MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry

Ex-employees of veteran UK games studio Rare have come together to form a new developer, Playtonic Games. The new team is comprised of six artists, programmers and designers, all of who have worked on multiple classic Rare titles, such as the Donkey Kong Country and Banjo Kazooie franchises. "We’ve got …

Animin has signed a distribution deal with leading gift-card distributors InComm Europe. The firm will distribute Animin gamecards across selected retailers over the coming year. The gamecards are integral to Animin’s gameplay, triggering the 3D animated Animin characters and minigames that come to life on a desktop. "Animin is an …

The identity of Ubisoft’s completed but unreleased Wii U game has apparently been revealed. NintendoWorldReport says that Unseen64 has named the title as Know Your Friends. Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot admitted last year that the publisher had a completed game ready to go for Wii U, but that it was …

‘You put us in a really uncomfortable position’

New indie studio teases spiritual successor to Banjo Kazooie

Not shy of reinvention, Atari is taking one of its classic arcade IPs and doing something different. Very different. Asteroids shot to fame when it hit arcades in 1979 as a 2D vector arcade shooter. Asteroids: Outpost, however, is looking to capitalise on the recent trend for survival games set …

Having overseen Newcastle-based studio Reflections as general manager for 19 years, Giselle Stewart is now leading Ubisoft’s corporate affairs in the UK. In her roles as director of trade body TIGA, chair of the Creative Skillset Council for Video Games and an Advisory Board member for Next Gen Skills AcademyStewartplays …

Riot Games and Oculus investors back US studio

Valve has requested developers with games listed on Steam Greenlight to cease the practice of trading game keys for votes. IGN reports on Steam’s message sent to participating devs, which points out how these votes skew the true customer interest in the Greenlight submission. "We do not think these votes …

Surgeon Simulator developer Bossa Studios has unveiled its atmospheric open-world adventure game, Worlds Adrift. Bossa made news earlier this month, when its debut title Surgeon Simulator reached 2m sales. The team – which is also in the midst of developing its Steam Early Access release and upcoming mobile effort I …