Kotaku has a follow-up to yesterday's announcement about a couple of departures from the BioShock Infinite team, clarifying their comment at the time they have "heard that development on BioShock Infinite has hit choppy waters" (thanks nin). They say they've received reports that two different multiplayer modes have been cut from the upcoming shooter, and that it's now unclear whether the game will include multiplayer, noting this was a priority to prevent the game being and instant trade-in upcoming completion like the original BioShock. They also say the team has struggled to achieve gameplay that lives up to the game's impressive E3 demonstration: "All the same, the Infinite demo made a stunning debut despite the fact that the team was wrestling with the most basic elements of the game, from the story to the level design to the AI programming to how to design the sidekick character of Elizabeth, who can magically conjure weapons and in other ways affect the environment." Finally, they report that Gears of War producer Rod Fergusson is taking over from departing Tim Gerritsen, though they have been unable to get either Epic or Ken Levine to comment on this, in spite of getting Levine on the phone to discuss these matters. Here's his reply to their question about whether fans should worry about the state of the game:

"It's always challenging when you're trying to make a game that does a lot of different things," Levine said, noting that designers can be drawn back toward what is safe and familiar. "Trust me, there are plenty of things in this game—either it was the Skyline [a roller-coaster-like apparatus that players can use to zoom about the levels] or Elizabeth—where there were movements in the team to get rid of them. Because they are the most challenging things." He said that these challenges have been much of the reason the game has been in development for such a long time.