gazillion posts

id Software founder John Romero has decided to depart the latest game developer company that he helped to form, the San Fransisco-based Slipgate Ironworks. Earlier this week it was revealed that Romero was teaming up with his long time friend and business partner Tom Hall on a new social networking game developer called Loot Drop.

Romero formed Slipgate Ironworks in 2005 and said at the time that it was developing a new but unnamed MMO project. Later it was revealed that the company was part of the many MMO game studios from Gazillion Entertainment. A spokesperson for the company confirmed to Big Download, "John is no longer working with Gazillion. We parted ways late last year, and we wish him nothing but the best in the future."

It's been over five years since Slipgate Ironworks was formed yet the developer has yet to reveal the game project or projects it has been working on for all that time. Gazillion's spokesperson gave us a small update on Slipgate Ironworks, saying, ... "the studio is working on a key project in Gazillion. John's MMO project was changed and shifted out to later in the pipeline, as the company decided to move it to an in-browser platform which is an area of focus for Gazillion's future titles. We have not announced a release date for this title and John was not involved with the new plans."

The family-friendly themed MMO that's been years in the making is now technically ready to be released. The Lego Group announced that Lego Universe from developer NetDevil has "gone gold" meaning the game is now being replicated onto disks for placement in retail boxes. The game was first announced back in March 2007.

As we reported back in June, the game will have two launch dates. On October 12 Lego Universe will open up for people who pre-ordered the game via ia official Lego stores, the Lego web site and the Legoland theme park. On October 26, the game will be made available for everyone else as the Lego Universe title is released in other retail stores. In the meantime you can still sign up to be a beta tester for the game before it's official release.

id Software founder John Romero has been working in near silence at his current job as head of Slipgate Ironworks, a developer that's been working on an unknown MMO since 2005. Slipgate is part of the Gazillion Entertainment company and last year they announced layoffs at the developer. The smaller team caused Gazillion to "change the format of our project at Slipgate Ironworks to better achieve this aim."

Now it looks like Romero is hiring people again at the developer. His Twitter page states, "I'm looking for Unreal 3 experienced coders. Lead, server & client engineers. Send your resumes to john@gazillion.com." They are still being silent on what the game project is but Romero does say that it's for an "exciting iP". Hopefully we will finally learn what he and his team have been working on for so long very soon.

[Via Blue's News]

It has been a long time since developer NetDevil has given a status update on their long-in-development space-based MMO Jumpgate Evolution. Last May the developer, now owned by Gazillion, announced that their planned fall 2009 release date for the game was being pushed back but declined to reveal a new release date. Since then the company has been fairly silent about the game's status.

Now there are some indications that the game is getting closer to an actual release. A post on the game's official message boards reveals that the game's North American Community Manager has been let go by NetDevil. According to the post, "There are a few reasons for this, the main one being that as we near the final leg of development for the game, the team would like their community managers to be on site with the developers." This would seem to indicate that the game's progress is getting closer to release.

In another post from the game's community director, he states that Jumpgate Evolution's delay was due to player feedback that "caused major parts of the game to be rewritten, which led to other changes, and so on." In another entry on the same forum thread he talks about why the dev team has been quiet for the most part about the game's progress, saying, " Did we think that day would come earlier? Yes. Is it still coming? Yes. Is it close? Well, we think so."

One of the more interesting reveals in the game business this year was Gazillion Entertainment. The MMO developer had been in existence but in stealth mode, under another name, for a few years before revealing itself publically last March. Now the company has announced that it has hired a former Microsoft Games Studios executive to be its new VP of Studios.

Stuart Moulder worked at Microsoft for eight years and managed a number of their internal studios including the now defunct Ensemble Studios and FASA Interactive. Moulder will handle the game development management of Gazillion's multiple studios. They include Netdevil (working on Jumpgate Evolution), Gargantuan (working on the recently revealed Marvel Universe MMO) and Slipgate Ironworks (working on an MMO led by former id Software designer John Romero).

If you though that you might have to wait a long time fore the recently announced Marvel Universe MMO to be released, you are absolutely right. In a post over at MTV's comic book themed blog Splash Page Marvel's president of worldwide consumer products, Simon Philips, stated that the game won't be coming out until 2012.

According to the article Marvel settled on that year because of its scheduling of the massive slate of upcoming movies based on its characters. The group-themed Avengers movie is also set for a 2012 release date. Philips is quoted as saying, "It sounds like a long way away, but it's not. We've got to create, together with [game publisher] Gazillion, that environment that is going to be a totally immersive experience and a perpetual storytelling experience as well."