About Us
Xtreme Strategy Games is a San Diego, California based provider of cutting edge tools and technologies aimed at game developers. The company, founded by long time industry veterans Mario Grimani and Jim Hicke, combines proven entrepreneurial experience with expertise in product development. The company is focused on development of artificial intelligence products and its premiere product, Northstar AI middleware SDK, is now available for licensing.
Management Team
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Mario Grimani Mario Grimani is an industry veteran who joined the gaming industry almost two decades ago. Throughout his career he has been part of big name studios such as Ion Storm, Ensemble Studios, Verant Interactive, and Sony Online Entertainment. While at Ensemble Studios, he was a dedicated AI specialist in charge of improving the computer player competitiveness. He developed the scripting system and computer player AI for Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. During the early stages of Age of Mythology development, Mario served as AI lead in charge of AI architecture. After joining Verant Interactive, which later became Sony Online Entertainment, he took over as lead programmer on Sovereign and later worked on the EverQuest II team. A published author, Mario has contributed to several volumes of the Game Programming Gems and the AI Game Programming Wisdom series of books. Mario is now a partner in Xtreme Strategy Games, where he is using his technical expertise and industry experience in bringing to market the next generation of gaming technologies. Publications:
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Jim Hicke Jim Hicke is a software industry veteran with over 25 years of management and software development experience. Prior to joining the gaming industry, Jim was part of multiple successful high-technology startups. During that period, he served as a Director of Research and Development and a Board of Directors member for ENFIN Software Corporation as well as a Vice President of Research & Development at MicroTac Software, a publicly traded company. Jim entered the game development industry by founding Chantemar Creations Inc. and shipping his first product, Steel Reign, under Sony's SCEA label. Recognizing the potential of the new MMO genre, Jim joined a team of developers that went on to found Verant Interactive. During his tenure at Verant, which later became Sony Online Entertainment, Jim was solving technical problems unique to the new MMO RTS genre and using his expertise to help the EverQuest II team. Jim is now a partner in Xtreme Strategy Games, where he is using his entrepreneurial skills and technical expertise in bringing to market the next generation of gaming technologies. Publications:
Titles worked on:
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