Despite being an exciting and an excellent game, NetDevil decided to refine and re-develop Jumpgate and plans to re-christened it as Jumpgate Evolution. This seems an excellent move since the reactions from early testings are highly favorable.

The company's president Scott Brown posted an entry over at the official website of the game, explaining the real reason behind the move. Check it all out in the full article via the "read more" link below.

Here's some good news for MMORPG players who have been wondering what happened to NetDevil's Jumpgate Evolution: the developer has finally announced that the game will be distributed and operated by Codemasters Online this year.

The partnership includes the whole of Europe and North America and is expected to take effect this year. For more details, click the "read more" link below.

After Auto Assault's confirmed closure, some gamers couldn't help but worry about what might happen to this much awaited Lego MMO project, Lego Universe. MMO publisher NetDevil, however, assured that the Lego virtual universe is still under development and is due to be launched in late 2008.

There will be some internal changes in NetDevil in an effort to optimize their resources towards the completion of Lego Universe. "In terms of how it effects the NetDevil business, we will simply be moving the team members supporting that project onto other projects internally," NetDevil president Scott Brown said, referring to the people previously working on Auto Assault.

It's definitely great to know that the Lego Universe project - a joint effort between NetDevil and The Lego Group - is still under way. In a world brimming with possibilities (create your own homes, cars, etc. with Lego blocks), and being able to do child-safe violence that not even Jack Thompson could touch, there's just so many things to do and have fun with, besides the usual quests and grinding.

Back in December 2006, we reported that Auto Assault developer NetDevil will be coming up with a new MMO title for a major toy company. Immediately, fans speculated that this could be the the much-awaited Transformers, but it turned out that the latter is headed for other platforms.

Anyway, NetDevil finally revealed today which toy company will be inspiring its next MMO, and as it turns out, it's nothing less than Lego! We don't know why it slipped past our radar, but the idea of using Lego in a virtual world does seem mostly fitting. Even NetDevil President Scott Brown agrees: "Playing with Lego bricks and developing online worlds are both creative activities. To bring them together is deeply professionally satisfying and we look forward to working with the Lego team."

Likewise, Lego Group Executive VP for Community, Education, and Direct Division Lisbeth Valther Pallesen shared that this is part of their company's effort to keep at pace with the changing times since, as Pallesen remarked, children around the world spend more and more time online. The official also said that,

The Lego brand represents construction, creativity and problem solving - values that compliment the MMOG market. By merging the online world of social interaction with physical play, the Lego brand is providing new experiences for children, as well as fans.

Details and features of the new MMO are still not available as of this time. However, the two companies mentioned that the title will be released some time in 2008.