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Thanks to IGN PS2 for its news story discussing Blizzard's appointment of developer Swingin' Ape Studios, creators of Metal Arms: Glitch In The System, who will "henceforth develop StarCraft: Ghost, the oft delayed third-person action / adventure adaptation of Blizzard's acclaimed RTS franchise." The story notes: "Just two weeks earlier it was announced that Nihilistic, Ghost's former developer, would no longer be at the helm of the project. Nihilistic's departure was said to be the result of timing issues", and furthermore reveals: "Swingin' Ape will in the future collaboratively develop multi-platform titles with Blizzard based off Blizzard licenses."

Thanks to HomeLAN Fed for its news story revealing StarCraft: Ghost developer Nihilistic is no longer attached to the still-in-development tactical action game. According to an official Blizzard statement: "Nihilistic has completed its contribution on StarCraft: Ghost. They are contracted to begin work on another project in the months ahead. Due to the requirements of that obligation and the delay of StarCraft, it was mutually determined that now would be the best time for them to complete their work." The PS2/Xbox/GameCube title was announced as delayed late last week, at which point Blizzard simply stated: "We plan to build additional time into the schedule to polish the game."

Thanks to GameSpot for their hands-on preview of Starcraft: Ghost, the third-person action game being developed for all three consoles (thus negating Xbox exclusivity rumors) by Nihilistic and Blizzard. The article reveals vehicular combat added into the stealth action, saying "...the final game will let you pilot a Terran siege tank, goliath (a bipedal mech), and vulture (a small hovercycle)", and IGN has a more in-depth look at this new Tokyo Game Show build, mentioning the developers are "working together to make a more refined stealth game" but voicing a few reservations about "sluggish and unresponsive" targeting on this much-improved, early 2004-due title.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the announcement on the official Blizzard website that "..we have decided to extend our StarCraft: Ghost development schedule." The tactical-action game being developed by Nihilistic for all 3 major consoles will now come out in 2004, and the official site at Blizzard has more details, including a number of new E3 previews.