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

Jo Bartlett has been named as the new head of UK communications at Nintendo. She fills the role left by Rob Saunders who left Nintendo for Apple earlier this year, as exclusively revealed by MCV. Bartlett will work alongside existing team members Lewis Digby and EmilyWoolliscroftand will oversee all press …

Smartphone app allows players to browse, control and purchase Xbox media

The government has admitted the way schools teach computing is flawed – now the UKIE-backed Next Gen Skills campaign wants games firms to help change the National Curriculum. Earlier this week, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)?published a response to the Livingstone-Hope Next Gen report, which criticised how …

Popular Rosemary Buahin has returned to Sony Computer Entertainment UK as head of trade marketing. She rejoins after a three-year term at Warner Bros. Interactive. Previously, she was trade marketing manager at Sony for four and a half years. She now reports directly to Alan Duncan, SCE UK marketing director.Duncan …

US giant GameStop is already making waves in the UK with its local estore after a hugely successful day of Black Friday deals. The online specialist kicked off its day of promotions by selling Uncharted 3 for 22.97, which caused the site to crash almost immediately. But the firm managed …

Retailer GAME will exclusively sell the Star Wars: The Old Republic Collector’s Edition. The PC?MMO’s 129.99?special SKU includes a statue, map, metal case, journal, soundtrack CD and extra in-game content. Although EA previously listed GAME, Gamestation, Amazon, Play.com, Zavvi and ShopTo online as retailers stocking the Collector’s Edition, the listings …

Just how far can EA push the freemium model on smartphones? Last week MCV revealed that the publisher had released a new version of Tetris on iOS that offered the option of subscribing to the game for extra perks and content. Now AOL reports that a new version of RTS …

New Sydney studio plans to release iOS title next year

Microsoft has confirmed that streaming movie service LoveFilm will arrive on Xbox 360 tomorrow alongside the rollout of the console’s new firmware and dashboard design. LoveFilm has been available on PS3 for some time. In the US the new service will be joined by a number of others, too, such …

More gloom for struggling publisher