2K Games has announced that the new release date for BioShock 2 is February 9, 2010. The game was originally slated for a late October/early November launch, but was pushed back to 2010. The release will now be simultaneous worldwide on all three major platforms.
The marketing campaign for BioShock 2 has slowed down somewhat since the announcement of the delay; the last new bit of media released was at the recent PAX ’09 convention, where the first footage of the multiplayer component of the game was unveiled. The multiplayer trailer, embedded after the jump, shows the frantic gameplay promised in the online skirmishes. The community site Cult of Rapture continues the coverage of the multiplayer with art and information on some of the characters that will be selectable.
2K Marin
BioShock 2 Delayed ‘Til “Fiscal 2010”
It seems like it’s not enough that four studios are working on BioShock 2, the game will not be ready for its previously set launch date of November. Take-Two announced today that it would be moving the release of the game past quarter 4 of ’09 to “fiscal 2010”, in order to devote additional development time to the title.
Meanwhile, the ARG-lite viral site Something in the Sea has continued to receive updates, unravelling the story of Mark Meltzer and his search for the missing girls, and involving the community as well by sending out puzzle items. The Cult of Rapture community site has been posting concept art and sound clips of the Little Sisters and Big Daddies, providing more insight into their creation. In related news, 2K Boston’s Ken Levine has contributed to Rock Paper Shotgun’s Gaming Made Me series with a post about his gaming education.
Dark Messiah Devs Go BioShock
Just a heads up, short but sweet yet too long for a tweet: In a shocking twist, according to Arkane Studios UK website, the company is collaborating together with 2K Marin on the development of BioShock 2 in the areas of design, animation and art.
Return to Rapture This November
A release date for BioShock 2 has been announced: October 30th for international territories and November 3rd for North America. During Take-Two’s second-quarter results call yesterday the platforms were still not confirmed, however community site Cult of Rapture lists the PC, 360 and PS3.
A plethora of previews of the game have been going up online in the past month, most of which have been listed at the community site. Tom Francis of PC Gamer UK summarises the press demonstration best in his article which originally appeared in the magazine.
However we finally have the chance to see the very same presentation described in the previews for ourselves. One of the first major trailers for the original BioShock was Hunting the Big Daddy, and it was the first time the game was truly represented and demonstrated in terms of its gameplay mechanics and environments. True to tradition, 2K Marin have presented the full demo of BioShock 2, entitled Hunting the Big Sister. The video demonstration includes all the footage made available earlier during the first unveiling of the game, as well as some scenes previously unseen. The various magazine and online previews referred to a scene at the end of the demo where the Big Sister interrupted the player’s endeavours and attacked, and only now do we get to see this first-hand.