jumpgate-evolution posts

Back in November, before Gazillion Entertainment sold off part of NetDevil's team members to the Lego Group, it was announced that Scott Brown, the founder and head of NetDevil, had departed the studio. Now Brown and other Netdevil members have resurfaced with a new game development studio, END Games Entertainment.

There's not much info on what the new team is working on but a post today on the company's blog site states that their first games will be of the free-to-play variety, saying, "We're going to invite our player communities into our experiences MUCH earlier in development than the industry would normally do." It looks like the team is " ... getting close to an early alpha release of our first title" so hopefully we will see what END has in store for us soon.

[Via Kotaku]

Big Download just got off the phone with Gazillion Entertainment's PR head who gave us more info about what's happening with one of its MMO game studios, the Denver-based NetDevil. The rep told us that Lego Group, the owners of the Lego toy brand, are now taking over full development responsbilities for Lego Universe, the family friendly MMO that NetDevil developed for the toy company and launched in October 2010.

As a result of this move, Lego Group is buying both the Lego Universe development team and the NetDevil offices that the team currently works in (Financial terms were not disclosed). The other NetDevil employees will be moving to another office somewhere nearby the original offices. The remaining Netdevil team members will continue to develop the browser-based online action-RPG Fortune Online, which was just announced a few weeks ago and is now in closed beta testing. The Gazillion PR rep would not comment on the status of NetDevil's long-in-development space-based MMO Jumpgate Evolution which is currently involved in a lawsuit with Codemasters.

There are layoffs associated with this transition but at the time of this post the Gazillion PR rep did not have specific numbers available although he did state the numbers would be small. The PR rep also sent this quote from Gazillion president David Brevik:

"The transition of members of our team to the LEGO Group allows us to conclude the work-for-hire segment of NetDevil's business and lets us expand our internally-published, free-to-play game businesses based on our own properties and licensed properties. Gazillion is wholly focused on developing, operating, and publishing the next generation of browser-delivered games We're proud of the LEGO Universe game that our team built, and we are certain that it has a bright future."

Update: We have now been told by Gazillion's PR head that less than a quarter of Lego Universe's team members were let go as a result of this move. However he did not have specific numbers. He also told us that about 40 NetDevil team members are currently working on Fortune Online.

Long time MMO game developer NetDevil may have suffered through mass layoffs this week. Eurogamer reports that Toby Cochran, an animator for the company's Lego Universe game that launched just last October, reports that he lost his position at NetDevil, adding, "From what we've been told a handful of artists will be kept on board and continue working on Lego Universe. But at the moment that will be a very, VERY small team." NetDevil's parent company, Gazillion Entertainment, has yet to confirm news of the layoffs.

Netdevil still has another MMO in the works, the long-in-development space-based game Jumpgate Evolution, which is now dealing with a lawsuit from its publisher, Codemasters, for alledgedly taking too long to complete. More recently Netdevil launched a closed beta for a browser-based action-RPG Fortune Online.

Every year we are surprised by the number of games that manage to be released. But there are always PC game titles that are announced and then pretty much disappear from view. These are the games that Big Download puts the label "Vaporware" On. Unlike other such web sites, we consider vaporware to be any PC game that was announced, lots of time with much hype, only to go into a cave with little to no info revealed about the game at all.

That's why you won't see games like Diablo III or even Duke Nukem Forever on this list. Yes, they are taking a long time to be completed but at least the development teams behind them have shown the game off in playable form in the past year and it looks like they may actually be released. But that's not the case with most of the games on our new 2010 PC game vaporware list. While they may all finally come out of their shell, we have no idea when that will be at this point.

So which games made our top 10 list this year? Check after the jump to find out for yourself. Just be careful: It's dark in there.

Developer Netdevil has been working on its space-based MMO game Jumpgate Evolution for some time and apparently the wait was too much for the game's publisher Codemasters. Our sister site Massively reports today that Codemasters has filed a lawsuit against Netdevil and its parent company Gazillion Entertainment, charging both with breach of contract as well as other issues.

Court documents from Codemasters have the publisher claiming that it paid Netdevil $1.4 million to help underwrite the development of Jumpgate Evolution, which in fact is a revamp of Netdevil's first game Jumpgate. Codemasters also claims that Netdevil was to launch Jumpgate Evolution by February 24, 2009. In May 2009 Netdevil announced that the game would in fact be delayed but the developer has been fairly silent on the state of the game's progress since then despite showing a playable version back at E3 2010.

In what may or may not be related news, the game's official forum have announced that Scott Brown, the founder of Netdevil, has left the studio for unnamed reasons. Brown founded the Colorado-based Netdevil back in 1997. The official statement from Gazillion states, "With a talented team at NetDevil in place, the studio is poised for a bright future. We once again thank Scott for his contributions and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

One of the most extensive MMO game developers just got a new round of funding. Gazillion Entertainment announced today that it raised $60 million from a variety of investors. The press release announcing the funding hints that the money will be used to "enter a key phase of expansion for the company."

So far Gazillion has released just one game, Lego Universe, from its NetDevil studio. NetDevil is still working on its long-in-development space-based MMO Jumpgate Evolution and the company's web site says that there's another unannounced game in the works. Another studio, The Amazing Society, is working on the casual MMO Marvel Super Hero Squad that's due for release in early 2011. Yet another studio, Gargantuan, is working on the large scale Marvel Universe MMO. Finally there's Slipgate Ironworks, the studio headed up by John Romero, which has been working for years on a MMO game that has yet to be announced.

This impressive cinematic trailer for Jumpgate Evolution reveals the Octavius, a faction that's great with rousing speeches and apparently incredibly efficient at gearing up for war.

"Jumpgate Evolution is an exhilarating space combat MMO, set in a vast expanding universe, that allows players to choose from one of three playable Nations and engage in an intense action-packed gaming experience. While embarking on an immersive and accessible space adventure, players can trade valuable commodities, take part in awesome intergalactic battles, meet and play with friends and live out the dream of an elite hero."

Download HD Jumpgate Evolution 'Octavius Faction' Trailer (307 MB)
Check out all Jumpgate Evolution downloads

It looks like the long awaited family friendly MMO Lego Universe is getting closer to its launch. Today our MMO sister site Massively reports that the first invites to join the closed beta test of the game are beginning to be sent out to the first wave of selected testers.

That's a good sign that the game, under development at Gazillion Entertainment-owned developer NetDevil, is finally coming closer to completion. The title, which was first announced in March of 2007, is still taking beta testing sign ups for anyone else who wants to give it a test drive. NetDevil is also working on their other long-in-development MMO, Jumpgate Evolution, which at the moment seems to be somewhat stalled.

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."

Last month we reported that UK based Codemasters was looking for more money to support its operations. Today it looks like the publisher is looking to save more money. According to an IGN story that cites an anonymous source, Codemasters has already laid off its US marketing staff and will soon close their entire US subsidiary.

The reason? Poor sales of its games in 2009 including acclaimed games like Dirt 2 and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. As we have mentioned before Codemasters currently only has one game, the much delayed MMO Jumpgate Evolution, on their release schedule. Codemasters' US PR reps would not comment on the rumors.

Update: VG247.com got an email from Codemasters saying that their US offices will not close but also admitting to laying off six of the office's team members.