I’m still waiting for that one knockout video game movie to change my mind about how good one can really be. Currently, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within sits on top of Rotten Tomatoes best reviewed video game flicks, and I remember kind of liking it after sitting all alone in the movie theater back in high school. By and large, though, Hollywood has yet to catch on to video game storytelling, for good or bad.

Could this BioShock movie have been any different?

Concept Artist Jim Martin has released several of his designs from the Hollywood canned BioShock film, and it looks like it could have been an origin story. So typical of Hollywood. What’s a film series without a bare bones origin story these days?

Andrew Ryan appears to be building his underwater paradise of Rapture as he is clearly seen laying the foundations, experimenting on designs for the Big Daddies, and wandering around aimlessly lost in the thought of his future accomplishments.

Jim Martin has worked on other big film productions like The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, Riddick and Star Trek. His resume clearly shows he was the right man for the job, but director Gore Verbinski pulled the plug on the film after stating that none of the major studios wanted to fund such a violent project.

Makes one wonder if video games can ever be captured perfectly on the big screen. As violence expands, Hollywood is backing off. Quite a conundrum, really. Maybe it’s for the best, because video games clearly don’t need Hollywood to be successful anymore, and the final products often come off as cash grabs anyway.