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

UK shops are reporting a sharp increase in 3DS sales. Sources on the High Street have told MCV that the Metallic Red edition is all but sold out, with other colours also in short supply. It follows a surge in popularity for the machine, driven by two new Mario games …

Square Enix to use tech for PS Vita and PS3 project

Retailer Gamestation has this morning begun advertising an incredible discount on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The chain will slash the price of the popular RPG to just 22.49 on Xbox 360 and PS3. The PC version will be cut to 19.99. It’s unusual for such an aggressive discount to be …

An invite-only beta for Microsoft’s new flight sim series, Microsoft Flight, will commence in January. TheMicrosoft Flightlaunch sequence has begun,” the game’s registration page wrote. We’re thrilled to announce that theMicrosoft FlightBeta is scheduled to kick-off in January 2012 and we arenow accepting applications to participate in the beta program. …

It’s such a bizarre combination that it might just work – RPG specialist Obsidian is working on a new console RPG based on the cult Canadian South Park IP. The game is being developed in collaboration with THQ and South Park Digital Studios and is due for release in late …

Microsoft announced that the Xbox update which will enable voice commands as well as TV App functionality is available today. The new spread of customisable TV applications coming for Xbox in the coming months will be ABC iView, SBS ON DEMAND, YouTube, Daily Motion, Crackle, and various news and sports …

Indie and mobile games publisher Zoo Entertainmenthas been delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange after not honouring a 45-day warning. In September, the stock exchange notified Zoo that it no longer met qualifications for listing, as Nasdaq-listed firms require a minimum of $2.5 million in stockholder equity. The warning came …

As many as 100 staff at independent studio Day 1 have been made redundant, an alleged source close to the matter has said. The Chicago studio is claimed to have axed a significant portion of its workforce after a project funded by Japanese publisher Konami fell through. But a purported …

Mark Pincus, the chief executive of social games giant Zynga, has begun pitching his company to key investors in preparation for its upcoming IPO. VentureBeat reports that Zynga’s IPO will value the company for between $8bn and $9bn – slightly less than the already down-sized $10bn valuation touted last week. …

Danish toy giant LEGO has announced possible plans to release an official toy line based on Minecraft. The possibility cam about when users were given the opportunity to vote for the tie-up on LEGO’s Cuusoo website, where the public are invited to vote on pitches for new ideas submitted by …