The GameShadow Blog

A leaked YouTube video has revealed the first details of the next edition in the Bioshock series.

Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams is the title, and this teaser trailer is an unlockable piece of content, available once completing the original PS3 edition of the game.

The second half of 2009 is the scheduled release date for the game, on platforms that have yet to be confirmed by 2K Games.

The rumour’s done the rounds before, but Joystiq is re-reporting that Halo 4 is well in production, and being undertaken by the massively experienced team at Gearbox.

The rumour comes after various leading comments by Gearbox front man Randy Pitchford, and news from Variety that the developer has definately had talks with Microsoft concerning just such a project.

Watch this space.

…but I still remember just the way you taste.

Yes, I’ve been AWOL for the last month travelling around Central Asia, leaving the ever capable Paul to keep you up to date, but it’s back to business as usual now.

Seems I’ve missed a lot - the entirety of E3, for instance (check out the best of it here). Still, sounds as if the entire thing was a bit of a write off this year (images from E3 back in the day, and in 2008). All the same, there’s been a series of major reveals… Star Trek Online, FFXIII, confirmation of Bungie’s Halo game, Medal of Honor: Afghanistan, GTA IV for Windows… and plenty of quotable comments from the likes of Ken Levine and David Cage at Develop, Brighton, that I’ll drop into later. Plus QuakeCon and a heap of Doom 4 (it’s more Doom than Doom 3) and Quake Live details.

Meanwhile, the long dreaded cuts have kicked off at Vivendi, following Activision’s full acquisition of the publisher. Staff, studios and games are all coming under a very large knife, check the post for more.

The other major piece of news that’s caught my eye has been talk at Valve of the company’s acquisition. Big stuff afoot? I’ll keep you posted.

�

While there has been no official confirmation from Rockstar of GTA IV arriving on PC, the details and rumours continue to circulate. 

The July issue of PC Gamer Malaysia has “Now on console – soon on PC” on the front cover.

No other details have emerged yet from the magazine, so we’ll wait and see what it’s all about. 

In the latest Bungie podcast the developer has hinted at a new game announcement to be made at Microsoft’s E3 press conference.

Brian: Isn’t there something going on on July 14th or something like that?
Luke: Yeah, around then.
Brian: Somehow that’s sticking in my head for some reason. Guess we’ll have to see.
Luke: Yep, we’ll just have to be patient. Who could say?

If I were you, I’d take Kotaku’s word on this one - the full podcast is an hour and a half long.

So, Halo 4, or something fresh? The grape vine would have it that Bungie has well and truly moved on from Master Chief, so eyes peeled next week.

Edit: Loads of game details here.

Edit: This just in, it’s been confirmed. That really was the world’s worst kept secret.

GamesIndustry.biz is running a story around Blizzard’s big event in Paris this weekend, reporting that the mega-dev is to announce a major new project.

If it’s not Diablo III I’ll eat my hat. And, as if that weren’t confident enough a claim, other sites are claiming industry insiders have tipped the wink on the announcement already.

So there you go. Confirmation this weekend.

As a point of fact, it’s worth noting that Diablo was originally an external project at Condor, an independent studio. The company was bought by Blizzard shortly before Diablo’s release, and renamed Blizzard North, the game going on to define the company. However, following Diablo II’s release, relations ebtween Blizzard North and parent company Vivendi turned sour, and the best part of thirty staff, including the franchise creators, left to form other studios (including Flagship, developer of Diablo-esque Hellgate: London). The studio was closed down soon after.

So what that means is that Diablo III could turn out to be a very different game, and the complications and loss of the original series team must have played a large part in the third game’s delay. It’ll be an interesting one.

Mark this one down as highly sceptical, but you never know.

Intellisponce is a Market Research firm responsible for data belonging to a number of high end developers and publishers. Earlier in the week, the firm’s database was ripped open, and its contents splurged all over the web - including details on a previously unknown piece of software called ‘Trioxide’.

“Introducing the ability to play the latest console games (i.e. Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, etc.) on your PC. Many of these games are only available on consoles today and with this new feature would now be available on the PC as well. With this new feature those console games are now playable on your PC!

Uses the same game controllers as the original console system (all games use regular console controllers, not your computer keyboard or mouse.)”

That’s from the various bumf that was leaked from Intellisponse. No one really knows any more about the technology, or the developer.

The descriptive text seems straight forward enough - I don’t think we’re misunderstanding the purpose of the software - but the practicality of the thing is mind boggling: this is space age technology here. Platform emulation is a very inefficient process, so the chances this is for real are fairly slight.

More than likely, it’s a software concept that no one ever followed up as soon as they realised it was a no hoper.

Still, you never know.

Following very vague indications from Take 2 that Ken Levine - Bioshock’s big daddy - would be ‘involved’ in development of the sequel at 2K Marin, Variety is reporting that Levine is deep in the midst of contractual negotiations with overlords at Take 2.

