Trilogy Studios, Kuju Entertainment Sign New Talent

In a pair of announcements today, Santa Monica-based Trilogy Studios announced the signing of new developers from such studios as Electronic Arts, Rockstar Games and Epic Games, while UK-based Kuju Entertainment has announced the hiring of an additional 20 development staff, as well as 2 new games signed for its Brighton, England offices. Animator Chad Schoonover joined Trilogy Studios from Sony Pictures where he created 3D facial and body animation for characters in the upcoming animated feature film, Monster House. He is now leading the animation team at Trilogy Studios. Schoonover also worked as an animator on the Unreal, including work on the Epic's Unreal 3 tech demo. Also joining Trilogy Studios is AI expert Jeff Leggett, who will lead development on the company's first as-yet-unannounced title, after having spent the past four years as a senior AI engineer on the Medal of Honor. Additionally, Gunter Erhart joined the company today as a gameplay engineer after spending nearly four years at Rockstar Games. Gunter's background includes not only AI and UI engineering but also game design on titles such as Smuggler's Run II, as well as Midnight Club II and III. In similar news, Kuju Entertainment today announced the recruitment of an additional 20 individuals Brighton studio, as well as the signing of two new video game franchises. Kuju Brighton specializes in developing titles for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, with its most recently announced PSP title Traxion due to be published by LucasArts later this year. In preparation for the full-scale production of Traxion and the two new titles at the studio, there have been several new hires including Ste Curran, creative director on Traxion, and Nick Rodriguez, producer on another new title. In addition, Martin Newing has been promoted to producer for yet another new project, and Ange Fenge has been promoted to project manager for SingStar games. Kuju Brighton has recently completed EyeToy Play 3 and SingStar Rocks in collaboration with Sony London Studio, and the studio is continuing to hire.