A former employee who recently left Firesky has told MMORPG.com that the company has until Aug. 1 to raise capital for Stargate Worlds or MGM is pulling the plug. Oddly enough, the article indicates a group of doctors is considering an $8 million investment in Firesky, but the anonymous source doesn't believe it's going to happen.

Shane Hensley, the director of new business development for Firesky, confirmed they're talking to investors, including the doctors. He also denied the license was about to be pulled. "MGM certainly isn't thrilled with our current situation, but neither do we have any specific indication they're pulling the license on any particular date," he said.

Firesky has had financial woes for about a year, and according to MMORPG.com's sources, "there is only one member of the client team and one member of the server team still at work on the game."

The team over at Cheyenne Mountain has posted three new Stargate Worlds screenshots on the game's official Web site. The shots show a "Praxis commando fighting his way through the treacherous Sewer Falls district on Lucia and exploring Dakara."

There's also a fourth screenshot of a Distortion suit-wearing Praxis commando on the planet Agnos, which is a teaser for a set of shots we'll be seeing in the future.

You can view the new images in our screenshots gallery.

Monday may be just around the corner, but you can still check out all of the exclusive features and noteworthy news articles that have been posted on ZAM this past week. You can find more links after the jump.

ZAM features

The Endless Forest: Oh Deer: Is The Endless Forest a relaxing experience or just lacking content? Sam "azerian" Maxted investigates.

We Dream of Genie: The newest update to Perfect World International includes genies, and we talked with Product Manager Jonathan Belliss to get all the details.

Gunz Online: Fast, Intense and... What Else?: Christopher "Pwyff" Tom checked out this MMORPG/FPS hybrid to see if the game is packed with anything besides adrenaline. Pwyff wasn't too impressed. Find out why in his editorial.

MapleStory: Still Worth Playing?: MapleStory just celebrated its fourth anniversary, so azerian decided to venture into the game's virtual world to see what's changed over the years.

Rub Our Exclusive Media Lamp: We got an exclusive look at the genies introduced in the newest Perfect World International update. Check out the screenshots to see what they look like.

According to Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment Studio Head Dan Elggrens' personal family blog, he is leaving Stargate Worlds and heading to Gazillion Entertainment, the company that owns NetDevil and plans to bring Marvel MMOs to life, on June 1. The blog entry was posted in a thread on the Stargate Worlds message board.

"The last 8-9 months have been really rough at Dan's work and we've been trying so hard to make it work. Over 100 employees have left since October, so Dan felt he was as loyal as he possibly could be considering that he was basically volunteering for work and not getting paid!" the blog post stated.

CME responded on the forums: "While we are saddened by Dan’s departure, we believe that Stargate Worlds will benefit from this unforeseen change. Dan’s guidance has been crucial to getting Stargate Worlds to this point, but we believe fresh eyes may find ways to improve the game moving forward. We wish to express our appreciation to Dan for all he has done for our company and wish him the best of success in his new endeavors. Dan will be transitioning his responsibilities to Rod Nakamoto, senior vice president of product development, over the next week."

What does this mean for Stargate Worlds, a game that has been strapped with financial woes? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, you can check out four new screenshots that were just released of interior and exterior environments on the planet Menfa.

Source: Ten Ton Hammer

As always, we'd like to share with you our ZAM features and noteworthy news stories of the week in case you missed any of them. All of the links can be found below and after the jump, including a story on PETA's decision to protest the slaughter of seals through a World of Warcraft event that generated a lot of discussion in our forums.

ZAM Features

A History of Competitive WoW: Part I: Editor Christopher "Pwyff" Tom begins to delve into the history of World of Warcraft as an eSport. Find out when and how PvP became a sponsored event that made players take notice.

League of Legends Interview: Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle sits down with Tom Cadwell, the director of systems design for League of Legends, to discuss the game, which is modeled around a Warcraft III mod.

Killer N.I.C. - Worth the Price?: We spoke with Harlan Beverly, co-founder of Bigfoot Networks, about the next generation of Killer cards. You can even watch a World of Warcraft jump delay demonstration video to see exactly how Killer can affect your machine.

Exploring Ether Saga Online: We interview Product Manager Craig Beers to find out what's going on with the upcoming Ether Saga Online MMO. The game is currently in open beta.

Stargate Worlds developer Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment has issued a statement saying work is continuing on the project, after the show's Executive Producer was less than complimentary about their efforts in an interview with GateWorld. The statement says that the Stargate Worlds is still in production and that negotiations are ongoing to secure the funding needed to finish the game.

The Stargate Worlds team has posted two new screenshots of a Soldier wearing Tier 4 Ablative Armor armed with the Tier 5 PVK Advanced Sub-Machine Gun. This gun has never been seen in public, so check them out to see both the weapon and the top secret Omega Site Ruins.

The shots also showcase the ambient light effects the team is implementing in the game. You can discuss your thoughts on the screenshots either in our comments section below or in this thread on the site's official forums.

If you're a Stargate fan with some extra holiday money to spend, you can check out the new Stargate Worlds store at CafePress.

We have opened up the official Stargate Worlds store! In the store, you will find everything from clothing and sweatshirts to hats and stickers. The products contain both the Stargate World's official logo, as well as new custom designs made by us for you!

Of course, this announcement comes in the midst of Cheyenne Mountain's financial woes. A Web site is counting the days since Cheyenne Mountain employees have allegedly been paid, and it currently sits at 39 days.

The economic crisis is affecting affecting people throughout the world, and the gaming industry is no different. In fact, a Web site is counting the days since Cheyenne Mountain employees have allegedly been paid. Currently, the number sits at 22 days.

Gamasutra approached Cheyenne Mountain's Kevin Balentine and he confirmed the company is facing cash flow challenges.

Meanwhile, though, Balentine claims that Stargate Worlds is still moving forward. "We recently completed a successful phase of closed beta testing and we will start a second phase early in 2009," he notes, calling the community thus far "fantastic."

Read the full Gamasutra article here.

The Stargate Worlds team has added a new component to their beta selection process. Basically, they need to know about your computer and its system specifications.

Stargate Worlds, like all games, has system standards that affect the playability of the game. Throughout upcoming beta phases we will be using your computer information to make decisions regarding your beta testing application.

So if you want to be considered for the beta, head over to the registration page and update your account as soon as possible. More information on the application alteration can be found here or after the jump.