GenCon News:  At GenCon Plaid Hat Games President Colby Dauch talked to ICv2 about his company's board game based on the Bioshock: Infinite video game developed by Irrational Games.  Dauch told ICv2, "We’ve being working on the board game right alongside the development of the video game and its downloadable content.  It’s been our central focus.  We’ve put a lot of love and care into it, and I think we have a really great game."
 
Dauch explained, "In the video game players take on the role of the protagonists Booker (DeWitt) and Elizabeth.  In the board game players take on the role of the two major factions (the nativist and elite Founders and the Vox Populi representing the workers) of the game and play their war out and Booker and Elizabeth are just running around the board messing up some players’ plans or aiding others if you can sway them to your position.  There are lots of miniatures, custom dice, and lots of artwork that we produced specifically for the game--it’s not just reused art from the videogame."
 
Set in the floating air-city of Columbia, the Bioshock: Infinite video game, which was released last March, is a steampunk extravaganza that takes its inspiration from the social conflicts arising from the Industrial Age.  Over four million copies of the visually-rich game have been sold so far in spite of criticism that the game skewers "Tea Party" values (the Founders are 1–percenters exploiting anti-immigrant prejudices) as well as religious fundamentalism.

Bioshock: Infinite is a very popular property.  Though it just launched last March, the franchise has already spun off a Bioschock: Infinite HeroClix from WizKids (see "First Look at WizKids' 'Bioschock: Infinite HeroClix'"), and Dark Horse Comics is publishing a The Art of BioShock Infinite in its line of very successful video game art books (see "'The Art of BioShock: Infinite'").