Everyone on the internet doubted me when I raved about Bioshock. I stated "It will be one of the finest games released this decade." When all that was known was little over a paragraph about the game. Being a System Shock 2 fan, I knew this game would be amazing on a new-gen system. I think, believe it or not, that films based on games have potential, and a game with such a rich setting and narrative as Bioshock could make a very good movie. Lots of bad game-movies have been made, this however can change, and is not a permanent condition.

I will say this, as one of the first people on the internet to rave about Bioshock...everyone doubted me...this movie will be quite good. :P

Here's a movie adaptation of a game that I'm actually looking forward to. While I don't think movies like Dragon Ball and Street Fighter have the capability of giving their source material any amount of justice, it just seems natural to me that BioShock is one of those rare games that would actually work out quite well on other mediums.

"Would you kindly make a Bioshock movie thats going to kick ass and not totally suck?"

At least Uwe Boll's not involved in this movie...

Wasnt a huge fan of the game but a movie sounds good.

Why would you want to down grade one of the best stories ever told to a less powerful, liner form of storytelling. God I think this will suck so bad, please cancel it.

@Salen: U RUININ DA PLOT

They realise that the character you play as doesn't have an identity of any sort, or even a name, right?
Something tells me that this has been overlooked.

Bioshock with Verbinski seems infinitely preferable to Postal with Boll ^^.

Hell, even if Bioshock ends up as Pirates of the Carribean under the sea, at least it will probably do well in the box office and get an ok critical reception. Both of which will be better for games in general than another Boll-fest that pans in the box office and the press.

@XenonXylophone: they'll just name him... gordon

As long as the movie posters say "Would you kindly go see this movie."

@ElMuerte: I didn't think of that... that would be awesome! my question is will the movie retell the story of the game, or tell an entirely new story?

Lets just wait and see ... I mean you have a high powered director and 1 hell of a screen writer. Lets give them some credit.

I dont think any other game -> movie translation had this much talent behind it with a track record of Gladiator, Aviator, Pirates of the Carribbean ... etc.

This news makes me a sad AI, I really don't get why this game gets so much praise, it's a gimped SS2 underwater, praising this for it's "original" story is like praising Eargon for it's story.

@Rickster: Great burn.

The dude in BioShock slowly gets revealed enough to make a decent protagonist in a movie. If they keep to the story it will work out well, otherwise it could be anything.

@XenonXylophone: Nope, his name is Jack.

Well, I don't have time to confirm that right now, but I believe his name is written on a package/picture he handles during the beginning of the game.

This is what I have been told.

And you DO find out about the character. You just have to play the game the entire way through. Not saying anything other than that, though.

I bought into the hype of Bioshock and got it on release day. Although I won't say it was a horrible game, it just didn't do much for me. If you care about achievements I got around 850 points so I sure as hell did a lot in it. But I didn't enjoy the story and pretty much went through it like most other games. I actually enjoyed the other 2K game THE DARKNESS, even tho it is based off a comic that should be made to film.

But I will definitly like to see the Bioshock film, although it won't be until DVD, because none of my gaming friends care about Bioshock.

@ Brian Ashcraft - Is that picture from "The Player"? I feel old.

@kelptocratic:

That would be from the 1992 movie "The Player" with Tim Robbins as the main character :)

@Logician: AHAHAHAH I see what you did there!

Anyway the main character in Fight Club didn't really have a name either, other than Narrator. So the main character doesn't really need a name or identity for it to be a successful story or film... at least judging from FC.

@Xiatter: You are correct on both the name and the location.

I'm going to reserve judgment until many, many more details come out (shouldn't we all?) I know it's easy to say this is going to suck, based on the horrible track record of video game movies, but there's some pretty decent material to work with here, and they seem to have signed on a director who is at least halfway decent. I hope the setting, backstory, and canon of the game all stay the same, but that a different story is told-(SPOILERS!) perhaps the building of Rapture and the fight between Ryan and Fontaine for control of the city. They could even go into the creation of Jack, which could be pretty cool. In essence, make the movie a prequel, showing the events that led up to Jack going to Rapture.

My hopes are high, keeping my expectations in check.

@Xiatter:
@amazinglarry:

The lack of a name isn't my issue (as proved with Fight Club). The problem is that the character doesn't speak, doesn't express any emotion and doesn't have a personality. This because the player projects his own image onto the character, allowing for a more immersive (is that a word?) experience.

That, for me, is one of the reasons Bioshock was such a great experience as a game.
And one of the reasons why a film adaptation may not work.

Awesome pic for this article guys. Kudos :)

@XenonXylophone:

I've got to agree on this. In my mind, the things that make Bioshock great are intimately tied up in the fact that it's a game. Translating it to something other than a game, it will be pretty much impossible not to lose some of that.

I mean, the game was about games. The whole point is missed if it's not a game!

I'm deeply concerned about this movie deal. I'm afraid that even if it's a good movie, a great movie, it'll be a bad movie.

Yes, Bioshock had a great story, but let's be honest here. A lot of that story worked because of the player's role in it. The "Would You Kindly" twist was awesome (in the literal sense of the word) not because it was diabolic or what it did to Jack. It was incredible because of what it did to US, the players. The realization that we, the goodly player, went hopping around offing people simply because someone asked us nicely to, was stunning.

In a way, it's very much ike the DaVinci Code. That book pulled people in because the reader became heavily involved in the puzzles, the mystery. And then when it was put on screen, there were some CGI bits over Tom Hanks' head and poof, there's the answer. The act of putting it on the screen flattened the depth right out of the work, made it mere pulp.

Bioshock was great because it was more than just a story about what happens to the characters in the game. It was about us, and that's something that will be lost when that gets ironed out onto the silver screen.

"publishers should realize one thing: They need you more than you need them."

What? No. Hollywood needs game adaptations like ... Videogames need movie adaptations. They're both shit, and they both rake in the bucks. Don't expect either to change any time soon.

Bioshock seems to be more of a story driven game rather than an action game.

And if they made it into a movie they wouldn't have to censor it like they had to do to appease the ultraconservative ESRB pricks. They could make a VERY disturbing dystopian movie out of what was reduced to being a moderately creepy dystopian game by the ESRB.

@eakolb: Check out the movie "Funny Games" to see how this kind of tactic can be used in movies. Or "The Last Horror Movie". "Funny Games" will eat you alive, especially if you don't usually watch foreign/obscure/etc movies that are very emotionally challenging. A lot of people can't finish it because it's too devastating. It would be great if they could do this same thing with BioShock.

Biohshock's most awesome parts are only possible in a game. You don't see the main character and you feel genuinely betrayed by Atlas. Like the story of Watchmen which seems only possible in a comic book, a film can never do Bioshock justice.

BioShock was a really, really overrated game. Movie could be good if they make the script better.