Deus Ex, Thief designer joins Valve

Seattle-area developer Valve--known for its Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, and Portal franchises--has further bolstered its first-person shooter experience with the acquisition of noted designer Doug Church.

Gamasutra reports that Church--whose video game credits include PC hits Deus Ex, Thief, and System Shock--has been with Valve for a "couple of weeks." However, Valve did not say which project or projects Church is working on.

Most recently, Church contributed to Steven Spielberg's Project LMNO, one of two titles the filmmaker committed to making with Electronic Arts. The other project--Boom Blox for the Wii--saw release and spawned a sequel, but Project LMNO was given the axe. Church originally joined forces with EALA as an executive producer in 2005.