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

Cult ‘80s retro gaming IP Dizzy is on the verge of a return to gaming. Codemasters’ communications director Rich Eddy has been dropping a number of hints on Twitter this morning, including: In days of old, when games were sold, not on console but on tape, there was a Prince, …

Publisher Activision has had to correct one of the stats it released following the huge success of Modern warfare 3. The company had claimed that the game set a new concurrent Xbox Live user record of 3.3m gamers.But in actual fact the 3.3m figure referred to the total number of …

Servers will shut off in December as active user numbers fall

A new Hitman title is currently in development for Xbox 360 and PS3, but it is now being rumoured that work on a brand new entry in the series for next-gen platforms is already underway. Publisher Square Enix yesterday announced the opening next year of a brand new development studio …

World's biggest social games company may have passed a pivotal test ahead of its IPO

A prominent indie developer has listed extensive criticisms of the BAFTA Game Awards and its organisers. Ste Pickford said the glitzy annual event ‘ghettoises’ the triumphs of small-scale independent work, and is too preoccupied with big-budget triple-A titles. He also claimed the Awards’ genre-based categories are pointless for celebrating the …

Ste Pickford calls for end to 'big-budget preferences'

The UK Government has amazingly admitted that it made no attempt to gather its own evidence when formulating its anti-piracy plans that were included in the controversial Digital Economy Bill. Instead, the decision to implement a three strikes” rule and demand that ISPs play a role in internet censorship was …

John Spinale departs for Disney's social games division

UK national newspaper The Sun has this morning given front page space to a story concerning a phishing scam that has affected Xbox Live users. It’s not a hack”, though the opening paragraph strategically uses the word to give that impression. What the paper is in fact referencing is a …