We've been a little doubtful that the BioShock movie would actually get made after it was first announced, but director Gore Verbinski is starting to come around to our way of thinking. Verbinski told the LA Times that he thought the movie could still get made, but likely in a foreign country that offers tax breaks for movie makers.

Verbinski also says he wants to get into the games business, which would be more troubling if the very first thing he'd said about it hadn't been, "It's a mistake for Hollywood to impose themselves on the gaming space. Not only is it arrogant, but it hasn't really worked." Music to our ears.

We're still not sure why anyone would want to retrofit video games with last-gen tech and turn them into books, but sci-fi/fantasy publisher Tor has apparently had a lot of success with the practice lately, with franchises like Halo and Dragon Age. The next game to get the dead tree-ment? BioShock, which will be the subject of a 400-page hard- and softcover release this fall.

Currently, the book's author is listed as Ken Levine, but we're pretty sure that's a placeholder, because we don't live in a magical alternate dimension where we can make things happen just by wishing for them. We'll let you know when we find out more.

We're here at the MIT Business in Gaming conference this afternoon to watch Ken Levine – who holds the title trifecta of "co-founder, "president" and "Creative Director" at 2K Boston (née Irrational) – take the hotseat in a Q&A format (that, for some reason, is being billed as a "keynote"). No bother – given an opportunity to hear the BioShock developer discuss the current state of the industry (not to mention regaling us backstage with amusing yarns about Strauss Zelnick's protein-centric diet), we took our spot in the front row, laptops at the ready.

After an introduction by one of the show's sponsors (get off the stage, bub!) the Q&A was handed over to MIT graduate student Dennis Fu, who peppered Levine with a series of questions inspired by the day's panel topics: digital distribution; in-game advertising; MMO business models; and serious games. Fu stepped right into the deep end, asking Levine "What can you tell us about BioShock 2?" As he's said before, he's keeping himself intentionally in the dark so that he can play it "as a fan." "We're sort of keeping ourselves at a distance," he explained.

During his Q&A at the MIT Business in Gaming conference, Ken Levine revealed the cost of some of his projects and hinted at the cost (and scale!) of 2K Boston's latest, still secret, project.

"Freedom Force was $2 million; System Shock 2 was $600K, it was nothing. BioShock, I think it's been published, was $15 million," Levine said. When we asked how much, on that scale, his new project would cost, Levine teased, "It's more than System Shock 2."

He elaborated, "It's a fair amount of money. Our goal is to build experiences." Referring to the craft of building experiences, Levine noted that BioShock "didn't have the best shooting compared to Call of Duty" and "it didn't have the most revolutionary AI." What it did have was an "experience [gamers] couldn't get anywhere else." It was something "that people can look at it and say, 'I can't have this experience anywhere else.'"

Here's the thing: "Generally those experiences cost a fair amount of money to make," Levine says. Of course, he can't say how much – "because I would probably get fired before I walked out the door" – but he assures us "It won't be the cheapest product ever made." So we've got a ballpark here: Somewhere between $600K and infinity.

Focusing on riveting hot-button issues like "digital distribution, marketing, and in-game advertising," the MIT Sloan School of Management is kicking off its first ever "Business in Gaming " Conference (BiG) with BioShock magnate Ken Levine as inaugural keynote speaker.

We'll be there, Big Daddy statues and permanent markers in tow, and when we're not ogling KennyL we'll likely check out the panel featuring ex-Boston Red Soxer Curt Schilling of 38 Studios speaking about MMO business models. Hey, maybe he'll talk about that game his company's been making for three years! Code-named Copernicus? No? You don't remember that one? Yeah, neither do we.

The clues have been building up and it appears that 2K Boston may be changing its name to Irrational Boston, the original name of the development studio (albeit now with a location tacked on to the name). The information comes by way of a trademark registration (via superannuation) filed by parent company and publisher Take-Two Interactive, not to mention shirts we spotted 2K Boston employees wearing at GDC last week.

Little is known about how the name change will affect the development studio but we are prone to wild speculation. So let's begin! Is it a sister studio inside 2K Boston? Is it to spin off 2K development studios under the "Irrational" name? And what does this mean for the other half of the original Irrational Games that's now named "2K Australia?" The official word from 2K Boston as of this morning was, "No comment," but we should expect to hear something "very soon." We'll update this post as news comes in.

[Via superannuation]

It appears that 2K Boston may be going back to its original name, Irrational Games, soonish. This evening, at a social event held by the developer's PR company, several 2K Boston employees were wearing the above shirts, promoting that jobs are currently available at the developer. When we confronted several 2K Boston folks about why the two URLs were on the shirt, they were ... well, let's just say they were a little cagey. If it happens, it means Irrational switched its name and back again in under two years.

2K Boston is looking to staff its next project and is blaring that information quite publicly -- a bold move in this economy. The company approached us with images of a postcard it'll pass out next week at GDC on a recruitment mission. It sounds like the developer is casting a wide net for talent and will sift through the candidates to find what the studio is looking for -- we do not envy that human resources person. Almost nothing is known about 2K Boston's next project, other than that, in Ken Levine's words, it's "very, very, different."

According to the flip side of the card (found after the break), the company is currently looking for ... well, it appears it's looking for everyone under the sun. The company has "dozens of openings in programming, design, art, audio and production." Remember to check for typos (like we should have with our headline -- guess that rules us out, blargh) before submitting your resume to the email address found on the card.

