The PlayStation 3 version of BioShock is shaping up to be quite a beast: a grand total of four developers are working on the port. Aside from 2K Boston and 2K Australia (the two teams who originally produced and released the game on the Xbox 360 and PC last summer) 2K Marin and an external studio, Digital Extremes have also signed on. It's worth nothing the need for four studios (that's got to set a record, maybe two with it being a port) could be due to the fact each of them are believed to be working on other projects at the moment.

2K Marin was formed late last year and is allegedly made up of several ex-Bioshock staffers. This is the same team set to create the next BioShock game. Variety is the spice of a franchise, I guess? Digital Extremes (DE) is behind such titles as Dark Sector ("[the main character becomes] altered by an infection that has granted him inhuman abilities and he must learn to evolve along with his powers, to survive.." - sound familiar?), Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2004, and..Extreme Pinball (we don't have a page for it, I guess it wasn't that extreme)? Well, that was 1995. Times were different! (DE to 2K: "I've changed, I swear!")

It's not exactly clear what the extra studios will be doing, though 2K has alluded to "optimization":

"By partnering with Digital Extremes, 2K Games is delivering a fully optimized experience that takes advantage of the PLAYSTATION 3 system hardware," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "Bringing Digital Extremes on board allows us to continue to deliver the best experience possible to our fans."

"When 2K approached us to assist with development on BioShock for the PLAYSTATION 3 system, it was a no-brainer," said James Schmalz, CEO and founder of Digital Extremes. "You really can't ask for a more exciting, technically impressive world to work in than Rapture, and the incredible knowledge and talent between the 2K studios and our team at Digital Extremes is unprecedented. The collaboration on this project will make the PLAYSTATION 3 system sing with Big Daddy goodness and Little Sister 'thank you's'."

BioShock is expected for the PS3 this October with new features and content, none of which are known yet. The sequel is set for the same time next year. Should be an extra terrifying couple of Halloweens.