Publishing

MCV unveiled BBC Worldwide’s plans to re-establish the broadcaster’s games interests last week. Here, Michael French speaks to the firm’s children’s and licensing head Neil Ross Russell and multimedia development head Dave Anderson to find out more… It’s not often that companies in the games space get a second chance. …

Two days ahead of its North American release next Tuesday (Feb 9th), EA has confirmed that a 30 second TV ad will run during the fourth quarter of the region’s highest profile annual sports event – the Super Bowl. With an estimated reach of nearly 100m viewers, EA will be …

Wii and DS owners will soon be treated to video game versions of popular US quiz shows Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune thanks to a new deal between THQ and Sony Pictures. The agreement grants THQ the rights to publish titles based on the two IP on both of Nintendo’s …

It’s common knowledge that casual and social games markets continue to increase with importance – but that doesn’t mean the core games sector is under threat, one analyst has claimed. We reject the notion that competition from non-traditional video gaming formats such as the iPhone and social gaming have significantly …

Apple’s freshly revealed iPad has been given a warm welcome from Sony, who believes that the supersized iPod Touch can act as a gateway into the wider world of gaming. Apple’s entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony,” SCEA’s hardware marketing director John Koller …

Sources at Sony’s Liverpool, UK studio say that its head-count will ultimately be reduced by about half. The news comes after the format-holder confirmed last week that the development team was to be ‘restructured’ following project cancellations. At the weekend sources told Develop that as much as 50 per cent …

Mass Effect 2 is this week’s UK No.1 According to GfK Chart-Track data for the week ending January 30th, the PC/360 title was the best-selling game, knocking two-week champion Just Dance from the top. Mass Effect 2 had, according to EA, debuted with 2m units sold – the game has …

Publisher EA has confirmed that, according to internal estimates, Mass Effect 2 has already sold over 2m copies worldwide. It was released in the US on Tuesday and hit UK retail today. The game currently boasts a Metacritic average of 96 per cent, making it the second highest rated Xbox …

Games from Italian publisher Black Bean will be released in the UK via up-and-coming firm Tradewest, MCV can reveal. The new publisher label, founded by Martin Spiess following the collapse of Midway’s European operation, has been chosen to distribute Black Bean’s games in the UK and France. All of the …

The surviving elements of UK distributor Trilogy are soon to be rebranded as Gem Logistics. The move follows Gem’s acquisition of Trilogy back in December, and will allow the distributor to further develop both businesses. Trilogy founder and Gem Logistics’ general manager Matthew Allen revealed the imminent changes during an …