Maruscak started drawing this BioShock art when the doors opened at PAX on Friday. The artist told Kotaku last night that he was into his 26th hour and counting, hoping to be finished today. Don't get your hopes up if you want to keep it for yourself. After being displayed at PAX, the huge pastel drawing will be heading back to it's publisher and financier, 2K Games.

Since you'll be playing as this guy, it looks like the design was shifted over to make him appear more human and certainly less imposing. The design conforms not only to the GamePro cover back in May, but also to one of the early concepts for the original BioShock. And also to this well-known image of the original.

Player Big Daddy [Colin Fix's Knuckle Deep, via Official Xbox 360 Magazine]

These concept art shots appeared yesterday on The Cult of Rapture BioShock website, they were presented as a way to sort of get into the heads of the developers at 2K Marin, seeing what they kept and what they scrapped in coming up with the final design for the game's protagonist.

Between the first BioShock and the sequel, you've seen a lot of concept art for Big Daddies. The logic behind this concept art went beyond different designs and suit combinations. The artists had to imagine what the very first Big Daddy would have on him — this Big Daddy had to feel like he was a rough draft or a work-in-progress, an amalgam of Big Daddies to come. The first Big Daddy was a test case, and in making the perfect prototype, 2K Marin drafted many, many prototypes themselves.

Okay, so this one is just a guy in a suit.

You can see the influence of this design a bit in the Big Sister.

Drill? Check. Slouching? Check.

Underwater Mutant Big Daddy Turtles

Almost perfect.

According to forum posters, Bioshock 2 takes place seven years after the original game, with protagonist Jack Abbott chasing the Big Sister who kidnapped his daughter all the way to Rapture. I say the Big Sister, as there is reportedly only one in the game, who acts as the mastermind behind the plot of the game. Rapture has been flooded, opening new areas while changing the dynamics of previous levels, with a fully explorable zoo and underwater exploration levels. They also make a big deal about a fight with a giant squid boss, though if my memory serves me correctly, every game ever created has a giant squid boss.

Of course the biggest two rumors are the inclusion of 2-player co-operative play, and the removal of the first game's iconic enemy, the Big Daddy. I suppose it makes sense that they'd be gone now...I just have my doubts that spliced up dogs, Cold War era soviets, and bipedal robots can make up for his absence.

More new is popping up in the forums as we speak, though of course until we have the actual April issue of Game Informer in our hands, these new details remain firmly in the realm of rumor.

Update: Official response have surfaced from both 2K and Game Informer, warning people not to believe everything they read on the internet. First, from 2K Elizabeth in the 2K forums:

Hi guys,

Please do not believe everything you read on the internet.

This rumor circulating is not true.

Grab the Game Informer magazine. It's shipped out and should be to subscribers and on store shelves really soon.

And then we have Game Informer magazine's response:

The Bioshock 2 news that is running around the web is quite...interesting.
While we can¹t confirm or deny anything that is being said, let us give you a quick piece of advice: don't believe everything you read from some dude on the Internet.

If people had actually read the Bioshock 2 cover story from this month's issue...well, you will see how it matches up with the real deal when it arrives this weekend, as the rumors floating around are so amazingly wrong on a very "big" point. Watch for the magazine in stores and in mailboxes this weekend, so you will have your information soon enough.

So Game Informer says not to believe everything, and 2K says the rumor isn't true, in response to multiple rumors. This leads us to believe there could be some truth to the information circulating, and some untruths.

We'll know for sure once the next issue of Game Informer arrives this weekend.

GI News [2K Forum]

We've heard that this Big Sisters will be an amazonian version of the Big Daddy, wearing similar, though svelter, gear.

Earlier this week, the teaser site for BioShock 2 went live. There'sSomethingInTheSea.com launched with pictures of a doll found on the beach. At first glance, the doll looks like a Big Daddy, but there are some minor differences, and the description found with the doll describe the abductor as tall and fast.

On Friday, the site updated with images of shoe prints, in the corner you can see a pink ribbon.

With the pre-release campaign for the game heating up and the Game Developers Conference only weeks away, there's a good chance we'll be hearing more about the Big Sisters and what role they might play in the game.

At the very least we should catch a glimpse of her, if she's real, during the first look at the game during GDC.

Reader Jonathan shot us an email and this photo evidence today to let us know that the replacement Big Daddy figures 2K promised back in August have started showing up on doorsteps. While they don't have any Little Sisters in tow, they are accompanied by fancy Bioshock art books, well worth the wait, I'd say. Check out a glimpse of the art book on the jump and another fancy in-focus one by reader DrcAnjel.

Now, could someone out there get to work on a Big Daddy papercraft?

Scrap Metal Big Daddy [eBay]
[Thanks, Rory]

Update: Apparently, this costume was one of the entries in Destructoid's "Dress up like a Big Daddy" contest so it was supposed to look crappy. Whew! Still awesome though...

[Thanks, Raphael]

I had the distinct pleasure of being shown BioShock by Mr. Levine himself and I must say it was the highlight of my entire E3. Being on Major Nelson's podcast and interviewing the great Sir Peter Molyneux were definite close seconds, but being the BioShock devotee that I am, Ken Levine wins the big prize.

As you may or may not have read in my last weekend's note to Ash, I will be attending the BioShock launch party taking place in Boston next month so I'll be sure to grab some pictures and bring you all the details as they happen.

It's been a while since I've seen a game which hasn't come out yet inspire so much excitement in people (not counting established franchise games, of course). The hub bub surrounding the eventual debut of BioShock has given birth to all kinds of creativity. The BioShock community site The Cult of Rapture is well deserved of it's name and allowed anticipating fans to vote on the contents of the LE box set, design the cover for said set and opened a section on their forums dedicated to fan art. This awesome image however, doesn't come from Cult of Rapture, but rather from artist, Rhall on his DeviantArt page.

It's great to see a game have such an effect on people and BioShock in particular, with it's Art Deco styling is a terrific inspiration. I cross my fingers in anticipation of it's Aug. 22nd release. Please let it be as good as it looks, please let it be as good as it looks... Flynn De Marco

[Thanks, John]

Every piece of new media I see for Bioshock makes the unbearable wait until August 21 seem even longer. In this clip, Content Producer Melissa Miller takes us through seven glorious minutes of Bioshock gameplay where we get to see the use of several different weapons and plasmids, Bioshock's instant genetic modification abilities. The highlight of the clip, as the title implies, is a battle with one of the old fashioned diving suit wearing Big Daddies.

The Big Daddy might certainly be scary, but the sight of that creepy little girl sucking juices out of a dead body with a giant hypodermic and then drinking them will haunt my dreams forever. Flynn De Marco