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

Over one-in-ten stores are now standing empty on UK High Streets, the British Retail Consortium has claimed. The organisation’s latest survey pegs national vacancy rates at 11.3 per cent. That’s up 0.4 per cent month-on-month and is the highest rate since the BRC started compiling the data in July 2011. …

Mind Candy has put pen to paper on a deal which will see Moshi Monsters toys placed in Happy Meals in McDonalds’ North American restaurants over Christmas. Lasting for four weeks between December 14th to January 10th, the promotion will offer kids one of eight Moshi characters, including a new …

OpenFeint, the first real equivalent of Xbox Live on smartphone, is to be closed on December 14th. The service was the first to allow iOS gamers to hook up with friends, compare scores and earn trophies. It may have since been arguably surpassed by Apple’s own Game Center, but OpenFeint …

DisneyUTV Digital has tied up with EA Mobile to exclusively distribute its games across phone carrier networks and OEMs in India. Disney takes over EA Mobile’s distribution, which primarily focuses on feature phone games, from Nazara Technologies. The distribution deal also extends to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.Nazara will continue to …

Moshi Monsters brand to rock fast food chain this holiday

Dundee studio to scale up and launch new games after cash injection

After a six-year hiatus, Agent 47 returns tonight with Hitman: Absolution midnight launches in Mumbai and Delhi. The Mumbai launch will take place at Games the Shop’s Oberoi Mall store in Malad, while in Delhi, Landmark at Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj will also have the game on sale at …

A member of video games forum NeoGaf appears to have found an OS loophole that grants access to Wii U’s debug menu. The ‘hack’ is no longer available though after Nintendo seemed to quickly issue a fix. Forum user Trike claimed that he was able to access one of the …

Developer praises Nintendoâ??s 'indie-friendly' estore

The boss of Toys R Us in the US has told consumers that they should be mindful of the possible environmental impact of online shopping. It’s very ungreen,” Toys R Us chief executive Jerry Storch told the Financial Times. [People are] just so enraptured with how cool it is that …