Silicon Knights, the developer of upcoming Xbox 360 shooter Too Human, is nothing if not bullish. While a lawsuit against Epic relating to the licensing of Unreal Engine 3 rages, the company has said that it plans to expand.

The Canada-based developer has said that it plans to expand its staff, already 165 strong, by 80 members.

What the planned expansion of nearly 50% certainly does indicate is Silicon Knights' confidence in itself. Confident that it will soon have some of Epic Games' cash lining its pockets?

In related news, Too Human is rumoured to be seeing release in the States on June 5th. US retailer GameStop's website shows the date, as does its sister site, EB Games along with GameStop's newsletter, pictured above. You can read up on Too Human here.

In another Silicon Knights-related slip of news, the company is also listed as a partner in the Niagara Interactive Media Generator (which calls itself 'nGen' for short) which has just been launched by the Ontarian provincial government. The aim of the scheme, which is being subsidised to the tune of CAD$240,000 (£121,500) by the national Ministry of Culture, is to encourage the growth of "interactive new media development", according to the Ontarian government.

"Niagara has always been an industrial city and that's starting to change", said Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack. "We're going to start seeing things in this region that people are not used to."

Silicon Knights recently subpoenaed other Unreal Engine 3 licensees to obtain copies of their agreements with Epic for use in court. The developer wants to prove that Epic violated their agreement by failing to provide a fully working game engine.

Following the initial filing of the suit, Silicon Knights claimed that it had "created a new and better game engine" following the Unreal Engine 3's failure to deliver. Could the company have plans to line its coffers and fund its expansion by licensing its own technology?

The possibilities abound. What is clear is that the company's lawsuit isn't slowing it down too much.

^{Source: Welland Tribune}