MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The video games market in the US is growing at a far greater pace than the wider economy, and is adding ‘real growth’ to the US economy, The Entertainment Software Association reports, according to Next-Gen . Stephen E. Siwek’s ‘Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the US …
Read More »Striking Hollywood writers to turn to games?
US movie journal Variety has predicted that cinema and TV writers striking in the US over royalty payouts may soon turn to scripting video games. Members of the Writer’s Guild Of America union have been on strike for four weeks over the amount of money they receive from DVD sales …
Read More »Microsoft ups 360 back-compat support
Some has suspected that in the light of the upcoming Xbox Originals service on Xbox Live, Microsoft’s support of its ongoing backwards compatibility efforts on 360 might wane – but next month’s ‘Fall Update’ will bring with it a renewed roster of compatible Xbox games. Newly-functioning titles will include FIFA …
Read More »US: Wii and DS sales surge
Leading platform holder Nintendo is celebrating success on two fronts after announcing that both its home console the Wii and its portable machine the DS have racked up huge sales over the Thanksgiving weekend and through the month of November as a whole. The Wii sold 350,000 units throughout Thanksgiving …
Read More »Blu-Ray bossing European hi-def market
Whist it remains too early to predict if one format will emerge victorious in the ongoing battle to capture the hi-def disc format crown, Sony’s Blu-Ray standard appears to be winning the European war, having recently broken the one million unit sales barrier. This number represents just under 75 per …
Read More »Zelnick: Take 2 is in growth mode
Despite the recent troubles that have seen a management reshuffle and a European ban for its controversial stealth sequel Manhunt 2, chairman Strauss Zelnick has insisted that he has no intention of selling the publisher, and instead expects it to grow going forwards. "I’m much more interested in growing the …
Read More »DS demos arrive on Wii
A new channel, dubbed Everybody’s Nintendo, has arrived on the platform holder’s Japanese Wii network allowing console owners to download DS demos and game footage from Wii titles, CVG reports. In much the same way as DS downloads game information for multiplayer gaming, the demos remain accessible on a user’s …
Read More »Kutaragi wins Lifetime Achievement award
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences is to award its prestigious Lifetime Achievement award to the ‘Father of PlayStation’, Ken Kutaragi, at next February’s D.I.C.E. summit , Gamespot reports. Kutaragi will be only the third ever person to receive the accolade, following in the footsteps of Nintendo’s Howard Lincoln …
Read More »Gender differences in gaming
One of the things we try to do is carry out research from the perspective of the player. In one of our more recent studies we did a very in-depth survey of about 400 gamers and examined the structural characteristics of gaming. The main variables we examined were sound, graphics, …
Read More »Mystery Shopper
GAME A double thumbs-up to the knowledgeable, friendly staff in GAME, who helped MCV around the store to discuss the merits of each platform and title. Ubisoft will be pleased to hear that Assassins Creed had been ‘selling like crazy’, alongside fellow new release Super Mario Galaxy – which was …
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