Publisher Take-Two Interactive today officially confirmed that a sequel to 2K Boston and 2K Australia's underwater shooter BioShock will arrive during the company's fiscal fourth quarter in 2009. Take-Two's fourth quarter runs from August through the end of October. BioShock 2 is under development by the Novato, California-based studio 2K Marin. The new development house is rumored to consist of several former 2K Boston and 2K Australia employees.

BioShock has been nominated for two BAFTA awards. One for Artistic Achievement and one for Best Game.

Here's hoping 2K Boston and 2K Australia win the awards!

Gamasutra have an article on 2K's latest conference call in which they talk about the posibility of more BioShock

In its conference call with investors, officials from Take-Two have hinted at BioShock becoming a long-term franchise on a 'roughly 2 year interval ... Zelnick said that a "roughly every two year schedule" was "optimal," which the company has traditionally roughly followed with its Grand Theft Auto games, saying that it's applying "the same strategy to BioShock" and adding that the company feels "awfully good about where that's going."

Tell us what you think!

Games With Jobs has an interesting piece on BioShock and the copy protection.

Instead of simply outright disagreeing with the copy protection they discuss the various reasons for it, including the fact the copy protection is actually working

The publisher seems to have taken a “better to ask for forgiveness” approach and gradually given the user back some measure of control over their own software. The precedent will remain, however. A big budget, single-player PC game has required activation and by all accounts, it’s working. The game is flying off shelves, the reviews are stellar and reports of Starforce levels of computer issues have been minimal so far.

Well I've been on holiday since the last news item and I've not even managed to play BioShock yet, but that will all change once I install my shiny new graphics card tomorrow. Now... on with the news!

GameSpot have an interview with Ken Levine on the aftermath of the BioShock launch

Ordinarily when a game ships, it's time for the developers to take a vacation. But the days after BioShock's launch saw 2K Boston president Ken Levine pulling double-duty putting out fires of criticism surrounding his underwater adventure. Levine postponed his vacation plans a little bit longer today to speak with GameSpot about BioShock's birthing pains, and how he dealt with concerns about getting an "M for Mature" rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

BioShock is now available via Steam, Valve's digital download service.

The game weighs in at 8.6GB, will set you back $49.95 and will be available to play on August 21st!

A branch of Toys 'R Us in the United States started selling BioShock early, and this may have opened the floodgates for Take 2 to allow the bring the schedule forward, as there are now BioShock commercials airing on TV saying 'AVAILABLE NOW'

Why are you still reading this? Shouldn't you be on your way to your local store now?

Back when the Collector's Edition of BioShock was being planned there was a poll to find out what we would like to see. One of the choices that didn't make the cut was the artbook. While it isn't going to appear in the Collector's Edition, it is available for download from the Cult of Rapture

• low res (15MB)
• high res (75MB)

Thanks 2k!

The Cult of Rapture brings word that a PC demo for BioShock is on the way

A BioShock PC Demo IS coming. We tried as hard as humanly possible to get it out to you guys simultaneously with the 360 demo, but we needed to make sure that it was perfect -- that all drivers were ready, and that the game looked great on a huge variety of computers.

Currently, the PC demo in its final stages of testing and approval. We are pushing to get it out to you as soon as possible. It will be out during the month of August, and everyone is working at full capacity to deliver it to you before the game hits store shelves on August 21st. I will also let you know as soon as I have an exact date for the demo's release, so please stay tuned.

I cannot express enough how sorry I am for the wait. Thank you for understanding and your patience. Just remember -- only eight days left till you get your hands on the full game.

Well there was an event on SpikeTV last night where they released a Launch Trailer, which is a pre-rendered affair. Following the event they 'surprised' us with a demo for the Xbox 360, which is now up on Xbox Market Place

I know that there will be a bunch of you guys who are upset that there isn't a PC version, but reset assured, one is on its way!

Xbox users, why not download the demo and tell us what you think?

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today the name change of industry leading development studio Irrational Games to 2K Boston and 2K Australia. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and with offices in Canberra, Australia, Irrational Games is an internationally renowned developer of story-driven, genre-defining games with award-winning hits like System Shock 2, Freedom Force, Tribes: Vengeance, and SWAT 4.

“Irrational Games is widely recognized as one of the most innovative development studios in the world,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K

Indeed! So why remove the 'recognised' part for a unimaginative name? What a shame.

BioShock has finally gone gold!

BioShock has already gone gold. How have you celebrated this milestone in the past, and how did you celebrate this milestone for BioShock?

We just had a team party in Boston, and then we have a event on the launch night on August 20th, which we’re inviting lots of people to, including members of the BioShock fan community. I'm actually looking forward to that, because launches are usually such abstract things. You wake up launch morning and it’s like, "Hey, our game has, umm, shipped to retail!" It’s not exactly like headlining at Madison Square Garden.

I was invited to the event on the 20th in Boston, however I'm in San Francisco then, which is a shame. I hope everyone that is going has a good time!

Spong have a brand new interview with Irrational's Ken Levine!

SPOnG: Another striking aspect is the Art Deco visual theme. Presumably you had that from the word go – where did it come from?

Ken Levine: Well, actually, it wasn’t from the word go – it took a while for us to get there. A few months before E3 last year, we did a prototype, and I brought it to my new corporate masters at Take 2 and I showed it to them, and they asked me what did I think. I said: “I think it’s terrible actually, and we need to start over.” The great thing about having a company like Take 2 is that they said: “OK, go ahead and start over.”

Irrational's Chris Kline drops has dropped by to let us know of an interview between Gaming Journo Extraordinaire, Kieron Gillen, and Irrational's Jordan Thomas:

"With BioShock still close to release, Thomas is reticent to talk about specifics of his work, even though it rests even more heavily on lighting theory. 'Suffice it to say that my section of the game is an attempt to generate a sort of surrealistic dread, leaning heavily on the sense that the player is on a stage, and some of the key tropes that people associate with the artificial, exaggerated atmosphere of a theater production are constantly active around you.'"

Check out 'The Illuminated Ones at Escapist