Former Tetris/Square Heads Form Avatar Reality

Former heads of The Tetris Company and Square USA have announced the formation of upstart studio Honolulu-based Avatar Reality, Inc, as well as the company's first title, the massively multiplayer Terraformed Mars. The company will be headed by Henk Rogers, founder of Blue Planet Software, Blue Lava, and The Tetris Company, famous as the man credited with bringing Tetris to Nintendo for release on its then-launching GameBoy. Joining Rogers is Kazuyuki Hashimoto, former vice president of technology at Electronic Arts and chief technical officer of Square, where he oversaw CG development of such titles as Final Fantasy VII and the Final Fantasy film. Also serving as members of Avatar Reality's board are Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov, and former Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa. For its first title, Avatar Reality has announced Terraformed Mars an "online massively multiplayer virtual world," which the company promises will feature "stunning graphics, realistic characters and endless social bonding opportunities." The company announced last week at the Game Developers Conference that it would become the first licensee of Crytek's middleware engine CryENGINE 2 for use on Terraformed Mars. Said Avatar Reality 'mastermind' Henk Rogers, “Our goal is to create an online virtual world that will feature the highest-level of fun, imagination, romanticism and creative freedom." He added, "A highly talented team of celebrated game and movie developers has come together to share their knowledge in creating an online world that will quickly become ‘the’ place to meet your friends.”