At 1UP, Lara Crigger shared the general puzzlement:

The list shocked gamers — not so much for what it included, but what it left out. Sure, The Witcher and World in Conflict were written well enough, and The Simpsons Game certainly had its fair share of good jokes. But how did Crash of the Titans — the 14th Crash Bandicoot game — and PSP no-name Dead Head Fred end up on the list when Portal and BioShock, two of the best-written games ever to hit PCs, didn't?

So what was the reasoning behind the awards?

The logic behind the list, explains Jacobs, is that writers had to be members of the WGA's New Media Caucus to be nominated. But few writers in the industry currently belong to the WGA, much less the Caucus.

Oh, eligibility. That makes sense. Do you think game writers will be rushing to join the association's Caucus in droves?

Has Game Writing Finally Comes Of Age? [1UP]

The game is still behind developed by 2K Marin, 2K Boston and 2K Australia, so it's unclear how much impact the inclusion of a fourth cook in the kitchen will actually have on the game.

"When 2K approached us to assist with development on BioShock for the PLAYSTATION 3 system, it was a no-brainer," said James Schmalz, CEO and founder of Digital Extremes. "You really can't ask for a more exciting, technically impressive world to work in than Rapture, and the incredible knowledge and talent between the 2K studios and our team at Digital Extremes is unprecedented. The collaboration on this project will make the PLAYSTATION 3 system sing with Big Daddy goodness and Little Sister 'thank you's'."

Just so they don't top their chorus off with Hayden Tenno emo sucktitude, it'll be fine.

2K Games Announces Partnership with Digital Extremes



Premier Development Studio Tapped to Optimize BioShock® for the PLAYSTATION®3 System

New York, NY – July 3, 2008 – 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today that it has signed an agreement with Digital Extremes to assist in the development of BioShock® for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Shipping to retailers in October 2008 with new features and content, the PLAYSTATION 3 system version of BioShock is being developed by 2K Marin, 2K Boston, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes.

"By partnering with Digital Extremes, 2K Games is delivering a fully optimized experience that takes advantage of the PLAYSTATION 3 system hardware," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "Bringing Digital Extremes on board allows us to continue to deliver the best experience possible to our fans."

Headquartered in London, Ontario, Digital Extremes brings more than 15 years of experience as one of the gaming industry's premier developers. Digital Extremes pioneered technological and graphical design within the video gaming industry as the co-creators of Epic Games' Unreal® franchise. Using the experience it gained from working on the recently released Dark Sector®, Digital Extremes is partnering with the 2K studios to help optimize BioShock's performance on the PLAYSTATION 3 system.

"When 2K approached us to assist with development on BioShock for the PLAYSTATION 3 system, it was a no-brainer," said James Schmalz, CEO and founder of Digital Extremes. "You really can't ask for a more exciting, technically impressive world to work in than Rapture, and the incredible knowledge and talent between the 2K studios and our team at Digital Extremes is unprecedented. The collaboration on this project will make the PLAYSTATION 3 system sing with Big Daddy goodness and Little Sister 'thank you's'."

BioShock is a narrative-driven action experience that allows players to do the impossible as they journey through an amazing, immersive and terrifying world. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically mutated citizens, the player will come to grips with the mysterious and fascinating world of Rapture, a distinct Art Deco underwater utopia gone mad. BioShock not only challenges players' capacity to adapt and survive, but brings to question their values and commitment to the inhabitants of Rapture. With smart and adaptive AI, no encounter ever plays out the same, while numerous customization options provide gamers with an experience that adapts to their playing style.

BioShock for the PLAYSTATION 3 system will be available in October 2008 and is not yet rated by the ESRB. For additional details, visit www.bioshockgame.com.

About Digital Extremes

Founded in 1993 by industry visionary, James Schmalz, Digital Extremes ranks as one of the world's top independent development studios in the interactive entertainment industry. The Canadian based developer is best known for its co-creation of Epic Games' Unreal®, the multi-million unit selling franchise which includes the award-winning PC series Unreal and Unreal Tournament as well as Xbox® hit Unreal Championship. Digital Extremes recently shipped the highly-acclaimed next-generation 3rd person action title, Dark Sector® using its proprietary next-gen technology, the Evolution Engine™. For more information visit the company website at www.digitalextremes.com.

About Take-Two Interactive Software

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games for the PC, PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Xbox 360® and Xbox® video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, Wii™, Nintendo GameCube™, Nintendo DS™ and Game Boy® Advance. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels Rockstar Games, 2K Games, 2K Sports and 2K Play, and distributes software, hardware and accessories in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. Take-Two's common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com.

I said it. It's going to be more emotionally effecting than Bioshock. A lot happens.

Good games don't have to do everything right, they just need to do at least one thing right (and really right). Everything else is gravy — emotional crying scenes, included!

