Midway, Tradewest vet joins Rising Star's new U.S. office

Newsbrief: UK-based publisher Rising Star Games has hired Phil Robinson as the vice president of operations for its newly opened branch in California, which will release games for North America. Robinson previously served as senior public relations manager at Midway Games, and was also head of public relations at distributor and publisher Tradewest Games (previously Midway's European operations). He was the first employee hired for Rising Star's U.S. branch, and will oversee all of its operations, secure American and Canadian distribution and publishing agreements, and work with the European team on extending the Rising Star brand. The new U.S. branch is reportedly a rebranding of another publisher specializing in niche games, Marvelous USA, which Rising Star has absorbed. The company's first North American release will be Cave's bullet hell shooter Akai Katana for Xbox 360.