Now, let the speculation begin on why the image -- seemingly of a Big Daddy helmet -- was used for this promotion. Best of luck to the applicants!

We know how it is. You're standing at your local department store/Cracker Barrel gift shop/hotel mini-bar and you just can't find the perfect gift for that special video game blog in your life. Hey, we've all been there. This year, we're going to make it easy on you: You should get us ... err, rather, your favorite video game blog, whichever that may be, this new BioShock art book.

Breaking the Mold: Developer's Edition is 174 pages, $24.99, is now available for pre-order and will make us love, prize and cherish you above all other readers from now until the end times. Did we mention there's free shipping?

So, what happens when you stick game developers Ken Levine (BioShock) and Todd Howard (Fallout 3) in a room with two outspoken games journalists for an hour? You get a fascinating discussion on how Eastern Europe has become a new haven for PC games, how Bollywood perfected The Lost and, of course, a lesson about Horse Armor. That, and Howard reveals Bethesda is working on an iPhone game. MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo and Newsweek's N'Gai Croal grilled both Levine and Howard on everything and anything gaming, and we were there to absorb it all.

When asked about what he thought the most notable game of last year was, Levine answered he was intrigued with Russian dev Katauri Interactive's King's Bounty: The Legend. He pointed out that Eastern Europe has been thriving with PC games, noting that games like King's Bounty are good reason to keep an eye on the region.

Todd Howard was asked by a fan where he draws the line on DLC, using Oblivion's Horse Armor as an example of seemingly unnecessary content, or content which should have been integrated initially. Howard responded saying that people shouldn't complain about the inclusion of DLC, as devs can't always include certain content within their given schedules. They're really extras for fans, he said; however, he ascribed merit to complaining about how much that content costs.

One last interesting discussion of the afternoon included a glimpse into how companies are using Achievements/Trophies in more ways than just giving you – the gamer – an ego. Game companies are using these accolade systems to check up on completion rates on their games (determined by the number of gamers who've received endgame Achievements). Levine revealed that 50 percent of BioShock players finished the game, while Howard noted a 30 percent completion rate for Fallout 3. Both those titles represented a notch up from the average 20 percent.

Every day is opposite day at BioShock dev 2K Boston. Amidst gray skies and industry layoffs, multiple job postings indicate that the studio is looking to bring a handful of new talent on board, with some or all to lend a hand developing what the company describes as an "action-packed AAA multiplayer title" for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Nothing else is known of the mystery project other than it will be driven by Unreal Engine 3 -- but these days, what isn't? With multiplayer sorely absent from the original BioShock, and development reins on its sequel in the hands of newly opened 2K Marin, we're now left wondering just what exactly Big Daddy Ken Levine and his followers are up to.

[Via V4VG]

2K Games today confirmed the November 20th release date of the PS3-exclusive BioShock "Challenge Rooms." The add-on content will be sold through PlayStation Store for $9.99 (in North America) and includes three, self-contained scenarios:

• A Shocking Turn of Events: A Little Sister is trapped atop a Ferris wheel. Players must create electricity to power the Ferris wheel and bring the Little Sister to safety.
• The I in Team: Using limited resources, and an even more limited arsenal, players must negotiate traps and find a way to defeat a Big Daddy.
• Worlds of Hurt: Players must battle through eight rooms of Big Daddies, Splicers and "the worst that Rapture has to offer." Accumulate Adam, build an arsenal of Plasmids, Tonics and Weaponry, and fight through to rescue the Little Sister.

While sparse, and seemingly devoid of any explicit narrative tie-ins, the content should provide some insight into 2K Marin's design prowess (plus, it's got Trophies). After wrapping up the PS3 port of the original and this modest expansion, the studio can now be found tinkering with the BioShock sequel. [Update: Wouldn't you know it, a 2K spokesperson just let us know that "the rooms were primarily created by 2K Boston." Looks like we'll be waiting for that sequel for any insight after all.]

As the most stubborn person alive, you've already dismissed BioShock's numerous awards and rapturous reception, chalking it up to a juvenile and easily swayed media. "They'll stick a ten on any old thing these days," you say, rolling your eyes at all the games-as-art debates arising in the first-person shooter's wake. The word-of-mouth may be exceedingly positive, but the word coming from your mouth is, "No."

"No, I'll play the demo first," you declare, "and then I'll make my decision." You flip your official and slightly unsavory Big Daddy calendar to the October page. "Ah, October 2nd. That's when the PlayStation 3 demo is due to arrive on the PlayStation Network!" You circle the date in one swift, confident stroke ... but suddenly feel a tinge of unease trickle down your spine.

"Wait a minute ... how did I know that? It's like ... someone else is putting these thoughts directly into my mind, dictating my very character from afar. Oh crap, was that a hyperlink?"

[Thanks, Chris]

Well, that was easy. 2K Games has complied with our subliminal request that it release the PlayStation 3 version of sublime, submerged shooter BioShock in North America on October 21. There was some mental resistance to our suggestions of a worldwide release, however, so you international folks will just have to make do with October 24.

BioShock comes to the PlayStation 3 sporting the same aquatic utopia-turned-dystopia that made the game one of 2007's best, along with Trophies, a new "Survivor" difficulty level and challenge rooms, to be released as downloadable content "shortly after launch."