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2K Games has announced that the critically acclaimed BioShock series will be taking a completely new direction, with developer Irrational Games back at the helm as the franchise moves from the depths of Rapture to the dizzy heights of the floating city Columbia in an all new narrative.

Some might consider the major overhaul of the setting for BioShock Infinite to be somewhat risky, since by now most gamers will automatically associate the BioShock name with the murky depths of Rapture, but publisher 2K Games is confident that with Irrational Games on the job this new title will be more than worthy of the BioShock name.

"We are excited to expand the world of BioShock, which is one of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and beloved franchises,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “We believe that Irrational Games will lend their meticulous attention to detail and unique storytelling expertise to make BioShock Infinite an incredible entertainment experience that will immerse new and diehard fans of BioShock alike.”

The new direction for the BioShock series takes the gamer out of the world of Big Daddies and Little Sisters and into the role of one Booker DeWitt, sent to Columbia to rescue the imprisoned Elizabeth from the lost floating city. In building such a wildly creative game world, it was important that the developers had the tools and the freedom to do the concept justice, as creative director Ken Levine explains:

"We only had one rule: No sacred cows. This game is both true to what people love about the series and unafraid to question every assumption. In order to explore the floating city of Columbia, we needed an entirely new engine. To bring Elizabeth to life, we had to build brand-new animation and AI systems. To create wide-ranging indoor and outdoor firefights at 30,000 feet, we had to rethink, rebuild and expand the BioShock arsenal," said Levine. "The only thing gamers can be certain of is this: the rules of the BioShock universe are about to change."

BioShock Infinite is currently planned for a release sometime in 2012, giving Irrational Games plenty of time to make sure the game lives up to our lofty expectations.

In the meantime, below is the debut trailer and first screenshots to whet your appetite, and be sure to check out the Q&A with the talented Ken Levine to find out more.