Yesterday, GameSpot News reported that Brian Hook, now former programmer for id Software's Quake 2 and Quake III Arena, would be taking a new position with the San Diego-based maker of 989 Studios' EverQuest, Verant Interactive. This afternoon, Verant officially confirmed that information by announcing that Hook would be joining the company.

　　"Verant is the perfect place for me. I'm a huge fan of their games, and the opportunity to work on Verant's future titles is just too good to pass up," said Brian Hook. "I strongly believe in Verant's commitment to making the best massively multiplayer games out there, and I'm excited to be able to contribute to a product line that will be the benchmark against which all other massive multiplayer games are judged. People are going to be blown away when they see what Verant is working on."

　　While the official release from the company was slim on details regarding any new games the company is developing, the release did say, "Hook will be involved with programming and technology in both current and future Verant projects." The prospect of Hook lending his knowledge of 3D to EverQuest will undoubtedly be the talk of the day in the world of EverQuest gamers as they ponder what EverQuest 2 may look like.

　　"Verant is committed to both massively multiplayer gaming, as well as cutting-edge 3D technology," said president and CEO of Verant Interactive, John Smedley. "Ensuring that we have the talent and expertise to lead the way in both of these fields is critical to our company's goals, and adding someone of Brian's caliber to our already strong programming team is going to help us make the best games out there."

　　Hook is best known by gamers for his work on Quake 2 and Q3A but is known in programming circles as one of the chief architects for 3dfx Interactive's GLIDE API and as a code-base programmer for OpenGL while working at Silicon Graphics. In short, Hook probably knows more about 3D than almost anybody else on the planet does.