It’s a bit cheesy to keep linking to new Idle Thumbs episodes, but we’re trying to cobble together a listenership so here it goes again. You should totally check it out, that would be rad.

This week we featured special guest Steve Gaynor, designer at 2K Marin on the upcoming BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams. Steve’s a great guy, and he writes a great blog—I’m sure you will find his comments sufficiently insightful and enlightening.

The biggest topic of the podcast was BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, whose announcement event Nick and I attended, but there’s also discussion of weird Fable II shenanigans, Yakuza 2, and a dubious sponsorship by little-known Gaming Grub competitor Ultra Boost. iTunes!

I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that BioShock–one of the most aggressively original games that has shipped recently–is so quickly becoming a full-on Franchise, with an 18-month (or so) sequel and a Hollywood sequel. It is inevitable, really–but that’s the most telling part.

Now, I have met a number of people working on BioShock 2, and honestly I think it would be difficult to find a group that is more talented and more suited to the material, so I don’t want to give the impression that I am ragging on that studio or its project, because I’m not. I can’t wait to see what they’re thinking up.

Similarly, director Gore Verbinski gave an interview that puts his enthusiasm for and knowledge of BioShock in an encouraging light. He and screenwriter John Logan have definitely skewed towards the more box office Hollywood blockbuster side of the cinematic experience, which wouldn’t be my first pick, but I can see the justification and necessity there.

Logan did write one of my favorite films of the last several years, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, so that’s a plus–and I can see some parallels between the eccentric billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes and consummate captain of industry Andrew Ryan, both larger-than-life figures consumed by larger-than-life principles. Ken Levine is said to be involved; it isn’t clear to what extent.

So it isn’t that I don’t have faith in these projects. It’s just that I find it unfortunate that the video game industry is still so relentlessly hit-driven, in a way that hit-driven Hollywood isn’t even close to being, to the point that once somebody does find a hit you can pretty much draft up a map of commodification, effective immediately, with your eyes closed.

As some of you may know, I currently serve as Editor-at-Large at industry trade publication Gamasutra.  Today, we ran a piece of mine looking at the idea of subtext in games, with an examination of titles such as Half-Life, Grand Theft Auto, Ico, No More Heroes, Full Throttle, and BioShock.  Here’s an excerpt:

On the surface, Full Throttle is a badass neo-noir biker murder thriller with hard rock music (on that level alone it is already more novel than most game premises), but underneath it is a melancholy reflection on the American frontier and the inevitability of invasive industrialization.

If you have any interest in a dialogue- and puzzle-driven game, Full Throttle isn’t overbearing or preachy in the least, but there’s a lot to chew on. Its subtext is essentially literary, hinging on classic themes of American fiction.

If you like, go check out the whole thing.