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BioShock Dev Irrational Games Has Layoffs, Changes Focus
Today, Irrational Games – the studio behind System Shock 2, Freedom Force, BioShock, and Bioshock Infinite -- revealed that it’s laying off most of its staff and changing its internal focus.
In a letter penned by Irrational Games’ Founder and Creative Director Ken Levine, the studio’s future direction is candidly discussed by asking, “What’s next?” “While I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together,” Levine wrote, in part, “my passion has turned to making a different kind of game than we’ve done before. To meet the challenge ahead, I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers. In many ways, it will be a return to how we started: a small team making games for the core gaming audience.”
As such, Levine is “winding down Irrational Games as [we] know it. I’ll be starting a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two. That is going to mean parting ways with all but about fifteen members of the Irrational team. There’s no great way to lay people off, and our first concern is to make sure that the people who are leaving have as much support as we can give them during this transition.”
Later, Levine talks about the “new goal” of his trimmed studio: “To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable. To foster the most direct relationship with our fans possible, we will focus exclusively on content delivered digitally.”Irrational Games was founded in 1997 and is located in the Boston suburbs in Massachusetts. Its first game, System Shock 2, came out in 1999, but the studio really made a name for itself with the critically and commercially acclaimed BioShock, which launched in 2007. BioShock Infinite, a continuation of the BioShock series, came out in 2013.
Our very best goes out to all those affected by this unfortunate announcement.
Killer Is Dead Coming To PC
In a press release, Deep Silver announced that it's bringing action title Killer is Dead to PC later this year. Killer is Dead - Nightmare Edition will be available at retail and from digital download services on May 9 at a price point of $19.99 / £19.99 / €19.99.
The updated version of the game includes improvements, such as a new difficulty mode where enemies can only be defeated using Adrenaline Burst, Dodge Burst and Headshots. Also, the Final Judgement QTE finisher will be disabled. Other additions include Theater Mode which allows players to re-watch cutscenes after their first playthrough, as well as the Smooth Operator Pack that unlocks after completing Episode 3 of the game.
The Evil Within release date set for late August
The Evil Within will be available on August 26 in North America and August 29 in Europe.
The latest horror title from scaremaster and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, The Evil Within is set for release on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on those dates.
It marks the return of Shinji Mikami to a genre he helped to define through his seminal work on the Resident Evil series. We’re talking about the man who directed Resident Evil 4 here. It’s true to say that in recent years he's strayed from the genre, but has continued to produce work that is both memorable and often eccentric (Vanquish, Shadows of the Damned). The release of The Evil Within feels like a homecoming. So far the imagery has been disturbing, grubby, unsettling – as you'd expect – but there also seems to be a generous helping of psychological torment slopping around with the more gruesome stuff.
The box art:
Dark Souls 2 Earns a 'T' Rating
The upcoming Dark Souls 2 has been rated "T" by the ESRB, with its content having been classified for ages 13 and up.
This is a step down from the two previous games in the series, which were rated "M" and ruled suitable only for those ages 17 and up.
Does this mean that Dark Souls 2 will be significantly less fearsome than its predecessors? A recent trailer looked dark as hell, photo gallery showed us some of the decidedly less nasty characters we'll encounter between baddies. As always, though, we'll have to wait to see the finished product before we can see if the ratings really make any difference.
Don't worry, though. According to its ESRB page, Dark Souls 2 still going to contain a lot of blood. We won't list the full description here as it contains minor spoilers for boss designs, but let's just say that if you're into gruesome bosses, you probably won't be disappointed.
Dark Souls 2 is scheduled for a North American release date of March 11 for the Xbox 360 and PS3; the European release follows on March 14. A PC release will come "shortly after" the console versions.
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