Gears 2: More Emotionally Affecting than Bioshock [Team Xbox via videogaming247]

What’s kind of curious is these rumors floating around, and we read them on the Internet.. Oh, there’s some rumor that like, after BioShock, everybody hated Ken and everybody left. And everybody’s in the office like ‘where did this come from? I didn’t leave. Are you leaving? No.’ The answer is, after BioShock finished, nobody left... We would love to know [where the rumor came from]... It’s rough for us, because we’re like, it’s the same old team, we’re still there, still like working with Ken, we’re doing great stuff... If you ever meet Ken, he’s the most unassuming guy. He’s the biggest nerd. But what you have to do in a game is go out there and get people excited about your project... What I think people like about Ken, or what’s made him an ‘icon’ is that he tells the truth... He takes his case to the gamer, and that really gets people excited.

You heard it here! Ken Levine: Nerd, icon, exciter.

The Truth About Ken Levine [Next Generation]

BioShock should’ve failed... In fact, it did fail a lot, over the course of time. A series of big mistakes and corrections and slipped ship dates, but all of these helped make it a good game... Some people think that constantly messing up, and pushing dates isn’t a good way to make a game, but as far as I’m concerned it’s the only way to make a good game.

Bungled development and repeated delays are your friends! Do not hate. Do not.

Wy BioShock Should Have Failed [Gamasutra via Binge Gamer]

Activation limits removed on BioShock for the PC [2K]

Ken Levine re-negotiating contract with Take-Two [Variety]

"It's more likely that it would be released coincident with BioShock 3 - that also remains to be seen," he added. Looks like we can expect a BioShock trilogy, at least.

An analyst also asked Zelnick whether Take-Two has any creative control over the film. Sticking strictly to financial terms, Zelnick said, "We definitely did structure this deal so that we have no economic exposure or risk... the economic exposure or risk is being borne by... Universal Pictures."

No financial risk would suggest little to no creative control, but he declined to disclose specifics of the agreement.

On top of that, because this is the first PS3 title from 2K Marin, 2K Australia and 2K Boston, we’ve also got another development partner with some outstanding PS3-specific coding chops helping out with the project — we can’t talk about what studio that is yet, but we look forward to revealing that in the future... The Boston team is the largest chunk of the BioShock team at the moment; many of them hard at work on some of the as-yet-unannounced components of the PS3 version. I can mention the work of one Boston team member, Ian Bond, who has been optimizing and refactoring the physics simulation for the game to take the maximum advantage of the PS3 hardware.

It'll be interesting to see what exactly these "unannounced components" are. Hit the jump for another PS3 BioShock screenie.

Meet the teams [PlayStation.Blog]

Reader hukeedonfonics also tipped us to the above video, which shows in-game XMB over the BioShock title screen. Comments claim a BioShock developer leaked it.

Gaming Age writes that requested features like a universal friends list, and in-game messaging will be a part of the drop, in addition to "a few rather nice surprises (*cough*soundtracks*cough*)" (their words, not mine.)

So, spread the word, and we'll hopefully have more on this as it develops.

PS3 In-Game XMB is Coming[Gaming Age, via NeoGAF, thanks hukeedonfonics]

This game is not a masterpiece — it is the bare minimum. Its attention to detail with regard to its atmosphere and its narrative is not, in and of itself, a glorious feast: it is the very least we should expect from now on.

BioShock was largely acclaimed for doing a few very specific things right: the relative maturity of its philosophical themes, its stunning setpieces, its cultural wallpaper. It was received by the audience with the kind of welcome reserved for something for which we've waited ages - and yet Rogers believes that should have always been "the bar," and should continue to be.

Of course, with trademark irreverent glee and dark humor, Rogers dissects the manifold things BioShock did wrong:

Say what you will about the silent protagonist thing: we can all at least agree that the hero in this game is a bit weird. He will eat potato chips that might be a year old immediately upon finding pulling them out of a garbage can in a city full of genetic freak-out zompeople; where hypodermic needles are as “daily-routine” for the citizens as a cup of coffee, you’d think that the basic idea of “this place is a filthy bio-hazard” would at least be on the tip of one’s subconscious when one finds food in a waste receptacle.

...Yes, I also cringed at that, and like Rogers, I wondered why a reclusive society of the creative elite would develop Plasmids that "enrage" and sell them out of clown machines in the middle of the street. But despite being a big fan of BioShock, Rogers absolutely nails the moment that really disassociated me:

Not ten minutes into the monster-smashing portion of the game, the player comes across his first ever hypodermic needle — a “Plasmid”, the game calls them — and upon plucking it out of a busted vending machine, he immediately jams it into his arm, goes into wicked convulsions, crashes through a banister, and slams into the floor twenty feet below. The potato chips thing had made me laugh; this thing involving the instant hypodermic needle snapped me out of my trance; all at once, I was awake in the world of BioShock, watching the dream armed with rubber gloves and forceps. Our guiding spirit contacts us via the short-wave: “You’ve just used your first Plasmid! It’s a bit of a doozy! Your genetic code is being re-written!” Thanks for telling us that before we jammed it into our arm! I bet your starving family finds it fucking hilarious that you’re willing to let their only chance of salvation flail around on the floor while an entire troop of psycho-freaks walks by, stares at him, and laughs.

