Tag Archives: Bioshock

Train2Game news: PlayStation Vita “first platform that gives everything” says Bioshock creator

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Ken Levine Train2Game blog imageTrain2Game students may be looking forward to the soon to be launched Sony handheld, the PlayStation Vita, and according to Bioshock creator Ken Levine, it offers everything a gamer would want.

“It’s a really interesting platform because, as a gamer, it’s the first platform that really sort of gives everything. It’s the first time I can play things like shooters on an aeroplane; and I don’t like feeling I’m playing something that’s compromised in any way.” Levine told PSM3.

“”There will be whole kinds of games that you wouldn’t have been able to play before on the Vita.” he added.

Levine’s comments are similar to those that, as reported by The Train2Game Blog, came from Sony towards the end of last year.

“We are going to truly differentiate ourselves from the competition, so people who do care about the gaming – who want a deeper, richer, more immersive experience with their gaming – are going to absolutely love this device.” said Sony Worldwide Studios European senior VP Michael Denny.

As previously reported by The Train2Game Blog, Bioshock Infinite creator Ken Levine featured as part of Sony’s E3 presentation, revealing that a Bioshock title for PlayStation Vita is in the works.

The PlayStation Vita is released in Europe on February 22nd, find out more about it here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Levine’s comments about PlayStation Vita? Will you be buying the handheld console later this month?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: CVG]

Train2Game news: Guillermo del Toro – video games ‘One of the peaks of human narrative’

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Train2Game students, especially those who read our recent interview with Deus Ex: Human Revolution writer James Swallow, will be aware of how powerful narrative in video games can be.

Now, it isn’t only games industry veterans espousing the potential of games as a storytelling medium, but well respected film director Guillermo del Toro.

“Video games are no doubt the bridge to the future of genre narrative,” he said on the latest Irrational Games interview podcast.

“You’re not going to see the narratives of, let’s say, a [Pedro] Almodovar or an indie film maker wane; they’re going to stay, but big, genre, artistically-challenging, brilliantly-done storytelling.  Holy shit, there’s a lot you can do in games that you’d never even dream of doing in movies, or TV, or comics.”

“Films are fantastic. They are one of the peaks of human narrative. Now, and I’m sorry to break the news to the movie industry, but so is the video game.” del Toro added.

And the Pan’s Labyrinth director believes video games will improve massively within the next decade.

“The video game – not all of them right now – but the video games we’ll be playing in 2020 will be f***ing masterpieces,” said del Toro.  “Many masterpieces.”

He also discussed the differences between directing a film and directing a video game, arguing it’s only possible to produce the latter if you have a true passion for medium, a passion that all Train2Game students no doubt have!

“It’s not a medium where you are going to wander if you’re just an interested observer,” said Del Tero  “You have to be a gamer to completely absorb the possibility of narrative in games with their own f***ing set of rules. The mistake you have many times is you have a filmmaker who says ‘oh there’s money in video games, I’m going to go make a video game’. No.”

“You need to truly have a passion, and even a layman understanding of the medium or you will be completely pummeled by the process,” he added

The Irrational Games podcast featuring Bioshock Creative Director Ken Levine speaking to Guillermo del Toro will be of huge interest to Train2Game students and can be listened to here.

As previously reported by the Train2Game blog, del Tero is currently working with THQ on a three part video game series, Insane, due for release in 2013.

So Train2Game, what do you make of del Tero’s comments? Does it offer any encouragement to you as a Train2Game student?

Leave your comments here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

[Source: Industry Gamers]

2K reveal Bioshock Infinite

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Bioshock Infinite

2K have revealed the next instalment of the Bioshock series, Bioshock Infinite, which sees us leaving the underwater city of Rapture and heading to the skies.

The art-deco utopian setting of Bioshock and Bioshock 2 has been replaced with the sky city of Columbia for Bioshock Infinite, while this latest episode in the Bioshock series moves back in time to 1912. That means the events of Bioshock Infinite take place almost half a century before Bioshock.

Bioshock: Infinite will see the player assuming the role of Booker DeWitt who is sent to the ‘lost’ city of Columbia to rescue a prisoner named Elizabeth. The trailer actually seems to show people in the city, so perhaps unlike Bioshock there will be more character interaction in Bioshock: Infinite? Unfortunately, we’ll be waiting until 2012 to before we can play the game to find out for sure.

Bioshock: Infinite is being developed by Irrational Games, the team behind the original Bioshock, and is once again being led by Ken Levine – who didn’t work on Bioshock 2. Of course, this is Bioshock we’re talking about so enough with the text – here’s a very pretty looking Bioshock Infinite trailer:


How impressive does that look?

The press release from 2K fills us in with the rest of the details about Bioshock Infinite:

“Set in 1912, BioShock Infinite introduces an entirely new narrative experience that lifts players out of the familiar confines of Rapture and rockets them to Columbia, an immense city in the sky. BioShock Infinite is currently planned for release during calendar 2012.

Originally conceived as a floating symbol of American ideals at a time when the United States was emerging as a world power, Columbia is dispatched to distant shores with great fanfare by a captivated public. What begins as a brand new endeavour of hope turns drastically wrong as the city soon disappears into the clouds to whereabouts unknown.

The player assumes the role of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, sent to the lost city to rescue Elizabeth, a young woman imprisoned there since childhood. He develops a relationship with Elizabeth, augmenting his abilities with hers so the pair may escape from a city that is literally falling from the sky. DeWitt must learn to fight foes in high-speed Sky-Line battles, engage in combat both indoors and amongst the clouds, and harness the power of dozens of new weapons and abilities.”

So Train2Game what do you think of the Bioshock Infinite trailer? Are you a fan of the Bioshock series? If so, what are your thoughts on the setting? And of course, how visually impressive does the game look?

You can leave your thoughts on Bioshock Infinite here or on the Train2Game forum.

Game Pitches – A useful tool for Train2Game students.

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The pitch for Fallout 2 is one of many available

So, as a Train2Game student, you’re learning new skills and you’re well on your way to becoming a Games Designer, Games Developer or Games Artist & Animator.  Perhaps you’ve got together with other students, formed a studio and have a great idea for a game, but  you don’t quite know where to start when it comes to designing and pitching it…

Never fear, Game Pitches is here to help you! What is Game Pitches you ask? Well it’s About page answers that better than we can;

“Welcome to Game Pitches! This site serves to be a free resource to game designers offering them the web’s largest single collection of game design documents and game pitches. Be they famous or obscure, big or small, successful or not, this site is intended to be a resource for learning how better to design and pitch games in the spirit of sharing information and improving the state of the art through freely available knowledge. Let’s make great games”

It certainly sounds useful doesn’t it? And there are some rather interesting design documents on the site which were used to pitch what became successful titles. One of the more recent examples is the original pitch document for Bioshock, but the website also contains useful design documents about older, classic games such as Fallout 2.

Game Pitches really does make interesting viewing as it’s evident that so much effort just has to go into design and artwork just for a pitch document, let alone the job of actually developing a game!

So take a look, do you think Game Pitches will be useful? What do you think of the design documents for other games?

As usual, leave your comments here or on the Train2Game forum.