The Gathering Update

We've got an update on the agreement between The Gathering of Developers and Take 2 Interactive. The first titles to be copublished under the terms of that agreement will be Railroad Tycoon II from PopTop Software, FLY! from Terminal Reality Inc., and Max Payne from 3D Realms/Remedy.

Alliance Inventory Management, which is a Take 2 subsidiary, will act as the retail distributor for the titles, providing physical distribution, inventory management, credit and collections, and other services for The Gathering's first ten PC titles domestically. The first g.o.d.- published title to receive this support will be Jazz Jackrabbit 2 from Epic MegaGames, which is scheduled to ship in early August.

Strategic Marketing Partners will still be the exclusive retail sales force for all of The Gathering's PC titles and will work cooperatively with AIM.

Under the terms of the agreement, games published by The Gathering (well, at least its first ten games) will be provided on a nonexclusive basis to Take 2's newly formed Internet Whiplash online gaming site.

The Take 2-g.o.d. deal was prefaced by a deal announced earlier this month between the two companies; that agreement was a worldwide copublishing deal for 4 x 4 Mud Monsters for the N64, being codeveloped by Gathering partners Terminal Reality and Edge of Reality.