Retail

Some of the UK’s largest retailers face a potentially damaging Government crackdown on the sale of VAT-free entertainment goods shipped through the Channel Islands. Online divisions of HMV, Tesco, WH Smith, Asda, Argos, Amazon, Play.com and Woolworths.co.uk currently dodge millions of pounds of tax on CDs, DVDs and games that …

With whispers of imminent console price cuts rife, a US analyst has predicted these will be insufficient to drive hardware sales. Doug Creutz, an analyst at Cowan and Company, attributed this to economic pressures, believing consumers will still be reluctant to purchase a new console if the format holders lower …

Asda’s market share has risen over the last three months, thanks to price cuts attracting more customers. Data from TNS Till Roll shows that the supermarket’s market share rose from 16.7 per cent to 17 per cent in the 12 weeks ending July 12th, according to The Retail Bulletin. Like-for-like …

The North American video games hardware market continued its value freefall in July, but Microsoft’s Xbox 360 managed to mirror its ongoing success in the UK to post year-on-year sales increases. The overall hardware market declined by 37 per cent year-on-year according to NPD’s latest numbers, but Xbox 360 saw …

Firebrand Games has announced it is currently developing a Wii version of long-running racing series TrackMania. The developer behind the successful DS editions of TrackMania and Race Driver GRID will be showing the game at Gamescom next week in the hopes of attracting a publisher, according to Eurogamer. Studio boss …

GoldenEye designer and Free Radical founder David Doak has returned to games development via a new studio making Facebook games, Develop understands. The new firm has emerged following the late 2008 collapse of TimeSplitters dev Free Radical. Develop understands that two of the four original founders of Free Radical, David …

Namco Bandai has announced that Tekken 6 will hit UK shelves on Friday October 30th. The publisher has also priced its upcoming Arcade Stick and Collector’s edition packs. The Arcade Stick set, which includes a 100-page art book, copy of the game and a specially-designed wireless Hori fighting stick, will …

Publisher D3p has announced that Shaun the Sheep: Off His Head is set to arrive on DS this autumn. The game is the follow-up to last year’s original, and once again features all the characters from the popular Aardman Animation, including Shaun, Timmy, Shirley, Bitzer, as they attempt to rescue …

GameStop has hired Chris Petrovic as general manager of digital media. In his new role, Petrovic is tasked with driving digital sales and overseeing the growth and acquisition of digital platforms. As the digital world of gaming and entertainment evolves, GameStop is well positioned to do what it does best …

Co-founder of The Pirate Bay, Peter Sunde, has announced via his blog that he is to leave the file-sharing portal. Sunde has been the spokesperson for the website, and is currently facing a year in prison for infringing copyright – although this conviction is under appeal. The departure could allow …