Ex-Killzone devs forming new studio

Nearly five years ago, Sony bought Guerrilla Games, the Dutch developer of its flagship shooter series, Killzone. Now, five months before Killzone 3 brings jetpack-fueled 3D gaming to the PlayStation 3, two of Guerrilla's original founders have announced they are forming a new studio, Vanguard Entertainment Group.

Martin de Ronde, who left Guerrilla in 2006, will be the chief commercial officer of the new studio. Michiel Mol, who departed in 2005, will serve as its prime strategy advisor. Vanguard will combine its online game production company, Karami, with W! Games, the developer of February's well-reviewed turn-based strategy game Greed Corp. Both companies are based in Amsterdam.

As for Vanguard's future projects, the shop will be working on an original IP that will adopt the "fundamental mechanics" of the online PC game model to consoles and "other premium gaming platforms." In particular, the company's first project will try to weave many of the social-networking aspects of PC games into the console experience.

"We feel both these market segments will be rapidly converging over the coming years, rather than competing with each other," said de Ronde in a statement.