2K Games have today announced that the hotly anticipated Bioshock 2 will be releasing on the 9th of February 2010. The release date will be the same for all platforms: PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

I’ll quickly take this opportunity to remind our PC gaming fans that Direct2Drive are offering the original Bioshock for just $5/£5 for the next few days. Get it if you haven’t played it, and finish it. Then maybe you’ll be as excited as the rest of us that it’s only six months until the sequel arrives. Actually, when I put it like that, six months sounds like ages.

The first in a series of artists to create pieces for Bioshock 2, Invader Zim and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac creator Jhonen Vasquez has produced this wonderful picture entitled “The Sisters”. “I approached Jhonen Vasquez a few months back and asked him to create an image for BioShock 2 that represented the game, its characters, and the atmosphere of the city,” says 2K’s community manager of the project.

Head here for more pictures and a full explanation by Vasquez. Also, the large version can be found here. It’s a great picture, and has a certain Tim Burton-esque quality to it, obviously with the trademark creepy Zim eyes. More artists to come in the run-up to the game’s release.

Take-Two have announced that Bioshock 2 will be released on November the third for Northern Americans, and on October the thirtieth for Europeans, on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. This of course means that the spoilers will hit the web a good four days before people from the US will be able to play the game. I suggest you stay away from the internet during those four days, especially if you don’t want to know that Atlas is f- actually, you can come to Ripten. We won’t spoil it. We promise.

Gamespot have scored an exclusive Bioshock 2 feature and interview, which includes a lot of info on the upcoming game. You can see the video interview after the jump, and read all about the game over at Gamespot. Some interesting details have come up, including some insights into the way the game was conceived and designed, as well as some game info that I won’t list for fear of spoilers.

As a game which seems like it will be best enjoyed without knowing the whole plot, my suggestion is that if you want a fresh game experience (especially the story), ignore all this incoming information. I will say that Bioshock 2, from what we’ve seen so far, is looking like it will be a great game. Perhaps the fact that there’s not much new gameplay wise might put some off, but they’re not fixing what ain’t broke, I reckon.

Read more…

Above is the first footage of Bioshock 2 to hit the airwaves. The footage shows the player as a Big Daddy, with both the rivet gun and the drill, as well as plasmids. Big Sister is shown, as well as the ability to walk around underwater (you are in a diving suit, after all), but you would know that if you’d watched the video. I must say, it does look like it’s going to be great fun to play. I’m rather looking forward to the release after seeing this footage. Just don’t mess up the story, 2K!

The next episode of GameTrailers TV, airing this Thursday night at 12:30 PM, will be epic featuring the premier gameplay of BioShock 2 featuring none other than the Big Sisters, a “major announcement” and look at what’s next to come for Killzone 2, an announcement for PuncOut on the Wii by Reggie Fils-Aime, and Peter Molyneux drops in to give us the first video for the upcoming Fable II downloadable content.

Wow. This is going to be one great show.

Although we’ve known about the existence of “Big Sisters” in Bioshock 2 for a little less than a week, (thanks to Bioshock 2’s teaser site) seeing the Big Sister now is still a sight to behold, thanks to the April issue of Game Informer. Who says print is dead?

The April issue of GI, while also chock full of Dead Space: Extraction and RE5 details, has a 10-page cover story on Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams details, including new information, new screenshots, and the first glimpse at the game’s Big Sister, who appears to be more slender and more threatening than the Big Daddies. (even with the cute wittle cage for the cute wittle sisters)

You can be sure that we’ll hear more about this game at GDC later this month. Click the image above for the full resolution cover.

The official Sea of Dreams website has recently went live. The website does not give away any real information about the game, so those looking forward to knowing about the game’s features will find that instead, it is more of a viral technique to garner interest and speculation. Read more…

Exclusive to anyone that beats BioShock on PS3, that is. Yeah, that’s right — other than experiencing a truly awesome narrative, playing through the newly released BioShock on PlayStation 3 will reward you with an exclusive trailer revealing the sequel, BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams. I won’t waste time talking about it as you can just click through to watch it yourself. Read more…

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”. Read more…

It is not too often that we get to report genuinely uplifting, and all around “happy” news, but we just received an email from the 2K Games community manager, responsible for Bioshock, inquiring about how they may reach the artist behind the amazing Bioshock 2 fan art we shared with you yesterday. Read more…

If (like me) BioShock was your game of last year, then this fan made artwork may just help tide you over until the prequel, BioShock 2, starts to propagate the web with official art and news. Created by Ben Mauro as part of his Architecture course, which concentrated on the scenes and environments, the artwork paints a very organic and familiar scene. Read more…