I just found out from one ex-coworker that several other ex-coworkers have just put together a new game company that started buisness this january, and is currently hiring programmers. They've already snatched up several of my other ex-coworkers who were laid off recently. They say they've already got a contract with Activision.
Anyone in the gaming industry has probabably heard stories about people going to work at Blizzard and then leaving to form their own studios. One of the co-founders is a guy i knew at the first place i worked who left to go work at Blizzard :)
*sigh* If only it were in Washington instead of SoCal. It would be a lot of work, but it sounds like the perfect opportunity to get in on a new company at the ground floor :(
sad