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APB lead character artist Jimmy O'Ready is moving on -- but not far -- from former employer Realtime Worlds, which hastily collapsed earlier this month. O'Ready will remain in Dundee, Scotland, where he has launched Montynero, made up of two art studios: Montynero Characters and Montynero Concept Art.

"The character art for APB was praised by the industry, thanks to a strong team effort over many years," O'Ready told GamesIndustry.biz. "For my part, I'm interested in basing this company in Dundee, which is a great city full of talent, and collaborating on the next generation of game art with companies across the globe."

Previously, O'Ready worked at EA on the SSX and Need For Speed franchises.

R.I.P. APB, We Hardly Knew Ye.

Though reports last week seemed to indicate that a buyer would swoop in at the last second and save the faltering APB developer Realtime Worlds, the studio has revealed that its remaining 50 employees have been terminated. Sixteen temporary positions are still active to finish shutting down the Dundee studio. The company's US branch, based out of Boulder, Colo., is facing a similar fate, letting go of 33 of its staff, leaving behind a skeleton crew to bring the branch to a close. A Realtime spokesperson told Develop that the studio is "now likely to apply for Chapter 7 Protection."

Begbies Traynor, the firm responsible for the company's administration, is also under fire from a handful of sources both internal and otherwise. Develop reports that a number of ex-Realtime employees claim they've been denied their redundancy pay -- a claim which a Begbies Traynor spokesperson responded to by saying, "redundancy payment will be made in accordance with current UK legislation."

#rumor MMO title All Points Bulletin failed, and took its developer with it. So why on Earth would a company as successful as Epic Games be interested in buying the rights to the game? More »

Gears of War dev could help save stricken MMO.

Realtime Worlds community officer Ben Bateman just popped on the APB official forums to present this sad bit of news: The game is shutting down for good. In his statement, Bateman says, "APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end."

Apparently the servers are still up for the time being, so if you've got the game, you're encouraged to hop in and pour one out for Realtime Worlds' gangsta-sim.

#realtimeworlds The cops and robbers game from troubled Scottish developer Realtime Worlds might set the record for the shortest-lived MMO, as All Points Bulletin shuts down after a mere two and a half months in operation. More »

The end of the road for Realtime Worlds' online action game.

Ben Bateman just popped on the official forums for APB to present this sad bit of news: the game is shutting down for good. In his statement, Bateman says "APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end." Apparently the servers are still up for the time being, so if you've got the game, you're encouraged to hop in and pour one out for Realtime Worlds' gangsta-sim.

Bankrupt studio Realtime Worlds may have found a buyer. Develop reports that the firm in charge of Realtime's administration proceedings has found a buyer for the company, with proceedings to be complete by the end of next week unless something goes really wrong. The buyer would become the owner of the Dundee studio, a US office and the APB IP. The bundle will not include Realtime Worlds' Project MyWorld, which was recently sold to an "anonymous American company."

No word yet if the buyer receives APB's human avatar as part of the deal.

Realtime Worlds as a company has been suffering from all kinds of problems lately, but how's the game doing? With a very short press release, the company (currently "in administration," which is the British version of bankruptcy) has announced that APB is hosting 130,000 registered players. That's actually not too bad for a brand new MMO -- while real population numbers are often hard to come by, the most recent estimates would have the game beating Star Trek Online's current active base. And STO has actually done pretty well, considering how tough it is to start up a new MMO.

Realtime Worlds still isn't home and dry, though. At 130K players, APB is just barely doing better than Tabula Rasa at its peak, and we all know how well that turned out. And APB's model means player registrations isn't necessarily a sign of good health. While the press release claims that the average player is playing four hours a day and the average paying player is spending $28 a month, APB's unlimited free social hours and the ability to "spend" in-game points rather than real money could be twisting those figures upwards a bit. Our colleagues at Massively also point out that while Star Trek Online was created relatively cheaply, APB's creation was reportedly much messier and more costly.

