Massively^™

As we reported yesterday, former EverQuest Lead Designer Travis McGeathy announced his departure from SOE. On a message board post he alluded to a "cross country trip." With former SOE employees taking cross country trips tending to end up at 38 Studios, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's start-up, we reached out to the hurler himself for comment.

Curt confirmed to us via e-mail this morning that Travis will indeed be joining SOE alumni Steve Danuser, Ryan Shwayder, Billy Ahlswede, Aaron Carlson, Niraj Desai, Eric Theisz, and Michael Woods in their Maynard, MA offices. Jeez, Curt, wouldn't it just be easier to buy SOE at this point? Curt did not immediately respond to a follow-up on what exactly Travis will be doing.

w00t Studios is reporting that Curt Schilling of 38 Studios has released the title for their upcoming MMO. In an interview with Gametap at the Consumer Electronics Show going on in Vegas, Schilling said that Copernicus is a "working title" but revealed no other information regarding the game.

Given what very little we've seen from a previous news clip - possibly a knight atop a running horse - shown late last year, we can surmise that the game is going to be set in some ancient medieval era. 38 Studios' game Copernicus may or may not be associated with the Nicolaus Copernicus who lived from 1473 to 1543. Copernicus was the first astronomer to postulate that the sun was the center of the solar system and not the Earth, which had been the belief for centuries. His book, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, is regarded as the work that started modern astronomy and was pivotal to the beginning of the Scientific Revolution.

Or it might have absolutely nothing to do with the famous scientist at all. It's common knowledge that Schilling is a huge Everquest and WoW player, and during the Gametap interview the famed Red Sox pitcher admitted that he's been playing a lot of my current favorite, Tabula Rasa. So... what do you all think?

There's a strange sort of parallel between the hiring practices of Curt Schilling's 38 Studios and the team with which he has won two of his three World Series Championships, the Boston Red Sox. While sports fans like myself watch on with some interest as the Red Sox seek out high-priced talent from other teams within the American League, 38 Studios has announced the hiring of their own big gun in the shape of Jon Laff, a former leader engineer over at Electronic Arts.

Laff is the latest in a series of high-profile partners at 38 Studios, where ace pitcher Curt Schilling has assembled a team that includes writer R.A. Salvatore and famous comic book artist Todd McFarlane. Laff, who has worked with EA for several projects, including Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, Medal of Honor: European Assault, and the as-yet-unreleased Army of Two, will act as Chief Technology Officer for the budding company. Says Laff of his hiring, "With the company's visionaries and industry leaders such as Schilling, McFarlane, Salvatore, and Close at the helm, 38 Studios is laying the groundwork to become the industry's next major innovator. I'm looking forward to being an integral part of 38 Studios and to developing the next generation of online entertainment."

Whoever is doing the PR for 38 Studios is sure doing a good job of dribbling out information every couple weeks to keep us interested, without ever really showing any details about their IP. Color me frustrated.