Round Up: THQ's Frontlines, CDV/Buka Deal, Emergent Gets VP

Today's round up includes a fresh THQ next-gen wargame in development for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a U.S. co-publishing alliance between CDV and Buka, and Scott Johnson joining Emergent as executive vice president, as well as the latest GameSetWatch and Serious Game Source updates, product news and Gamasutra job postings. - THQ has announced Frontlines: Fuel of War, the first project under development by Kaos Studios, a division of THQ formed in 2005 by industry veterans including former members of Trauma Studios, creators of Desert Combat mod for Electronic Art's Battlefield, as well as the R&D team for DICE's Battlefield 2 for the PC. The upcoming open world, infantry- and vehicle-based FPS is in development for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as the PC. - CDV Software Entertainment USA announced that the company has entered into a five-year co-publishing agreement with Buka Entertainment that will cover multiple titles to be released in the United States, Canada and Mexico. As part of the agreement, CDV Software Entertainment USA will manage all marketing and public relations for the titles, while also handling manufacturing, sales and distribution in the covered territories. The first two titles to be released under this agreement will be arcade-style RTS Pacific Storm and action driving game Hard Truck Apocalypse, both for the PC. "We are delighted to count Buka Entertainment among our strategic publishing partners and consider them a significant asset in our ability to provide additional innovative and high quality titles to our customers," agreed CDV USA’s CEO, Tom Gross. - Emergent Game Technologies today announced that Scott Johnson has joined the company as executive vice president. Previously, Johnson was CEO and co-founder of mobile entertainment developer Mobility Entertainment, as well as a vice president at Vivendi Universal where he helped create Black Label Games. "Scott brings a combination of game industry experience and enthusiasm that will be a tremendous asset to our company, and a catalyst for our future efforts," said Geoffrey Selzer, CEO of Emergent. "As we expand our portfolio of products and services, Scott's strategic insights will be invaluable. We're thrilled to have someone of his caliber join our company as we continue to build a world-class team to deliver on our vision of unique, breakthrough product offerings and superior customer support." - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a look at World of Warcraft gold ads in local papers, an interview with shmup icon Kenta Cho, and the oft-debated question regarding whether 'hardcore gamers' still matter. - Also updated today: Serious Games Source news on Stottler Henke developing a new training simulator for the U.S. Navy, plus Gamasutra product news on Visual Studio 2005 Express released for free and Caligari debuting trueSpace7.1 and V-Ray 1.0, as well as the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from 7 Studios, Blizzard, Crystal Dynamics, Day 1 Studios, Demiurge Studios, Edge of Reality, Ham in the Fridge, LucasArts, Sony Online Entertainment and The Guildhall at SMU.