A new BioShock game is in the works, publisher 2K has confirmed.

The project will be in development for the next "several" years, 2K said in a statement today, with development centred at the publisher's newly-named Cloud Chamber studio.

Cloud Chamber is headed up by Kelley Gilmore, formerly of 2K's XCOM and Civ studio Firaxis, with offices in both San Francisco and Montreal.

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There is a saying in architecture that no building is unbuildable, only unbuilt. Structures may be impossible in the here and now, but have the potential to exist given enough time or technological development: a futuristic cityscape, a spacefaring megastructure, the ruins of an alien civilisation. However, there are also buildings that defy the physical laws of space. It is not an issue that they could not exist, but that they should not. Their forms bend and warp in unthinkable ways; dream-like structures that push spatial logic to its breaking point.

The Tomb of Porsena is a legendary monument built to house the body of an Etruscan king. 400 years after its construction, the Roman scholar Varro gave a detailed description of the ancient structure. A giant stone base rose 50 feet high, beneath it lay an "inextricable labyrinth", and atop it sat five pyramids. Above this was a brass sphere, four more pyramids, a platform and then a final five pyramids. The image painted by Varro, one of shapes stacked upon shapes, seems like a wild exaggeration. Despite this, Varro's fanciful description sparked the imaginations of countless architects over the centuries. The tomb was an enigma, and yet the difficulty in conceptualising it, and the vision behind it, was fascinating. On paper artists were free to realise its potential. If paper liberated minds, the screen can surely open up further possibilities. There's no shortage of visionary structures within the virtual spaces of video games. These are strange buildings that ask us to imagine worlds radically different to our own.

Whilst many impossible formulations are orientated towards the future, there are also plenty from the past. The castle in Ico is one example of this. During the Renaissance, Europe was obsessed, not with future utopias, but with ancient Greece and Rome. While the box art of Ico is famously inspired by Giorgio de Chirico, the long shadows and sun-bleached stone walls only make-up a portion of the game's mood. It is the etchings of Giovanni Piranesi that best capture what it's like to explore the castle's winding stairs and bridges. Piranesi's imaginary Roman reconstructions were absurdly big - so colossal you could get lost in just the foundations. In a similar way, Ico's castle is impossibly large, the camera zooming out in order to overwhelm you and build up the unfathomable mystery of its origin and purpose.

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"I forget everything between footsteps.

"'Anna!' I finish shouting, snapping my mouth shut in surprise.

"My mind has gone blank. I don't know who Anna is or why I'm calling her name. I don't even know how I got here. I'm standing in a forest, shielding my eyes from the spitting rain. My heart's thumping, I reek of sweat and my legs are shaking. I must have been running but I can't remember why.

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Grand Theft Auto 4 has now shipped a gargantuan 22 million copies worldwide since its April 2008 release.

That doesn't mean they've all been sold, but it's an indication of its enormous success nonetheless.

Company chairman Strauss Zelnick revealed the figure during a talk at ThinkEquity's annual Growth conference, reported IndustryGamers.

Take-Two (owner of 2K and Rockstar) said the Grand Theft Auto series has now shipped a total of 114 million units to shops around the world.

In comparison, breakout console success Red Dead Redemption has shipped 12.5 million copies. That game became the first of Take-Two's fleet to demonstrate anything like the success of GTA.

The two BioShock games have combined to ship 9 million units. A third BioShock game, BioShock Infinite, is being made for a 2012 release.

The Wii Carnival Games series shipped 8 million units.

The entire Midnight Club series shipped 18.5 million units. The Civilization series shipped 11 million units.

The Max Payne series managed to ship 7.5 million, and will also welcome a third instalment in 2012.

The two Mafia games shipped 5 million copies.

Borderlands, alone, shipped 4.5 million. Borderlands 2 will be released sometime between April 2012 and March 2013.

Last but not least, The Darkness, which shipped 1 million. Whether weak or not, it too is due a sequel, and that's also coming in 2012.

Notably absent from the Take-Two list was L.A. Noire, which we know to have shipped 4 million units.

