ken-levine posts

We've been down this road before and it looks like we are going that way once again. Rumors of a revival of the classic X-Com turn-based strategy PC game series have been popping up on the Internet tubes for years. This week the new rumors center on 2K Games' developer Firaxis working on a new version of the original game.

This new rumor comes from the Twitter page of the anonymously updated and trademark-obsessed web site Superannuation. The statement also revives the rumor that there's a first person shooter X-Com game that's also in the works. 2K Boston has been named as the developer for that title for quite some time and it's head man Ken Levine hasn't exactly denied that possibility. Indeed 2K Boston's sister developer 2K Australia has apparently worked at one time on such a project as Superannuation has found a (since removed) resume from a former developer at that studio that mentions such an X-Com game. We just wish 2K Games would spare us more time to speculate and come clean; the suspense is killing us.

While Ken Levine is still working on his top secret next project at 2K Boston following the release of the original BioShock over two years ago, he's apparently got some time to reveal his top 10 favorite games of all time to IndustryGamers. As one might expect, Levine's picks include several PC exclusives.

Among the games picked are Master of Magic ("It's Civilization with dragons. And spell making. And giant armies of Dwarves and stuff. Why is there no sequel? Is there no God?"), Baldur's Gate 2 ("I play it for the combats") and Company of Heroes ("The RTS that reminded me I could still love RTS."). And his number one pick is not much of a shock but still funny to read. You can check out the entire list at IndustryGamers right now.

Earlier this year a job listed for 2K Boston stated they were looking for someone to work on a multiplayer first person shooter project. This week new evidence emerged that the development team behind the original BioShock is working on some kind of shooter game for their next project.

The company's job page shows three listings, all of whom state that 2K Boston (and its head man Ken Levine) are hiring to work on "an unannounced shooter". Levine has already said in previous interviews that their next game will have "a scope and ambition in mind which is more ambitious than anything we've ever done."

Ken Levine is still not talking about what his team at 2K Boston is working on next. Let's get that out of the way right now. However he is more than willing to chat to Gamasutra about pretty much anything else in a lengthy interview (with interjections from 2 Boston's director of creative development Joe McDonagh and the studio's recruiter Ryan Oddey).

The interview talks about how 2K Boston hires the right people and creates the right culture to develop their games. However Levine does give a small hint about what their next project is trying to achieve. He states, "We needed a certain kind of length for the title, because we had a scope and ambition in mind which is more ambitious than anything we've ever done. Even more, substantially more ambitious than BioShock." Wow. That sounds promising.

The BioShock team at 2K Boston has been pretty silent about their upcoming plans and in a new Gamespot chat, its head man Ken Levine doesn't really give too many new details about what they have planned next. He does say that the game " . . . will probably come as a huge surprise to our audience and yet at the same time will make total sense once they see it."

He adds that the project " . . . will include a type of gameplay that is completely new to us--something the BioShock team has never really explored in depth before." But don't expect details about the game for a while. When asked if it's a new X-Com title (something that has been rumored for some time) Levine says, " I will say that I'm probably the world's biggest X-Com [fan]. I won't say I'm working on an X-Com game."

He also repeats that he and his 2K Boston team have nothing to do with the upcoming BioShock 2 title which is being developed at 2K Marin. Levine states, "Frankly, I'm trying to keep myself at a distance from it so I, like all the other fans out there, can play it fresh when it's done." 2K Boston is actively recruiting and our sister site Joystiq has the word on the developer's hiring drive.

Speculation about what Ken Levine and his group at 2K Boston are doing to follow up on their 2007 smash hit BioShock continues. While another group, 2K Marin, are doing the official BioShock sequel, we still don't have a clear idea on what 2K Boston is doing next (although rumors of an X-Com revival are still popping up).

In a new job entry on Gamasutra, 2K Boston announces it is hiring for a lead multiplayer designer to work on an upcoming first person shooter project. The job description states, "Understanding of online persistence is preferred but not required. MMO design or production experience also preferred." Since BioShock did not have a multiplayer component we are going to assume that 2K Boston's new title will have a faster pace than much slower BioShock. Hopefully we will learn more about this new game sooner rather than later.

[Via Kotaku]

2K Boston head Ken Levine made a name for both himself and the studio with the release of 2007's BioShock. But while that game made a large part of its money from the Xbox 360 version Levine clearly prefers his game experience to be on the PC platform.

In a new chat with Forbes.com, Levine is quoted as saying, "...I wish the industry could find a way to make PC gaming more broadly successful. There are so many challenges for PC gaming--the complications from systems specifications to the drivers--most people look at PC games and say, 'What are you talking about?' It's a shame because as a gamer, I am never more comfortable than I am sitting with a mouse and keyboard two inches away from my monitor." We would have to agree.

We've already seen how an angry mob of DRM haters can affect the readers score of a game like Spore but a few of these folks take their anti-copyright protection cause way too far. A huge example of this was revealed in a chat with 2K Boston head Ken Levine at Computer and Video Games.

Levine revealed that when the PC version of their acclaimed first person shooter BioShock was released last year, many people were very upset about the DRM set up which at the time only allowed a few installs of the game and a requirement for an Internet connection to activate the title. Levine states, "When we had the copy protection issues come out, I was out there talking about the product, I didn't run away from that. And frankly I got some nasty f****** threats. I think it's important that somebody takes responsibility, and at the end of the day my job as creative director is to sort of be the arbiter of taste. With great power comes great responsibility right?" 2K Games later buckled under pressure and extended the amount of installs for BioShock and earlier this year activation and install limits were elimiated compltely from the game.

2K Boston head Ken Levine is truly one of the best game designers around, even before he helped to create the award winning and best selling shooter BioShock. Yet even he seems to be surprised that the game sold as well as it did when it was first released around a year ago.

Eurogamer quotes Levine as saying, "I don't even know how we convinced people to pay for BioShock. These games had never made any money - everybody told us when we were pitching BioShock, sounds like a great idea, you'll sell 150,000 units - next!" Levine believes the move to tone down some gameplay aspects helped it to gain a wider audience than, say, games like System Shock 2 and Deus Ex which shared some of BioShock's ideas. Levine states, "How many people had played these kind of games before? 300,000, 400,000 - maybe? Now millions of people, because of this game, have played this type of game."

Ken Levine is renowned as one of the most creative designers in the game business. Several of his games, such as System Shock 2 and BioShock, are considered incredible masterpieces of the medium. He's also a pretty outspoken guy. Speaking to vg247, he addressed some of the rumors that some of the original BioShock team left 2K Boston because of him. Here's what he had to say:

"My wife finds it more upsetting than I do. I think the thing that was the most damaging is that it's not something I can respond to. There's no point in it. Look at the BioShock credit list and see how true that rumour is. My personality? I don't know. Maybe I am an asshole. Honestly, the people I respect? Maybe I'm the nicest guy in the world, maybe I'm the biggest asshole. I couldn't tell you. I think people choose to work with me because I can work with them and make a game called BioShock. Do you like to see people say you're inconsiderate? No. When it comes to hiring, does it really matter? No."

In other words, Ken Levine doesn't care what people think. He's out to make good games!