The Game Connection organizers appear to be expanding their influence as of late, as news circulates regarding the event's very first advisory board. The Game Connection event, for those asking, was established to help provide a meeting place for both publishers and developers, which is in turn hoped to give both groups a better chance at creating and planning future video game projects.

This announcements signifies the growing support the gaming industry now provides for Game Connection, which was also part of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco last March. As for the advisory board's roster:

• Svetlana Gorobets – International Licensing and Acquisition Manager –  1C  (Russia)
• Patrick Pligersdoffer – CEO –  Cyanide  (France)
• Ed Dille, – CEO – Fog Studios (Canada)
• Chris Charla – Business Development Director – Foundation IX (United States)
• Kurt Busch, – Product Development Director– Konami (United States)
• Sébastien Motte – Product Planner –  Microsoft (United States)
• Jason Kingsley – CEO –  Rebellion (United Kingdom)
• Harald Riegler – Managing Director –  Sproing (Austria)
• Alexander Fernandez – CEO –  Streamline Studios (Netherlands)
• Colin Gordon – CEO –  Valcon Games (United States)
• Gilles Langourieux – CEO –  Virtuos (China)
• Bill Mc Intosh – CEO –  Torus Games (Australia)
• Olivier Masclef – CEO –  Widescreen Games (France)
  

As Kurt Busch said regarding his assignment in the advisory board.

As interactive entertainment production becomes even more globalized, the ability to identify these opportunities becomes even more critical. I am honored to have been asked to join the board as I believe the Game Connection events build positive relationships across the industry, regardless of a company’s size, market or language.

In line with this announcement, we're also letting readers know that Game Connection organizer Connection Events is set to hold future conferences in Tokyo, Lyon, and San Francisco respectively:

• Game Connection Asia: Sept.  24-25, 2007: Tokyo - Japan
• Game Connection Europe: Dec. 4-5-6, 2007: Lyon - France
• Game Connection America @ GDC: Feb. 18-22, 2008: San Francisco - CA, USA
  

Exhibitors and service buyers interested in making it into these upcoming events are advised to visit the Game Connection home site. Stay tuned for further details.

UK-based video game developer Rebellion Developments, famous for the PlayStation 2 game Sniper Elite, has announced that they have just acquired Awesome Studios, more commonly known as Ignition Entertainment's development studio in Banbury in Oxfordshire. In line with this announcement, Rebellion CEO and Creative Director Jason Kingsley had this to say:

This acquisition takes the Rebellion headcount to 280 full time members of staff. We're fully booked with work until later in the year so these additional highly talented staff will be a valuable addition to the team.

In case people are wondering, Rebellion made several stints into the PlayStation Portable, with their most well-known game being Miami Vice: The Game (2006), which, alongside their Rogue Trooper (2006) PC title, helped push them for a "Developer of the Year" award at last year's TIGA event in the UK. In a strange bit of irony, they were also behind the notoriously mediocre Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and PC. Gamers will best remember Awesome Developments for their development of the PSP game Mercury, along with Pool Paradise for the PS2.

GamesIndustry.biz reports while CiRCLE Studio's closure has yet to be made official, a number of studios in the region - including Free Radical Design, Swordfish Studios, Rebellion and Eurocom -  have already begun talks with some of the studio's former staff.

CiRCLE Studios, which was founded by industry veterans Jeremy Heath-Smith and Adrian Smith, was reported to have gone into liquidation Tuesday.

David Doak, director of Free Radical Design, based in Nottingham, confirmed this, saying that CirCLE's closure "means that we are now talking to some ex-CiRCLE employees." Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley also revealed that they are currently talking to "some selected individuals who have sent in CVs direct to our Rebellion Derby [offices]."

According to GamesIndustry.biz, sources close to CiRCLE revealed that Birmingham developer Swordfish Studios is another interested party, demoing a new title at the studio the very afternoon that employees had been informed of their redundancy. Swordfish announced a new studio devoted solely to next-gen games late last year.

Recruitment firms are also said to be hovering over the studio, as is Pirates of the Caribbean developer Eurocom, a company situated in the same city as CiRCLE.