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

Blockbuster UK is the latest games retailer to back free specialist games magazine Gamereactor UK. As of this month, the publication will be available for free to customers in the entertainment retailer’s 126 stores, adding to the 455 outlets Gamereactor is already stocked in. Other retailers include GAME and Currys/PC …

British playwright Lucy Prebble will write a monthly games column in a new publication by The Observer. Prebble, best known for plays Enron, The Effect and TV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl, will feature in the paper’s new tech magazine. Named Observer Tech Monthly, it will feature games …

Videogamer has smashed its traffic records last month thanks to major new editorial changes. The firm has ditched long reviews, instead focusing on shorter 300-word pieces, alongside in-depth features. It has also ramped up its video output. Since February, its YouTube subscribers have risen from 4,000 to 71,000. Return visits …

PlayStation has landed itself another tasty-looking indie exclusive in the form of Visiontrick media’s Pavilion. The studio has confirmed a PS4 and Vita release for the game in spring 2014. Pavilion is a fourth person exploratory experience about guidance, influence and subliminal control,” according to the official blurb. Manipulate the …

And to think you thought the movie game tie-in as dead! Gameloft has announced that Despicable Me: Minion Rush, its iOS and Android game tie-in with recent movie release Despicable Me 2, has been downloaded over 100 million times in under three months. We’ve been lucky to work with such …

EA’s recommended PC system requirements for Battlefield 4 contain one particularly interesting demand. The minimum requirements are reasonably generous, needing Windows Vista SP2 32-Bit, either an AMD Athlon X2 2.8GHz or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 4GB of RAM, 512GB of video RAM and either an AMD Radeon HD 3870 …

The PS4 will not have the performance advantage over Xbox One that many people seem to believe. That’s according to Xbox strategy boss Albert Penello, who has taken to NeoGaf to correct what he calls some of the mis-information” that has been poste don the internet. Here are his technical …

Activision-Blizzard has asked a lobbying group to tackle a Senate bill that calls on Congress to investigate the effects of violent video games on children. The Violent Content Research Act was first introduced by West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller in December of last year, and called for the national academy …

Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain director takes the lead when it comes to creative risks

Business and media conference, 'game Antiques Roadshow', industry speakers and more set for Nottingham event