Some of Rogers' qualms can be chalked up to the fact that BioShock is a video game, and because of that, it might be necessary to make some concessions to the mechanical structures that enable gameplay - like the ability to carry impossible quantities of inventory even when a character appears to have no pockets, a mainstay. I'm not sure whether it's fair to dock points from BioShock for having vending machines in sewers, or for the VitaChambers and other such details.

But what do you think, Kotaku readers? Is Rogers right about BioShock? Would a game still be a game if it were possible to do away with the mechanics we've grown to love, like supply management and saving, or at the very least, blend them into the experience beyond recognition?

And one more question for your discussing pleasure: Does BioShock get extra criticism just because so much of it was done so well?

BioShock review [ActionButton, via GameSetWatch]

BioShock PS3 [Strategy Informer]

They were probably referring to the inclusion of the Xbox 360's downloadable content and that fixed widescreen mode, plus PS3 version specific features that "extend and augment the game." That's all according to a helpful tipster who is already in possession of the issue. EGM speculates that those features are related to Home and we wouldn't be surprised if that's more than just an educated guess on their part.

BioShock Confirmed for PS3 [EGM - thanks, Walter!]

The title blurb on the front of the cover boasts "Why Xbox's best shooter is better on PS3", possibly suggesting additional content for the new version, but as of right now details are scant. Here's hoping for a better ending!

The next issue of PSM3 is due out June 5th. We would expect the official announcement to follow soon after.

Now while CVG lists this as official confirmation, we're going to go ahead and add the rumor tag on this post until we are 100% positive, just to be on the safe side.

BioShock PS3 confirmed [CVG - Thanks Henry!]

Peter Thiel Makes Down Payment on Libertarian Ocean Colonies [Wired]

Musically, Xbox 360 Fanboy reports that MC Frontalot, FreezePop, the MiniBosses, and Jonathan Coulton will all perform in some capacity at this year's PAX. Hopefully, they'll do a number on Texan financial development programs!

'Pimp supreme' Ken Levine to keynote PAX [X3F]

LaBeouf kept following the calls until he got to the director’s office. And there was the master himself: shoes off, socks on, dressed in shooting gear, but sitting behind a computer, stuck on the fifteenth level of a first-person shooter called BioShock.

“This is like months to get to this level, and he can’t get past this one little mysterious spider god, and he’s losing his mind. He’s like, ‘I can’t do it, Shia! I can’t do it.’ ”

LaBeouf, who got into acting at age 12 partly because he wanted to make enough money to buy himself a Sega Genesis, had found himself a soul mate.

Bwah? The 15th level of BioShock? There are 15 levels in BioShock? And mysterious spider gods? Guess Spielberg really is losing his mind!
LaBeouf Article [GQ Thanks, Brendan!]

Once upon a time, games were competitors. Now, primarily, they're entertainers. They aimed to beat you. Now, to be beaten. Our language says much, really. While we've talked about difficulty curves forever, the problems now are "difficulty spikes." No one ever critiques a game for a difficulty-trough - because the former stops you getting anywhere and the latter is just something you coast throug

I'm not one of those gamers that particularly enjoys having my ass handed to me to the point where I simply cannot complete a game, though there are plenty of games that have challenged me to (my) max - I'm also the obsessive type, so the pattern of having side quests and optional challenges galore in my games of choice usually means I have more than enough to keep me busy. This question of balancing the commercial needs of AAA titles with what 'real' gamers (however you want to define that) want to see is an increasingly pressing problem — though not one that I expect will be resolved any time soon, other that to push more and more 'styles' of games towards the fringes.

Hard Times: The Future of Difficult Video 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.

During his keynote in February, Verbinski admitted that the concept of games as a truly powerful, experiential medium was still a little new to him — but he also seemed to demonstrate curiosity and respect for what he had yet to learn.

He talked primarily about ways to elaborate on game narratives, but encouragingly, he showed a healthy respect for games as their own medium, avoiding the often problematic philosophy that tries to blur the line between the two - usually resulting in both cheesy "summer blockbuster" action games, and films that knock off games while broadly missing what made the source material appealing.

It's also worth noting that Verbinski has had success navigating the choppy waters of mega-success with the Pirates flicks - those Pirates fans are devoted, but rather than exploit them through continual and decompensating sequels, he stopped with a solid trilogy. Perhaps this means game fans can trust that he's in it for quality?

At the very least, there's the familiar "well, it's not Uwe Boll," refrain. What do you guys think?

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.

