Climax picks US pres

Multiplatform developer Climax is beefing up its year-old US operations. Last May, Climax founder Karl Jeffries opened a studio is Los Angeles. His goal was to forge closer ties to the Southern California-based entertainment industry. Today, Jeffries said he has hired David Schwartz, the studio's first major personnel acquisition, to lead that West Coast division. Schwartz comes from online game publisher WildTangent, where he rose from director of product development to vice president of development. Before that, he was at Midway games, where he worked on a number of key titles, including Mortal Kombat III, MK Trilogy, Mortal Kombat Mythologies, NFL Blitz, and NFL Blitz 2000.