Last month, Take-Two Interactive surprised virtually nobody when it officially announced a sequel to BioShock. As had been widely rumored, the sequel to the award-winning undersea adventure game is being developed at 2K Marin, established just last December. The Novato, California-based shop is a sibling operation to the former Irrational Games, now called 2K Boston and 2K Australia.
While no platforms were formally announced for BioShock 2, it was widely assumed the game would follow in its forbear's footsteps on the Xbox 360 and PC. This week, though, hard evidence surfaced that 2K Marin is bulking up on talent for two other platforms--the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.
On the 2K Marin jobs page is a posting for a "programmer" which lists "experience developing for next-generation game consoles (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)" as being "highly desired." (Emphasis added.) Another post for a "level designer" slot flatly states that "PlayStation 3 experience is required."
What exactly is 2K Marin's PS3 project--and is it related to BioShock 2? Is the studio hiring for Wii projects specifically, or is it merely open to hiring Wii developers for work on other projects? Unfortunately, 2K Games reps had no answers for these questions, having not responded to requests for comment as of press time.
BioShock 2 is due out sometime during the August-October quarter of 2009.