Full release after the jump:

BioShock Heads to Hollywood
Universal Pictures to develop movie based on hit video game from 2K Games

Gore Verbinski, Director of Pirates of the Caribbean, to Direct/Produce

BioShock Heads to Hollywood
Universal Pictures to develop movie based on hit video game from 2K Games

Gore Verbinski, Director of Pirates of the Caribbean, to Direct/Produce

New York, NY - May 9, 2008 - 2K Games announced today that it has reached an agreement for BioShock®, the universally acclaimed smash-hit video game, to be developed as a feature film by Universal Pictures. 2K Games, whose 2K Boston and 2K Australia studios developed BioShock, is a video game publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

The prospect of bringing this blockbuster game to life has attracted not only a major studio, but top Hollywood talent. Gore Verbinski, director of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, is slated to direct and produce the BioShock movie. John Logan, Academy Award-nominated writer of Gladiator, The Aviator and Sweeney Todd, is in talks to do the screenplay.

The expected release date and terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

An original property developed by 2K Games, BioShock is one of the most successful new interactive entertainment franchises to launch in recent years. A critical and consumer hit, BioShock has sold more than 2 million units worldwide since its release in August 2007. A sequel to the game, BioShock 2, is planned for a release in 2009.

"We are excited that 2K Games' vision for BioShock will be carried forward in a new medium," said 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. In partnering with Universal and Gore Verbinski, we have assembled a team that respects the uniqueness of BioShock and will translate it into a powerful movie experience."

Mr. Zelnick added, "Our ability to attract a major studio and unparalleled creative team speaks volumes about the strength of our BioShock franchise. It also demonstrates how Take-Two is delivering value based on our strategy of creating and owning our industry's most powerful intellectual property."

Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K Games, noted, "BioShock fans appreciate the depth and complexity of the game, and our partnership with Gore Verbinski will introduce the world of Rapture to an even wider audience. In addition to his impressive body of work, Gore is an avid video gamer and true fan of BioShock. That was extremely important to us in deciding to move forward with this project."

BioShock: Triumph of the Imagination

Considered to be one the finest games in the history of interactive entertainment, BioShock unfolds as a deep and exciting adventure. Barely surviving a plane crash, the player lands in icy uncharted waters and discovers an undersea city called Rapture, a failed utopia whose citizens had embraced genetic engineering before the city descended into pure anarchy. Power and greed have run amok and the city has succumbed to civil war. It is a gripping game that forces the player to make complex moral choices. Fans have embraced BioShock's mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. BioShock is also renowned for its rich visual detail depicting a gorgeous Art Deco world set deep beneath the sea.

BioShock has earned some of the highest ratings and strongest accolades in video game history. It is one of the best-rated titles for Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, with a MetaCritic rating of 96. Numerous organizations bestowed "Game of the Year" status on BioShock in 2007, including The Associated Press, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), Game Informer, Spike TV's Video Game Awards, G4's X-Play, Amazon.com, The Houston Chronicle and Paste Magazine. Additionally, BioShock ranked among the top 10 titles on many other "Best of 2007" award lists, including The New York Times, Time Magazine and Maxim. BioShock was internally developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia and is owned by the 2K Games label of Take-Two Interactive Software.

Of all the games out there, I think Bioshock is the one that's the most engaging. I think the whole utopia-gone-wrong story that's cleverly unveiled to players is brimming with cinematic potential.

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.

Ken Levine on BioShock's Narrative Drive

The massive palette of game actions only serves to confuse and frustrate the player when challenged. The game's perfect cohesion in all other areas should have supported a strong play aesthetic; instead, players walk away from BioShock without a unified gameplay experience.

And while some of these games are successful, this success is always attributable to other extraordinarily polished aspects of the game. Great graphics and storylines are always desirable, but they are never the primary focus of great games. This diluted design strategy comes from the noble aim of entertaining more players, but the result is inevitably bland compromise.

I'm the type that doesn't want handholding, but reasonably clear expectations about what needs to be done to get through the game are always a plus (that 'strong gameplay aesthetic' Rose is talking about, I suppose). I think experimentation and options are a good thing in many games, but Rose has some excellent points on game design in general.

Fewer Mechanics, Better Game [Gamasutra]

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.

the bioshock one took like 4 days... getting that copper colour right, and making the background was hellish xD

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.

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.

In direct opposition to your mixed feelings about how people are reacting, I'm surprised at just how positive the reaction has been, or what a non-issue, in a lot of cases, it's been. At two hours, I think a lot of players are more dedicated to it. In Steam stats, it's more like three and a half. Regardless, though, it's still short.

Although it seems to be a trend. In Call of Duty 4, the single-player is awesome, but I think it took me five and a half hours or something. So it's not super-long either. That seems to be the trend. BioShock was pretty long, but it almost seems like a throwback, in how long it was.

