Publisher Foundation 9 sent out word that the studio consisting of former developers Shiny and The Collective – first formed by a merger last year – is now known as Double Helix.

“Making games is in our DNA,” said new studio head Michael Saxs Persson. “The Double Helix name is perfect for our studio because it invokes the thought of two studios coming together to build a powerful new force in game development.”

The new studio is now working on three multi-platform games. The first of these is the upcoming Silent Hill 5.

GamePolitics reports that Blizzard is claiming that World of Warcraft bot author Michael Donnelly has made a cool $2.8 million by selling his Glider software. This comes from recent motions filed in court.

Glider is a downloadable software that automatically plays the game for the user, letting players go up to level 70 without much personal effort. Donnelly, its author, was sued by Blizzard in February 2007 and both sides have been locked in a legal battle since then.

“Blizzard’s designs expectations are frustrated, and resources are allocated unevenly, when bots are introduced into the WoW universe, because bots spend far more time in-game than an ordinary player would and consume resources the entire time,” said the company in a legal statement.

Interestingly, Donnelly claims that his program does not violate Blizzard’s copyright because it never makes a true copy of the game client. The software currently sells for $25, with an optional $5 subscription offering additional features.

Wrestling fans rejoice as THQ has recently announced that a new WWE Smackdown vs Raw title is currently in development. Promised in THQ’s latest wrestling title is an all new tag-team experience complete with intuitive co-op plot lines. The game will be featured on all 3 major consoles with the Wii version including several alternative game types to facilitate pick up and play capabilities. Taking advantage of services like PSN and the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, THQ hopes to expand on WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 with regular content updates via digital delivery.

There was no official date on when the game will be out announced at this time.

EA has announced that a downloadable playable demo of recently released co-op action game Army of Two will be released on Xbox Live Marketplace on April 1. It most probably won’t be an April Fool’s joke seeing as how the press release sounds so official, but be wary of suspicious demos.

The demo will feature a co-op training session and a Somalia level where players must work together to overthrow a Warlord. It will be exclusive to the Xbox 360; PS3 gamers get no love from EA.

We all know driver support for Windows Vista was poor when the operating system launched last year, but whose fault was it? Microsoft is putting 30% of the blame on NVIDIA’s shoulders, saying that drivers for the company’s graphics cards were the cause of many logged crashes.

This comes straight from recently released documents from Microsoft which also reveal that the company’s own drivers were also the culprit of 18% of the total crashes. ATI clocks in at 9.3%, with Intel at 8.8%.

Microsoft has recently released Windows Vista Service Pack 1, which, among many updates and fixes, reportedly boosts gaming performance.

Variety reports that Viacom-owned film company Paramount has expanded its interactive department and will be investing in game development and publishing. The first of its efforts are expected to arrive by the end of this year, with the studio planning games based on either new properties or older titles. Paramount itself will directly oversee the projects and finance them.

The article notes that an increasing number of executives at the company believe that a more hands-on approach to game production will help them ensure quality output and swifter development for games based on their film properties. The company has said that it is looking to invest in all types of games, though they will be paying more attention to the casual market along with handheld and mobile titles, as they are easier and faster to develop than console games.

With the release of Grand Theft Auto IV looming up ahead, Rockstar Games is releasing a barrage of information on the title. The latest, as reported by Yahoo, is the full disclosure of a new digital music distribution model which will allow gamers to purchase tracks heard in the game’s radio stations. In partnership with Amazon, the technology, dubbed “ZiT”, built into the game’s mobile phone interface will let players mark specific songs they hear in the game by dialing a specific number, after which they will receive a text message with the song and artist name.

If the player is a member of the Rockstar Social Club, a custom playlist of the marked songs will be available on Amazon, letting users purchase them for less than a buck each.

“Music has long played an integral part of the game playing experience,” said EMI Music VP Ronn Werre. “We think giving players the ability to identify and buy their favorite tracks from Grand Theft Auto IV’s popular radio stations is a great new music discovery tool for fans and an innovative new revenue stream for artists.”

Electronic Arts sent out word that Eric Brown will fill the recently vacated CFO office starting April 14. Brown, who recently served at McAfee as CFO and COO, will fill the shoes of former CFO Warren Jenson, who announced his departure from EA last week. Jensen will, however, stay on in an advisory position to help Brown into his role.

“Eric’s strong financial background, broad international experience and industry knowledge makes him a perfect fit for EA,” said EA CEO John Riccitiello. “Eric is a highly-regarded CFO, and we are looking forward to having him join our team.”

And yet another developer jumps aboard the Unreal train… Bluehole Studio, a Korean studio, has announced plans to use Unreal Engine 3 to power its MMORPG, codenamed Project 51.

“At Bluehole Studio, we are striving to advance the MMORPG industry by leveraging high quality graphics. Thus, we are very pleased to collaborate with Epic, because Unreal Engine 3 is the best choice for our development framework,” said Yong-hyun Park, chief technical officer of Bluehole.

No information on the game was released, though it may be years from release right now. The studio itself was founded last year and is based in Seoul. They plan on creating an ambitious “blockbuster flagship title,” the aforementioned Project 51.

Bringing back memories of the good old times, Square Enix has announced plans to release Arkanoid DS and Space Invaders Extreme for the DS and PSP. To be available this Summer, the retro titles will be fully updated and enhanced for the aforementioned handhelds, featuring wi-fi multiplayer support as well as wide-screen content.

Space Invaders Extreme, the classic coin-op title, will feature futuristic, techno-inspired graphic design and a fully interactive sound scheme where sound effects are synchronized to match the beats of the music. Soundtrack will be provided by various musicians and DJs including Wall Five, DJ Aki, Atom & Masaki Sakamoto and Altz.

Arkanoid DS updates the classic block-busting gameplay of the 1986 original, offering over 140 levels to complete, a new Quest mode, customization of levels, power-up items and more.

Both games will be available this Summer.