Rumor: BioShock 2 Bound For PlayStation 3 (and Wii?)

Job listings for the 2K Marin-led sequel to BioShock hint rather heavily that the sequel (prequel?) will be coming to more than just the Xbox 360 and PC. The team at 2K are looking for a Senior Designer, noting that "Playstation3 experience is required." Also preferred? Unreal Engine 3 experience. BioShock 2 was officially announced last month with a pre-holiday 2009 release date, giving us plenty of time for rumor, speculation and console fanboy pissing matches.

Also noteworthy is that the multiple open job listings for BioShock 2 positions specify PlayStation 3, Xbox, and Wii as the intended platforms. I just hope they call it BioShock Too, because that's a funny and lighthearted way to name your sequel and the first one was sort of depressing. Who's with me?!

Senior Designer BioShock 2 [Gamasutra via Gameguru] [Image Credit]

Ken Levine Still Involved In BioShock 2

With BioShock 2 in the hands of 2K Marin, and no longer at 2K Boston and 2K Australia, many of us were left wondering if designer and BioShock face Ken Levine would be working on the title. It would appear that he will be, in some capacity, at least, according to Take-Two CEO Ben Feder. He said today that Levine is "a terrific asset to the company and a brilliant game developer" and confirmed, in a roundabout way, that he'd be involved.

While most of the development duties sound like they'll be undertaken by the Marin studio, Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick echoed Feder's praise, saying that Levine is "critical to BioShock." 2K Boston is said to be working on a separate intellectual property for 2K Games, but hopefully Ken will be at the very least creatively consulting on BioShock 2.

Take-Two Interactive announced today that BioShock 2 was officially in the works, under the development wing of the recently formed 2K Marin studio. The sequel—rumored to actually be a prequel—to the Xbox 360 and PC shooter is planned for a fourth-quarter fiscal 2009 release date. Take-Two's fiscal year ends October 31, so expect it to hit unspecified platforms (read: Xbox 360) before the '09 holidays.

Take-Two also noted that the original BioShock has 2 million unit sales under its belt since its August '07 release. No pressure, 2K Marin! No pressure at all.

That Videogame Blog points out that concept artist Ben Mauro recently put up a nice collection of concept images for a "proposed sequel to BioShock."

Mauro told the site that these are just personal images he created for an art class he was taking. The assignment, he says, was to design a sequel for a video game or movie.

Too bad, because it's some pretty amazing stuff. I liked it so much I sent a link to Ken Levine to see what he thought. Haven't heard back yet.

It almost looks as if Mauro was thinking prequel when he did this art. Perhaps this shows the making of Rapture? Check out the link for images of his tram system.

Mid-Term Update... [Perpetual Motion, via That Videogame Blog]

New 2K Studio Formed By Ex-BioShock Devs

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 [Levine] 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 rumor 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]