...There's a practical constraint on time for people who aren't 14 years old. You just can't spend that much time playing a game, so is it a good thing to have games that people eventually just get sick of before the end, or run out of time? A lot of games I would like to come back to, but there's this barrier of reentry, in which I don't remember what the hell I was doing a month ago.

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.

I Claudius: Blood, political intrigue and nudity. Also, insanely well written. What else could you ask for?

Return of the Jedi: Because it came with The Empire Strikes Back.

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.

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]

I think, what it is, it's a nice gateway drug. It makes people understand the principles of gaming... I think it is a nice gateway drug. I think it is going to strictly expand the market, which doesn't scare me very much... Nothing on the scale of a Wii Sports, but again, Wii Bowling is like the ultimate gateway drug and God bless them for figuring that out because there is no barrier of entry. "Hey, can you go like that?" [swings arm] That's what you do in bowling, that's what you do in Wii Sports.

Electronic Arts just called me to let me know that they are making a bid to acquire Take-Two Interactive in an all-cash merger of about $2 billion.

The offer set Take-Two's stock at $26 per a share, about 64 percent over the company's closing stock price prior to the company's Feb. 15 offer.

Take-Two's board rejected the offer, leading Electronic Arts to make their offer public to the company's shareholders.

In the letter, attached in the jump, EA CEO John Riccitiello tells Take-Two's Stauss Zelnick that the buy-out would help both the company and its stock holders:

Our all-cash proposal is a unique opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to realize immediate value at a substantial premium, while creating long-term value for EA shareholders. Take-Two's game designers would also benefit from EA's financial resources, stable, game-focused management team, and strong global publishing capabilities. ... There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today.

Specifically, the letter mentions that EA could really help out with the launch of GTA IV. Hit the jump for the full letter and check back later to read our interview with Riccitiello.

Updates:
EA CEO/ Take-Two Chairman Talk Take Over Bid
The Take-Two Letters: EA Rejected
EA or Not EA: The Take Two Question

February 19, 2008

Dear Strauss:

Thank you for your letter of February 15, 2008. While I appreciate its courteous tone and value our ongoing dialogue, I am disappointed that you have rejected Electronic Arts Inc.'s ("EA's") $25 per share cash offer to acquire Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. ("Take-Two") and declined to engage in the friendly negotiations we proposed. We continue to believe that an acquisition of Take-Two by EA is in the best interests of your shareholders, employees and other constituents, and we remain interested in acquiring Take-Two. So, to further demonstrate our seriousness and encourage you to move forward now, I am writing to increase EA's offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Take-Two to $26 per share in cash. This offer is subject to Take-Two agreeing by February 22, 2008 to commence negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and to permit EA to commence a limited due diligence review of Take-Two.

Our revised all-cash offer represents a 64% premium over Take-Two's most recent closing price and a 63% premium over Take-Two's 30-day trailing average price (based on prices as of market close on Friday, February 15th). We believe our offer represents a unique and compelling opportunity for Take-Two shareholders to maximize the value of their investment in the company, with materially lower risk than if Take-Two proceeds on a stand-alone basis.

We also believe that the transaction we are proposing represents a uniquely attractive opportunity for Take-Two's creative teams and key employees. EA is a diversified leader with well-established franchises and proven intellectual properties, global reach, and significant financial resources. I know we both agree that Take-Two's talented creative teams deserve a permanent home within a stable and growing publisher that provides these teams an environment to do what they do best - create great games. EA is organized in a four-label model that provides our creative teams the autonomy they need to fully realize their creative ambitions, while also providing a stable and supportive corporate and publishing infrastructure which allows them to best address the global marketplace. We have the resources to make the significant investments in technology and infrastructure needed for the most creative and innovative games in the industry. In short, a combination with EA would provide Take-Two's studios and employees a combination of the right resources for investment and global reach, and the right environment to do their best work.

We believe that Take-Two's shareholders would not be well-served by any further delay in negotiating and completing the proposed merger. While the videogame industry remains an attractive, high-growth business, the challenges and risks in the business are escalating, and the need for scale is becoming more pronounced. Despite steps taken since March 2007, Take-Two remains dependent on a limited number of titles, and has limited capital resources. In addition, Take-Two faces ongoing financial, legal and operating issues and a very intense competitive environment. Given these factors, we believe it will be increasingly difficult for Take-Two to create sustainable shareholder value and that Take-Two remains exposed to considerable risk of value loss.

We also believe that any delay in this proposed transaction works against the interest of Take-Two's shareholders, because:

— There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the same high premium we are offering today. We place significant value on the ability to close the transaction relatively quickly so that EA's strong publishing and distribution network, including our global packaged goods, online and wireless publishing organizations, can positively impact the catalogue sales of GTA IV and also the launch and sale of titles released later this year. We want to work with you and your team to complete the transaction in time to begin realizing its significant marketplace benefits in advance of this year's holiday selling season.

