Well I’ve been checkin into some of the major titles on the horizon and I realized I hadn’t addressed the return of the BioShock series.  Bioshock Infinite is slated for release in 2012 and looks to redirect the IP.  Many have stated they felt like Bioshock 2 was a let down in comparison to the first offering and so  Ken Levine is back at work on the new game and we hope he can right the ship.

With a completely different environment Bioshock Infinite looks to the heavens for its story.  The height of technology,  a giant floating city propelled by balloons and blimps are included.  Created by the U.S. Government sometime before the game’s 1912 setting, the city of Columbia has fallen into civil war after being disacknowledged by the U.S.  (apparently due to political backlash after the well-armed city was used in an “international incident”)

What are you doing there?  Trying to get the girl…specifically Elizabeth, a woman with some special powers?  She is wanted by everyone including your clients who aren’t on Columbia.

So we have a new story, new hero, and basically a new game.  The gang at Irrational Games wouldn’t argue.  Ken Levine has stated this is more like a new IP than a prequel.   Levine referred to the term BioShock not as a specific location or setting, but a concept conjoined by two ideas: the exploration of a fantastical setting, and the use of a large number of tools and abilities in creative manners to survive which seems to explain how anything named Bioshock could be a new IP.   The game itself also uses a modified Unreal Engine 3 instead of the Unreal Engine 2.x used by the two previous Bioshock titles.

You can watch a trailer, and even a gameplay video at the links below…

BioShock Infinite Trailer
BioShock Infinite Gameplay

You can find screenshots everywhere now and it seems the media blitz is on.  So can we really call this a new IP?  Or is this Ken Levine and Irrational’s way of distancing themselves from a poor offering by 2kMarin?  I’m leaning toward the latter…what do you think?