Smoking Guns Interactive announces its existence to the world, following last week's tease (story) on Exoriare.com of a new company "From the producer of the most critically acclaimed real-time strategy game of all time." The game referenced was indeed Company of Heroes, as Smoking Guns Studios was founded by John Johnson, Angie Radwan-Pytlewski, and Drew Dunlop, all formerly of Relic. The Smoking Gun Interactive Website is live, but at this point there are no details on planned projects. Here's the announcement:

VANCOUVER, CA (June 4, 2007) – The creators of the critically acclaimed game Company of Heroes today announced the formation of their new interactive entertainment software development studio, Smoking Gun Interactive Inc. The development studio will focus on creating innovative award winning cross platform games based on original or company owned intellectual property.

Smoking Gun Interactive Inc, has been founded by John Johnson, Angie Radwan-Pytlewski and Drew Dunlop all former senior staff from Relic Entertainment. The studio is led by CEO and Creative Director John Johnson who was previously the Director of Franchise Development and Producer on Company of Heroes, while Angie Radwan-Pytlewski served as Art Director and Drew Dunlop as Lead Programmer on the critically acclaimed real-time strategy hit.

"The team at Smoking Gun has worked passionately together for over 7 years, building teams that have created the most critically acclaimed games in their genre." said John Johnson CEO and Creative Director, "As the industry evolves so do the ways that people interact with video games. With our collective input Smoking Gun will be at the forefront of producing innovative best-selling titles, that really push the envelop further than we've gone before”,

Working with Smoking Gun Interactive are key personnel from the team that created Company of Heroes including the Audio Director Crispin Hands and Story and Script Writer Duane Pye. Collectively the management and executive team have over 30 years of experience and have worked on best-selling franchises including Company of Heroes™, Impossible Creatures™, Homeworld™, Need for Speed™, NHL™, NBA Live™ and FIFA Soccer™. With their collective experience in leading passionate teams and creating award winning products, Smoking Gun is destined to become one of the industry's leading premier development studios.

For updated news and additional company information, please visit the official Smoking Gun Interactive site www.smokingguninc.com

This is Smoking Gun…

*According to www.gamerankings.com