14 DAY TRIAL // While the last week was filled with some pretty interesting news, by far one of the most surprising was the delay of BioShock Infinite, the next installment in the atmospheric shooter series from Irrational Games.
While the delay is average-sized when compared with other such games (who can forget Duke Nukem Forever?), the rumored reasons for the delay caused a much bigger debate in the gaming public.
Officially, according to Irrational Games' Creative Director, Ken Levine, the game was postponed to allow "some specific tweaks and improvements [that] will make Infinite into something even more extraordinary."
As such, fans should now expect BioShock Infinite to appear on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on February 26, 2013.
However, in the last few days, a couple of major reports have appeared that hint at why the delay was actually made.
First up, there's the pretty obvious one, that BioShock Infinite was, in fact, delayed to allow the studio to work more on the game. However, a report claims that this work has more to do with a multiplayer mode instead of just the regular last minute polishing.
While the BioShock series is no stranger to multiplayer, as the previous game also had an online mode that acted as a prequel, it didn't fair that well, so you can bet that Irrational Games doesn't want to take any chances with this all-new experience.
Still, considering quite a few single-player experiences are getting online modes nowadays, from Mass Effect 3 to God of War: Ascension, you shouldn't be too surprised to see some sort of multiplayer experience in BioShock Infinite next year.
The second big rumor about the delay is the desire of the game's publisher, Take-Two Interactive, to make room for another major release, namely Grand Theft Auto V, coming from longtime partner Rockstar Games.
While this is in no way certain because of Rockstar's secrecy, it stands to reason that Take-Two and Irrational realized GTA V would beat any other game that comes out this year, including BioShock Infinite, which was going to appear in October.
We can't say for sure what reason this delay has, but both reports are actually pretty good for the regular gamer.
Sure, you have to wait more until BioShock Infinite appears, but you'll not only get to enjoy a polished game, maybe with a multiplayer mode, but you can also spend time and money on other big games this fall, including Grand Theft Auto V.