Warren Spector is in charge of 'System Shock 3'

Word broke late last year that the legendary System Shock franchise would get a modern sequel, but no details about what the game will look like were forthcoming. We still don't know much about the game itself, but we do know it's in good hands: System Shock co-creator Warren Spector is rejoining Otherside Entertainment in a full-time capacity to lead development of System Shock 3. He's been a "creative advisor" to the studio for years, but he'll now be a full-time studio director working on both Underworld Ascendant as well as the System Shock sequel.

It's certainly exciting news for fans of the series, but it also gives us an idea of the System Shock 3 timeline -- and it seems like we shouldn't be holding our breath right now. Otherside's press release indicates that Spector won't be ramping up the game's development until later this year, so we're likely not going to see this game actually hit for a long time.

Still, it's good to see Spector, who has also worked on the Deux Ex and Ultima series, back where he belongs. He sounds appropriately energized to bring the series into the current day -- the last System Shock game is over 16 years old at this point. "Working on System Shock was one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my career," Spector said in a press release, "and it's hard to describe how much I'm looking forward to sharing with players what SHODAN has been up to since the last game was released."