Irrational Games

Background

Irrational Games was founded in 1997 in Boston by Ken Levine and other people from the closed Looking Glass Studios. In 2000, they opened a side studio in Canberra. Take-Two Interactive Software acquired these studios on 9th January 2006, and a year after, the "Irrational" name was dropped and the studios were incorporated into the 2K Games label, renaming them 2K Boston and 2K Australia respectively (in 2007, 2K Marin was also spun off by five people from 2K Boston). These names were used for Bioshock and its sequel before 2010, when Take-Two decided to return the "Irrational" name back "to respect the studio's legacy". It was announced on February 18, 2014 that the studio would close down.

1st Logo (August 11, 1999)

Logo: We see a rusty metal ball in a dark space. Then a light shine comes to float around it, making it into the circular logo. The name zooms in over the circle.

FX/SFX: The ball moving, the shine flying.

Music/Sounds: Space humming sounds.

Availability: Used on System Shock 2.

2nd Logo (January 9, 2002-2006)

Logo: A big and blue, 3D-looking Irrational Games shield logo is seen, with or without the name below.

Variants:

• On the Freedom Force dilogy, game characters appear in action.
• On Tribes: Vengeance, the print version is used.

FX/SFX: None, or the in-game action.

Music/Sounds: Various sounds.

Availability: Seen on the Freedom Force dilogy and SWAT and its add-ons. The print version is seen on Tribes: Vengeance.

3rd Logo (August 21, 2007)

Logo: We see an art-deco grammophone playing old-style music. When the camera comes close to the recording disc, the 2K initials can be seen on it. Then the 2K sign flashes into the 2K Boston logo, which looks like the normal 2K Games logo, but it's blue and the word "BOSTON" replaces "GAMES". Then, the town name is wiped out by smoky effects and replaced with "AUSTRALIA".

FX/SFX: The grammophone animation, the logo-changing smoke effects.

Music/Sounds: The music playing before the logo is shown.

Availability: Seen on BioShock.

4th Logo (February 9, 2010)

Logo: We see a closeup of a Little Sister stacking some colored blocks. We zoom out, where we see a Big Daddy behind the window. It stomps the ground, causing the cubes to fall and revealing that each block has a different one of the games companies on it. We then see each individual logo on a grungy background: Digital Extremes, 2K China, 2K Australia, and 2K Marin. The fifth cube, depicting 2K Games, is not shown fullscreen.

FX/SFX: The game-based animation, the logo-changing effects.

Music/Sounds: Some ominous game-world sounds.

Availability: Appears on BioShock 2.

5th Logo (August 12, 2010-March 25, 2014)

Logo: A big 3D-styled "i" letter is seen, surrounded by rays of light. The name appears on two red banners stuck to the letter.

Variant: On BioShock Infinite, the logo is full of static noise, while the game's trailers have it still.

FX/SFX: The static.

Music/Sounds: The static sounds.

Availability: Seen on trailers for BioShock Infinite, the game itself, and its expansions.