Zoo Publishing announced a deal to license, publish, and distribute the catalog of titles previously published and developed by, the now defunct, Empire Interactive, allowing it to re-release previous Empire titles, to port previously released games to new platforms, and to create a new gaming content from existing IPs.

Empire Interactive has gone bankrupt, all its employees were sent home this week, and the offices have been closed, according to MCV. An administrator was called in to find interested parties to take over the company, one of them being Russian distributor/publisher Noviy Disk, but nothing materialized, so the plug was pulled earlier this week.

Empire Interactive announced that it has successfully launched a number of its flagship titles on the Playstation Network, such as PSOne classics Sheep and Spin Jam along with PSP titles FlatOut Head On, Ultimate Board Games Collection, Pipe Mania, Off Road and Kazook.

Empire Interactive has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Atari to bring its titles to the North American market, such as Animal Paradise (NDS), Pipe Mania (NDS, PSP PS2, PC), Unsolved Crimes (NDS), and Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams (NDS).

Empire Interactive unveiled its Fall 2008 product lineup with the addition of exciting global brands, the expansion of well-known franchises, and all-new intellectual properties such as Unsolved Crimes, Pipe Mania, Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams, Jackass DS The Game, FlatOut Ultimate Carnage, and Ford Racing Off Road.

Empire Interactive announced it is restructuring in order to maximize efficiencies within the company and expects to reduce its active headcount by 30%. This will be achieved primarily through the sale or disposition of its internal development studio, Razorworks, which it acquired in 2000, although no IPs or projects will be canceled.

Empire Interactive announced the addition of two new hires to the North American team, P.J. Snavely, director of product management, and Zach Rener, director of product marketing, who will join Karim Farghaly, vice president of sales, in Empire Interactive's new Austin offices.

Empire Interactive announced that it has signed a contract with Sanrio Digital to publish and co-develop new multi-format console and handheld games featuring the ever popular Hello Kitty character.

Empire Interactive announce that it has signed a digital distribution agreement with Valve to offer three of its titles, Flat Out II, Vegas Tycoon, and Ghost Master, via Steam.

Stategy First parent company Silverstar Holdings announced that it had achieved over 90% acceptance of its offer to acquire the shares of Empire Interactive. The acquisition was pending shareholder approval, which has now been finalized.

Silverstar Holdings, who currently own Strategy First, announced that it had submitted a definitive offer to acquire all the shares of Empire Interactive. The acquisition is pending approval of the shareholders, which ends late November.

Empire announced it will be scouting the Leipzig show for new talent, "This is a chance to take a key role in a vibrant and exciting developer/publisher, as we expand our internal development studio. We are looking for talented designers, programmers, artists and producers, at all levels. You will be a major influence in our new titles and will have an opportunity to work on a wide variety of games and platforms including X360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, PC and Arcade Coin-ops."

German publisher dtp will distribute Empire Interactive's Xplosiv Premium games Hello Kitty, Big Mutha Truckers 2 and Taito Legends in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Hamburg based company is also responsible for PR & Marketing for these games in the German speaking countries, cooperating with the agency Marchsreiter Communications.

Bugbear Entertainment announced today that it has signed an agreement with Empire Interactive to publish its smash 'em up racing game, Flat-Out. In Flat-Out players start out with junkyard cars, race the competition, earn cash, buy upgrade to fix and tune up your car and so forth. In development for the PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2 and expected 3rd quarter of 2004. To be continued....

Slow news day as it seems so an opportune time to catch up on some more E3 screens galleries. Next at bat is Empire Interactive with some of their upcoming titles, such as :

• Starsky & Hutch (PC/Xbox/PS2)
• Ghost Master (PC)
• Vega$: Make It Big
  
  Hit this link for the screens!

Empire Interactive plc, a leading AIM listed computer games developer and publisher, announces that it has signed a distribution deal with leading Japanese games company, SEGA for the release of Warrior Kings: Battles and Ghost Master in Japan. Under the terms of the agreement, SEGA will distribute the titles on the PC Platform.

Empire Interactive plc. is pleased to announce a key distribution deal with Canadian company Digital Leisure Inc. to launch the eJay music software range for PC in North America. The deal, which covers the USA and Canada, consists of 24 SKUs scheduled to debut from mid May 2003.

Empire Interactive announces that it has signed the global publishing rights to Sony Pictures’ summer blockbuster film, Bad Boys II, through a license from Sony Pictures Consumer Products.Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back on the streets of Miami in Bad Boys II, reuniting them with producer Jerry Brukheimer and director Michael Bay for a Summer 2003 release. Read more for extra information ...