London - Colin McRae, a World Rally Championship driver perhaps best known to gamers in connection with Codemasters' line of racing video games bearing his name and likeness, was killed this weekend when a helicopter he was piloting crashed in Scotland. "Everyone at Codemasters, especially those who worked directly with Colin McRae, is deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic events of this weekend," the company said on its website. "For over ten years, Colin was part of the Codemasters family and it was a privilege to have a man recognized as a true legend on the team. He always took a keen interest in the game experience, wanting to make sure it was without equal in its portrayal of the sport."

New York - IGA Worldwide, a provider of in-game video advertising, announced on Tuesday a three-year deal to provide ads within games published by U.K.-based Codemasters. New York-based IGA's ads will figure in Codemasters franchises like "Race Driver" and "Colin McRae," which have to date sold a combined more than 16 million units.

Burbank, Calif. - U.K.-based game developer Codemasters said on Friday that it has established another studio in Surrey, Codemasters Studios Guildford. The company named former EA Criterion development director Adrian Bolton as studio manager. The facility joins existing Codemasters studios in Southam and Kuala Lumpur.

London - Venture capital firm Benchmark Capital's new European unit, Balderton, has acquired U.K.-based video game developer and publisher Codemasters from its founding Darling family for an undisclosed sum.

Codemasters today announced the addition of three gaming and entertainment industry veterans to its U.S. operations based in Burbank, Calif.  Former Konami Digital Entertainment COO Geoff Mulligan will lead the U.S. management team as president of Codemasters, Inc. Mulligan will report to CEO Rod Cousens.  Catherine Fowler, previously senior vice president of sales and marketing at Konami and director of sales at Mattel, Inc., will serve as senior vice president of publishing. Joining as vice president of marketing is Charles Bellfield, formerly holding vice president titles in marketing and communications with Sega of America and Capcom.
http://www.codemasters.com/

Barcelona - Mobile game publisher Glu Mobile announced this week that it signed an agreement with U.K. game publisher Codemasters, to develop and publish mobile versions of Codemasters titles like "Colin McRae Rally" and "LMA Manager." The deal follows Glu's previous agreement to publish a mobile version of Codemasters' "Brian Lara International Cricket 2007." The first title under the new deal will be "LMA Manager 2008," slated for release in the fall of 2007.