With Bioshock such a huge success, Levine certainly seems due for some recognition, and Take 2’s chairman and CEO are said to be fully aware of his value to the company, but cagey about bending over too far.

If Levein were to walk from his commitment to the firm, he certainly wouldn’t be the first to do so in his position. Having sold Irrational Studios to Take 2 shortly before the release of Bioshock - reputedly in order to keep the game on track financially - Levine is at risk of losing a great deal of creative control, which means he will be looking to either claw that back, or move on and start afresh.

Personally, I’m really excited by the idea of a Levine driven X-Com game - mooted to be 2K Boston’s secret project - so here’s hoping he sticks it out and gets his fair dues.

As just reported as a part of the LucasArts lay-offs fallout, an ex-employee has revealed details on the previously unspecified Bioware / LucasArts joint project.

It’s Knights of the Old Republic III, and it’s an MMO.

This will mark Bioware’s first true MMO - Neverwinter Nights doesn’t really qualify in my book - and the company’s return to the Star Wars series that it created five years ago - KOTOR 2 was developed by long time collaborator Obsidian.

The above secret snap was taken by a journo at Rare’s British HQ, while on a visit for Viva Pinata 2, and seems to confirm that KI3 is or was in development at Rare.

The game has been touted regularly every since the last iteration on the SNES. Billed as a Street Fighter beater, it’d be quite something to see a Killer Instinct title go head to head with Street Fighter IV in the coming months.

The text in the photo talks about 3D environments - whether that’s confirmation that it’s a current development, or just a throwback to the days when everything was moving into the next dimension is open for discussion.

It does, however, seem a bit odd that the studio would have evidence of KI3 work in progress anywhere other than framed in a museum - so perhaps it’s on the go after all?

It’s been rumoured for some time, but several sources are now claiming 100% certainty that Pandemic - the team behind Mercenaries and the upcoming Saboteur - is working on a new Batman game to accompany the upcoming film.

Kokatu is the latest to commit to the story, and with the film not too far from the horizon, an official announcement must be on the way soon.

Further details are scarce, but the film’s going to be fantastic, so cross fingers, toes, and anything else you’ve got that it’s going to live up to its name.

In a recent presentation (slide 25), Take Two has highlighted the possibility for MMOs based on Bioshock and Civilization.

The precise phraseology used is ‘Potential Take Two Opportunities: Bioshock, Civilization’.

This presentation was made at the Bank of America SMID Conference, with Take Two fighting to justify its portfolio value and ongoing rejection of EA’s purchase bid, so it’s reasonable to assume the company was throwing around big names for just that reason.

It seems unlikely both, or even just one of these ideas will see fruition, but it’s certainly true that a Civ MMO might be an interesting prospect.

Do you think we’ll ever see the words ‘Bioshock’ and ‘MMO’ in conjunction again?

They will, they won’t… come on Ubi, make up your minds.

Following a deluge of sequel rumours throughout 2005/06 - all of which were quashed by poor sales of the first game - the rumour mill has again ignited.

A post on SurferGirl’s blog - a self-proclaimed ‘industry insider’ - began the gradual churnings of internet exaggeration in late 2007, and the most recent thread is the final page of PC Gamer UK - a page usually given over to a hint of what’s coming up in the next issue - which pictures a wordless portrait of Jade, the game’s heroine.

Myth? Dreams? Do you even care? Let us know.

This is slightly old news, but with the publication of Take Two’s Q1 financials, and the confirmation that Levine will have only ’some’ involvement  in Bioshock 2, it seemed appropriate to re-raise the supposed identity of 2K Boston’s ‘Project X’.

It’s X-Com. Rumour has it. Here’s the facts:

1. Take Two acquired the X-Com property from Atari in 2005.

2. Months later, Levine’s Irrational studio (now 2K Boston) was also acquired by the publisher.

3. Fierst, Pucci & Kane, entertainment solicitors, post an online CV, listing Ken Levine as a client, and his list of current projects as: “System Shock 2, Tribes 3, SWAT, X-Com, BioShock, Freedom Force”. The CV has since been updated, but you can find the original news post here.

4. Levine is a huge X-Com fan.

Exciting stuff. Far better he’s working on this than the Bioshlock sequel, if you ask me. Which you didn’t, but you’re gonna hear about it anyway.

EDIT: This claim has since been rebuked by Microsoft, who claim to have had no involvement with Xbox World 360, and that the rights to Goldeneye continue to reside with Nintendo.

Xbox World 360 seems to think it knows categorically that a Goldeneye revamp is indeed coming to XBLA, as has been rumoured for many months. It think it knows this because it seems to think it’s got the exclusive.

“Next Wednesday, in Xbox World 360, you’ll find the first ever shots and definitive hands-on details behind one of this year’s biggest stories.”

The mag went on to release two panels at a time, all twenty of which would, when put together, form a complete screenshot of the game in question.

What do you think? Does that look a little bit like a sexy version of Dam to you?