Still, with a dark cloud over the rest of Realtime Worlds' affairs, they might as well grab a silver lining where they can. If the company survives this launch, APB could have enough of a player base to make itself profitable.

#realtimeworlds Scottish developer Realtime Worlds recently entered administration, and it's rolling out play and pay stats for the recently released All-Points Bulletin to sweeten the pot for potential buyers. Who's playing, and what are they paying? More »

It's when things seem at their darkest when the true light and goodness of humanity can really shine through ... or something like that. Following APB developer Realtime Worlds' decision to go into administration -- and the 75 percent staff cut the studio was forced to undergo -- fellow game developers Codemasters, The Creative Assembly, Blitz Games Studios, Activision and Sony Europe have announced recruitment events in the coming weeks to help the displaced staff get back on its feet.

There should be plenty of openings to go around for the 185 unemployed artists, writers and programmers -- Codemasters alone is reportedly looking for 150 new hires to fill its UK studios and The Creative Assembly is staffing up to work on an "unannounced AAA title" for Sega. Not to be outdone, Activision's also making a huge hiring push -- though these unfortunate souls will be relegated to the dance cages located in the foyer of Bobby Kotick's Miami-based "party palace." (Fine, we made that last part up. Please don't sue us.)

It's when things seem at their darkest when the true light and goodness of humanity can really shine through ... or something like that. Following APB developer Realtime Worlds' decision to go into administration -- and the 75 percent staff cut the studio was forced to undergo -- fellow game developers Codemasters, The Creative Assembly, Blitz Games Studios, Activision and Sony Europe have announced recruitment events in the coming weeks to help the displaced staff get back on its feet.

There should be plenty of openings to go around for the 185 unemployed artists, writers and programmers -- Codemasters alone is reportedly looking for 150 new hires to fill its UK studios and The Creative Assembly is staffing up to work on an "unannounced AAA title" for Sega. Not to be outdone, Activision's also making a huge hiring push -- though these unfortunate souls will be relegated to the dance cages located in the foyer of Bobby Kotick's Miami-based "party palace." (Fine, we made that last part up. Please don't sue us.)

#ea Electronic Arts provided distribution support for APB, whose bankrupt studio is being sold off; today a senior EA executive said the game's poor reviews were somewhat predicted internally and suggested to Realtime Worlds. More »

As Realtime Worlds enters administration (read: dire straits), the ailing APB developer is reaching out to potential buyers "in both the UK and US," according to statements made by the company's administration consultant Begbies Traynor Group. "We are actively pursuing all these expressions of interest," Begbies Traynor joint administrator Paul Dounis told Edge.

He also put a finer point on the staff count at the Dundee, Scotland and Boulder, Colorado offices, pinning the remaining employee number at just 67 in total out of an original 252 -- an approximately 75 percent reduction in staff. The studio apparently owes around £3 million ($4.6 million) to debtors in the UK. Dounis also pointed out that "The game [APB] will continue and that is something we want all customers to be aware of." Meanwhile, no one has mentioned what happened to that poor "Human Avatar" fella. He could be anywhere.

#nothingpersonnel After cutting 60 jobs last week, U.K.-based studio Realtime Worlds, the maker of the cops-and-robbers MMO APB, entered administration today, a process somewhat analagous to Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in the United States. More »

APB developer enters into administration.

Things weren't looking great for APB and Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds last week, as the company underwent some layoffs in the "Art, Audio, Coding, Design, Production, and QA departments." According to GamesIndustry, things didn't improve over the weekend: Realtime Worlds is reportedly entering administration, a status somewhat similar to a U.S. company's decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Scottish developer has named the Begbies Traynor Group as its administrator -- a third-party who attempts to rescue an insolvent company while still acting in the interests of its creditors. Much like with bankruptcy, this move isn't exactly a nail in the developer's coffin, but it could mean some radical reorganization is right around the corner.

