Avatar Reality Appoints Tetris Popularizer Henk Rogers As CEO

Avatar Reality, developer of virtual world platform Blue Mars 3D, announced the appointment of its co-founder and game industry luminary Henk Rogers as its new chief executive. Established in Hawaii in 2006 by Rogers and president Kazuyuki Hashimoto, Avatar Reality launched its CryEngine 2-powered, client-based Blue Mars platform with an open beta two years ago, though it's yet to attract a substantial userbase. It also released a free, avatar-based iOS app in February. The privately held company says that as Rogers expands his role and becomes more active at the firm he helped create, he will oversee the vision and direction for the virtual world platform, the iOS application, and Avatar Reality's "new, breakthrough technology in the pipeline." Rogers is best known for the instrumental role he played in popularizing Alexey Pajitnov's landmark puzzle game Tetris. He is also CEO of Blue Planet Software, which co-owns The Tetris Company (a firm he co-founded with Pajitnov) and guided the Tetris franchise into selling some 125 million copies. "I believe that the full potential of the Blue Mars platform and technology has yet to be realized," said Rogers. "With this, I am excited about the innovation to come, and am fully committed to the success of the company and Blue Mars."