One more development team is throwing its hat into the MMO arena, as Las Vegas-based Colony Studios today announced its inception. Currently, the company is developing an MMO based on an original intellectual property. No concrete details regarding the game have been revealed, though Colony did release several pieces of artwork suggesting a dark science fiction theme. The game is said to emphasize both a strongly defined world and user-influenced content.

While at Simon & Schuster Interactive, Colony Studios CEO Michael Wallis served as a producer on CCP Games' EVE Online. Previously, Wallis worked for publishers Sega and Electronic Arts. Colony's ten-strong team lists among its combined credits games such as Ultima Online, EverQuest, World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, and Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar,

which according to Wallis gives each team member on average more MMO experience than any other comparably-sized studio yet formed.

"Most dev teams--including Colony's--have gone through the process of learning what doesn't work in game development, but our team members have also been intimately involved with creating what does work in several successful MMOs and that combination will serve us well," said Wallis. "Our challenge is, of course, to use our experience and talent correctly to create an MMO that players will enjoy." Today's announcement claims that the project "won't be developed as a 'safe' MMO" and will not seek to replicate World of Warcraft.

Though officially announced today, Colony Studios quietly launched its website last year, and in March announced that it has licensed Simutronics' HeroEngine development platform for its game. Last August, BioWare Austin announced that it would be making use of HeroEngine.

Colony Studios plans to ship its currently untitled MMO in 2009.