Skip to main content

BioShock for PS Vita is ‘a new game’ and ‘weird experiment,’ according to Ken Levine

bioshock-infinite
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sony brought out the big guns for its E3 2011 press conference last month, revealing just about everything there is to know about the upcoming PS Vita other than its official release date. The best reveal came, however, when Irrational Games’ Ken Levine took the stage and confirmed that a BioShock game would be coming to the handheld. That’s all the detail he shared, but it was enough for the time being. Now Levine has spoken a little bit more about his plans for the Vita game, in a new interview with IGN.

“That’s a new game. That is going to be strange and surprising to people,” he said. “I think when we launched Infinite, people said, ‘Wait, what, what are you doing?’ I think we always want to surprise people.”

“For us, it’s like, ‘Hey, here’s this weird experiment you want to do.’ Experiments always carry risks, though. That’s been the experience of working on BioShock Infinite. And working on BioShock. People saying, ‘This is weird, risky, I don’t understand.’ I’m fortunate that I get to do things that are risky, my team gets to do things that are risky.”

Damn right he’s fortunate. Then again, BioShock wasn’t Irrational’s first dazzling effort; System Shock 2 opened plenty of doors in the early days, no doubt.

Levine also confirmed that this is a game being built from the ground-up for Vita, though he wasn’t as clear in separating it from Infinite completely. He did say that the Vita game won’t be “mobile” in the sense that we think of the term nowadays; in other words, expect chunks of gameplay that last longer than five minutes. There’s more to the interview as well, three pages worth of talk about Irrational and BioShock. Go check it out.

Editors' Recommendations

Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
Marvel Rivals turns Overwatch into the Earth’s mightiest superhero shooter
A lot of heroes fight in Marvel Rivals

The “hero shooter” is a popular competitive multiplayer game subgenre where players control characters with powerful preset abilities rather than a customizable loadout. Although "hero" is right there in the subgenre name, and Overwatch proved how well superheroes could work with the concept, we haven't gotten a true attempt at this style of game from Marvel or DC.

Marvel Rivals is out to change that, starting with its first open alpha this May.

Read more
Open Roads is a short family drama video game that leaves a big impact
Tess and Opal ride in a car in Open Roads.

Sometimes, it takes a tragedy to connect with your family.

That idea kicks off Open Roads, the latest indie published by Annapurna Interactive. The short narrative adventure begins with Tess, a young adult growing up in the wake of September 11, 2001, sorting through her grandmother’s belongings after she passes away. That somber process gives way to a domestic mystery that sends Tess and her mother, Opal, on a road trip to discover the family’s secret past.

Read more
This beloved feature almost ruined Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Link looking shocked holding rice.

“Development is going to be chaos.”

That was the reaction of Takahiro Takayama, lead physics engineer on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, when he saw the first prototypes for two of the game’s abilities: Ultrahand and Fuse. The seasoned engineer, who led the physics system on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, as well, knew that this type of physics system was uncharted territory.

Read more