Rumour has it that Take-Two is close to announcing Grand Theft Auto 5. But will Take-Two wish to detract attention from its already packed 2012 slate?

Video: Max Payne 3 now has Rockstar's full attention.

The first book to explore the world of BioShock launches next Tuesday, 19th July.

BioShock: Rapture is by science fiction writer John Shirley, published by Titan Books and sold for £7.99.

It covers events from the creation of Rapture to a point before the first game.

Read a BioShock: Rapture excerpt on the official site.

Irrational Games boss Ken Levine hasn't given up on getting the stalled BioShock movie off the ground, but admits that getting it right presents a huge challenge.

Talk of putting Rapture on the big screen began back in 2008, with Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski nearly getting a project off the ground. However, it checked into development hell late last year due to budgetary concerns.

Speaking in an interview with IndustryGamers, Levine explained that he remained hopeful that the film will one day get made.

"I think we're in the space now of building properties that are appealing to people, and there's a version of BioShock that makes a great game and there's probably a version of BioShock that makes a great movie," he said.

"I think for us as a company, we don't have any need to get a movie made. We'd like to have a movie made, but it would have to be the right one, and we've had the opportunity to get it made and unless all the right pieces are in place – it's hard enough to get a movie made when all the right pieces are in place. If you don't start with the right pieces, you don't have a prayer.

"We've had a lot of great talks with great people about it. We got close to great people, but you always have to have all of those pieces in place and that's going to be very challenging.

"It's a moving puzzle, but I'm going to be continually talking to people about it," he added. "It's definitely something that's still in the conversation."

But what of the impending BioShock Infinite? Is there a chance that might leapfrog the original and make it to the big screen first?

"Right now, I think mostly about the game," he insisted. "And when it's done, and I have the story worked out completely - every single detail of it, I'll probably be more comfortable thinking about that. But right now I'm really just focused on BioShock Infinite as a game."

For more on how Levine's keenly anticipated new FPS is shaping up, cast an eye over Eurogamer's recent preview.

BioShock 2's Minerva's Den DLC expansion finally arrives on PC from 31st May.

The campaign add-on, which originally launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in August 2010, will be available via Games For Windows Live priced at 800 Microsoft Points.

Developer 2K Games decided to scrap plans to bring the expansion over to PC back in September, blaming "timing and technical issues". After taking a bit of a beating from disgruntled PC gamers on message boards it then backtracked and upped tools again.

Now, nine months after it arrived on consoles, you'll finally get to see what you've been missing out on.

The original console trailer below should offer a taste of what to expect.

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The long-awaited Protector Trials DLC for BioShock 2 on PC has been yanked off the Games for Windows - Live Marketplace because "it's not ready yet".

That's what 2K community bod "2K Elizabeth" wrote on the game's forum after baffled buyers complained that their content - purchased for 400 Microsoft Points and not free as once promised - wouldn't work.

"Wait till my word before you go grab it - it's not ready yet," her post read.

"Mistakes happen - sometimes out of our control. I'm the head of community, so if you feel that you weren't treated well, I'm stepping up and letting you know that's my failing. But in this case, all I can do is apologise and let you know that I wasn't checking the Marketplace or the forums around 10pm last night and so this wasn't caught until my community manager checked the thread.

"Don't blame a 'suit' - in fact, I don't think I've ever seen a person wear a suit in this office and even if you were talking about our lawyer or our COO, I would vehemently say you have the wrong impression of them. They are real workers and if you met them, you'd appreciate them.

"Don't lump us in with all the other companies in the world," she wrote. "I'm not going to pretend that I couldn't have made this entire roll out smoother, but please don't damn us for this error which honestly could not have been predicted."

Owners of BioShock 2 on PS3 and Xbox 360 had both the Protector Trials and Minerva's Den DLC early last autumn. Originally, PC gamers weren't even to get the two add-ons, but community outcry forced a rethink by game-maker 2K.

Eurogamer awarded the Protector Trials 6/10.

Video: 15 minutes of Minerva's Den on PC.