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.

Are you concerned with Take-Two's move to develop the sequel to BioShock in 2K Marin instead of Boston and Australia? Are you excited about a possible sequel to Max Payne next year? Is Take-Two locked down for EA's taking? All these were answered by the controversial publisher's top execs as they met up with investors. All the details 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.

The big winner for the the recent 8th Annual Game Developers Conference Choice Awards was Valve Corporation's Portal as it won the prestigious Game of the Year award as well as three other honors for its innovative and unique gameplay. You can read about the other awardees and special recipients from the event  in the full article after the jump.

Irrational Games split into two after the completion of Bioshock, introducing the 2K Boston and 2K Australia studios. Now it looks like a new studio is being set up in the Bay Area. According to a cached job listing in Gamasutra, the new studio is to be called 2K Marin and will comprise of some of the people who created Bioshock. More at the full article.

 

When you've got a game like 2K Boston and 2K Australia's BioShock (Microsoft Xbox 360, PC) that did things right, 2K Boston's lead designer Ken Levine believes expanding replayability is the way downloadable content should go. In an interview, Levine said he wants the BioShock experience to be broader if there will be any DLC.

"I'm not a really big fan of expanding things just by linearly adding to the experience," he told Games for Windows Magazine. He cited Diablo II as an example, the classic PC action RPG title that was both enhanced and extended by the Lord of Destruction expansion.

To Levine, an expansion would have to improve original content and add replayability instead of just adding new episodes to the game's storyline. He said that "a lot of plasmids got cut" before the game went gold, so we could at least hope to find those available for download in the future.

"I think that certainly BioShock's combat experience is great, but it could be broader. I'm a little more confused as far as how to expand the narrative experience," Levine continued. Looks like we're in for some waiting before any official announcement from 2K Boston on BioShock DLC. Then again, maybe it'll come as a surprise.



Buy: [Bioshock (Games for Windows)]
Buy: [Bioshock (Xbox 360)]

 

Take-Two Interactive may have enjoyed the success behind 2K Boston and 2K Australia's BioShock in the UK, but it was short-lived. Electronic Arts dropped in on the FPS adventure game with the Xbox 360 version of Medal of Honor: Airborne (also on PlayStation 3 and Windows PC on DVD), and it shot straight to the top.

Chart Track top ten games arranged by per unit sold per platform now sees 2K Games' BioShock for the Xbox 360 at second, with Nintendo's Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training close at third. South Peak Games' Two Worlds enters the charts on its first week in Europe and lands a solid fourth place.

The second follow up to Brain Training drops two spots to fifth, while The Sims 2: Bon Voyage from Electronic Arts also enters the charts at sixth. The Nintendo Wii version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 from EA tees off two spots up from ninth, as the PC version of Medal of Honor: Airborne honorably enters the top ten at eighth.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for the Xbox 360 drops a serious four spots to ninth, while Nintendo's Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree closes the top ten and also chalks the Wii title count to two. Xbox 360 games currently rule the top ten. Electronic Arts dominates the charts with four titles out of ten, Nintendo coming in second with three.

1. Medal of Honor: Airborne (Xbox 360, Electronic Arts)
2. BioShock (Xbox 360, Take-Two Interactive)
3. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (DS, Nintendo)
4. Two Worlds (Xbox 360, South Peak Games)
5. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (DS, Nintendo)
6. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Wii, Electronic Arts)
7. Medal of Honor: Airborne (PC, Electronic Arts)
8. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Xbox 360, Electronic Arts)
9. Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Wii, Nintendo)

Those waiting for BioShock (Xbox 360, PC) to launch on August 21 will have another huge reason to go out and get it as soon as they can. Along with the Limited Edition package of the game comes a free three-track CD featuring remixes of the soundtrack done by Moby and Oscar The Punk.

Beyond the Sea, God Bless the Child, and Wild Little Sisters are songs from the 40s and the 50s which echo throughout the length of BioShock in their original form. Their tappy nature has become an inspiration for developers 2K Boston and 2K Australia to have them remastered to better suit the game's tone.

From the initially light songs, Moby and Oscar The Punk transform the tracks into twisted beats which will capture anyone who's ever played the game in an atmosphere which will make them feel like they never left Rapture.

Along with the game and the remix soundtrack, a Big Daddy figurine will be included as a collector's item. To complete the pack, a behind-the-scenes DVD will be right in the bundle, too.

BioShock Limited Edition will be available in GameStop and EB Games nationwide. The game takes place in an eerie world under the sea where mutants and technology hunt players down. To survive, one must create modified weapons, alter his bodily structure, and devise deadly tactics. BioShock is rated "Mature" by the ESRB and is published by the Microsoft Corporation.

Buy: [Bioshock (Games for Windows)]
Buy: [Bioshock (Xbox 360)]

It's barely been a full day since the BioShock demo debuted on Xbox Live and the fever is still raging hot. To follow up on the whole parade, 2K Boston and 2K Australia has launched a new "Plasmid powers" trailer which shows you the game's customizable toys from hell. Have a look and be disturbed by the inhumanity:

According to information currently available regarding Plasmids, you use this to pump up trees that will advance your character's weapons and physical attributes. Skills may be active or passive. The active ones are essentially the tools you use to send enemies into the afterlife, just like that nice little jolty thing shown in the vid.

BioShock is a single-player FPS developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia under Microsoft. It's going to be available for the Xbox 360 and the PC. A demo is set to launch for Windows later this month, so hang in there, PC gamers.

If there ever was a good time to be in the game advertising business, this would be it. Boston-based research and consulting firm Yankee Group has predicted that the game advertising industry will grow from US$ 77.1 to US$ 971.3 million, racking up a 1,150% growth.

The group says this will happen between 2006 and 2011 when internet-based and in-game ads are tapped on a massive scale by mainstream companies to get their messages to consumers.

In a press release, Yankee Group digital director Michael Goodman said "advertisers are increasingly finding in-game advertising to be a greater investment value because of the variety of opportunities that exist in and around games."

The research firm also indicated that game makers will welcome the initiative from the advertising community and double the total of titles with ads embedded in them. Game ads were once only used in sports titles but have caught on to other genres in the recent years.