Hmm. I see CliffyB is making bold statements yet again. Bold as they come, it's always interesting to see how a game developer assesses the current playing field that he is working in. So what's Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski commenting on now? In an interview, he remarked that some of the more influential game developers out there aren't always given the honor or appreciation that they so deserve.

Looks like visuals aren't the only thing that will be exactly the same when BioShock gets translated for the PlayStation 3. According to the devs, they chose not to change the game's ending as well, despite criticism that it was rather limited. Details after the link.

Penny Arcade has released a schedule of activities for this year's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). If you're planning to go to the event, we recommend checking it out so you can plan out your own schedule in advance.

The organizers for this year's Develop Conference and Expo have announced that Ken Levine and other members of BioShock's (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) development crew will be the event's keynote speakers. More details regarding this news are available in the full article.

Wondering what's cooking for this year's Penny Arcade Expo? Among other details, the PAX organizers have announced that 2K's Ken Levine will be keynoting this event. The rest of the details are available in the full article.

The game industry may be getting swamped with sequels, remakes, annualization, and all manner of money-raking tactics. That's bad news, an analyst says, because creativity among developers is often compromised. He says, however, publishers are better off in the long run by breeding talent among the minds behind the medium. Get his full take in the article after the jump.

2K Boston Creative Director Ken Levine had a lot to talk about in an interview conducted by GamesIndustry.biz. Among the topics discussed were the recent success of their previous title BioShock (Xbox 360, PC), the rumored acquisition of Take-Two Interactive by Electronic Arts, and casual gaming among others. Check out what Levine had to say in the full article.

Ever wondered how today's game developers manage to squeeze in an engrossing story in games, even when the games themselves aren't RPGs? Then head on over to the full article as we get you acquainted with three of today's top executives in this industry and how they puled off that particular hat-trick. Read on at the full article.

First off, it must be said that there will be no PS3 version for Bioshock, as Ken Levine makes clear. Also, he assures the "pissed off" owners of Bioshock who have some problems with installing the game on their PC that patches are in development.

Joystiq talked to Levine directly to get that info. Levine, lead designer for Bioshock, explains that he is aware of the problems Bioshock has on the PC. He expresses that there were indeed "screw ups" with the game's online copy protection verification. The issue being faced is that the game can only be installed twice and nevermore.

The problem stemmed from the developers not expecting that the game would become such a hit. So when the requests came in for verification, the server simply crashed. Levine explains that they will eventually remove the verification process.

As for the rumors circulating about Bioshock coming to the PS3, Levine leaves no room for doubt when he commented:

I promise you, there is no secret plan about the PS3 that we're keeping from people. There's no PS3 development going on that we're hiding. There's lots of stuff that gets into game code, plans change over time and we got an exclusive deal with Microsoft ... that's not a Rosetta Stone discovery.

 

Microprose's PC Tactical sci-fi game, X-COM: UFO Defense has spawned many sequels since the originals release in late 1993. The odd thing is that the franchise has not seen a new entry since 2001's action spin-off X-COM: Enforcer. If you're a fan of the franchise, then here's some good news for you.

Shacknews speculates that Irrational Games may be working on a successor to Microprose's PC Classic.  A cached version of a CV document of firm partner Frederick U. Fierst has this interesting entry:

Ken Levine and Jonathan Chey, founders of Irrational Games LLC, Boston and Canberra,
Australia-based video game development company whose titles include System Shock 2, Tribes 3,
SWAT, X-Com, BioShock, Freedom Force and others;

Furthermore, studio head Ken Levine has often referred to the game as his "first love" and usually mentions it as a strong example of game design that stands the test of time.

What adds fuel to speculation is that Take-Two Interactive acquired the X-Com property in full from Atari in 2005, just a few months before Irrational Games was acquired by the publisher. As juicy as all these are, this is still mostly rumor as Levine has yet to comment on Irrational's potential developments.

The current version of the said CV document has had the relevant reference removed from it. To read the cached CV document yourselves, feel free to use our "Read" link below. Just press CTRL-F and search for X-Com.

Will we see a PC sequel? Will we see a downloadable classic port for the next gen-consoles? We'll update you as soon as more info is made available.