2K Games, Irrational Games and 2K Marin announced today that BioShock^®: Ultimate Rapture Edition is now available in North America. Before exploring the world of Columbia in the upcoming worldwide release of BioShock Infinite on March 26, 2013, fans of the franchise and newcomers alike can experience everything that Rapture has to offer with the BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition for $29.99 (MSRP) for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. The BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition includes the critically-acclaimed BioShock, BioShock 2 and add-on content for both games valued at more than $40. It also includes a trip to the never-before-seen Museum of Orphaned Concepts, providing a rare look at early concept art and character models that never made it into BioShock.

The BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition is now available and includes the critically-acclaimed BioShock, BioShock 2 and add-on content for both games valued at more than $40. (Photo: Business Wire)

“With BioShock Infinite on the horizon, we want to offer gamers new to the franchise a great value in diving into the BioShock experience,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “The BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition brings the complete experience of this critically acclaimed franchise to gamers looking to explore Rapture before discovering Columbia.”

In addition to BioShock and BioShock 2, the BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition includes more than $40 of add-on content for both games:

• Museum of Orphaned Concepts: Take a tour of a never-before-seen BioShock museum and view early concept art, character models and more set within the halls of Rapture.
• Plasmids Pack: Includes four additional Plasmids and Gene Tonics – Sonic Boom, EVE Saver, Vending Expert and Machine Buster – for use in BioShock.
• Challenge Rooms Pack: Previously exclusive to PS3™ and now available for Xbox 360 for the first time, the pack tests the player’s mettle by requiring them to utilize the skills learned while traversing the halls of Rapture to survive three separate puzzle rooms in BioShock.
• Sinclair Solutions Tester: Contains a number of customization features that allow players to further their character’s development in BioShock 2 multiplayer modes and provides a deeper multiplayer experience.
• Rapture Metro: Includes six additional multiplayer maps, an additional multiplayer gameplay mode and a rank increase to level 50 for BioShock 2 multiplayer.
• The Protector Trials: Features frantic combat and fast-paced action designed to push players’ mastery of weapons and Plasmids in a BioShock 2 single-player experience spread across six maps.
• Minerva’s Den: A substantial narrative experience that puts players in the role Subject Sigma and introduces new characters, locations and mystery to the world of Rapture in BioShock 2. Set in a new environment, Rapture Central Computing, Minerva’s Den adds a gripping new storyline to extend the BioShock 2 experience.
• Also included, is an exclusive collectable sticker pack from BioShock Infinite’s world of Columbia to get gamers ready for the next chapter in the BioShock universe.

Originally released in 2007 and winner of multiple Game of the Year awards, BioShock is a "genetically enhanced" first-person shooter set in Rapture, a decaying art deco underwater utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified "splicers" and deadly security systems, players have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology, fascinating characters and morality defining choices. To make it to the end, players can turn everything they encounter into a weapon, biologically modify their body with Plasmids, hack devices and security systems, upgrade weapons, craft new ammo variants, and experiment with different battle techniques. No encounter ever plays out the same and no two gamers will play BioShock the same way.

Originally released in 2010, BioShock 2 features an unsettling storyline, dazzling visual design and the evolution of the genetically enhanced shooter gameplay. Set almost a decade after a grueling civil war consumed the once magnificent city of Rapture, evil reverberates through the halls and a wickedness once thought gone forever returns along the Atlantic seaboard. An unspeakable series of kidnappings from local seaside communities by an unseen monster leads to the repopulation of Little Sisters in Rapture's failed utopia under the ocean. Players must step into the boots of one of gaming's most iconic characters, the Big Daddy, as they traverse the fallen city, fending off attacks from an army of genetically modified Splicers, while searching for escape and the key to their survival.

BioShock 2 also features multiplayer modes that provide fans with an engrossing prequel experience that expands upon the fiction of Rapture's origins. Set during the year before Rapture's descent into chaos, players assume the role of a Plasmid test subject for Sinclair Solutions, a key provider of Plasmids and Tonics in the underwater city that was first explored in BioShock. Players will enter into areas from the original title as they struggle to gain superiority and fight for survival in franticly paced battles.

BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition is rated M for Mature by the ESRB.

For more information, please visit http://www.bioshockgame.com/ultimaterapture. For the latest news and information on the BioShock franchise, become a fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/bioshock.

Irrational Games and 2K Marin are both 2K Games studios. 2K Games is a division of 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

About Take-Two Interactive Software

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a leading developer, marketer and publisher of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe. The Company develops and publishes products through its two wholly-owned labels Rockstar Games and 2K, which publishes its titles under the 2K Games, 2K Sports and 2K Play brands. Our products are designed for console systems, handheld gaming systems and personal computers, including smartphones and tablets, and are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms and cloud streaming services. The Company’s common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at http://www.take2games.com.

About 2K

Founded in 2005, 2K develops and publishes interactive entertainment for console systems, handheld gaming systems and personal computers, including smartphones and tablets through its three divisions: 2K Games, 2K Sports, and 2K Play that are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms and cloud streaming services. 2K publishes titles in today’s most popular gaming genres, including first-person shooters, action, role-playing, real-time strategy, sports, casual, and family entertainment. The 2K label has some of the most talented development studios in the world today, including Firaxis Games, Visual Concepts, Irrational Games, 2K Marin, 2K Australia, 2K Czech, Cat Daddy Games, and 2K China. 2K has achieved many key industry milestones, including launching the 2007 Game of the Year - BioShock®; publishing the critically acclaimed Borderlands® franchise; continuing the award-winning Sid Meier’s Civilization® series; delivering the #1 rated and #1 selling basketball franchise with NBA® 2K*; and breaking new ground in the family entertainment market with its multi-million unit selling hit Carnival Games. 2K is headquartered in Novato, California and is a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO). For more information, please visit www.2K.com.

*According to 2008 - 2012 Gamerankings.com and The NPD Group estimates of U.S. retail video game sales through December 2012.

About Irrational Games

Located near Boston, Massachusetts, Irrational Games is widely recognized as one of the industry's leading game developers. Irrational has earned a reputation for creating story-driven, genre-defining games with award-winning hits like System Shock 2, Freedom Force, and the original BioShock. For more information, visit http://www.irrationalgames.com.

About 2K Marin

Founded in 2007 and located in Novato, California, 2K Marin designs and builds games under the 2K Games publishing label. Dedicated to the craft of creating immersive, narrative-based experiences, 2K Marin brought BioShock to new platforms and developed BioShock 2, and is currently developing XCOM. For more information on 2K Marin, please visit http://www.2kmarin.com.

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