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

Apple has seemingly conquered the hearts and minds of US consumers this Christmas ahead of the games industry. A new survey by Nielsen found that 44 per cent of kids aged between six and 12 years old put an iPad at the top of their Christmas wish list. That was …

Ancient swords, muscle cars, magic LEGO, Olympian hedgehogs, Racoon-suited plumbers and 5ft purple dildo bats – there’s something for everyone. As we reported yesterday, it’s a blockbuster week for new releases with fresh hits from Nintendo, THQ, EA, Warner Bros, Ubisoft, Sega and Capcom. THQ caters to the core gamers …

A new World War II shooter Enemy Front will hit shelves next year, publisher City Interactive has announced. It’s City’s first game from veteran games designer Stuart Black since he joined earlier this year after leaving Codemasters. The FPS will be developed for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC using Crytek’s …

This week sees the release of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, the fourth full game in the series which has already gone on to beat the previous games in volumes of pre-orders. This week we’re going to look at the Creed brand using the GameVision Brand Map you can purchase from …

Pincus's company spent $5 million on two unnamed companies

Publishing group Sega has acquired Californian indie studio Three Rings, the developer has announced. Today brings to a close a ten year journey as an independent developer, and opens a new chapter for the studio as a part of the Sega family,” said co-founder and CEO Daniel James.As many of …

The growth of the digital games market may typically be seen as the biggest threat to retail, but is the cramped Q4 release schedule in reality a bigger burden? Speaking to investors following its Q3 financial report yesterday, GameStop president Tony Bartel highlighted the major role the chain has played …

Xbox execs around the world were celebrating this week as Microsoft’s console reached its tenth birthday. Tuesday (November 15th) marked the anniversary of the device’s roll-out in the USA.Although technically the UK birthday is in March 2012, Microsoft has been toasting the console’s event-packed life.Tuesday was also the launch of …

Online entertainment retailers are preparing to leave the Channel Islands after the UK Government said it will close the VAT loophole next April. MCV understands online retail behemoths may move to Asia, Switzerland and even the US to avoid paying tax on CDs, DVDs and some games. For years, campaigners …

Call of Duty triggered its customary retail surge, but the games that dared go up against it were also victorious. Last week was the UK games market’s biggest week ever in terms of revenues, bringing in 120.8m.More than 3m games were sold. While Modern Warfare 3 accounted for most, GfK …