Game industry business news

The Media Development Agency of Singapore will implement video games age classification for the first time in its history later this month. The new ratings include two new symbols – one designating ‘Mature 18′ and one with an ‘Age Advisory’ logo. Games that don’t come under either will continue to …

Strong sales of consumer electronics drove growth in Tesco’s non-food operations for FY 2007-2008, helping the group’s total sales reach 51.8 billion – an increase of 11.1 per cent over the 2006/7’s figures. It saw UK non-food sales rise 8.7 per cent on the same period last year, reaching 8.3 …

The British Board of Film Classification has given its first interview on its battle to get Rockstar’s Manhunt 2 banned – and told MCV that the High Court case that saw the game released has actually ‘benefited’ the ratings body. Speaking as part of an exclusive interview with MCV, BBFC …

Has the whole Manhunt 2 experience changed the way the BBFC works – in terms of culture or processes? Not fundamentally. The reason for that is obviously we thought it was the right decision, or we won’t have reached it. Fundamentally, we reach decisions on merit – not political consideration. …

Nintendo of America has given an official price to Wii Fit statesite – and US consumers will pay $89.99 for the title and balance board. The title is due for released in North American on May 19th, the Wii Fit package will cost $89.99, Nintendo of America announced Tuesday. According …

GTA creator and CEO of Realtime Worlds explains plans to spend $50m investment and says new MMO APB will launch in 2009

Nintendo might have enjoyed fanfare this week as it unveiled the Wii’s new ability to handle BBC iPlayer , but it looks as though the application will soon be made available on PlayStation 3 as well. The head of BBC digital media technology, Anthony Rose, has confirmed on his official …

Ray Maguire: What you were asked to do, you’ve delivered on. But actually we have something that’s not the best system in the first place that we couldn’t sort out in the European territory. So to have a system where we’ve kind of got one bit with another and ticked …

Supermarket giant Tesco will introduce games to its new entertainment media download service, Tesco Digital. The portal will launch next month, and will offer 3.3 million songs to consumers from day one. According to Brand Republic, the site is all part of Tesco’s plan to take on Apple. The site …

Ubisoft has added another studio to its large and growing global development empire, having agreed to buy Gameloft’s Pune, India-based studio. Opened at the end of 2006, the studio employs 120 developers and testers. At first they will initially port titles to handheld consoles and support Ubisoft’s other testing teams. …