Next Gen Game

Northern UK studio from Eve Online dev to be headed up by engineers from Wheelman house; will focus on console development of upcoming MMO game Dust 514.

The developer of Eve Online has taken the wraps off its latest game development studio, CCP Newcastle. The new outfit is being headed up by former Midway engineers and will focus on console platforms. The team's first project will be Dust 514, which is being developed in collaboration with CCP Asia.

Dust 514 will now be getting the Geordie touch.

The acquisition brings CCP's total worldwide studio count to four, with Newcastle joining Atlanta, Shanghai, and Reykjavik in the US, China, and Iceland respectively. Midway's Newcastle studio once formed part of Midway Games, which was bought up by Warner Bros. after it hit bankruptcy in 2009. However, that deal did not include the Newcastle studio, which subsequently closed after announcing that its solo project Necessary Force had been canceled.

The former Midway engineers heading up the new CCP studio are said by the new owners to be "console developers with unparalleled Unreal Engine expertise." In 2005, Midway announced that all its future games would be powered by the Unreal Engine, which followed news that it would be publishing Epic's Unreal Tournament games.

In addition, CCP has teamed up with Cambridge-based middleware provider Geomerics and will be integrating its Enlighten technology into Dust 514. This will allow for the use of real-time radiosity lighting, making Dust 514 the first console title using Unreal 3 Engine to feature fully dynamic lighting, according to the Icelandic firm.

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