Once upon a time, Hollywood was hot to trot on BioShock. Now? Less so. Making movies, especially ones that take place underwater, are expensive.

Even though there was a director (Pirates of the Caribbean's Gore Verbinski), the project ultimately sunk. "I couldn't really get past anybody that would spend the money that it would take to do it and keep an R rating," Verbinski said earlier this year.

And while BioShock designer Ken Levine still seemed to have hope for the picture in Aug. 2010, these days he seems far less optimistic.

"We got very close to having it get made – we had a deal in place and a director. But for us there's no burning [desire] to have a movie made just to get it made," Levine told Industry Gamers. "For us and for Take-Two, it's really got to be something that will a) give the fans something that they want, and b) for those who don't know BioShock, really introduce them to something that is consistent with the game, and is it going to be a good representation of the game."

Levine summed it up with: "But you know, we don't have a need to get it made." He's right. They don't. Movies are good at introducing games to a larger audience, but the gaming audience is already pretty freaking big.

BioShock Creator Has 'No Need' to Get Movie Made [Industry Gamers]

Pulling off a good Little Sister cosplay is tough! Go too far one way and you'll look creepy, go too far the other way and you'll try and look sexy and end up being even creepier. This one, though, nails it.

Taken at this year's Otakon, and snapped by photographer LJinto, they're everything that's awesome about cosplay in 2011. Good source material, good costumes, good photos, good effects.

You can see way, way more awesome cosplay shots (both of the Little Sister and other stuff) at LJinto's Flickr page, linked below.

LJinto's photostream [Flickr, via Rampaged Reality]

In today's spooktacular edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter God Hand BrynnFlynn wonders if they're alone in being so terrified by a game that they just couldn't go on.

See, here's the thing. I'm 22 years old. As a 22 year old, you're not supposed to be afraid of the dark, you're not supposed to fall for the squeaky door hinge reveal of the horrific monster—heck, if something jumps out at you you're expected to yawn and say, "Big deal, only babies are supposed to be afraid of that kind of crud," and be on your merry little way.

Unfortunately, that's not the case with me, and to be perfectly honest, it's a frustrating impediment to my ability to enjoy good games. Case in point, I bought Bioshock when it first came out for my 360. I put it in my console, got to the bathysphere, saw my first splicer, freaked out so badly I had a panic attack, and never touched the game again. I sold it, and then repurchased it for the PS3 for the new content and to try again to play a game that, according to everyone who had ever played it, was stunningly intelligent and worth the play through.

Couldn't do it. I got to the splicer, managed to get past that with a pounding heart, and then promptly turned off the console. This past week I decided to make one final attempt on the last platform available to me and purchased it on Steam. This time, I've managed to get pretty far without a heart-pounding bout of fear, but it is incredibly difficult to say the least.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish I could get over this irrational fear. There's a whole genre of thoughtful games I would love to play, but can't because there might be someone jumping out of a closet. Am I alone in this?

Internet person KatMann has done something wonderful to an old Monopoly board: Developed a custom BioShock "mod", letting you play a Rapture version of the classic game.

Best part? Unlike other novelty Monopoly games you buy in a store, this one works with one you've already got, so it's 100% (though to be honest, you don't even need an original, just print this stuff off and play!).

After you've braced yourself for the torrent of "Is a man not entitled to $200" jokes every time someone passes Go, you can download it at the link below.

BioShock Monopoly by KatMann [Rapture City Archives, via Elysha]

While BioShock Infinite is due for release next year, the game's story still is undergoing change, says the series' creator Ken Levine. And if nothing else, the Occupy Wall Street protests going on in New York (and elsewhere) serve as an affirmation to him in how he's scripted the motivations and temperament of the Vox Populi movement in Infinite's airborne dystopia of Columbia.

"Occupy Wall Street has been helping me because I've been struggling to figure out how the Vox Populi get to the point in the demo," Levine told The Washington Post referring to the demo shown at E3. ""I've been spending a lot of time watching Occupy Wall Street. The complaint is that they don't have a consistent message. It's been interesting to reflect upon the movement's message, watching it crystallize."

Levine understands the charged atmosphere; he made BioShock after all, which became either a pamphlet for Ayn Rand's philosophy of objectivism or a stark condemnation of it, depending on whom you talked to. "The games tend to be a Rorschach for people, and I've heard both sides of reaction. I had the displeasure of going to a white supremacist site that made a point of saying [BioShock Infinite] this game by "the Jew" Ken Levine was about killing white people," Levine said. "Then I went to this leftist site that said this is about discrediting leftists movements. Games, as I said, are a Rorschach, and I don't want to be making games that are expressing a political or philosophical view."

Paraphrasing the old adage, if you're pissing off both sides, you must be doing something right.

The tea party, Occupy Wall Street and ‘BioShock Infinite': How a video game is reflecting life [The Washington Post via Gamasutra.]

For a relaxing time, sit back and watch this terrific PBS short documentary on the artistic merits of video games. The video runs only about 7 minutes, and features NYU's Eric Zimmerman, game designer and researcher Jesper Juul, Kotaku contributor and secret nerdcore superstar Leigh Alexander, and Babycastles curator and designer Syed Salahuddin.

"Even though games are ancient," says Zimmerman, "there is something about this moment in history that is special. We are now entering a ludic age, an age of play."

"Every game you play," he continues, "it's like a little laboratory for understanding how systems work."

Juul points to some examples of how simpler games have become more prevalent lately, using Minecraft as his main example. Leigh talks about the journeys that games can take us on, as well as the ways they subvert our expectations of narrative, using Bioshock and Portal as examples (while the video's editor sneaks in a quick Grim Fandango shout-out, which I aprpeciated).

Salahuddin discusses the offbeat indie developer Cactus, pointing to Hot Throttle, as well as Jason Rohrer's Passage.

It's a remarkably convincing video, mainly because of how matter-of-fact it is. Four experts talking about the things they value in independent, experimental game design, and doing so in a way that even the skeptical can understand. Good stuff.

When it comes to new hardware launches, you can always count on certain developers or publishers to pledge their support straight out the gate. Ubisoft will trot out Rabbids to make sure there's family-friendly hilarity on the Wii U and EA's always going to have some iteration of Madden or FIFA for the next next-gen PlayStation or Xbox.

But Irrational Games isn't one of those companies. They're a smaller studio and they turn out smarter-than-average games, which takes longer than creating sequel after sequel. That's why it surprised many when Irrational's creative director Ken Levine came out during E3 to announce that he and his colleagues would be working on a BioShock game for the PlayStation Vita. Things have been quiet since E3 but Levine recently took the time to give Joystiq an update on what not to expect from the studio's Vita debut.

Levine says that the aim is to create an all-new experience that feels native to the Vita and not just a ported, scaled-down version of something that Irrational's already done. Joystiq quotes Levine as saying, "I'd rather do something that's an experiment and that's a little different. And is unique for the franchise." He also says that, because the studio's got a lot less manpower than other developers who develop for console and handheld, the Vita BioShock game might be the first time Irrational works with an outside entity to execute their vision.

Ken Levine gives us an update on BioShock for PlayStation Vita [Joystiq]