#rumor The developer of Crackdown and APB, Realtime Worlds, was recently hit with layoffs. Members of the APB team were axed, as was much of the team developing social gaming software Project MyWorld. So, what happened to the promising studio? More »

Online shooter getting a "real human."

#clips Realtime Worlds' endeavor to create a human avatar modeled on APB has reached its fifth and final stage: the outfitting. And Josh didn't do so bad. More »

We really hope that Realtime Worlds' living APB avatar, Josh, is getting paid quite a few duckets, as he's not only getting the future-punk rocker haircut of an in-game character, but also a septum piercing, not to mention two giant wings tattooed on his back. He's being called "The Human Avatar," and, well, he's a living advertisement.

Fans of the game (and generally folks with cruel hearts) have been voting on various stages of the gentleman's development over the past few weeks at the project's official website. At this point, all but the final stage has been completed: clothing. Apparently, Josh will be donning a steampunk outfit. And you know, we're okay with the outfit. Heck, we're even okay with the piercing. It's the life-altering, less than easy to remove tattoos on his back that seem like the bigger issue here. Hopefully Realtime's paying him enough to get them removed (with lasers!) after all this madness is over with.

Voters give nervous Josh a snout ring.

Shave your head, if you like.

#gameface In the name of marketing, Human Avatar Josh gets an APD-themed haircut. Next stop, septum ring. More »

Though Realtime Worlds' pseudo-MMO crime sim APB is still relatively hot off the presses, it doesn't look like the developer plans on letting the title languish. The game's official site was recently updated with a blog post outlining the studio's post-launch plans for the title -- a laundry list which includes lofty objectives such as enacting stronger countermeasures against cheaters and campers, and improving the handling of the game's guns and automobiles.

Check out APB's blog to see all the changes Realtime Worlds hopes to implement. We'd personally like to see the addition of a third faction: Bystanders. Think about it! You wouldn't do any actual fighting, but rather, would have to conduct your mundane day-to-day business while avoiding everyone else's scuffles. Also, you can't make any of your own clothes. You shop at the Gap, just like all the other Bystanders.

Running around in your underwear has never been so dangerous.

Review Diary

• Day 1: Welcome to San Paro
• Day 2: Enforcers, get enforcin'
• Day 3: Choose your illusion
• Day 4: Cards on the table

This is the final part of a four-day review diary about the first MMO from developers Realtime Worlds, APB.

One of the hardest parts about reviewing an MMO is that the genre takes full advantage of being online and persistent. Because players need to log in to an updated client every time, developers can quickly and relatively easily push out new bugfixes and content with regularity. Realtime Worlds has already released one patch post-release for APB, and while I've talked about certain issues with repetitive gameplay and earning customization levels, both of those issues can be fixed with updates if the developers choose to do so.

So the final question in reviewing an MMO isn't necessarily if you should buy this game today or not. It's: Does the game offer enough promise to invest your time and attention? Future plans included, out of all the games you could spend your free time on, is APB capable of rewarding that investment with a quality experience?

Review Diary

• Day 1: Welcome to San Paro
• Day 2: Enforcers, get enforcin'
• Day 2: Choose your illusion
• Day 4: Coming Friday

This is part three of our four-part APB review. Today: Customization and clans in the game's Social District.

Yesterday, I examined APB's core gameplay, and while I found it lacking, I hoped it could at least in part be made up for by the incredibly detailed customization system. With a series of in-game editors and marketplaces, you can personalize every aspect of your character, from what you wear and carry, to custom-designed vehicles and even hand-crafted signature killing tunes.

I spent about one-quarter of my game time hanging out in APB's Social District (a non-combat, free-to-play section of the game), trying to create some new clothing, shop the game's marketplace, and build some colorful wheels. Unfortunately, while APB's editors allow for a lot of creativity, Realtime Worlds hasn't implemented many ways to reward it.