and enemies for the Universe of BioShock. In a recent interview with JoyStiq, Ken Levine likened the BioShock franchise to Final Fantasy where a game’s story and […]
See Original Post at http://www.modern-gamer.com/?p=1563