War World coming from Third Wave Games
by Kit

Tuesday, July 13 2004

Company recently formed by industry veterans.

Video game veterans, Morten Brodersen, Johnni Christensen and Phillip Tavel, announced today that they have pooled their many years of experience in creating multimillion unit-selling franchises, and have formed the new video game development house, Third Wave Games. The company’s first game introduction will be War World, a mech-on-mech online combat game for the PC that will be available this fall.

“Third Wave Games’ mission is to create high quality downloadable video games, that provide players a console game-like experience on their PC, at an affordable price,” said Phillip Tavel, creative director at Third Wave Games. “The founders of Third Wave Games have launched some of the greatest franchises in the video games business, and we look forward to making a new mark in the online PC games arena.”

War World is a fast paced, 3rd person online shooter where players build and battle the ultimate mech warriors. Designed for multiplayer mayhem, War World lets players challenge other warriors online as they try to work their way up the War World rankings ladder. As players move up the ladder, they will be able to earn and purchase upgrades and enhancements for their mechs. War World will also offer several single player modes, 3D arcade style games, where players can upload their scores to the web site for bragging rights. War World will be available via online download this fall for $19.99. After launch, War World will continue to flourish with new expansion packs being offered every couple of months. The first expansions will offer a fully customizable skin editor for the mechs, new mechs, new arenas and new weaponry.

Morten Brodersen brings over ten years of gaming industry experience to Third Wave Games and will serve as the studio director and lead programmer for War World. Brodersen most recently served as the studio director for the Australian game developer, Blue Tongue Software. Most notably, Brodersen worked at Rare Ltd as a software engineer and was responsible for developing the 3D engine that was used to create the blockbuster hit, Banjo Kazooie. While at Rare he worked on other top games including Donkey Kong Country 2 and Perfect Dark II.

Serving as the art director and lead artist for War World, Johnni Christensen recently left Rare Ltd. where he spent seven years with the company. While at Rare, Christensen worked as a lead artist on blockbuster titles including Starfox Adventures, Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing.

Phillip Tavel will serve as Third Wave Games’ creative director and the head of sales and marketing. Tavel brings to the company years of experience in intellectual property law and development, game design, and sales and marketing. Tavel formerly served as the creative director for Blue Tongue Software and was responsible for game design, creating new intellectual properties and developing new business relationships across a number of industries. Tavel was also the co-founder of multi-media entertainment company, Interactive Imagination. Tavel designed and launched the gaming property, Magi-Nation. The Magi-Nation Color Game Boy title was an award-winning franchise that was expanded into novels and collectible card games. Tavel also served as a product manager for Nintendo of America, after leaving a career in law and physics.

For more information on War World and to view screenshots, please visit: http://www.warworld.net

--- Kit