Round-Up: Climax Hirings, Sega Ringtones, BloodRayne Knives

Today's round-up includes news of high-profile hirings at independent developer Climax, a partnership between Namco and Sega for video game ringtones, and an important deal involving Majesco and United Cutlery, as well as the latest product news and today's Gamasutra job postings. - Climax has announced that Lou Fawcett has been appointed its new Vice President of Business Development (Europe) and Brian Dreyer its Vice President of Business Development (U.S.). Fawcett was previously a sales and business development executive at Hasbro Interactive and Atari, while Dreyer previously founded and ran DNA Inc. "We're thrilled to have Lou and Brian on board," said Climax CEO Karl Jeffrey. "Their appointments show how serious we are to bring in new business so that we can expand both our European and American operations." - Namco America and Sega have teamed up to offer Sega-themed ringtones through Namco's ties to wireless carriers. The ringtones will be on offer through Namco's Pac-Man Arcade Corner service, which already carries a few video game ringtones, available on BREW carriers. Initially available ringtones will be familiar sounds from Sonic the Hedgehog, Shinobi, and OutRun, with more planned from Daytona, Crazy Taxi, and Super Monkey Ball. “Sega and Namco are dedicated to making fun, unique products for our fans,” said Yuki Kobayashi, Director of Mobile, Sega of America, Inc. “This partnership further solidifies this commitment." - Majesco Entertainment will be trading off the success of its BloodRayne series with new merchandise related to the franchise. The company will work with Ripple Junction to create a line of BloodRayne-branded clothing, as well as partner with United Cutlery to offer limited-edition collectible blades similar to those used by the game's antiheroine. "Our BloodRayne licensing initiatives are a strategic way to introduce the popular brand to a new and broader audience," said Majesco VP of Marketing Ken Gold. - Also updated today: product news including new learning-related products from 3D graphics tool ZBrush, as well as today's Gamasutra job postings, including positions from Irrational Games, LucasArts, Mad Doc Software, NCsoft, Rockstar Vienna, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Sony Pictures Imageworks.