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

Sega has revealed release dates and pricing for its upcoming downloadable title Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown. The stand-alone 3D fighter will hit PSN on June 5th, with an XBLA launch taking place a day later on June 6th. Both versions will be priced at 14.99. Character customization DLC packs …

EA may be planning a Call of Duty Elite-style subscription service for Battlefield 3. Battlefieldoreports that an anonymous source has passed on details regarding ‘Battlefield Premium.’ The program is supposedly scheduled to launch June 4th. Players who sign-up will reportedly receive extra assignments, a premium knife, black dog tag, soldier …

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has surpassed 1m units sold globally since its launch, Microsoft has announced. The title has exploded out of the gates, hitting the figure in under a week and leaving all previous XBLA records in its wake. Microsoft’s Major Nelson also mentioned that 5.2m total hours have …

Zynga throws a wildcard in unconfirmed talent aquisition

'Fastest selling XBLA game ever', says Microsoft

Partnership with Wargaming.net seals operating rights in China for all current games

RealID partners with Epic to bring stereoscopic 3D to Unreal Engine

U.S. retailer offers credit codes for digital download service

'But maybe Sony Japan thinks different'

Zynga, the defining force in the free and social games boom, says that it is stealing a march on the traditional core and console games market. And its COO, John Schappert, should know – he was once a prominent exec at both Electronic Arts and Xbox Live. MCV quizzed him …