wtf!?
...from the ashes of RTW..!?
Jimmy O'Ready left Realtime Worlds about 12 months ago.
I dont like to stir things up for the sake of it, but I dislike it even more when people use the misfortune of others for their own gain!
Please do your research before printing articles like this.

I haven't researched this piece beyond the press release handed to me (copied below), and what I already know about the situation.

I appreciate calls for a more forensic analysis of information being passed to news outlets - but know that the oft-used "please do some research" outbursts merely demonstrate a lack of understanding of how news outlets have needed to adopt to a rapid online system of reporting, and how the game industry is shut away from the press.

This is not a 100-person national news room where someone can spend a whole day digging into the finer details of someone's employment history. And even on a national newspaper basis, such newsrooms are nevertheless falling into the trappings of instant news reportage.

I apologise if what appears to be a spot of opportunism from an ex-RTW artist has riled you so much, but with studios and information tightly locked away from journalists until a careful press release is issued, there is little a reporter can do but inform from what is available.

I do absurd amounts of research for a number of stories providing the information is somehow available, and the story is worth investigating

It is clear that from the length of my reply that, yes, I am a little tired of "do your research" claims. Please elect a little more understanding of the wider picture in future.

-------------------X
PRESS RELEASE: FIRST START-UPS EMERGE FROM THE ASHES OF REALTIME WORLDS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Montynero Characters and Montynero Concept Art are two services set up
by ex Realtime Worlds Character Lead Jimmy O'Ready.

"The character art for APB was praised by the industry, thanks to a
strong team effort over many years. For my part I'm interested in
basing this company in Dundee, which is a great city full of talent,
and collaborating on the next generation of game art with companies
across the globe," says company founder Jimmy O'Ready.

"Art customisation systems or character design are things I've enjoyed
orchestrating at Realtime Worlds and Electronic Arts, on SSX and APB,
and prior to 3d and management I worked on the concept side for years.
Montynero Ltd is positioned to provide the highest quality of
characters, concepts, and expertise for all game types, anywhere."

Prior to building and directing the art team that created APB's
groundbreaking character customisation, O'Ready worked for Electronic
Arts on the SSX and Need for Speed franchises. He has over 15 years of
experience in the industry working mainly on driving games and third
person action adventure titles. Over the last five years he's
specialised in online games, customisation systems, and tailoring game
art to work in multiple territories globally - like South Korea.

O'Ready spoke last year on the challenges of art directing the
characters for APB at the Develop conference in Brighton
(http://www.next-gen.biz/news/realtime-worlds-talks-apb-characters).
When asked for his reaction on the demise of Realtime Worlds O'Ready
said "It was a shock, even for a ground-breaking high risk project.
Personally I felt delays in a couple of crucial areas meant APB simply
missed its moment. I salute all the developers involved though, we had
some superb people working incredibly hard. On the character side we
can only provide the best art possible for the product. There was
maybe some scope for using a stand-alone character tool to build a
larger online community purely through the expressive fun of
customisation and socialising. That type of technology has a lot of
attraction for anyone using personalised avatars to represent online
personalities - in any medium. We evaluated every other system prior
to creating our own characters, a fascinating period of development,
and I felt our collective solution was strong, attractive and fun - a
real boon to the project."

At no point in that press release does it say Jimmy was made redundant when RTW crashed. You just simply assumed he was, and stated so in the third sentence of the story.

That IS poor journalism, no matter which way you try to cut it.

I've no time to debate the finer points of journalism with someone who demonstrably has no knowledge of the sector and how it runs.

Nor will I make similarly hollow assumptions on your own livelihood, despite ample room to do so.