Middleware company Qube Software and virtual worlds company RedBedlam, both of them UK companies, are partnering on new MMO development tech they call Messiah.

Qube's Q Engine middleware will provide the genre and platform-agnostic client base, while RedBedlam's ZoneBubble System will provide the server technology for a single, persistent virtual world.

RedBedlam says ZBS allows for the creation of large contiguous worlds without loading zones or artificial barriers, for the benefit of developers aiming for large communities that share the same environment.

Q Engine is a modular cross-platform middleware designed to work with all last and current-generation consoles, PCs, handhelds and mobiles, and includes hardware features like custom shaders and platform-specific APIs. The core APIs and databases are designed to work on all the platforms Q supports.

"This is a partnership with all the pedigree anyone needs for a fully featured MMOG and virtual world platform," says RedBedlam executive director Fred Hasson.

"And by radically cutting the budgets required to build great virtual worlds and MMOGs Q and ZoneBubbles allow developers much greater freedom to explore new avenues."

[The preceding article by Leigh Alexander also appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]