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Bioshock
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a new day for game films?
Will Verbinski Make BioShock The First Great Game Flick?
So, by now you've heard a BioShock flick is in the works, news that excites many fans - while leaving some others wary, thanks to the less-than-encouraging track record of films made from games.
Significant about the BioShock film news is the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski's been tapped for the directorial role. This is interesting, because you may recall that just a couple months ago, Verbinski was the keynote speaker at the 2008 DICE summit.
Lots of gamers may have wondered what a film director was doing at DICE, but now that he's directing our next big game flick, you may want to take a second look at what he said there.
take two
"BioShock Extremely Well-Suited To Film"
The wheels of the announced BioShock movie keep on churning. With a big time director aboard and a major screenwriter in talks, the game's publisher Take Two must be thrilled. It is! Just listen to Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two:
BioShock has been hailed as one of the most highly cinematic and richly plotted titles in interactive entertainment, making it extremely well-suited to film... Our ability to attract a major studio and unparalleled creative team speaks volumes about the strength of our BioShock franchise.
Thing I've always been curious about: How much do shit film adaptations hurt the games? Granted, I doubt the Super Mario Bros. movie turned people off from the Nintendo games. But still! As more and more game movies are made and as the game industry continues to eclipse the film industry, publishers should realize one thing: They need you more than you need them.
Full release after the jump:
More »
hollywood
Gore Verbinski Making BioShock Movie
Publisher Take Two has inked its first movie deal. According to Variety, underwater corridor FPS BioShock is getting a big Hollywood film adaptation. The biggest film-to-game deal since Peter Jackson's ill-fated Halo movie, the BioShock Universal produced flick will be helmed by Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. Universal is in talks with Oscar nominated scribe John Logan (The Aviator) to do the script. Verbinski has been talking with BioShock creator Ken Levine on a regular basis about the project, but no word what official capacity he'll take. Verbinski says he plans on making an R-rate film and work will begin once there's a quality script. About BioShock, Verbinski says:
still off the deep end
Ken Levine on 'Narrative Drive'
While I remain unimpressed with much of the discussion surrounding BioShock, Gamasutra has a reasonably interesting interview up with Ken Levine on 'narrative drive' and some aspects of telling stories in games. On the unreliable narrator, he's got this to say:
It's about... I didn't mention this in my presentation, I keep forgetting to... it's about damaging not the character, but damaging the player. I think insulting the player is something... to put the knife in his back, not just the character's back. Because every game has the knife go in the character's back.But if your perception of reality is screwed with, and you're basically played for a sucker, people have an emotional response to that. It's like when you read people saying, "I just put down the controller and walked away from the game for a minute." That doesn't happen when your character gets thrown off a roof and knocked unconscious, or gets shot at and wounded.
Even if you're tired of BioShock, it's an interesting interview that hits on a number of issues.
game design
Better Game Design Means Fewer Mechanics?
Sometimes, simple is better — or that's the argument of John Rose's Gamasutra article on why fewer game mechanics makes for a better game. Making the argument for a strong game play aesthetic (which generally means not having everything but the kitchen sink), Rose critiques games like BioShock for hampering players with ... too many choices? More »
bioshock
Your Big Daddy Could Have Looked Like This
To promote BioShock, 2K shipped the collector's edition with a Big Daddy figurine. Sounded great in theory, but in practice, the thing was too fragile, and looked like it had been painted by...well, somebody who had never played BioShock. And who loved the smell of industrial-strength spraypaint a little too much. Enter a Mr. David Blades, who took the standard figure, broke its arms and legs off, then re-posed and re-painted the whole thing so it's looking much nicer. Well played, Mr. Blades, well played.Mr Bubbles [schwerpunkt]
hollywood
Del Toro Loves BioShock, Mehs Movie
Since earlier this year, there have been rumors of an inevitable no-brainer BioShock movie. If true, that adaptation would need a proven director who's able to handle dark, atmospheric movies. That adaptation would need Hellboy director Guillermo de Toro. The helmer writes on his official message board:
I love BIOSHOCK from a design point of view but Unless its a HELLBOY sequel I am not that eager to engage in another action-oriented movie. Even if the other elements are right. BUt- if I found the right pitch on the material, who knows- the BIOSHOCK universe is indeed wonderful.
