SF PlayStation Store is Closing

Kotaku is reporting that after 10 years, Sony's PlayStation Store in San Francisco's Metreon shopping center - the only store of its kind - will close sometime this summer.
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/J1ageN6v2ew/the-playstation-store-is-closing

"The lease on the PlayStation store, home to many a launch-night lineup (the PlayStation 2, PS3, PSP, and pretty much any major title all had events there) runs out this summer, and Sony told GameSpot it will not be renewed."

Sony did not specifically cite the economy as a reason for the decision. Will we soon be seeing any virtual world presences shutting down as a result of real world conditions - such as private or corporate virtual world presences? Or will at least those that make virtual money be seen as a shelter against the real world ups and downs, at least in the short term?

LucasArts advertising for MMO testers

Just announce KOTOR Online already, chaps.
LucasArts has advertised for a QA Online Tester working out of the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco, which just confuses the heck out of us.

Click here to read the full article

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=194607?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS

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New North American development studio hiring help for Mythos, Hellgate: London

[reposted from Joystiq]

Following the closure of Flagship Studios, the fate of their two intellectual properties, Mythos and Hellgate: London, seemed cloudy at best. Immediately after Flagship let go of nearly all of their staff, HanbitSoft (a large investor in Flagship) claimed to have possession of the two titles. Shortly thereafter, Flagship exec Bill Roper announced that his company still clung to life, as well as to all their technology and IPs, much to HanbitSoft's chagrin. Two weeks ago, Namco-Bandai reportedly picked up Hellgate, though the game's page on Namco's site mysteriously vanished a week later.

However, a recent help wanted ad posted by T3 Entertainment, the Korean developers of casual music game Audition Online (and major stockholders for HanbitSoft), might put an end to the confusion. The ad calls for developers for a new San Francisco-based studio who wish to "passionately continue development of Hellgate: London and Mythos, along with other new games." As much as we'd love to believe that Mythos will reach North America, we're not quite sure if this dispute has truly been settled, or if another developer has simply entered the IP melee.

http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/joystiq/~3/354699193/

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