Bethesda Europe managing director Sean Brennan has let slip the very first meager details of its project with Splash Damage, in an interview with gamesindustry.biz.

Brennan describes the title--whose name has yet to be revealed--from Quake Wars developer Splash Damage as "a first-person shooter" that's also "a genre-breaker."

This is the most we have heard about Splash Damage's game since the partnership was announced back in March 2008. Brennan explains they have been tight-lipped as "there are so many innovative features in there we don't want to reveal them too soon."

What we do know is that Fable II lead designer Richard Ham is the project's creative director, and that traditionally PC-centric Splash Damage is warming up to consoles.

Bethesda and Splash Damage will reveal more of their mystery game at E3 come June.

Splash Damage today announces Tapir Wars: Welcome to the Jungle, semi-sequel to its 2008 game Tapir Wars--which curiously was announced exactly a year ago today.

Tapir Wars promises to "gently nudges the boundaries of vegetarian warfare with a game that looks and plays exactly the same as its predecessor."

Welcome to the Jungle will not snuffle its way onto some platform or other this fall.

Splash Damage studio director Paul Wedgwood recently called into question the publisher tactic of basing financial royalties on Metacritic scores--averages of review scores pulled from dozens of sources.

"Personally I think it's ridiculous," said Wedgwood when asked of the practice by GamesIndustry.biz.

"I think it's a really good idea for a developer to go to a publisher and demand that they get an additional bonus for achieving a certain review score, but it shouldn't affect their royalties or anything else. If you have a high-selling game, you have a high-selling game."

Wedgwood also argued for the five-star rating system that is typical in the film industry, rather than the percentile-based ratings that dominate gaming reviews.

"We know that some websites score quite high and some quite low, but in general, all websites tend to score between 60 and 100," he said. "There's never... Read more

Following the completion of Fable II, lead designer Richard Ham has left Lionhead to join Enemy Territory: Quake Wars veteran Splash Damage as creative director.

In his new role, Ham will lead the design team working on the upcoming mystery project that's being created in partnership with Fallout 3 and Oblivion developer Bethesda.

In today's announcement, Splash Damage described the secret game as a "new AAA multi-platform title" handled by Splash Damage's "wealth of talent," including the "senior, lead, and directorial staff behind hits such as Mass Effect, Rainbow Six Vegas, Heavenly Sword, and Burnout Paradise."

In addition to his time at Lionhead, Ham has previously worked at Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment, where he was creative lead for Syphon Filter games on the original PlayStation.

Splash Damage founder Paul Wedgwood finds a discrepancy between the depth of PC and console games, and he finds it rather appalling.

"This is not to dismiss what people have achieved in the past, but Halo 3 multiplayer is really Quake 3 from 1999. Even Call of Duty 4 is just Counter-Strike on the PC from 2001," said the long-time PC fan to Edge.

"That's not because the [console] audience is dumb," Wedgwood clarified. "What a ridiculous thing to say, that because someone has a console controller in their hand, they're somehow less intelligent than a PC player," he added.

Splash Damage, like its long-time partner id Software, is transitioning to focusing primarily console games for its next project. But Wedgwood dismissed notions... Read more

Bethesda Softworks today announced that it has established a long-term development partnership with Splash Damage, the studio responsible for the class-based multiplayer shooters Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

No details were provided on the next project from Splash Damage, though Bethesda promises more details will arrive "in the coming months."

The announcement marks the latest business move from Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls series developer Bethesda, which has been expanding its publishing efforts.

"We are extremely impressed with Splash Damage and the quality titles they produce," said Bethesda Softworks president Vlatko Andonov. "They are highly creative and innovative, and have demonstrated a high level of dedication to their projects."