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Irrational Games Asks You To Guess Their Next Project

Demi Adejuyigbe — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:37:32 +0000

If you don’t recognize the name “Irrational Games”, you’ll probably recognize the name they went by before April this year- 2K Boston. Reverting back to their previous name, the Bioshock creators took up the name “Irrational Games” once more before announcing that they’re working on a new, original game. And now they want you to employ your psychic powers to guess what it is!

On NeoGAF, an Irrational Games employee started a thread asking what people think their next game would be, leaving a number for people to leave a voicemail with their ideas. (617-302-7805- keep it clean!) They want to discuss the ideas on an upcoming podcast, and I’m kind of interested in what people think they’re doing as well. Meanwhile, the crazy paranoid man in me thinks they’re going to listen to your voicemails and make a game out it and say “CONGRATULATIONS YOU GUESSED RIGHT” on the podcast. Then again, the crazy paranoid man in me is crazy and paranoid.

Amazon.com PS3 BioShock 2 Pre-Order Offer: Recieve Nicest Big Daddy Suit No One Will Ever See (PlayStation Home)

Chad Lakkis — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:54:33 +0000

Amazon.com is giving away a PlayStation Home Big Daddy suit for gamers who pre-order the Special Edition BioShock 2 game for the PlayStation 3. Access to the stunning piece of virtual attire will be granted to you via a code you’ll receive within “ten business days” after the game’s release.

All in all, the suit looks nice and I guess you could wear it at the bowling alley along with the seven or so other people that manage to find the time to sign in to Home.

[Source Amazon Thanks Jeff]

2K Boston Reverts to Irrational Games Name, Patriots Inevitable Fourth Super Bowl Win Incoming

Chad Lakkis — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:28:42 +0000

Two years before I moved to Boston in 1999, a quaint little studio called Irrational Games was formed by three former members of Looking Glass. Irrational plugged away winning awards while their NFL counterpart, the New England Patriots, racked up Lombardi trophies. All was well in Bean Town until a 2K Games acquisition rebranded the prospering studio “2K Boston” prior to the launch of their new IP BioShock in 2006. Though the studio continued its success over the next four years, Brady and the boys (currently in the NFL Playoffs) didn’t. Realizing the obvious connection between the two events, 2K Boston put the hopes and dreams of New England fans squarely on their shoulders and announced the resurrection of their Irrational Games name in an interview with Game Informer.

The news couldn’t have come at a better time for three time Super Bowl winning team, as they play their first playoff game tomorrow at 1PM EST. In the mean time, you’re going to want to add irrationalgames.com to your favorites. The site is currently nothing more than a timer counting down to a point in time two days from this post. [Spoiler] Upon completion, the page will reveal a giant photo of Tom Brady in the nude.[/Spoiler]

You can read the full Irrational Games interview (containing genuine information such as the real reason behind the studio name change) in the February issue of Game Informer.

Bioshock Team’s Next Project Is A Multiplayer FPS

Demi Adejuyigbe — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 04:30:29 +0000

Bioshock was one of 2007′s best games and best in my opinion, but the only thing it lacked was an online multiplayer of any kind, unlike Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip. But 2K Boston’s next game won’t have this pitfall, as it seems that the project 2K Boston is currently working on is a multiplayer first-person shooter.

In a resume posting for Lead Designers and Lead Engineers for 2K Boston, they detailed a few key points of their next project, which you can find after the jump. While it’s not completely out of the question that this listing is for Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams, I’m thinking it’s not likely. However, we do know that the FPS in question runs on the Unreal 3.0 Engine, and will most likely be released on the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360… whenever it appears.

Leading multiple engineers within a proven team to design and build a network frontend and backend support for an action-packed AAA multiplayer title

• Advising engineers on how to properly architect their systems for optimal multiplayer support

• Extending and enhancing Unreal Engine 3 with proprietary networking tech to address gameplay, performance, platform, production, tools, and QA needs

• Interfacing with Microsoft, Sony, and other providers for matching-making and other services

• Working with the Technical Director, Lead Programmer, and IT Director to plan and execute major changes to core technology or backend services

• Responsible for delivering a robust, scalable, and responsive multiplayer gameplay code and backend services for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 platforms

The BioShock team is betting big on multiplayer and plans to stay at the top of the charts– we’re careful about the problems we tackle, innovative in our approach, solid in our implementation, and we polish the heck out of everything we do. Right now we’re looking for an exceptional individual to direct the development of this multiplayer experience through a combination of leadership, design, coding, and daily problem solving on the gameplay networking and backend server components.

