Game industry business news

Publisher THQ has announced that it will release its licensed kids title Rio on April 12th in the US. That’s just three days before the release of the film at US cinemas. A UK release date for the game has not yet been confirmed, though with the film hitting UK …

Vietnam has moved to block gamers from playing online at night. The country’s Ministry of Information and Communication has asked internet service providers to block access to online games after 10pm, according to Vietnam News. The initiative is to counter potentially harmful side effects from playing these titles. Provincial departments …

UK games industry charity GamesAid has announced an Industry Darts Night which will take place on Wednesday March 9th at The Horseshoe, 24 Clerkenwell Close (London EC1R 0AG). The organisation emphasises that "experience and skill are not a pre-requisite" though suitable darts attire – namely ill-fitting polyester – is recommended. …

GAME has released a list of 71 stores that will be opening their doors at midnight tonight (Thursday February 24th) for the release of Killzone 3. Most will open their doors around 23:45 and will close around an hour later, though exact times are to be decided at the discretion …

FarmVille creators Zynga have settled out of court after being sued by online game developer Digital Chocolate. The latter claimed Zynga’s popular 2008 Facebook title Mafia Wars infringed on copyright of its own 2004 mobile game of the same name, according to The Recorder. Terms of the settlement have not …

505 Games is enjoying something of a surprise hit with Zumba Fitness, the keep-fit game for Kinect that is outperforming expectations – as well as some big rival products. On Xbox 360 the title has shifted over 35,000 units to date and has increased its sell-through every week since release. …

Activisionâ??s remaining UK studio yet to reach final agreement on its future

David Braben on ownership, theft, freedom of speech and the outsiders

13th Skull arrives in stores tomorrow and Focus Multimedia is confident it’ll be the biggest casual game of 2011. It’s the seventh instalment in the publisher’s Mystery Case Files franchise which is the best-selling hidden object series of all time. Players must search for clues and interview locals to progress …

EA has announced that the first premium DLC for survival horror hit Dead Space 2 will be released in Europe on March 2nd. It will cost 5.49 on PSN or 560 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live. Called Dead Space 2: Severed, the download tells the story of Dead Space Extraction …