Okay, so there's been some chatter about BioShock 4, the next installment in the beloved franchise. Word on the street was that things weren't exactly smooth sailing over at Cloud Chamber, the studio developing the game. Some folks even got reassigned, which is never a good sign, right?

But hold up! Strauss Zelnick, the big cheese at Take-Two (the parent company of 2K Games), stepped in to calm our nerves. In a recent interview, he pretty much guaranteed that BioShock 4 is happening. No ifs, ands, or buts. "It’s going to come out," he said. "That I can say hand on heart, without question."

Apparently, there have been some "ups and downs" (his words, not mine!), and a change in studio leadership. Which, you know, sounds like typical game development drama. Zelnick mentioned that they want to honor the "legacy" of Ken Levine (the mastermind behind the original BioShock) and make sure this new game is both true to the series' DNA and a huge leap forward.

However, things got a little weird when Zelnick started talking about the ever-increasing development times for games. He went on a bit of a tangent about how consumers are super demanding these days (true!) and how "good is the new bad, great is the new great."

I get what he's trying to say, I think. He's basically saying that in today's saturated market, a game can't just be "okay" or even "good" to succeed. It needs to be exceptional. But "great is the new great"? Seriously? It sounds like corporate speak, and I feel like it's kinda of losing meaning. It is just CEO talk.

The game industry puts immense pressure on developers to make games that generate huge profits, leading to unrealistic expectations. If every game has to be amazing, what happens when we run out of adjectives? What comes after 'exceptional'? Super-duper exceptional?

In the end, I'm still hyped for BioShock 4. I just hope they focus on making a great game that is fun, and not a game that has to be revolutionary to be profitable. What do you think?