Skyoshock

Well, a guy can dream - and aren't dreams what made Rapture real (not really) in the first place?

It appears my borderline lunatic ravings about Guillermo del Toro potentially being involved in Irrational Games' next effort were all for naught; I was just tilting at windmills anyway. Del Toro isn't making a game with the creators of Bioshock after all. What he's working on remains to be seen. The ultra-secretive project the talented folks at Irrational have been keeping busy with since 2007, on the other hand - Icarus, as it's been known till now... that, there's been some news on.

To say there's been some news, in fact, is perhaps to understate the case. As of yesterday, we know perfectly well what Irrational Games are making. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I give you... Skyoshock.

Skyoshock, aka Bioshock Infinite.

What?

Quite frankly, this announcement absolutely baffles me. Irrational have gone on the record repeatedly since Bioshock's release to say they were working on something worlds apart, and having sister studio 2K Marin develop the disappointing sequel to the original game somewhat cemented the notion that Irrational would either be creating new IP or revisiting a classic property. But no. They're making Bioshock... in the sky... with (steampunk) diamonds. Transposing the Randian philosophy and retrograde aesthetic of that modern classic to a floating wartime flotilla.

Rapture, meet Columbia.

Well, if anyone can pull it off, I believe Ken Levine can. But I'd been hoping, I confess, for something rather more daring than what the internet has already taken to calling Skyoshock.

One way or another, we won't know for sure what Bioshock Infinite truly is until closer to its projected release in 2012. Perhaps between now and then Irrational can convince their marketing gurus that slapping the Bioshock brand (such as it is) on the box is only going to lead to unrealistic expectations and unnecessary confusion. Perhaps two years is long enough that doing so will prove more harmful than helpful. Please, 2K Games: give this world room to breathe.

A guy can dream, right?

Guillermic Speculations

Item the first: Pan's Labyrinth mastermind Guillermo del Toro is making a video game. We have discussed this. We don't know what it is yet, but it's going to be "technically and narratively very interesting," and we'll be hearing more about it "soon enough."

Item the second: When Guillermo del Toro talks about his love of video games, he talks about Bioshock. It's come up multiple times. As well it should - it's a hell of a game. When at the end of that game's second act, Andrew Ryan asked if I would kindly bash his head in with a golf club, I practically wet myself in wonder.

Item the third: Having said basically squat about what they've been working on since Bioshock was released in 2007, Irrational Games are getting a gaggle of games press together next week for the big reveal. Exciting enough in itself, but put items number one and two together with three...

Could it be? Could it really, truly be?

And it could.

I have no insider knowledge. I could be way off base. But just imagine... Guillermo del Toro joining forces with Ken Levine... the successor to Bioshock with the aesthetic and narrative power of Pan's Labyrinth.

If that's what we're all going to find out next week, I'm telling you, my year will be made.

All together now, everyone: cross your fingers!

Letter to Guillermo

Oh, Guillermo del Toro... we're all a bit disappointed you're not directing The Hobbit.

Now don't go getting all uppity, del Toro my man - we're not unsympathetic. It would have required a tremendous time commitment, six years of your life last I heard, and even that's presuming all this red tape holding production up ends up as expected. I'll miss the iconic lion roaring in films on Sunday afternoon, absolutely, but please, MGM, get out of the way; there are movies to be made. Movies with tiny little hairy-toed people and dragons and Smeagols, mostly.

Anyway, Guilly - you don't mind, do you? - there's all that nonsense, six years is of course a huge ask, and no doubt innumerable other factors played into your decision to give up on The Hobbit.

But.

Well, it's still a bit disappointing. I mean, you've dropped what could very well be the best fantasy film (films, I should say - though the less said about that the better) since The Return of the King... and to do what? Head up an eyes-on-the-prize cash-in take on The Haunted Mansion ride for the Mouse House? Bah. I can hardly believe it's true. If you won't make The Hobbit, well, whatever. Maybe Peter Jackson will do it after all - maybe we could all win. But this is what you're doing with all that talent, all that imagination?

No. Go and make The Devil's Thighbone or Rhyn's Labyrinth or something. Come on, man. I can hardly think of anything less worthwhile than another franchise hoping to rival the success of Pirates of the Carribean.

Wait, what was that?

Well, hell. You're making a video game, too? Guilly! My friend! Couldn't you have told me that before I tore into you?

For those of you haven't heard, Guillermo del Toro just announced - at SDCC, if I'm not mistaken - that he's going to be lending his talents to the world of video games. We haven't the juicy details yet, but by the sounds of it, this isn't going to be some hack character action game with nothing more to do with the man beyond a fantasy twist and his name on the box. Del Toro made that pretty clear in a statement to MTV:

"We're going to do games that are going to be technically and narratively very interesting. It's not a development deal. We're going to do it. We're doing them. And we're going to announce it soon enough."

This from a man who, in the past, has confessed his love for Bioshock, GTA IV and the Silent Hill series - masters of the medium, each and every one. I'd substitute Red Dead Redemption for the last Grand Theft Auto, but otherwise, yes. I mean, exactly. Del Toro is even on record as saying:

"There are only two games I consider masterpieces. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus."

Damn straight, del Toro. The man knows a good video game from a bad one, and moreover, he can evidently tell a truly great one from a passable piece of entertainment.

In short, we have the technology, and by gum, we can - we will - rebuild him!

So I suppose it's all a wash, in the end. It's a bit rubbish that you aren't directing The Hobbit, Guillermo, but if you can come up with a video game half as good as any of those you've namechecked in the past, I'll consider your unfortunate absence from that project a gift unto a medium that means the world to me - and a medium that sorely needs the presence of auteurs such as yourself. Saying that, perhaps we have a better result than no goals scored. Maybe... maybe this was the right move. Good man.

Seriously though: don't let me hear you're making another bloody Hellboy, alright?