Beyond the ecology of games culture and the widening effect on what games were in the commercial realm, "BioShock" also produced its own progeny. The (much better, in my opinion) "BioShock 2" was developed under another team at 2K Marin rather than the Boston-based 2K studio. Promoted heavily and following a number of industry trends, including a stapled-on multiplayer format, the game's legacy is mostly misunderstood as a lackluster follow-up to a legacy game. Under Levine's guidance and some brutal development conditions, 2013's "BioShock Infinite" was sold as the rightful successor to the "BioShock" legacy. It is a claim that is still debated today, but it seems undeniable that whatever high points exist within "Infinite" are overshadowed by their reliance on and reference to the more shocking originating points in the first game.

Four players take on waves of zombies in a post-apocalyptic landscape: it doesn't sound like the most innovative proposition, but Valve infused this enthralling co-op blaster with brilliant technical flourishes. The game's clever artificial intelligence system, named "Director", varied the numbers and ferocity of enemies as well as the lighting and music, depending on the skill and strategies of the players, making for a superbly choreographed experience that felt both spontaneous and cinematic. The industry laughed at the idea of the Wii, with its weird motion controller and comparatively dated hardware … until they saw people playing Wii Sports. Its collection of five perfectly tuned events made competitive multiplayer gaming accessible to everyone in the house, from toddlers to octogenarians, helping the machine shift more than 100m units and contributing to the idea that games can be a highly social bonding experience. There were arguably better games on Wii – Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros Brawl, for example – but Sports was the title that defined the machine and its ethos. The campaign was excellent too, drawing on Andy McNab-style heroics and pacy 1990s thriller movies and, with Captain John Price, providing one of the only truly memorable characters of this whole genre.

An artificial intelligence informs them that aliens on board have transformed the crew into monstrosities. It's up to them to destroy the threat, using an arsenal of conventional weapons and psychic powers. But a seemingly simple quest sends the protagonist trekking across the entire facility, caught between conflicting ideological agendas. This setup may sound familiar to players of 1999 survival horror System Shock 2, and you'll find echoes of it in a whole mini-genre of spiritual sequels, like BioShock and Dead Space. But few have followed the formula as closely as Prey, a new game from Dishonored studio Arkane. Some of Arkane's founding members worked at System Shock 2 studio Looking Glass, and the studio hasn't been shy about its intention to re-create the qualities that made the games and its studio great.

"Anew: The Distant Light," a new game from the developers who worked on the "Star Wars," "BioShock" and other big games, has already reached its crowdfunding goal on Kickstarter. With only less than 24 hours remaining, the campaign is still fighting for its first Stretch Goal that would make it possible for the game to come to the Nintendo Switch. Last month, independent video game studio Resonator launched a Kickstarter project for its upcoming open-world action game "Anew: The Distant Light." The studio is quite new given that this is going to be its debut game, but its founders -- Steve Copeland and Jeff Spoonhower -- have long earned their stripes in the gaming industry by working on successful titles like "Star Wars," "Borderlands," "Bioshock" and "Uncharted," among others. This weekend, the crowdfunding campaign is nearing its end and the $30,000 initial goal has already been reached.

In Hollywood's sudden dash to adapt every video game in existence - Warcraft, Assassin's Creed, Lara Croft - there's been a notable silence from one corner, occupied by 2K Games' towering Bioshock series. Yet, film just seems so unnecessary a medium when it comes to the Bioshock franchise, a strong candidate for the most cinematic piece of gaming ever released; rich in its objectivism-skewering narrative, in its decaying grandeur, in its tense, insidious atmosphere. But, if there's a craving unsatisfied, at least indulge yourself in the recently unleashed Bioshock: The Collection; which renders this cinematic peak in gaming into something even more akin to the epic glamour of the silver screen, bringing together the entire trilogy of games and their respective DLCs. Bioshock - the first installment - is nothing short of jaw-dropping in its carefully remastered new form. Returning now is to experience it entirely anew, to feel the sudden intake of breath as you first break the water's surface after the opening's devastating plane crash and take glimpse of the awaiting vista; the towering flames erupting from the wreckage only to be engulfed by the rich silk of the night, and looming out of the darkness - a lighthouse.