MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Let’s see a show of hands: how many of you wanted to play video games professionally when you were young? I can’t actually see you raising your hands, but I’m betting there’s a lot of you. Many have gone on to play games professionally as the field has become more …
Read More »The battle for Mount Olympus: Armada’s hold on the throne of the five gods
These days, Adam "Armada" Lindgren is constantly locked in a non-stop, back-and-forth battle for the most important title in professional Super Smash Bros. Melee. Every tournament he attends, the pressure is on him to beat every other top player in attendance and keep his crown. Armada is the best Melee …
Read More »Massan and the Viewbotting Witch Hunt
Harry ”MaSsan” Cheong’s split from Cloud9 is only the latest development in the Hearthstone streamer’s saga of Twitch bans and viewbotting allegations. Twitch and C9 have been tight-lipped throughout the drama, while Reddit sleuths and competing streamers have fed a frenzy of accusations and speculation. In the faint hope of …
Read More »Mario content coming to Minecraft: Wii U Edition
Nintendo will next week launch an official Mario-themed content pack for the Wii U version of Minecraft. The free download includes a pre-made Mario world full of the company’s recognisable characters. There will also be themed music and textures based on titles such as Super Mario World, Mario 64 and …
Read More »Let’s chat about Let’s Plays
Since the platform launched, YouTube has become a major force within the games industry. Millions of people spend billions of hours watching their favourite personalities do Let’s Plays – videos of them playing games. This content has become influential and the opinions of these people are held in high regard …
Read More »History Lesson: The story of Wipeout
Like many great ideas, Wipeout began at the pub. Developer Nick Burcombe was drinking with Jim Bowers, his colleague from Liverpool-based studio Psygnosis, at Oxton’s The Shrewsbury Arms. A dev kit for Sony’s first PlayStation console had recently arrived at the office, and the duo was trying to think about …
Read More »PayPal removes purchase protection for crowdfunding campaigns
The crowdfunding gamble has just got a little riskier with news that online payment giant PayPal will no longer offer payment protection on money pledged to crowdfunding campaigns. PayPal’s customer protection is typically pretty robust and has for some been seen as a much-needed failsafe should a Kickstarter go belly-up, …
Read More »Opinion: Square Enix Collective’s Phil Elliott on pitching to publishers and investors
By now, we all know the importance of the indie development community to the future health of the videogames industry. It’s undeniable and the funding routes offered by crowdfunding, plus a range of distribution platforms means – in theory – that anybody, (almost) anywhere can make a game and sell …
Read More »Battlefield 1 trailer is the most ‘liked’ ever, Infinite Warfare the most disliked
Two of this year’s biggest Q4 FPS releases are experiencing very different fortunes on YouTube. As reported last week, Activision’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare has found itself subject to some sort of hate campaign on the video site. Since last week the game’s first trailer it has now gone …
Read More »Rollercoaster Tycoon vs Planet Coaster vs Parkitect
When 2013’s SimCity came out, it was broken. It didn’t work. The servers fell over and the critics and fans did what they do when a game doesn’t work: they crucified it. Even when the game did get up-and-running, eventually, there were a few dissatisfied customers. The game’s developer had …
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