2K

2K have announce the opening of its new 2K Marin studio in Novato, California. As reported previously the new studio will be populated by some of the people that worked on BioShock, as well as some newcomers. 2K are being rather shady about the new studio’s responsibilities, only saying that they will be assisting other studios and working on their own IP. Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K Games, had this to say about 2K Marin:

“We’re focused on continuing to bring new brands and cutting-edge gameplay to market with the creation of the 2K Marin studio. Marin will build upon our success in creating and leveraging AAA franchises.”

via GameDaily

2K have released an update for the smash hit BioShock. The patch contains a few bug fixes and tweaks, but there is also a whole lot of new content. The most notable inclusion is the addition of a new plasmid called Sonic Boom which causes players to giggle like little schoolgirls and slap their arms together – OK, it really means you can blast baddies and objects away with a force, but let’s face it you’ll be doing the first one too. Also included are three new tonics Eve Saver (uses less eve per plasmid), Machine Buster (guess) and Vending Expert (pay less for goods).

They also added the ability to disable Vita-Chambers, just for the hardcore types. Turning off Vita-Chambers and finishing the game on hard will also net you a new achievement called “Brass Balls”.

PC users can download the patch from BioShock’s page below while Xbox 360 players can download it from Live Marketplace or let it happen automatically when they start up the game. Oh, and it’s free.

via 2K Games

Picture via NoFrag

2K Games are riding the success of BioShock by forming another studio - primarily comprised of a portion of the crew that worked on BioShock. The new studio is expected to reside in the San Francisco Bay Area of Novato. The studio is currently looking for a lead animator, but if you have the prerequisite 8 years experience we are sure you would have heard about the position already.

via ShackNews

Remember Bioshock? If you’re a PC user, one of the many memories you may have had about this game was its painstakingly lengthy install process, which required you to download the EXE from one of 2K’s content servers, which inevitably crashed. While 2K has been under a lot of fire for this and Bioshock’s equally frustrating copy protection issues, senior programmer Martin Slater has defended 2K’s strategies, explaining that anti-piracy measures such as this are essential to tackle the major problem in PC gaming today.

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BioShock is one of the best sounding games ever released, so it stands to reason that when 2K do a competition they focus on that. Fans of great sound have the chance to win a very fancy surround sound speaker set by NHT. As per usual, the contest is only open to the US. To enter click the link below.

2K and NHT’s Surround Sound Speaker Sweepstakes

You’re probably all too familiar with the hype surrounding this game, and if you haven’t bought it already, I’m guessing you’re either harboring some healthy skepticism or are simply penny-wise. But during the many hours spent playing this game, I can assure you that this skeptic was truly riveted by its well-told story and the superbly crafted city of Rapture.

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We’re hoping you didn’t get your hopes up over the BioShock demo, because we did. It was announced earlier today that eager (and extremely patient) PC gamers could finally get their mitts on the Bioshock demo today through Fileshack and other sources.

Hours later though, 2K Games proceeded to crush those hopes into the ground, telling Shacknews that the demo will not be available Friday, but “probably” Monday.

2K have announced both PC and Xbox 360 versions of BioShock have gone to gold master, and are on track for their announced release dates - North America on August 21, and later in Europe on August 24.

Take-Two are clearly as excited about BioShock as the general public. Since their 2005 acquisition, Irrational have received plenty of nurturing - almost doubling in size. To further stamp their ownership on the development studio, 2K have renamed Irrational to 2K Boston and 2K Australia.

Assuring the public that future innovation will not be compromised following the new arrangements, Ken Levine, President and Creative Director of 2K Boston says, “We’re proud to be part of the 2K Games family and enjoy the new opportunities and artistic freedoms this strengthened relationship provides.”

via Press Release