According to a press release, Jack Emmert has been appointed CEO of Cryptic Studios following the departure of John Needham. The former CEO left the company to "pursue other opportunities within the game industry."

Emmert, formerly Cryptic's COO, has already begun fulfilling his duties as CEO and is reporting directly to Atari CEO Jim Wilson.

"As a colleague, I am sad to see John go, but our vision remains clear," Emmert said. "Cryptic continues to develop great gaming experiences while ensuring the success of its current projects, Champions Online: Free for All, Star Trek Online and Neverwinter. I co-founded this company and am extremely proud of everything our teams have achieved. We will continue to set high goals for ourselves and under my leadership we will continue to meet them."

Cryptic Studios recently launched a new version of its company website, and it hints that Cryptic is currently working on at least one top secret project. Here are the details from the site's in development page:

Last week we published the first part of ZAM's exclusive Neverwinter Q&A with Cryptic Studios COO Jack Emmert, learning about the direction and overall theme of the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons online multiplayer RPG. In the second part of our interview, Emmert explains why he's the right guy for this job and offers a frank response to some of the criticism he's received in recent interviews after talking about Cryptic's previous two MMOs, Champions Online and Star Trek Online. Read the second half of the Q&A after the jump, or check out the complete interview, now appended with the final part.

The gaming community received exciting news on Monday when Cryptic Studios announced its upcoming Neverwinter online multiplayer RPG, based on the hugely-popular Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the classic Dungeons & Dragons. In the official press release, Cryptic Studios COO Jack Emmert described Neverwinter as an online, cooperative PC-RPG based on the works of best-selling fantasy author R.A. Salvatore, a linchpin of Forgotten Realms lore.

Not to be confused as a direct sequel to the original Neverwinter Nights series of MMOs and video games, Cryptic's upcoming title is more like a modern reboot with hybrid gameplay. In interviews earlier this week, Emmert was quick to point out that Neverwinter isn't a traditional MMO, despite sharing some MMO-like features such as persistent zones and group play. In homage of the original series, Cryptic is also developing a set of tools—tentatively dubbed the "Forge" system—that will allow players to build their own adventures and share that user-generated content with others.

To help us understand the scope and direction of Neverwinter, ZAM got in touch with Cryptic this week and spoke with Emmert in a phone interview. We asked him to describe the co-op gameplay and "persistent" aspects in more detail, as well as the capability and function of the "Forge" system and user-generated content. In today's first installment of our two-part Neverwinter interview, we start with game mechanics. Does the system finally bring the real Dungeon Master experience to the realm of video games? Is the 4th edition D&D rule set a good thing in Neverwinter? How tactical will real-time, group combat be? Finally, in part two, Emmert explains why he's the right guy for this job and offers a frank response to some of the criticism he's received in recent interviews after talking about Cryptic's previous two MMOs, Champions Online and Star Trek Online. Sit back, relax and read today's first installment after the jump. Keep an eye out for the second part of our Neverwinter Q&A later this weekend!

The rumors have been churning ever since Atari scooped up Cryptic back in late 2008, and we’re finally seeing what all the hub-bub was about. That’s right folks, Cryptic Studios will be developing an MMO (or pseudo MMO) for the single most popular Dungeons and Dragons setting of all time: the Forgotten Realms. The game will be called Neverwinter and will apparently have a focus on co-op missions and player generated content.

With those simple statement, questions will quickly begin popping up all across the Internet, especially with some of the tidbits leaked out in the game’s official press release.