Irrational Games Developing BioShock Infinite News

The developer of the original BioShock, Irrational Games has announced that it's working on a new BioShock title that's currently set for release in 2012 on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, when it will take on a brand new setting that's going to move the series away from Rapture.

BioShock Infinite will take players to a city in the sky called Columbia, set during 1912. Designed to reflect American ideals when the country was rising to prominence as a world power, Columbia is baptised amid great public interest until the city mysteriously disappears into the sky (as cities tend to).

Players will take on the role of a former Pinkerton agent called Booker DeWitt. Early info on the game's story suggests that Booker disgraced himself at Pinkerton, a private detective and security agency established in the US during the 19th century by Allan Pinkerton after he foiled an assassination attempt on Abraham Lincoln.

DeWitt is sent to Columbia to rescue a woman called Elizabeth, who's been imprisoned in the city since childhood. As the game progresses, the two characters develop a relationship where they augment each other's abilities as they attempt to escape the city.

Harnessing the powers of new weapons and abilities, DeWitt will fight enemies in "high-speed Sky-Line battles" amid combat that's as much among the clouds as it is behind Columbia's closed doors.

"When it came to begin work on BioShock Infinite," said Ken Levine, Creative Director of Irrational Games, "we only had one rule: No sacred cows. This game is both true to what people love about the series and unafraid to question every assumption.

"In order to explore the floating city of Columbia," Levine continued, "we needed an entirely new engine. To bring Elizabeth to life, we had to build brand-new animation and AI systems. To create wide-ranging indoor and outdoor firefights at 30,000 feet, we had to rethink, rebuild and expand the BioShock arsenal. The only thing gamers can be certain of is this: the rules of the BioShock universe are about to change."