Publishing

Black Ops tipped for Xmas No.1

Bookmaker Paddy Power has opened the betting on the race to be the UK’s official Christmas No.1 video game, and the early favourite is perhaps not surprisingly Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops. The company is currently offering odds of 1/6 on the game. So far it has only released …

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Microsoft offers Kinect as Christmas Quiz prize

Members of the winning team at the MCV/Xbox 360 Christmas Quiz will each receive the most talked about new product of the year, Kinect. They’ll also receive an Xbox 360 to use it with and a copy of Kinect Adventures to get them started. The quiz takes place at London’s …

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Fans flock to GAMEs Black Ops launch

As well as the celebrity-driven official Call of Duty: Black Ops launch party at Battersea Power Station last night, UK retailer GAME held the official retail launch gathering at its Oxford Street store in central London. Around 300 Call of Duty fans were at hand to be the first to …

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Black Ops is Asdas biggest launch

Asda has declared Call of Duty: Black Ops will be its biggest games launch of all time. The supermarket claims it has an unprecedented level of stock for the imminent FPS, which it says far outstrips that of any previously released video game. We are putting more stock into store …

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Ballmer sells $1.3bn of MS shares

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has sold $1.3 billion of shares in the firm, a move he says should not be construed as a lack of faith in the software giant. Ballmer claims the move, which is his first sale of Microsoft stock in seven years, is about diversifying his …

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INTERVIEW: Harmonix

When you step into Harmonix’s Cambridge, Massachusetts offices, it’s immediately clear this is no ordinary developer. The staff look more like rock star musicians than developers. The shelves lining the lobby strain with the weight of numerous gaming awards, too many to count or list here. Like the music game …

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Write off ‘light’ gaming at your peril

Just because the delivery mechanism to something like iPhone and other download devices is easy does not mean the games it offers are light, shallow experiences. This is something the core games industry still hasn’t got its head around, despite the casual bubble of recent years. The devotion given to …

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Retail braces itself for no sleep week

High Street retail is expecting astronomical sales during what some stores have dubbed ‘no sleep week.’ Over the next seven days, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops and Microsoft’s Kinect will reach shelves, with some outlets planning to open round the clock. And leading figures in the trade have speculated …

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