Game industry business news

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has gone on record to talk about why his company left the Entertainment Software Association in the US – and he’s put the blame on difficulties caused by the firm’s merger with Vivendi. Speaking to Variety’s Cut Scene blog, Kotick said that he viewed Activision’s retraction …

A video of a prototype for an Xbox 360 motion-sensing pad has been discovered on the official site of hardware developer Motus. However, it is not made clear whether Motus is planning to release the peripheral as a third-party product, or if Microsoft has done a deal with the company …

XNA Gamefest session points to branded stores for future titles

Coinciding with the launch of the new 3G iPhone, Apple will at 5pm today open the doors to its brand new on-demand iPhone Apps Store – with gaming leading the charge and offering great opportunities for developers. Apple claims that of the 500 applications expected to be available at launch, …

Giant publisher Electronic Arts has great expectations for its upcoming innovative title Spore, comparing its long term potential with the ever-popular Sims series. The DS, PC and Mac title, set for release on Friday September 5th, comes from the man behind The Sims, Will Wright, and gives players a similar …

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has said that this year’s E3 is ‘virtually useless’ for the retail and investor sectors it has previously served so well. Speaking to The Street.com, Pachter said: "The conference used to offer retail, media and investors an early look at games and an opportunity to speak …

Sales of DS titles are suffering due to the rise in popularity and availability of R4 ‘piracy’ Cards, MCV can reveal. The R4, along with similar devices such as the M3, N5 and TT, allow users to download games illegally and play them on a DS. And the cards can …

MCV has handily compiled a list of what you can expect at this year’s E3 – with a look at the games expected from each publisher. If you fancy taking a peek at what we think is around the corner, you can read part one of our exclusive feature here …

SEGA Given Sega’s impressive franchise base, we could see any number of retro revivals at E3. With new entries in the series including Golden Axe, Samba De Amigo and Sonic already confirmed, expect more info on those. Sega fans would love more House of the Dead, Streets of Rage and …

E3 2007. Let’s be honest, it lacked a certain something. A slimmed down bastard child of its former glorious excesses, last year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo may have provided the business networking opportunities its smaller number of attendees craved – but it was without the event’s hallmark abundance of euphoria. Gone …