Bioshock - Little Sisters @ IGN Blog

Irrational's Bioshock blog at IGN has been updated with a podcast featuring Ken Levine on the Little Sisters of Rapture - there's also some concept art on offer:

Little Sisters are perhaps the most important citizens of Rapture, but little is known about them. Who are they? Where did they come from? And most importantly, how can the player interact with the Little Sister during his time in this underwater city?

I sat down with Ken Levine, Creative Director at Irrational Games, and asked him the tough questions many in the media, and on the forums, have been posing about the Little Sisters in BioShock. In this exclusive podcast, Ken and I talk about what the Little Sister is, and why Irrational chose to use the form of a child in this upcoming shooter. We also discuss what Harvesting and Rescuing really means, the moral ramifications of having the Little Sister in the game, and even if Irrational changed the Little Sister, and your interactions with her, due to public (or publisher) pressure.

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More information.

if i believed in naming my private parts i think i would name them after ken levine. great interview from one of the few men or women in gaming with cajones. i would blindly buy any game levine touches even if it was frog and toad try babysitting.

I'm a big Irrational fan but I'm a little disappointed at their solution for killing Little Sisters. I suppose it was inevitable that having little girls in your game would be a problem but it goes against the principles that Levine normally establishes to ensure the game is as believable as possible.

i thought that as well at first. but after listening to the entire interview i was more than satisfied with his reasoning. what is gaining by giving the player the 'freedom' to do all sorts of things to little sister? far too many game developers don't use this game descretion which is much more evolved in literature and film. its that lack of discretion or some would say taste that keeps me away from games like grand theft auto and far overshadows anything it has added to gaming by giving players a free reign at mayhem. too me that kind of gaming is like what snuff films are to nudity and sex.

to me things are only as believable as the believer wants them to believe. and i frankly and nievely believe in a world (real or virtual) where killing children isn't an option.

Have you seen the Omen?

no i never caught that one. honestly although i use to dig horror movies i've phased them out for the most part except of course for zombie movies. movies like scream and the cell are two i blame for making nearly any horror movie i watch unbearable. i just can't stomach watching suffering and torture in the way some horror movies show it. but i suppose i am fooling myself a bit with zombie movies as well. i guess that category is still grey. some would say a person has to die first to become a zombie so there is no real cure or possiblity of them becoming human again once they've crossed that threshold. though some stories have posed interesting and opposing scenarios. the notion of dead and undead though i find intreguing and i wouldn't mind if they made some good vampire flicks too since none that i can think of come close to the masterpiece that is bloodlines (the game).

i listened to the podcast today at work. Thought it was interesting, all this careful wording and such regarding the morality of slaying of a bunch of below-average-height 3d models. Kinda amusing in a way, the dread seriousness that it's approached as some sort of heavy moral question. In the end it's like he said (and Im paraphrasing) "Killing Little Sisters is not what this game is about", so I respect that. Make the game however you want, man. Youre the one that has to sell it, not me. Youre the one that'll have to potentially deal with a bunch of bullshit from people over it, not me.

..even tho a core part of the game does sound like it's about harvesting the genetic mat'l from the little curmudgeons, which does sound like it does indeed destroy them... tastefully and respectfully, mind you. Excuse me while I lol

I like to think into the direct opposite direction to see what comes out of that. It's a really very creative process that often leads to unexpected outcomes.

And now I ask myself : "Are there Little Brothers" ?