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

Xbox has signed a six-figure sponsorship deal with Cartoon Network. Much like last year, the partnership will see Kinect for Xbox 360 featured across Cartoon Network’s platforms between now and April 2012, showcasing upcoming titles including Kinect Sports: Season Two, Kinect Disneyland Adventures and Kinect Star Wars. As part of …

As if hearing the call of indies bemoaning the rising trend in retail exclusives for the big chains, Tecmo Koei is releasing a limited edition that’s exclusive for indies. Independent stockists who order the turn-based strategy RPG Disgaea 4 on PS3, released last Firday (November 4th), will receive a collectable …

The App Store may have shaken the very foundations of the traditional games industry, but Apple isn’t blind to the growing competition it faces. The result, Brand Republic reports, is that the company is looking to hire a digital marketing team for Europe to lead the reinvigoration of its App …

Over 330,000 new DC Universe Online players in eight days since move from subscription model

We’re used to the absurd PR merry-go-round that is the betting for Christmas No.1, but even by those standards this is a bit odd. Paddy power has announced today that it is paying out on Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 being this year’s best-selling video game this Christmas. …

Valve’s Steam forums are currently offline, and users have accused a hacking group of being responsible. Eurogamer reports that the email from Steampowered.com was distributed to some users: "Ever wanted to dominate the servers you play on with guaranteed results, but you were too afraid to cheat because of ban …

New hires announced as tech approaches full release

The man who is credited with fathering the modern video games industry has delivered a damning verdict of the modern games market. Ralph Baer, who in the ‘60s designed the prototypes for went on to become the world’s first console, the Magnavox Odyssey, is displeased with the violent nature of …

Developer BioWare has released an image of its mystery new title. The game itself will be revealed at the Spike Video Game Awards in December. Until then, this image (which can be seen below) is all consumers have to go on. As you can see, it features a crashed vehicle …

Having already stayed up to the early hours to welcome Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, retailers are getting ready to do it all again. This Friday sees the release of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and GAME and Gamestation will once again be opening their doors just before midnight …