— We believe Take-Two's current share price already reflects investor expectations for a strong release of GTA IV as well as the longer-term issues that Take-Two faces. Once GTA IV ships, Take-Two will again be dependent on less-popular titles and face increasing challenges to compete with larger and better-capitalized competitors.

— With GTA IV shipping on April 29, development on this important title must now be essentially complete. We believe now is the right time to complete a transaction with minimal disruption for Take-Two.

We also believe the transaction we are proposing will create value for EA's shareholders. In addition to the top-line benefits noted above, we can achieve bottom-line benefits by combining Take-Two's and EA's corporate and publishing infrastructures and by optimally supporting Take-Two's creative teams and intellectual properties in EA's decentralized label structure.

Considerable thought, time and resources have been put forth in developing this offer, and our Board of Directors unanimously supports it. Our offer is not conditioned on any financing requirement. It is subject to the satisfactory completion of a due diligence review of Take-Two, the negotiation and execution of mutually acceptable definitive transaction agreements, and the satisfaction of customary conditions to be set forth in such agreements. We are prepared to move forward immediately with formal due diligence and the negotiation and execution of a definitive merger agreement and believe that with adequate access to the necessary information and people, we can complete both in approximately two weeks. We believe that our due diligence review can be completed with minimal disruption, requiring only limited access to a small number of senior executives of Take-Two and its legal, accounting and financial advisors. We also have prepared a draft merger agreement that we can forward to you immediately.

Our strong preference is to conduct a private negotiation. If you are unwilling to proceed on that basis, however, we may pursue other means, including the public disclosure of this letter, to bring our offer and the compelling value it represents to the attention of Take-Two's shareholders.

I am available to meet and discuss any and all aspects of this proposal with you and your Board. Again, we believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity to maximize value for Take-Two's shareholders, and that the combined enterprise would be extraordinarily well positioned to build value for our respective customers, employees, developers and other business partners. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to hearing back from you by February 22.

At GDC, Patrick Balthrop, Senior Sound Designer at 2K, explains what they did to make BioShock's sound just so haunting. So would you kindly hit the jump to read more?

Throughout the soundscape, the constant goal was to "juxtapose the real with the surreal." Take the security bots. On one hand, they featured accurate motor effects and when they crashed out of the air, it all sounded feasible to the listener. But to achieve that "unique gameplay experience" the BioShock team was after, accuracy or feasibility wasn't enough. So they took a turn to the exaggerated and beyond. In the case of the security bot, we see this turn in its "VO" (voice over) of R2D2esque beeps and blips.

In the penny-arcade machines selling power-ups, we see the same philosophy applied. The music started with authentic calliope recordings. Then to add character, 2K opted, once again, to use VO. But this time the VO would be quite literal. Remember it? "Welcome to the circus of values!"

The end result is an experience that doesn't seek to recreate what we've already seen, but reinvent that which we've seen to build a unique and rich world.

But despite the search for this original sound with each piece of the game, 2K actually did surprisingly little post-production processing to the voices in the game. The two exceptions were the Little Sisters and Atlas.

Balthrop played two clips to demonstrate what his team did to the source audio. The first was vaguely familiar—a crystal clear Little Sister recording...but it sounded like a typical little girl. But then this track was mixed with a duplicate track dropped a few octaves with reverb, the Little Sister voice is tainted by the demonic subtext, that unharmonious melancholy that sits in our ears to this day.

Now to replay BioShock...

While interviewing Ken Levine earlier this month for my story on the use of objectivism in BioShock we talked quite a bit about the plot. Near the end of the interview I found myself compelled to tell Levine what I thought of the game.

"I know I'm not a game developer, I just write about games," I said to Levine, steeling myself for his reaction. "But I wasn't exactly thrilled with the ending of the game. I felt like the confrontation with Ryan, the deneumont of the story, should have probably been the game's ending. It felt like you dragged it out too much after that and it ended up watering down the experience."

Then I waited, for a second, in silence before hearing Levine say he agreed.

"I underestimated, way underestimated, the impact the story was going to have on people," he said. "I didn't realize it would change people's perspective on what to expect from gameplay."

Levine said that when writing a story, deep down he never really expect people to pay attention to it.

"I didn't think they became that invested in what was going on," he said. In BioShock "you have this great mystery of your own identity and once it is solved the story is over."

"I think it was a miscalculation on my part."

I'm still a little shocked that Levine so readily agreed with me about the ending of his game, which is why I'm all the more intrigued to hear what he has to say later this morning during his Game Developers Conference talk about BioShock and storytelling.

Make sure to stay tuned to my impressions after it wraps up.

No Gods or Kings: Objectivism in BioShock [Kotaku]

By: Brian Crecente

The sunken city of Rapture, a world of art deco aesthetics, neon sales pitches and looming architecture, is home to more than just murderous splicers and lumbering Big Daddys, it's also a surprising breeding ground for introspection.

