Publishing

Closed beta for Realtime Worlds' MMO is imminent

Wright, Houser, Vrabeck, Rigopolus, Garriott, Newell and others donate to presidential campaigns

Retail came in for strong criticism after a series of dramatic price cuts, as we reported last week (MCV 26/09). With Morrisons slashing 50 per cent off the price of EA’s Mercenaries 2 and Asda trimming The Force Unleashed to 30 a week after release, the industry has already voiced concerns …

Microsoft Game Studios has confirmed a raft of new talent hired to flesh out its internal Halo game development team. A statement from MGS head Phil Spencer confirms that another MGS (but this time Metal Gear Solid) name has joined the studio – in the form of former MGS4 assistant …

Movie studio Twentieth Century Fox has hired a new VP of new-media licensing to work and manage its game development staff and partners. Former senior VP of business development at THQ Gary Rosenfeld will be responsible for overseeing Fox’s portfolio of video game projects based on its properties. To read …

Oxygen is gearing up to launch its MyGames series, a new DS range aimed at the pre-teen market. Spearheaded by three titles this Q4, including My Make-Up, My Dress-Up and My Secret Diary, MyGames is set to run and run, according to the publisher. The titles have been designed specifically …

Nearly a year after EA first announced its Command & Conquer themed FPS Tiberium , the US publisher has confirmed that the project has been cancelled – and it seems that some of the developers working on the game face the prospect of losing their jobs. An official EA statement …

Respected US business publication Forbes has reported that core gamers are being nudged aside” by the industry. In a piece entitled Requiem For The Hardcore, Forbes’ Chris Morris writes that ‘publishers began to realise they didn’t need hardcore buzz’ in 2002, when The Sims surpassed Myst to become the biggest-selling …

You’ve reported a successful first year. What has been the biggest challenge during the re-brand? The first challenge was the speed in which we had to re-brand the business. We did about 112 stores in a two-and-a-half week period. But what has perhaps been the biggest challenge is taking over …

Microsoft has claimed that UK Xbox 360 sales increased by 214 per cent since after it dropped the price of the console last week – outselling PS3 by two-to-one. The firm has pointed at both the dip in SRP and a huge, megabucks marketing campaign, highlighting the mainstream-friendly aspects of …