Helixe Vets Form DS Studio DoubleTap

Several former employees from now-defunct handheld games developer Helixe have formed formed DoubleTap Games, a new Boston-based studio committed to creating original and licensed titles with online multiplayer components. Parent company THQ closed Helixe in November 2008 along with several other internal development studios, such as Mass Media and Locomotive Games (Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed). Helixe mostly worked on handheld titles based on licenses, such as Wall-E and its Ratatouille games for Nintendo DS. Its last title before closure was a handheld version of Wii game De Blob. One of the original co-founders of Helixe, Kurt Bickenbach also helped found DoubleTap in late 2008 and now serves as production director for the studio. Richard Corredera, who was technical director at Helixe and previously worked at Sony Online Entertainment as a lead programmer, will take on a business director role at DoubleTap. The team states on its site that it is "committed to redefining online multiplayer experiences available on the Nintendo platforms," and that it's confident Nintendo's online market will continue to grow and transform. "The team and talent we have access to here at DoubleTap is truly phenomenal, and we've only just begun to scratch the surface of innovative game play mechanics that can be created for the DS," says Corderra. "We're heading into 2009 with great publisher relationships and a few titles already on the slate for development."