Irvine, Calif. - Video game developer Foundation 9 Entertainment (F9E) announced on Wednesday that it is combining its two Southern California studios, The Collective and Shiny Entertainment, into a single entity that will be housed in the company's new corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. "Bringing the Shiny and Collective teams together into one larger studio will give them the scale and resources needed to deliver top-notch franchise-based releases across multiple platforms," said F9E COO David Mann. The as yet unnamed studio will be headed by Shiny studio manager Michael Persson.

San Francisco - Japanese game developer Sega announced on Tuesday that it is developing a title based on "The Golden Compass," the first book in author Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy and forthcoming movie from New Line Cinema. Sega said Shiny Entertainment is developing the game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo Wii and the PC, while A2M is creating the Nintendo DS version. The game is scheduled for release in the fall, while the movie debuts in theaters on Dec. 7.