This past week, after one of our sources tipped us off, Kim Otzman, Corporate Communications at SCEA, confirmed to GameDaily BIZ that Steve Ross has left the company. The former vice president is leaving to "pursue other opportunities."

While at the company, Ross was responsible for the company's operational activities. This includes but is not limited to consumer and product service, supply chain, information design and development, format quality assurance, information technology, human resources, and facilities management. A replacement was not named.

On Friday Turbine announced that Jim Crowley has been named president and CEO, replacing Jeff Anderson. This complements the other recent moves that the company has made, including adding Craig Alexander as Vice President of Product Development and Walt Yarbrough as Executive Producer.

"I'm excited to have the opportunity to play a role in Turbine's continued growth and success," commented Crowley. "Turbine has an incredible team, industry leading technology and a portfolio of franchises that are without peer. I look forward to working closely with our entire team and our global business partners to continue to invest in, and accelerate, our domestic and international success."

Crowley has extensive operational experience. He worked as the Chief Operating Officer of Network Plus, Inc., one of the largest publicly traded competitive data and telecommunications providers. Crowley was most recently Chief Operating Officer of m-Qube, where he helped turn the company into one of North America's largest mobile media companies.

Although one of our sources had claimed that Anderson was fired by Turbine's board of directors, Turbine spokesman Adam Mersky refuted those claims. In fact, Anderson remains on the board and his new role with Turbine is being determined as you read this.

"It does seem like it's a pretty sudden move, but Jim Crowley's been with us for a couple months now. This is a decision the board made, which is really a result of the success we've been having with Lord of the Rings Online, and we want to start aligning the company with some of the bigger plans we have. We're taking the time to go global; we're going to Asia next year. And the only reason there's no mention of Jeff [Anderson] in the press release is that they're still working out what his new role is going to be," Mersky explained to GameDaily BIZ.

But why did Anderson step down from his role? "It's similar to the decision that was made six or so years ago when we had the founder step aside for Jeff to take the role... It's time for us to move to the next level and that's the experience Jim brings to the table having operated companies and taken them from one level to a much larger one... It's time to take the success [of LotRO] and invest in it to broaden what we do here," said Mersky. "We've got a bunch more [new hires] coming and this is really about accelerating the growth of the company and investing in the success we have."

As we already reported, Julia Roether who worked for years on PR for Nintendo of America at GolinHarris has joined Kohnke to head up a new L.A. office. Read more on that here.

Lucien Parsons revealed to GameDaily BIZ that he has joined ZeniMax Online Studios. He will be Production Director at a new studio for the company. Parsons will be building the core art, design, and technology teams for a new MMO with Matt Firor.

Parsons has worked 14 years in software over four continents. He's worked for the past three years on Serious Games with various institutional and government clients, such as a major hospital group, the Dept of Defense and the Dept of Justice using game technology for simulation and training purposes. Parsons took a position as Product Director at BreakAway 14 months ago, a job he has left to join ZeniMax Online Studios.

Fred Hasson informed the Tiga board this past week that he will be stepping down as CEO. The move will be effective from the time when a successor has been found.

"Fred's contribution to Tiga and to the development sector has been huge," said Ian Baverstock, Chair of Tiga's board. "Those of us who've had the privilege to work with him first hand have seen his passion and enormous experience with government as well as other media sectors add great value to Tiga's impact in many areas. We know we wouldn't be where we are today without all his hard work over the last 7 years and the board and members would like to thank him for his dedication to promoting the development industry and the member's interests over that period."

Tiga was originally founded by 12 indie developers in 2001. Today, it includes 157 members, 130 of which are developers. It includes founders Blitz, Kuju and Rebellion along with Sony London and Cambridge, Reflections, Eutechnyx, Team 17, Sumo, Swordfish, Juice, Pivotal and Lionhead.

"I don't know where the last 7 years of my life have gone but it seems to have gone in a trice" says Hasson, "It's a long period but it's been, without doubt, the most exhilarating and enjoyable time. I would consider a good number of the people I have met in the industry to be friends but that does not mean it has always been easy! The industry is generally not one for collective action, except when it comes to fun, and there have been antagonisms and hostilities to weather during this time. I believe we have achieved much in that time; we have rightly championed the role the development community plays in the success of this industry, crystallized coherent messages to government, and greatly increased the flow of best practice in the industry across a wide range of business and production issues. I believe Tiga was the inspiration for similar organisations to be formed across Europe and we are proud to be founders and Chair of the effective European Games Developers Federation."

EmSense Corporation (which we recently profiled in Ad Watch) announced recently that Justin Berenbaum has joined the Company as Vice President of Business Development. This move was effective as of July 2007.

"Justin played a key role in increasing revenue for and exposing Activision's brands by cultivating long-term partnerships, and he has created strategies to take advantage of emerging opportunities throughout his career," said Michael Lee, Chief Executive, EmSense. "We're excited to bring his talents, insights and experience to EmSense at this stage in its growth."

Berenbaum has had several different rolls in business development, with Earthlink Network and Overture Services (formerly known as GoTo), in addition to a management role in Capcom's customer service department. He most recently served a seven-year tenure as Senior Manager of Business Development at Activision. There, Berenbaum oversaw all of Activision's outbound licensing efforts while creating strategies for future profitable markets, including international emerging markets, digital distribution, dynamic in-game advertising, wireless markets and online sales.

"EmSense is approaching a significant market opportunity with tested and proven, yet previously untapped technology," said Berenbaum. "I am excited to join the EmSense team and look forward to creating strong partnerships with media companies that are seeking the value and increased ROI of EmSense's emotional reaction analysis solution, including advertisers and video game developers."

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