Mucky Foot shutters doors

The British development community lost another member over the weekend when Mucky Foot Productions, the studio behind Startopia and Blade 2, shuttered its doors. "It is very sad," said a spokesperson for the studio, continuing, "We haven't released a statement yet, as I think this was the last thing on the directors' minds." The closure of the Newcastle, UK-based studio--founded in 1998 by a group of former Bullfrog employees--put around 50 people out of work.

The publicist didn't comment on the status of Bulletproof Monk, the Mucky Foot-developed movie adaptation which was due for consoles and PC later this year.

Empire, the game's publisher, said through a spokesperson that it was committed to the Bulletproof Monk project and intends to release the game in Q1 2004.