BioShock creator Ken Levine reveals key to his success

Video game fans are eagerly awaiting the launch of BioShock Infinite, the latest instalment in the best-selling BioShock franchise. These are real-time, role playing games, that mix intense action, with immersive storytelling.

BioShock, originally released on Windows and Xbox before expanding to other platforms, has sold millions of copies around the world, and won multiple industry awards.

Despite containing the kind of violence often found in first-person video games of this kind, the series also drew praise for its intellectual pretensions.

BioShock was set in the fictional city of Rapture, which was intended to be a dystopia, a device to explore the kind of philosophical arguments set out by authors like George Orwell and Ayn Rand, according to creative director Ken Levine.

Mr Levine has reprised his role as creative director for BioShock: Infinite.

He talked to the BBC about what makes this genre of game distinctive, and why he is drawn to it.