Ken Levine Talks BioShock Infinite, the Changing Face of the Industry and Infinite’s Delay

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Dan Webb

Which came first, Ken Levine or BioShock? The answer is: the egg. That might mean nothing to you, in fact, it means nothing to me. Actually, I have no idea why I said it. It made sense at the time and it did its job: it allowed us to segue into the first part of our epic BioShock Infinite interview... well, it did in the end. Mission accomplished.

We caught up with Levine towards the back end of 2012 to talk about the BioShock franchise, the changing face of the industry and Irrational, as well as touch upon some other great other topics of conversation... and this is only part 1! As far as interviews go, you'd be mad to miss it. Chicken, in fact. Which comes after the egg... or something like that.

Check out our latest hands-on preview of BioShock Infinite if you haven't done so already and don't forget to check back this time next week for part two.

Comments
34
  • ALL THE WANT!
  • ok
  • The wait for this game has been infinite
  • If theres one thing gamers like its cilit fucking bang. Please lose the ads x360a.
  • Dan, at any point did Ken insist he was "In the zone"? Did he start bleeding from the mouth? Did he put you in the ankle lock? Seriously though, it's still pretty hard to hear you in these vids even when I started using headphones. Ken's super clear and you sound like you're in a different, noisier room in comparison. LOL at "The game is out March 26th" followed by the graphic saying "26.2.2013".
  • @5, do you mind if I ask where your from, as i can understand him perfectly, so I'm wondering if its an accent issue.
  • @#4 - If you wanna pay for our servers, we'll lose the ads. Hate to break it to you: that's how the internet works. It's how we survive. Plus, it was Barry Scott... who doesn't love a bit of Barry Scott!? Clit. BANG! @#5 - Ha ha, oh balls! I didn't notice I'd done that! I just saw the 26 =P Impressive spot that, sir. Very impressive spot. And yeah, I had mic issues that day, it was a one off though, it'll be alright in future =)
  • Levin is awesome and I agree with the comments he said about polish. I'd much rather wait months for additional polish then play a rushed game that played like garbage. This is what AAA games are made of. Also, at the end of the video you have the release date showing 26/2/13 when it should be 26/3/13.
  • @7 'Clit BANG'... youre doing it wrong mate :) Fairplay with your reasoning for the ads, its just frustrating when you click a link 2 watch a vid n get 60 secs of Barry then the video ends without even playing the interview you wanted to see. Clicked it again and got a different ad...
  • @6: Not an accent thing at all as I'm from the UK, probably more an issue of where the volume maxes out on my laptop speakers. But even when I whipped the headphones out you can't deny the quality difference between Dan and Ken's voices.
  • Lots and lots of articles about this game. Surely it is one of GAME OF THE YEAR 2013. Defo because it getting lots of hype and we all knew this game will be masterpiece!!!!!!!!! :D So exciting for this game and I like Ken Levine so much he is great guy. He knew what best and listen to fans that want for Bioshock Infinite not that but he did perfect jobs for Bioshock 1. So Infinite will be same. :D
  • Underwater World vs. Sky world - Which one will be win but we have wait until Infinite release lol!!!! Yeah loved idea of Bioshock between sky and underwater worlds for story. :D
  • @12 Maybe the next Bioshock will take place underground close to the Center of the Earth?
  • Good video. gotta be honest though, I nearly didn't watch it due to the extended cilit bang ad. I dont mind the youtube style 5 seconds then skip but this was over the top
  • @13 Cool idea
  • Am I the only one that noticed the incorrect date at the end there?
  • @#9 & 14 - I didn't realise they were 60 seconds long. They shouldn't be. I'll get in touch with our advertisers and sort that out. Cheers for the heads-up, folks. @#16 - If you discount Hurricance (#5), then yes =P @#10 - Yeah, it was a mic issue. As in, mine had fallen off and I didn't notice until after the interview was over, ha.
  • @4 You must be new to the internet.. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom You'd think that with all of that Gamerscore.. you'd not be so naive Kindly, download the extension (and Google Chrome if you need to) and proceed to shutting the hell up.
  • I'm not sure he's not Steve Carell...
  • This is the 2nd year in row that I go to GDC while a game I really want comes out and I have to wait till I get home, cruel universe you are.
  • #13 Hi yes, it might happen one day when next Bioshock announce in future. Sky and Underwater worlds already now. So I guess you might clue right for them bring underground world with depth of evil take place inside undergrounds, maybe have metro stations, sewers, caves, houses, pubs, shops and everything else areas in underground. Will be cool yah. :D :D
  • No "inside a volcano" game? Or IN SPACEEEEEEEEE??? A bioshock game that takes place in a microworld... That'd be wild. Shrink you down to go into a city the size of a dust speck. I'm looking forward to Bioshock Infinite though. Should be a fun ride, and I'm actually liking our Escorted Girlfriend thing. She's kind of interesting when compared to our protagonist.
  • @#18 - Yeah, and if everyone did that, we'd not be able to function and would have to close. That'd be fun for everyone, right?
  • Whys it not come soonerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
  • As I stood in gamestop yesterday with max payne 3 heading to the counter to purchase it, I saw a video for this on the tv behind the counter. Looked pretty impressive. I after a few seconds of chin rubbing I turned around, went a grabbed the Bioshock 1 & 2 rapture pack with bonus content for 30 bucks. Brought both games up to the counter and said "im torn between these" Without hesitation, the guy says "Bioshock all the way." so I get home and install the bonus content first and then start playing the first one. Without question, this was a no brainer. I had tried this game out years a go and lost interest quick due to the fact I was dying alot and had little ammo but i realized I hadn't been looting corpses or checking all the nooks, crannys, desks, and crates for ammo and Eve. I'm loving this game now and can't wait to play thru both games and get infinite when it comes out. Infinite looks stunning and I'm looknig forward to hittin the skys. Good job 2K and Irrational.
  • @ 18 certainly not. I rely on this website for reviews and such before purchasing a game. Ya'll stick around now ya hear?
  • above comment was directed at 23 rather. fail on my part
  • What an incredibly boring guy :/ Interviews are pointless because its all about selling, there not gonna say anything bad about their game are they? it poses a flawless stereotype in your mind that the game will be everything you want it to be, when in fact all they want is your £40, then 5 instalments of £10 for DLC to finish the game off.
  • whoa, interviews? shit man i thought this was just a site for achievement boosting. nice, guys. very nice.
  • @29 I agree, I didnt know this site did interviews, the only thing that could have made that better was a better mic on the interviewers' end. Really stoked for this game, should be good eh?
  • @4 and @18 Like the staff guy said, if we all do this, the websites we visit suffer. So, support the site, and just sit through the 30-60 second ad. Read a book for 30 seconds while it plays :D Seriously though, AdBlock is fantastic, but x360a is good enough to make it to my whitelisted domains for that extension. If you whitelist a particular website you still let them get the ad revenue from your browsing (remember, they're paying for you to view the page), but you still leave AdBlock enabled for everything else. I highly recommend doing this.
  • Ken Levine and Jake Solomon are the only game developers I don't think are self absorbed assholes.
  • this guy is probably my favorite developer. you can see his passion and concern for his audience. bioshock is one of my favorite games of all time because of it's political ideology backdrop. being an american and into american history and the founders, infinite should be a great experience as well.
  • this guy says all the right things...
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