io9
An enormous preserved whale pays quiet homage to the undersea world of wonder that was BioShock. In this concept artwork, it looks like a tiger-striped whale on treads is bearing down on our intrepid hero ... or is that thing stuffed and segmented? The image does capture the melancholic feel of BioShock, although it's missing the art deco curves and steampunkery of the world from the original game. Check out more pieces in the gallery below, and find out why this you won't be getting your game on in this world.
Artist Ben Mauro put these images up on his blog as a "proposed sequel to BioShock," but it turns out that they were pieces for a class project where they had to design a sequel to a film or a movie that they chose. However, it didn't stop them from racing around the nets as official confirmation of a sequel. However, that doesn't make his artwork any less pretty to look at. While the other images are all mass-transity, that whale stands out as very cool, and intriguing.
BioShock brought a gorgeous world of 1930s era extravagance and decay to gaming consoles around the world last year, and the critical acclaim and financial success will probably launch a sequel, although nothing has been announced so far. However, developer Take-Two has referred to the game as a franchise, and they've opened a new development house which is rumored to be solely working on BioShock, so you can be sure there will be another one. In fact, if you own an Xbox 360 or a PC that you can game on, and you haven't done so, give this game a whirl. We'll try and keep it spoiler-free, but when you finish the game you can understand the need for a lot of brand-new concept art.
Comments
with the exception of the whale, the artwork is highly reminiscent of half life 2 concept art show in "half life 2 raising the bar " . the trains here look just like the razor trains ( only stubbier) and one of those shots of the train station looks JUST LIKE the train station in half life. i suppose that it's possible that it was only a coincidence, but it seems to me that this guy just ripped off some half life.
So, this is what Bioshock would have looked like if it wasn't underwater?
After watching Torchwood, that's two whale-in-a-warehouse references in as many weeks.
Who here has been to the House on the Rock?
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@Garrison Dean: /raises hand.
About equal parts 'whoa' and 'meh'.
@AmishJohn: I think that there is just so much whoa, that whoa becomes meh, after a couple hours. Anyways, that whale fighting octopuss was the first thing I thought of.
Those pictures brought back memories of Half-Life 2 and Metroid: Prime at the same time.
Am I the only one that's reminded of the wharks in Riven? :) That being said, it looks more steampunk than art-deco-retro that is BioSchock. Which I mean as a compliment, though I'd be happy either way...
@B: The only one that's most definitely not underwater is the last image.
These look fantastic and it sucks that they're fake because I was intrigued by the aspect of Bioshock 2 leaving Rapture. Maybe it still will.
@antimatty: I have heard stories about him copying other artists' work. i wouldn't be surprised if it has happened again.
The first thing I thought of when I saw those pics was concept art from the 1984 version of Dune. Several of 'em look like the Harkonnen homeworld. (Now *that* would be one trippy mashup...)
it would be great if bioshock 2 was set in a sort of "fordlandia" . an "american style" city built deep in the jungles of south america to harvest rubber trees by henry ford. now lying in abandoned ruins.
So nowhere nearly as good as Bioshock concept art. I don't know why this has got as much press on the intertubes as it has. Where's all the smarmy marketing? Where's all the hubris? It's not at all close to Bioshock.
BioShock 2 will be set in the tunnels beneath some Southeast Asian Communist Republic in a post-ADAM Vietnam style timeline.
I expect Bioshock 2 to follow a line similar to Jurassic Park: The Lost World (book, not movie.) It'll be set in a surface city that was built as a prototype or support outpost for Rapture. I will buy it day 1.
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