ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Doom creator id Software and Fallout 3 developer Bethesda, has now acquired the rights to the gravity-bending shooter franchise Prey.

While the company has yet to make an official statement, superannutation dug up a document that shows Radar Group transferring ownership to ZeniMax in July, backing up an overlooked report from Duke4.net. More recently, ZeniMax registered the Prey trademark under video games, books, movies, and television shows.

The first Prey (PC, X360) made it to stores in 2006 care of Human Head, which had worked with then-property owner 3D Realms on the long-in-development project. A sequel was later announced by Radar Group--a so-called entertainment incubator formed by 3DR exec Scott Miller--but nothing has been said since. Going by the USPTO, Radar handed the rights to ZeniMax within a month of getting them from 3DR.

In marking today's release of Prey Invasion for the iPhone, 3D Realms' Scott Miller tells Shacknews that beleaguered videogame hero Duke Nukem will also soon make an appearance on the platform.

"We have several more iPhone games on the way, including three unannounced Duke Nukem games," said Miller.

Prey Invasion, developed by MachineWorks Northwest, offers several hours of original touch-based shooting for $2.99. The game offers control bars for FPS-style movement, as well as a TapShoot option for more simplified shooting.

The iPhone isn't the only handheld platform Duke is jumping to following the cancellation of Duke Nukem Forever. The planned Duke Nukem Trilogy of Nintendo DS and PSP games--in development by Frontline Games--has been unaffected by 3D Realms' financial and legal woes. The first installment of the series is expected this fall.

An iPhone port of Human Head Studios' first-person shooter Prey is on the way to the iPhone, according to IGN.

The port (pictured below) features a bar-based control scheme. Users control the character's movement and aiming using four on-screen bars, while buttons to the side are used for attacking and changing weapons.

In development at MachineWorks Northwest--developers of the critically-acclaimed Prey Mobile 3D--Prey for the iPhone will hit the App Store within the next few weeks.

The final Prey patch has been released, updating the Human Head Studios shooter to version 1.4. This update includes compatibility files for the Japanese release of Prey, and also removes the disc check from the game.

New at FileShack this afternoon is the Prey 1.3 patch. There are no bug fixes or improvements; the update allows for PC vs Mac play. There's also a new Linux dedicated server build.

A Prayer For Prey is an Escapist Magazine article, asking 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller and former Human Head Studios CEO Tim Gerritsen about the lengthy development time of this sci-fi shooter.

There's a Prey article on Computer & Video Games, asking Human Head's Tim Gerritsen and Chris Rhinehart to look back on the development of the scifi shooter. They touch on the abduction section, the Jenny character, Death Walk, the jukebox, Art Bell, the evil kids and a few other topics.

According to a short news blurb on the official Steam site, Human Head and 3D Realms' Prey will be available on Steam as of tomorrow, November 30. It will run $49.95. Unlike most non-Valve games distributed through the service, Prey will allow Steam activation by way of a product key from a previously purchased copy of the game, either retail or downloaded. Prey is not the first product from publisher 2K Games to come to Steam, though its arrival on the service is slightly surprising given the less than favorable attitude towards Valve's service that has been espoused by 3D Realms, most recently from company head Scott Miller.

In this recent post on his Game Matters blog, 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller notes that Prey has become a big success for 3DR and Human Head Studios. Within the first two months of release, the game has sold a milion copies worldwide with Miller clarifying that the figure represents actual sell-through to customers, and not just to stores. Miller also notes his appearance on a recent Next-Generation podcast, and mentions that 3D Realms will be expanding its strategy of IP creation and funding/guiding external projects. Thanks Voodoo Extreme.

Anyway, we are often contacted by talented, experienced independent studios looking to partner with us as we've done with past studios. It has become apparent to many studios that partnering with us allows them to create an original game, and reap far more of the rewards and benefits, by getting a better overall deal, and also sharing in the ownership of the IP -- the real Holy Grail in this industry. Id went on to become an industry super star. Remedy has achieved that status, and Human Head is right at that level, too, with publishers knocking down their doors to sign them after Prey's release. So, going forward, 3D Realms will become a studio polygamist, teaming up with more than one studio, working on perhaps 4-6 external projects simultaneously, creating new IPs and hopefully helping more and more deserving, talented independent studios achieve financial independence, and the ability to call their their own creative shots in the future. I am hiring one or two additional IP Creative Directors to assist me in the management of these games. We've already been contacted by numerous highly qualified independent studios, and more are welcome to contact me. In a way, we're going back to our roots. Fun times ahead!

3D Realms sends along the Prey SDK, allowing you to mod the game and construct your own gamex86.dll. The SDK also includes some code examples / tutorials.

The 3D Realms website has been updated with the following announcement regarding the discontinued service of Triton, the digital delivery platform used for Prey.

