Voodoo Extreme has posted Digital Extreme's announcement that they are working on Dark Sector - a new massively multiplayer persistent world action game, based on the Unreal Tournament engine. They've also posted some preliminary concept artwork. Here's an excerpt from the full release (available on their news page):

London, Canada, Feb. 11, 2000 – Leading computer game developer Digital Extremes announces its follow-up to the critically acclaimed Unreal: Tournament. Dark Sector is the next step in the first person action gaming experience by blending the intense action elements of Unreal: Tournament with the scope and character evolution of a persistent online universe.

Dark Sector is set in the wake of world devastation, where survivors are scattered throughout the solar system in a vast crumbling network of outposts and space stations. Anarchy reigns as violent factions wage war over limited resources. The remnants of world government have sanctioned bounty hunting in a desperate attempt to control the growing chaos.

Players carve out their destiny in a violent struggle for fortune and fame. Begin your career as a bounty hunter tracking your target from Mars to the moons of Jupiter and then face off in an ice mine on Europa. Or choose the darker path by hunting the law-abiding citizens around you; build an infamous reputation as an assassin, while the growing price on your head turns your own friends against you.

Additional key features of Dark Sector:

Players can band together in formal syndicates, seeking to invade and occupy the multitude of resource fortresses in the game world.

Challenge Arenas where players can hold grudge matches, wager on matching your skills against others, compete in team battles and ladder matches.

An advanced Unreal: Tournament engine featuring a new hardware-only renderer exploiting the latest advances in graphics technology such as T&L, skeletal deformation, multi-texturing, inverse-kinematics, advanced surface lighting and a myriad of other improvements.

Space flight gameplay will allow players to travel between space stations and engage in gut wrenching dog fights.

Dark Sector is an evolving game where new elements are regularly introduced after the game’s debut, enriching and expanding the game experience.