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

Following the phenomenal success of Nintendo DS was always going to be a tall order. The handheld has sold 13m units in the UK alone since its 2004 debut, making it the largest-selling games machine to hit the market. One year ago this coming Sunday (March 25th), Nintendo’s answer to …

Choice is down to the developer, publisher claims

Digital downloads now represent more than half of all PC games sold in the UK and the US. Sony DADC, which powers the download services of over 25 retailers and publishers like Metaboli and EA, says this figure will only rise. The firm’s Matthew Hatton, who looks after sales for …

UK games industry trade body UKIE wants to cover 100 per cent of the digital market with its charts. The first ever PC download chart was issued earlier this month, with EA’s Star Wars: The Old Republic crowned No.1 for January. The data is compiled directly from publishers and currently …

Activision’s action sequel Prototype 2 will be promoted during a Champions League semi-final football match next month. It’s part of a three-week TV campaign including 30-second and 20-second adverts running on a variety of channels. The first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals will take place on April 17th …

Rovio returns to App Store summit

Tesco has appointed Nick Cooke as the supermarket’s new head of games. He replaces former games boss Sarah Kaye who has left the retail giant for family reasons. Cooke (pictured) has been at Tesco for six years and has held several buying and commercial roles within the company’s toys category, …

GameStop exec says a market without second-hand sales is 'unproven'

Resident Evil’s mammoth year continues this week with Capcom’s Operation Raccoon City. The multiplayer-focused shooter is the second of three Resi titles arriving on shelves this week, with Resident Evil 6 to follow in November. Operation Raccoon City sees players attempting to contain the zombie hordes in fans’ favourite ruined …

Social games behemoth Zynga has indicated it may be working toward bringing their titles onto Xbox 360. In an interview with Giga OM, CEO Mark Pincus explained that Zynga is currently developing cloud support for its games across multiple devices, potentially including Xbox. "Right now we are building back-end technology, …