[Publisher] 2K [Games] has set up a replacement program for customers who purchased Prey via the Triton download service. A new boxed copy of Prey will be shipped to each customer who purchased the game via Triton, DiStream or www.playtriton.com, as Triton is undergoing a reorganization process and copies downloaded from the service may not function properly. There is no action required on the part of the purchaser. Boxed copies will be mailed automatically to the credit card address on file. Thank you for your patience during this interim period; we look forward to getting affected customers back up and playing Prey as soon as possible.

3D Realms sends along a new Prey patch, updating the game to version 1.2. The 40mb update adds four new multiplayer maps and five multiplayer player models, and also fixes several bugs. New Linux dedicated server binaries are available as well.

The original DM maps in Prey were best suited for 4-8 players. The maps in this add-on were designed for smaller number of players, especially for 1v1 or 2v2 play.
- DM Gravity Lab: DMGravityLab takes place on board a floating extension of the Sphere's main Spindle. Players will find themselves running along wallwalk and hanging catwalks all throughout the map. Snipers get to have fun this time around with a large outdoor section complete with wallwalk platforms and portals. Designed for 6 players.
- DM Topillogical: The first Prey DM map to feature Outward Gravity. Run 360 degrees around the inside of a giant Sphere to get the best firing position on your enemies. Intriguing side-rooms offer gravity-warping corridors and devious wall-walk ammo depots. Fast-paced action for 4 players.
- DM Tunnel Rat: Danger lurks in all directions but down in this maze-running map designed for 6 players. Sharp twists and turns conceal danger at every corner, but eyes up! A mirrored version of the maze forms the ceiling above you.
- DM Space Oddity: DM Space Oddity is designed for 4 players and features a large central crossover room with perpendicular gravity pathways. Rack up the kills by dominating the crossover with a rocket launcher!

According to this post on the 3D Realms forums, the Triton digital distribution service that was used for the online release of Prey is shutting down, just several months after the release of that game. However, it looks like people who bought the game from Triton won't be totally screwed as Triton's Royal O'Brien made this post later in the thread (thanks FiringSquad) mentioning that he's working on a patch that will remove the game's dependency on Triton.

I am making sure I have permission to get this pach out first so that I dont run into legal issues. When some of the dust settles, I should be able to give a better picture. From my perspective on digital distribution, this is essential that the patch be released so that no one is left out in the cold and it doesnt get a mark against it. I'm working with the guys at 3DR and HH for Prey. If you just purchased it and you didnt get a CD key, or have comments / flames (or not), drop me a line at [ thebox a.t. obwando.com ] and I will do my best to get things resolved as I move forward on my next project. That is my personal email box, and not a company address.

According to this post on the 3D Realms website, additional Prey content that's being worked on for Xbox 360 and PC will be free of charge. Human Head Studios has been working on new multiplayer maps as well as additional player skins. This new content will be released "when it's done".

As expected, the first Prey patch has been released updating Human Head's first person shooter to version 1.1. The patch is for boxed copy owners only, people who downloaded the game through Triton will get an update through that service. Here's the changelog

* Multiplayer bandwidth optimization to allow better play on higher latency connections
* Fixed projectile effects not showing up on dedicated servers
* Fixed crash at startup due to time/date validation on some systems
* Fixed crash at startup due to querying old OpenAL drivers
* Fixed an occasional crash on the dedicated server
* Fixed a crash when using image_usecache cvar with very big textures. Textures whose lowest mip map doesn't fit will be default texture. This was causing a crash when a modified prey was loading "Mother's Embrace".
* Fixed a crash on some machines when reading savegames.
* Some timedemo features not appearing if you restart prey between record/playback
* Added widescreen resolutions to menus
* Updated multiplayer browser to fix servers not showing up due to DNS resolution
* Updated multiplayer browser not keeping join button up to date when server summary wasn't the active tab.
* Updated multiplayer browser so punkbuster icons show up in their column properly
* Updated multiplayer browser so mod games' icons show up properly updated multiplayer browser so server scanning is more consistent on slower connections
* Fixed multiplayer weapon exploit
* Bumped network protocol version. Unpatched games will not be able to play online with patched games.

According to this post on the 3D Realms forums, the first Prey patch will be released tomorrow. It will offer crash bug fixes, multiplayer bandwidth optimization and an updated multiplayer server browser.

There's a new Prey weekly/monthly update on the 3D Realms website, noting that a 1.1 patch for the game is being worked on. The update will fix various crashing issues, add widescreen resolutions to the menu and update the multiplayer browser among other things. There's also word on new content being released soon.

Following the Linux server binaries release from earlier in the week, you can now find Prey dedicated server files for Windows on FileShack. You need to own a copy of the game to run a server.

Over at FileShack you can now download Prey server binaries for Linux, allowing you to run a dedicated server for the game provided you own a copy. Dedicated server files for Windows are being worked on according to the story on the 3D Realms website.

There's a Prey Q&A on the Sound Blaster website, talking to Ed Lima about the audio in Human Head's sci-fi shooter. Thanks Blues News.