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

The Game of Thrones console and PC spin-off will be backed by ‘high-profile’ TV advertisements. And rightly so, because the game is the adaptation of a popular Sky Atlantic show. The action RPG – published by Focus Home Interactive and distributed to retail by Koch Media this June – will …

Amazon’s PC game download store has suffered a new delay, say publishers. The service is now expected to launch next year. MCV understands the service – which has been live in the US for some time – was originally due for a UK soft launch in April 2011. Publishers now …

Call of Duty Elite still needs to win over the customers it ‘pissed off’ last November, Activision says. The online service for the hit FPS IP was bombarded with traffic when it went live alongside Modern Warfare 3 last year, and subsequently failed to work. It took almost a month …

Hype surrounding 505 Games’ big summer shooter release Sniper Elite V2?is growing fast. The publisher has already reported strong demo download numbers and positive feedback from both press and consumers for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC game which arrives on May 4th. It’s a next-gen reboot of the 2005 …

Games retail might be tougher than ever but one independent retailer is flourishing. Mad 4 Gamez – which has stores in Hackney and Hornchurch – has just acquired supplier Universal Games Distribution and Portugal-based indie Extreme Gamer. I decided to buy Universal Games because all I think of is how …

Restricting sales of second-hand games 'would be awesome from a business perspective'

Imports of Xbox 360 hardware to the US could be blocked following a legal victory for Motorola. The BBC reports that a US International Trade Commission judge has ruled in favour of the firm, ruling that Microsoft has infringed four patents owned by Motorola Mobility relating to video compression and …

Quarterly economic activity falls by 0.2%

Guests and sponsors of this year’s MCV Awards have contributed over 4,000 to the games industry charity. The annual Gamesaid Tenner initiative saw monies raised via online and on the night from all corners of the business. Gamesaid is the industry charity, which shares out its funds at the end …

Mark Rein looks at the use of Unreal Engine 3 in the upcoming sequel