This one's a quick update about certain things happening behind the grand stage of the MMORPG genre. We mentioned a couple of months ago that veteran Raph Koster left Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) to start a new game studio. According to him, the virtual world is getting tired and old and he wanted to revitalize it.

For someone who worked on textMUDs in the past and helped bring where the genre is right now, we're telling you, Koster has actually every right to say that. Anyway, Thor Alexander has just joined Koster's company.

FYI, Alexander is the editor of the Massively Multiplayer Development series, and if you've read or just browsed through one of his books, you'll have a fair idea on how bright this guy is. But for those who are not so much into reading, Thor worked as an AI programmer at Origin for Ultima Online. Speaking of which, Alexander's new position at Areae involves heading the Software Architecture division.

Well, with two veterans teaming up and a couple of others joining them along the way, we hope Areae can keep its promises and come up with an awe-inspiring game.