BioShock may have been conceived as a study in nuance, a place for gamers to discover and explore at their own pace, but its dip into the ethical morass of Ayn Rand's objectivist philosophies has brought her beliefs back into the mainstream spotlight and even piqued the interest of the Ayn Rand Institute's president, Yaron Brook.

Brook, a former member of the Israeli Army military intelligence and award-winning finance professor at Santa Clara University, first took notice of the game when he discovered his 18-year-old son playing it. It's a fact that didn't bother Brook despite his son's objectivist beliefs and the game's not so positive take on the philosophy.

"My son has to find his own way in life," he said. "There are certain games I wouldn't want him to play, like Grand Theft Auto, games that celebrate criminality. But a game that might lead him to think and have him challenge his ideas, I'm fine with.

"Luckily for me he doesn't agree with the game, he still seems to believe in objectivism"

Objectivism as a central theme in BioShock was actually the result of a confluence of ideas and happenstance. The heart of the game started, as do most of Ken Levine's games, as the answer to a problem.

"How do we make an environment that feels really complete?" Levine said. "That's where we came up with a space ship for System Shock. In BioShock we said what can we do similarly and simulate fully as we could a space ship."

The answer was an underwater city, but that simply formed the game's outline, the walls that kept a player from remembering they were in a confined space.

Levine wondered what sorts of people might live in an underwater city, what would drive someone from the rest of the world.

"I started thinking about utopian civilizations," he said. "You have these traditional utopian notions. I've always been a fan of utopian and dystopian literature.

"The more I started thinking about making a compelling place and compelling villain, someone who had a real concrete set of beliefs made sense."

Enter Objectivism. Levine said he had been reading Ayn Rand's books over the past few years and was fascinated with her "intensity and purity of belief."

"The surety she has in her beliefs was fascinating," he said. "She almost spoke like a super villain, like Dr Doom."
And her characters, Levine believed, projected that same intensity.

"I started to wonder, what happens when you stop questioning yourself? It becomes a set of accepted truths, instead of something you're constantly using in the lab of reality."

FLAWS IN LOGIC AND CHARACTER
Where Rand had Fountainhead's Howard Roark and Atlas Shrugged's John Galt, Levine had Andrew Ryan, Rapture's founder.

Levine said he views the game's chief protagonist as a cross between Howard Hughes and "one of Rand's characters if he were put in the real world with all of the real problems people have."

"Rand's characters are super heroes," he said. "Great people without flaws. "

But Brook says, that's not really a fair interpretation of Rand's beliefs.

"It seems to me that he's misrepresented what Ayn Rand believes and her ideals beyond objectivism," he said. "He's setting it up to fail. He believes , based on what I've read, that any system that is absolutist is ultimately going to lead to disastrous effect. Any system of black and white, any system of ultimate morality.

"In many cases that true. But I think what lessens the game is that misinterpretation of objectivism."

Rand's characters aren't flawed because not everyone is, Brook says.

"I think its flawed logic in the sense that he thinks that people have to be flawed," he said. "I think in many respects (Rand's) books do put her characters in real life.

"I think there are great people and perfect people and I think we all should strive to be great and perfect."

That's how Levine's Ryan starts out, a "new man", an incredible individual, but in the end he fails and falls.

Ryan fails, Levine says, because while building the utopia of Rapture he never questions himself, never stopped to think if he had gone astray. And because of that he betrays his own belief system and ends up "wanting his cake and eating it too."

Despite his failings, Ryan still remains true to his ideals in the end, an important point.

"He brought his end upon himself and didn't shirk away from it," Levine said. "He wasn't a hypocrite. He may have failed, but he really believed what he did and put everything on the line for it."

THE GLUE THAT HOLDS THE GAME TOGETHER
Levine was careful how he presented to his team the idea of injecting philosophy into what was meant to be a mainstream game.

"The game doesn't lead with objectivism," he said. "I didn't pitch it to the team that way. If you pitch it that way to the team you're going to get the wrong game."

So initially, the team concentrated on capturing a time period. They studied furniture from the pre and post-war period. Levine went out and took pictures of New York architecture. They brought in Jack Beatty, senior editor of The Atlantic Monthly, to talk about the time period. Levine also brought in a few copies of Rand's books.

"There was a bit of an education process," he said. "The artists mostly had to think about the art deco stuff, I wrote about 95 percent of the dialog."

Late in the development process Levine decided that the game and the underwater city of Rapture needed more propaganda, things like the larger-than-life bust of Andrew Ryan and its slogan: No Gods or Kings. Only Man and the constant barrage of public service announcements.

"I felt the philosophy wasn't coming across enough, " Levine said. And objectivism "was the glue that holds the aesthetics together."

A CAUTIONARY TALE
Levine says he didn't set out to torpedo objectivism with BioShock.

