Romero back in the game with new studio

John Romero, the iconoclastic game designer behind some of the biggest successes--and failures--in game history, has apparently landed on his feet. In the forums of Romero's blog, Planet Rome.ro, the designer confirmed a few scant details about his first project following his brief tenure at Midway Games.

"For the record," Romero wrote in the post, "I'm co-founder of a new game company in the bay area and am much better off in many ways than I was at Midway."

Romero and Midway parted ways after just two years. He had been hired, along with former Ion Storm colleague Tom Hall, in October, 2003. His departure in July of this year was amicable on the surface, but chatter among industry wags suggested the Midway brass weren't entirely impressed with the work Romero and his team produced. At the time of his departure, Romero and Hall were working on the still-unreleased action role-playing game Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows.

As for details on what Romero is up to in his new Northern California digs, the designer was vague, saying only, "When news of my new game somehow gets out, I think everyone will be a bit shocked."

Of course, from someone who once faked his own death, shock is nothing new.