Major Russian independent publisher and developer 1C Company announced today its intention to make its first large-scale push into the North American market via a new distribution deal with publisher Atari. The company, which already also operates offices out of China and the UK, is hoping to establish itself as a known gaming force throughout Western territories. Previously, 1C has entered into individual third party publishing relationships to distribute certain titles in North America, with Ubisoft publishing 1C-owned Maddox Games' acclaimed IL-2 Sturmovik flight sims and Cinemaware publishing Elemental Games' well-received space strategy game Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators. Going forward, Atari will have first right of refusal on all 1C games in North America.

Among the slate of 1C games set to be released by Atari is Digital Spray's alternate history shooter You Are Empty, set in a 1950s Soviet Union where state-sanctioned experiments on humans have left citizens mutated or dead. First announced in 2004 and demonstrated at several E3 events, You Are Empty is expected to be released for PC later this year.

Also on the roster is Chris Faylor's most anticipated game of the year, SoftLab-NSK's trucker life sim Rig'n'Roll. Rig'n'Roll is the story of a California trucker in the year 2024, featuring truck racing, cargo delivery, and trucking company management including hiring and firing employees and demolishing opposing firms in the cutthroat world of trucking. Numerous California highways and cities will be faithfully reproduced. 1C plans to release Rig'n'Roll for PC later in 2007.

The full list of PC games included in today's announcement is as follows (screenshots are linked from each game's title):
- Action Forms' arctic FPS Cryostasis (Q4 2007)
- SkyFallen Entertainment's fantasy RPG Dawn of Magic (2007)
- Haggard Games' WWII espionage action game Death to Spies (2007)
- Ino-Co's fantasy turn-based strategy game Fantasy Wars (2007)
- Katauri Interactive's adventure/strategy RPG King's Bounty: The Legend (2007)
- SoftLab's near-future trucker sim Rig'n'Roll (2007)
- CrioLand's space sim/RPG The Tomorrow War (2007) (based on the novels of Alexander Zorich)
- 1C Company's WWII RTS Theatre of War (April 19, 2007)
- Unicorn Games' medieval RTS XIII Century: Death or Glory (2007)
- Digital Spray's alternate history FPS You Are Empty (2007)

FiringSquad has posted a Crysostasis preview, taking a first look at this new first person shooter in development at Action Forms. 1C Company will be publishing the game, and courtesy of a new distribution deal, Atari will be bringing the game to North America.

Ukrain developer Action Forms has announced that development has started on Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason, a new first person horror/action game. A game description and list of features can be found here while screenshots are here.

Two demos of Vivisector are now available at FileShack (one, two), allowing you to try out the first person shooter from Action Forms which has been in development for some four years now.

More industry types talk about the good and bad in 2005, game and industry wise today on GameCloud - Greg Costikyan of Manifesto Games and Action Forms PR manager Valentine Yeltyshev.

Also on GameCloud today is this Vivisector Q&A with Valentine Yeltyshev of Action Forms. Questions are about the storyline, missions, weapons, monsters, multiplayer, graphics and its recent release in Russia.

German site Extreme Player has posted a Vivisector Q&A, asking Valentine Yeltyshev of Action Forms about this upcoming first person shooter which has been in development since 2001.

Action Forms has released a new Vivisector: Beast Inside movie, showing three minutes of gameplay footage from this upcoming first person shooter.

Over at the official Vivisector: Beast Inside website you can find new screenshots from this action shooter in development at Action Forms. The shots show the game's underground military facility.

The people at Action Forms let us know that six more screenshots have been added to the Vivisector: Beast Inside gallery. You can also find a new Q&A about the game at GamesFire.

Gameguru Mania has a Vivisector: Beast Inside Q&A, asking Valentine Yeltyshev of Action Forms about this action game. Eight new screenshots are included.

FileFront talks freakish animals today, as they got Action Forms lead designer Alexander Cohanovsky to answer a few questions about Vivisector: Beast Inside. The game's currently scheduled for a second quarter release.

A Vivisector: Beast Inside Q&A has been posted at Worthplaying, asking Action Forms PR manager Serge Roar about this long in development horror action game. Questions are about the game's plot, unique features, technology, the amount of levels, and multiplayer.

GenGamers has five new screenshots from Vivisector: Beast Inside, the upcoming first person shooter in development at Action Forms.

GenGamers has three new, and dark, screenshots from Vivisector, showing an inside location from this first person shooter in development at Action Forms .

The official Vivisector: Beast Inside website has been updated, offering three new screenshots from this first person shooter in development at Action Forms. Thanks Gamers Hell.

The official Vivisector website has been updated, offering ten new screenshots from this first person shooter in development at Action Forms.

GenGamers has posted a Q&A with Igor Karev, asking the executive director at Action Forms about his company's upcoming first person shooter Vivisector.

The Vivisector game page on the website of publisher 1C is now offering several new screenshots from Vivisector: Beast Inside, the first person shooter in development at Action Forms. Thanks Blues News.

Paul from LoadedInc let us know that the Vivisector site has been updated, after a long period of no activity. The guys at Action Forms are still working on the game, which is now called Vivisector: Beast Inside (previously The Creatures of Dr Moreu). Several new screenshots can be found on the visuals page.