In another world, Ken Levine might have been a novelist, and his team at Irrational his writers group, meeting around a dusty table in a Parisian cafe. Like Ayn Rand, he might have written a 1,000 page opus on power, free will, and human fallibility.

Instead he’s making BioShock.

One of the games I’m most looking forward to this year is Bioshock. My anticipation was further heightened by reading this article, in which the story that Ken Levine, the game’s designer, is crafting is examined. It’s exciting to me that he’s approaching the project primarily as a way to tell this story, with the game elements pressed into service to further that goal — a shift in priorities that I think will have to happen before games will be thought of as an artistic medium on par with music, theater, and cinema. Very interesting read.