The Total Entertainment Network, one of the few original online gaming services still around today, has announced the signing of industry veteran Nick Rush as the company's new vice president of programming. Rush will be the creative force behind the development of several new multiplayer games.

　　"We're thrilled to have Nick joining us to guide our programming vision and direction," says TEN president and CEO Erick Hachenburg. "Nick has been working in the area of mass-market, online entertainment longer than most companies in this space have been around, and has a long record of success in this field."

　　Prior to joining TEN, Rush spent nearly a decade at Berkeley Systems, where he directed the development of You Don't Know Jack: The Net Show, Acrophobia, What's The Big Idea, and After Dark. His previous experience also includes screenwriting for such popular '70s television shows as Wonder Woman, the Bionic Woman, and Starsky & Hutch.

　　Currently, TEN offers a number of pay-for-play online titles, like Total Annihilation and Quake II, as well as free multiplayer games like chess and backgammon.