After reading that developer Ritual Entertainment had been aquired by casual games house MumboJumbo, I assumed we'd never hear from the SiN crew ever again. I also theorized that SiN Episodes: Emergence was a certified sales failure (fortunately, that's not in print). Turns out I was about 74.2% wrong.

The Ritualistic community spoke with 3D Realms' moustachioed Richard "Levelord" Gray to get some clarification on the merger. On the questionable success of the first SiN episode:

The first episode did well, but not good enough to completely self-fund the second episode. It sold over 150,000 units, which is better than many shooters. It more than paid for itself, but not enough to entirely fund the next one.

And the future of SiN?

What we plan to do right now, both Ritual and MumboJumbo, is establish ourselves in the casual gaming market with strong new franchises and then return to SiN at a later date. We love SiN, make no mistake, and we definitely want to return to it.

Good news for fans. Let's just hope they're not put on some Puyo Pop clone and burn out before they focus on their next chapter. Michael McWhertor

Going Small - How the MumboJumbo Merger Will Affect Ritual

MumboJumbo, developer of mind-numbing "casual games" like Luxor and Super Collapse has snapped up Ritual Entertainment, most recently known for their work on SiN Episodes. After releasing only one episode for the promised multi-chapter game, the company's future was called into question months ago amid rumors of key personnel changes.

Ironically, new owner MumboJumbo was founded by former Ritual CEO Ron Dimant, who left the company in in 2001. This doesn't appear to be a bail out move from MumboJumbo, to put Ritual back on the mainstream first-person shooter action games for which their known (Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2, Star Trek Elite Force II), as Dimant clearly states that Ritual's talent will "set the bar for quality and sophistication in casual games."

RIP, Ritual. Michael McWhertor

MUMBOJUMBO(TM) ACQUIRES GAME DEVELOPMENT STUDIO RITUAL ENTERTAINMENT(TM)

Migration of Mainstream Development House to Casual Publisher Creates New Chapter in Gaming History

DALLAS, TX - January 24, 2007 - MumboJumbo(TM), a leading developer of premium casual games, today announced it has acquired Ritual Entertainment(TM), a veteran game development studio with expertise in game design and artistic quality. In addition to the strategic importance of the deal, which strengthens MumboJumbo's(TM) ability to deliver the best games to the casual gaming audience, the acquisition further solidifies the company's presence as one of the largest casual game studios in the industry.

"MumboJumbo(TM) established the casual games category at retail, and the purchase of Ritual Entertainment(TM) is consistent with our strategy to bring high-quality casual game content to the major platforms," said Ron Dimant, who left his post as chief executive officer of Ritual Entertainment(TM) in 2001 to found MumboJumbo(TM). "The combination of Ritual's(TM) high-end, multi-platform expertise and our own industry-leading publishing model will set the bar for quality and sophistication in casual games and create a major industry powerhouse. The casual games market is beginning to mature as evidenced by an increase in consumer expectations. Ultimately, the companies providing the best content will win, which is why we are investing so heavily in the development of technology and original IP."

"The disciplined structure of high end game development requires an in depth understanding of sophisticated tools and design techniques," said Robert Atkins of Ritual Entertainment(TM). "Ritual's(TM) expertise in these areas complements MumboJumbo's(TM) mass market approach to casual game development and gives us a true competitive advantage."

With over 30 employees and more than 10 years in the games industry, Ritual Entertainment(TM) has contributed and developed several mainstream, hit titles on all platforms including "25 To Life," "Delta Force - Black Hawk Down," "Counter Strike," "Painkiller," "Quake 4," and the "SiN" franchise of games, among others. In recent months, MumboJumbo(TM) has brought the popular "LUXOR(TM)" franchise and other top-selling titles such as "Super Collapse" and "7 Wonders of the Ancient World" to numerous platforms including Xbox Live(R) Arcade, Nintendo DS(TM), and the Sony PSP(TM) (Playstation(R) Portable) handheld. The acquisition of Ritual(TM) marks the most significant instance in casual gaming history of a mainstream game development house migrating to a casual game publisher.

So how's Steam doing in stopping piracy? Surprisingly poorly, according to Mike Russell over at Ritual. According to him, technical support requests for pirated copies of Sin Emergence: Episode One are five times more prevalent than from legitimate copies.

Some of the excuses from pirates wanting to know why their crack isn't working are truly hysterical:

"What's Steam?" one asked. "I don't have one," replied another when asked for his Steam ID. "Oh, my copy didn't come with an installer," replied yet another user, "it's in a folder on a DVD. I just drag it to my machine and then run the game."

Mark Russell takes no guff from pirates, though! What does he do when he encounters a pirate?

Actually, I contact their ISP [laughs]. I know it sounds silly, but ISPs have been a lot more responsive towards pirates than law enforcement has been. Most law enforcement sees piracy as petty theft. It's under a hundred bucks, it's piddly crap. But ISPs, they're really responsive towards pirates, because most pirates are the people who are munching all the bandwidth. So if they have, essentially, a legitimate excuse to boot a pirate off, they'll take it.

If only an ISP furries were so easily jettisoned. Florian Eckhardt

Ritual's Mike Russell on Piracy [Shacknews]

The possibilities behind episodic content in a world that could be dynamic are pretty exciting. That's what SiN Episodes are promising. Many a game have promised and let down, but I really want this one to live up to expectations. Ritual, the company behind the FPS, released a new trailer for the game.

Ritual Releases Sin-Full New Trailer [Computer and Video Games]
Emergence Trailer [Official Home of SiN]