Man, Guillermo del Toro is one of the few directors I can see making an unsucky BioShock flick. So, hear that? If he finds the right pitch, he's on board. If not, he'll still this still-rumored-movie out, and we'll get some crappy director instead. This isn't the first time his name has come up with a game adaptation. Del Toro almost says he almost directed the still-in-development-hell Halo movie, but ended up doing Hellboy 2 instead. About the unrealized Halo flick, he adds, "There's great movie to be made, read the novels..."
Talking Games [DelToroFilms via /Film via FirstShowing]
bioshock
Here Are Five Games, Ken Levine Loves Them
See BioShock designer Ken Levine squint? He's looking at his list of top five games. They are: Civilization IV, World of Warcraft, Heroes of Might and Magic 2, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Beyond Good and Evil. Alrighty Kotakuland, let's have your top five!BioShock Creator Picks [MSNBC via CVG]
contest
The BioShock Big Eggy
Welcome to Eggture! This BioShock inspired creation comes from reader Ricky, who writes:
the bioshock one took like 4 days... getting that copper colour right, and making the background was hellish xD
Here's what's going on: Decorate an egg (yes, an actual egg), take a pic of it with a Kotaku sign and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. Commentland will vote for its favorite finalist. We'll kick this baby off right now, wrap it up on April 5th. Here's the loot, plus the bonus signed Fallout 3 shirt. Good luck!
ken levine
Ken Levine On "Really Fucking Stupid" Game Plots
Lots going on in BioShock. Objectivism, for one, but also lots of other moral/ethical/political stuff as well. Fleshing all of that out into some overblown plot must be tough, right? Nope. Because those are themes, not a plot. Or even a list of objectives, for that matter. And while themes can be as weighty or as wanky as they like, BioShock creator Ken Levine says the plot of a game has to be a lot simpler:If you want people to follow your plot, it has to be really f****** stupid. What are you doing in Bioshock? Act 1: Find the something and do something. But, the something goes somewhere. So, Act 2: You go somewhere and do something.Simple rule, that, one games like Half-Life 2 do very well, and one that games like Halo 3 do not as well. Oh, and those somethings and somewheres are mine - visit the CVG article below at your own, spoiler-filled peril.
Levine: Plot has to be really f***ing stupid [PC Zone, via CVG]
take-two
Take-Two didn't just say "no, thanks" to EA this morning. They went out and put a little document together, aimed at showing their shareholders just why they should say no. Most of it's taken up with stuff like GTA sales, but one page is interesting. This one, above. Labelled "potential untapped opportunities", it shows that while 2K are currently under-represented in the MMO, mobile and media markets, they've got the franchises to change that. BioShock, for example, could be turned into an MMO. And a mobile game. And a movie. Civilization, well, it could (presumably) be made into some kind of global, online strategy title. Take-Two shareholders, while you may have cause to doubt Strauss Zelnick's motives during this whole mess, you can not doubt the company's intentions to milk their best franchises to within an inch of their lives.
Take-Two Pondering BioShock MMO, Movie?
Take-Two didn't just say "no, thanks" to EA this morning. They went out and put a little document together, aimed at showing their shareholders just why they should say no. Most of it's taken up with stuff like GTA sales, but one page is interesting. This one, above. Labelled "potential untapped opportunities", it shows that while 2K are currently under-represented in the MMO, mobile and media markets, they've got the franchises to change that. BioShock, for example, could be turned into an MMO. And a mobile game. And a movie. Civilization, well, it could (presumably) be made into some kind of global, online strategy title. Take-Two shareholders, while you may have cause to doubt Strauss Zelnick's motives during this whole mess, you can not doubt the company's intentions to milk their best franchises to within an inch of their lives.
portal
Shorter Games Are The New Black
Playing games? Easy. Finishing games? Well... Finishing a game takes time. Sometimes, it takes too long. Though, not all games take 35 hours plus. Portal, for example. Portal takes about three hours. So, what does the game's writer, Erik Wolpaw, think about game length? He thinks this:More »
They're constantly referring at Valve to people who really think a lot about games and play games, and many of my adult friends never, ever finish games anymore. Like, they don't finish them. We just thought it would be nice to have a game where, if you play it, you probably will finish it, unless you just don't like it.
bioshock
Three Movies Ken Levine Owns
So! Typically game industry types talk about release dates, number of characters and stuff like that. While it's good info, it really doesn't shed any light on them whatsoever. At all. This does. Well. Sorta. Here's a list of three videos BioShock creator Ken Levine owns and why he owns them. Ken?More »
Miller's Crossing: Because it's the best written movie, like, ever. And if you've seen it and played BioShock, you can see the influence it had on me.
2k marin
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.
