After your plane crashes into icy uncharted waters, you discover a rusted bathysphere and descend into Rapture, a city hidden beneath the sea. Constructed as an idealistic society for a hand picked group of scientists, artists and industrialists, the idealism is no more. Now the city is littered with corpses, wildly powerful guardians roam the corridors as little girls loot the dead, and genetically mutated citizens ambush you at every turn.

BioShock has been selected for inclusion in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “The Art of Video Games” exhibit that will be on display in Washington, D.C., March 16, 2012 through September 30, 2012. Along with other games selected for this honor, BioShock will represent the action genre on the current generation of gaming platforms.

Of the 240 titles selected by the exhibition curator, Chris Melissinos, and reviewed by the exhibition’s advisory group consisting of game developers, designers, industry pioneers and journalists, fans cast their vote and selected 80 games to represent the industry in one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium.

“The thought of seeing BioShock on display next to Georgia O’Keeffe and Thomas Hart Benton is, well, humbling,” said Ken Levine, president and creative director of Irrational Games. “The fact that gamers put us there makes it all the better.”

“When I worked to put together the list of games, with input from the advisory group, for ‘The Art of Video Games,’ I looked for games that ran the gamut of art, social commentary, storytelling and artistic license, and BioShock combined these elements in new ways,” said Melissinos. “Ultimately, the fans got the final say regarding the games they believe best represent the medium and we’re extremely pleased with the results.”

Features :

• Take control of your world by hacking mechanical devices, commandeering security turrets and crafting unique items critical to your very survival.
• Upgrade your weapons with ionic gels, explosives and toxins to customize them to the enemy and environment.
• Genetically modify your body through dozens of Plasmid Stations scattered throughout the city, empowering you with fantastic and often grotesque abilities.
• Explore a living world powered by Ecological A.I., where the inhabitants have interesting and consequential relationships with one another that impact your gameplay experience.
• Experience truly next generation graphics that vividly illustrate the forlorn art deco city, highlighted by the most detailed and realistic water effects ever developed in a video game.
• Make meaningful choices and mature decisions, ultimately culminating in the grand question: do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture…or save them?