A group of former staff members who worked for Factor 5 are suing the firm for fraud, claiming the founders moved assets before filing for bankruptcy.

The ex-staffers claim the money was moved to avoid paying employees and that Factor 5 stopped paying employees on November 1, 2008, before letting them go “with little or no notice” on December 19.

“We allege in the suit that Factor 5 and its three founders fraudulently transferred assets, including source code and other intellectual property to Blue Harvest, which is now known as White Harvest,” said James Smith, a lawyer representing the employees.

“We believe and have alleged in the complaint that Factor 5 and White Harvest are essentially the same company, being run by the same people, being represented by the same sets of lawyers, with all the same management and ownership and control, performing all the same work that they were doing at Factor 5, just now with a new name and a new address.”

After filing for Chapter 7, the Lair developer closed shop last month with up to $100,000 in assets and $10 million in debt with 69 claims for unpaid wages totaling more than $900,000.

Via Edge.

San Rafael-based Factor 5, best known for Lair and the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series, has shut its doors, according to a post on the official website from CEO Achim Moller.

Brash Entertainment’s bankruptcy is being blamed partially for the closure, as the company had a multi-game deal with Factor 5. Because of this, “the continuation of operations have turned out too great to overcome in the current economic climate,” said Moller.

Factor 5 GmbH, based out of Cologne, is not affected by the closure, and the studio promises to reveal it’s upcoming projects over the next few months.

More over on the official site.

Via San Francisco Examiner.

SCEE just announced that the new PlayStation Store will launch in Europe on April 15.

In addition, a load of new content will be made available on April 17, including the Metal Gear Online beta.

From the press release:

To accompany the launch, the PLAYSTATION Store will see an exciting selection of content available from 17th April, consisting of the launch of the Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta, building up to the launch of the next chapter in one of PlayStation’s most loved franchises, Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots. Also available will be Warhawk™: Operation Broken Mirror, a great new addition to the hugely popular Warhawk experience and Lair™: Diabolical Dragons Pack and Skyguard Upgrade pack, offering new and exciting features and functions. There will also be a collection of trailers including the latest for GTA IV, as well as a Sega Superstars tennis demo.

You can see a movie of the new store in action here. Read the full announcement after the link.

Enhanced PLAYSTATION®Store Launches on 15th April
Redesigned with Improved Interface for Easier Navigation
New Content Available — Metal Gear Solid Online Beta Trial Launches

On 15th April, the new look PLAYSTATION®Store, the online content store on PLAYSTATION®Network launches; bring with it improved navigation, more functionality and a whole raft of new content.

The revamp comes in response to a survey last year which showed that many PLAYSTATION Store users wanted a better interface and easier navigation. The new design will deliver a hugely improved navigation system, much greater scope for categorisation and a dynamic new user interface.

To accompany the launch, the PLAYSTATION Store will see an exciting selection of content available from 17th April, consisting of the launch of the Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta, building up to the launch of the next chapter in one of PlayStation’s most loved franchises, Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots. Also available will be Warhawk™: Operation Broken Mirror, a great new addition to the hugely popular Warhawk experience and Lair™: Diabolical Dragons Pack and Skyguard Upgrade pack, offering new and exciting features and functions. There will also be a collection of trailers including the latest for GTA IV, as well as a Sega Superstars tennis demo.

The PLAYSTATION Store revamp will not affect PLAYSTATION Network accounts or the virtual wallet system.

ENDS

For more information, please contact your local PR manager.

About Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), based in London, is responsible for the distribution, marketing and sales of PLAYSTATION®3, PlayStation®2 and PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) software and hardware in 102 territories across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania. SCEE also develops, publishes, markets and distributes entertainment software for these formats, and manages the third party licensing programs for the formats in these territories. Since the launch of PLAYSTATION 3 in November 2006 and the end of January 2008, over 10 million units have been sold globally and continue to be sold at a record level. Between the beginning of April 2006 and the end of January 2008, over 26 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been sold worldwide, continuing its position as one of the most successful consumer electronic products in history. Between the beginning of April 2006 and the end of January 2008, over 20 million PSP systems have been sold worldwide. Between its launch in November 2006 and the end of 2007, the PLAYSTATION Network, the free-to-access interactive environment, has had over 5 million registrants and has experienced over 81 million items downloaded.

More information about PlayStation products can be found at www.playstation.com or visit the Virtual Press Office at www.scee.presscentre.com.

So says IGN. From the piece:

Sony Japan provided first details today on a free update for Lair, and included in the bullet points is the option for analog controls!

The update will also offer the ability to show a targeting icon, and Dual Shock 3 rumble support.

Apparently the update’s going to be released on April 17 in Japan, and presumably worldwide. Sony, Sony, Sony. Thanks to Blerk.

“We want to push the hardware,” he said. “I think for us it’s relatively easy for us to push the hardware. It inherently comes. But a lot of it is about exploiting the uniqueness of the Wii. I mean, on the graphical side, we’re going to try and do everything to outdo everything else on the platform, the same as we did for the Star Wars games back on the GameCube. But one of our main focuses is the innovation around the controls. Everybody is always talking about the motion control, but I think people are overplaying that a bit. I really, really love the pointing aspect of the remote. Although we’re going to use everything for what we have in development, I think the pointing stuff is probably the biggest innovation which we’re working on right now.”

The identity of the game in question hasn’t been announced as yet.