"I think I'm more sympathetic to it," he said. "I find a lot of positive in it. I find her notion of selfishness is very interesting, not living for the abrogation of others, believing in the individual man as the central powerful force in the world rather than a government or a supreme being, the reintegration in belief of man/woman.

"We live in a country where atheists are distrusted, but you can be proudly religious and proudly political, but to reject those things and be proud of it I think that's a very brave woman.

"But I'm not a person who buys anything hook, line and sinker. I view life more as a buffet style.
"When I look at anything in my life one of my saving graces is the ability to step back and examine things. It's very easy to get mired in ideology."

Levine said he actually wrote the story of BioShock as a fan of Ayn Rand's precepts.

"I'm probably way more similar to her in my terms of how I think about religion and politics than any other philosophers," he said.

But Levine believes that Rand would reject that take on philosophy, that Rand believed it was "her way or the highway."

So BioShock wasn't meant really to be a game about Rand's beliefs, but more about her intensity.

"I wasn't setting out to make a game about objectivism, I was setting out to make a game about someone who had a very strong belief in a philosophy that was similar to this philosophy.

"It's a cautionary tale about wholesale, unquestioning belief in something."

While Brook cautions he hasn't played the game, his take on what Levine was trying to do with the story and its use of philosophy is surprisingly similar to what Levine himself says.

"My general sense is that the game's author is suspicious of any absolute philosophy and clumps objectivism in there," Brook said. "While he sees certain virtues in it, he thinks anything taken too far ultimately leads to disaster."

GUNS, EXPLOSIONS AND PHILOSOPHY
"Some people just like to blow shit up and some people like to think about the themes and the metaphors," he said.

And there were plenty of both in BioShock. Take for instance the disturbingly symbiotic relationship between the Little Sisters and the Big Daddys.

"The more you know about objectivism the more interesting the little sisters become," Levine said. "The little sisters are an examination of the question: Do the means justify the ends"

The weapon dispensers found throughout the game are meant to be another metaphor.

Rand, Levine says, is a believer in a completely free and unfettered market. Rapture and its vending machines were intended to be an illustration of what can happen when intellectual examination of a philosophy or a way of life stops.

"Some people complained about the vending machines and guns and ammunitions in the world, but there would be no restrictions on the market at all, so I could see that happening, especially if there was a civil war on."

Levine understands that not everyone wants to have a thoughtful experience when they play games, but he believes strongly in providing one for the people who do.

"I think by trying to throw some reflection on it you make people step back from the games they've played and think about it a tiny, tiny bit," he said. "But it has to be an entertaining experience first.

"The game was never intended to be a screed against Rand because I think there is a lot to like there, but if you take anything to its extremes it isn't good.

While in the end, Brook doesn't agree with what he believes to be the anti-objectivism tone of the game, he still sees it as a good think for the Ayn Rand Institute and objectivism.

"There have been a lot of people writing about the game and its connection to Ayn Rand," he said. And that's a good thing "in a sense, if you believe that any publicity is good publicity because it creates a level of curiosity and sends people to read the books. We probably had more kids going to read the book because of the video game.

"I think there is a certain benefit. Ultimately it doesn't portray objectivism well, but the mainstreaming of objectivism is important too. And it's important to see the willingness to debate those ideas even in a video game."

VIDEO GAMES: THE NEW LITERATURE
When BioShock hit, it was met with both high game review scores and a level of intellectual fascination that surprised even Levine.

"We joke that everyone should have known that a game about a pseudo-objectivist dystopia would be a huge hit," he said. "My initial goal for BioShock was to create an environment that people could buy into and to have a level of detail that you just don't see in games now. We have an opportunity to have players pull content out of the game rather than to push it at them."

But in wrapping their world around questions of morality and philosophy, Levine and his team managed to do something else, they managed to spark in some players the desire to, like Levine, step back from their beliefs, their ideologies and study them from afar.

"I like that people walk away with different interpretations," he said. "We weren't creating a polemic, we were creating a piece of art that has different meanings to different people.

"We were trying to ask questions more than answer them."

While the game can certainly be viewed as an attack on objectivism, despite Levine's intent, Brook says he really doesn't have a problem with it, or with the idea of the medium of video games taking on the challenge of dealing with an issue as complex as Rand's philosophy.

"I don't see a problem with the medium," he said. "I think it is potentially a very exciting medium with which to introduce people to ideas. I think video games replaces much of literature's impact. The literature today is dull and boring and video games allow kids to experience the heroism that the books don't provide them.

"Who knows where the medium is going I think that's one of the exciting things about video games and technology. I think it will be interesting to see what kind of issues they take on."

Portal Brain Age 2 Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass BioShock Puzzle Quest Rock Band Super Mario Galaxy Wii Sports The Witcher WoW: Burning Crusade

And now that the industry has become so successful at creating high quality, more polished sequels, will any of these titles really be in play a decade from now?

The Future Of Videogames [Forbes via WiiWii]