Radical Entertainment, Vancouver

The West Coast game shop has just signed a six-title deal with Vivendi Universal, the first of which, a sequel to its 2003 hit Hulk, is now in production. Radical says Hulk 2 will step back from the cel shading used in the first smash ’em up, and is promising a great leap forward in gameplay, akin to the jump from its The Simpsons Road Rage to follow-up The Simpsons Hit & Run.

The remaining five titles have not been named. (However, Universal Pictures does own the new Dawn of the Dead movie, and this summer’s Van Helsing pic. Hmmm.)

-www.radical.ca

Ubisoft, Montreal

THE multinational gamemaker is working on Myst IV, the latest installment of the popular adventure series, and CSI: Dark Motives, its second adaptation of the Alliance Atlantis/CBS forensic science franchise. Ubisoft last month released Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, a sequel to its action stealth hit of 2002.

-www.ubi.com

BioWare, Edmonton

Jade Empire, a sprawling action-adventure set in ancient China, will strut its 3ds max-rendered stuff at the E3 conference in May and is aiming to hit stores by Christmas. BioWare is also developing two untitled role-playing games for PC and the Xbox.

-www.bioware.com