Source: V4VG.com

BioShock 2 Multiplayer Leak? Gamasutra Job Description Gives Hope

John Kershaw — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:25:12 +0000

BioShock was a game of the year for a lot of people last year, but a common criticism (and praise, in some circles) was its focus on the single player story, with the game having no multiplayer options. All that could change for BioShock 2. 2K Boston (the makers of BioShock) have started looking for a “Lead Multiplayer Designer”.

The last piece of BioShock 2 info we found out about confirmed that 2K Marin not 2K Boston were working on the sequel, taking a few of the 2K Boston people with them. But don’t forget, the original BioShock was produced as a collaboration between two 2K studios, Boston and Australia (two halves of the former Irrational Games). Could 2K Boston be making BioShock 2 multiplayer?

The job description goes on to drop a few hints about the game (possibly red-herrings, but we can hope) mentioning that “BioShock had no multi-player mode. We don’t believe in throwing in something that can’t go head to head with the big boys.”

The description continues to say that “[w]e expect you to be familiar with BioShock and other 2K Boston/Irrational products and be able to speak critically about them.”

Am I reading too hard between the lines here? Or could this be the first evidence to emerge of BioShock 2 multiplayer? Perhaps the multiplayer is being created by 2K Boston, with the single player game being produced by 2K Marin?

The full job description posted to Gamasutra reads:

Summary of Position:

2K Boston, the team that brought you BioShock, is looking for a talented, experienced game designer to lead a multiplayer design team on our next big project.

You will be responsible for creating, documenting and communicating multiplayer design concepts and mechanics. Additionally, you will be required to work with our design tools to implement game mechanics or parameters and test and tune those. You will probably be required to do a certain amount of level building or design as well, though this is not the major focus of the role.

BioShock had no multi-player mode. We don’t believe in throwing in something that can’t go head to head with the big boys. No applicants will be considered who aren’t able to demonstrate they’ve got the skills to build an industry-changing multiplayer design.

Responsibilities:

You must be familiar with the current state of the art in multiplayer game design across a wide range of genres on both PC and console. You must be capable of analyzing and critiquing game designs and using that analysis to inform your own design sensibilities. We expect you to be familiar with BioShock and other 2K Boston/Irrational products and be able to speak critically about them.

Finally, there are a wide variety of miscellaneous other tasks associated with this position such as speaking at conferences, working on game documentation and manuals and occasional PR duties.

Required Experience and Skills:

This position requires a high degree of creativity. You will be required to work with the single player team to form a “vision” of the multiplayer experience and use that vision to inform your design decisions. From there, you will help build a multiplayer design team and be responsible to guide your team through the entire production cycle.

An important part of the role is then communicating that vision clearly and concisely to the rest of the team and ensuring that they have a clear and specific mandate for their work. You must also provide a receptive ear so that other team members can provide input on the game design and feel that it is paid attention to.

Above all we are looking for somebody with enthusiasm, passion and the desire to create a multiplayer experience that is on par with the industry-leading single player experiences created at 2K Boston.

When Applying for this Position:

Please remember to include: game design documents, writing samples, video or screenshot samples of some of your work and/or game analysis as appropriate.

Additional Requirements:

This position requires a high degree of creativity. You will be required to work with the single player team to form a “vision” of the multiplayer experience and use that vision to inform your design decisions. From there, you will help build a multiplayer design team and be responsible to guide your team through the entire production cycle.

An important part of the role is then communicating that vision clearly and concisely to the rest of the team and ensuring that they have a clear and specific mandate for their work. You must also provide a receptive ear so that other team members can provide input on the game design and feel that it is paid attention to.

Source: Gamasutra Jobs

Bioshock Developer Working On New Game – Passing On Playstation 3 Again?

Patrick Steen — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:12:11 +0000

2k Boston, the award winning developer of Bioshock for the Xbox360 and PC have put up a new job advertisement on Gamasutra for their next game. And if the ad is to be believed, developing for the PS3 isn’t on the cards.

Bioshock was undubitably a critical hit, and was happily gobbled up by Microsoft, making sure it wouldn’t move over to the competition’s console, by presumably giving 2k Boston an offer they couldn’t refuse.

You see, Bioshock was always on the cards for the Playstation 3, it was definitely in development for that platform, with Microsoft only making sure that it was a timed exclusive for the Xbox360. However, as time conspired and review scores came out, any signs of the PS3 version had been destroyed, and the same may well be said for 2k Boston’s next project.

Here is the Job Description: “Artists Wanted! Do you believe video games are art? WE DO! 2K Boston, the studio behind the art-deco inspired underworld dystopia known as Rapture, is looking for talented Artists to help bring our next vision to life.” This is then followed by a list of job openings, from a Lead Artist to Animators.

Most interesting, however, is that the only platforms listed are “Xbox 360 and Windows”. Time will tell where their next project will be headed, but I expect they’ll be getting plenty of calls and offers from the console makers, and good for them.