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

Social gaming powerhouse Zynga has unveiled plans to take its games beyond Facebook to a dedicated online portal. Currently titled Zynga Direct, the new platform will be a standalone community separate from Facebook that will act as a hub for all of the company’s titles, according to Gamasutra. It claims …

Around 3m customers have pre-ordered the upcoming Apple iPhone 4S in less than one week. Bloomberg Businessweek reports 3m units of the new smartphone may be sold in its first weekend on sale, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky. That would be almost double the number of iPhone …

The European release of Rocksmith has been pushed back to next year and Ubisoft is asking consumers not to import it. A statement on the Rocksmith Facebook pageread: Rocksmith will not be available in Europe until 2012. This is due to music licensing and other external factors. For those of …

Everyone that tags along with Nathan Drake on his latest quest will be taken on an additional adventure next year. Sony has announced that every copy of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will come with download codes for the Starhawk multiplayer beta, according to Eurogamer. The beta is due to kick …

Password program attempts to hack into both PSN and SOE networks

Warner Bros took the industry by surprise this morning with the surprise release of Scribblenauts Remix on the Apple App Store. The game combines a number of puzzles from both the first game in the series and its successor, Super Scribblenauts, both of which have previously only been released on …

The Battlefield 3 media and community event in Sydney last night had the most in-depth hands-on with DICE’s latest opus, and even had the Frostbite 2 logo carved out of ice! The game is looking stunning. The on-foot engine has been firmed up to compete with the best of them, …

Microsoft is to release a high-capacity 320GB version of its Xbox 360 hard drive. The SKU will retail for 79.99 in the UK (and $129.99 in the US) and will replace the 250GB unit that currently retails for the same price. It will be compatible with the newer Xbox 360 …

Develop explores PopCap's European HQ in Dublin following EA's dramatic buyout of the company

HMV has lifted the lid on yet more aggressive trade-in deals of two of this week’s biggest releases. The retailer will this Friday be selling Konami’s PES 2012 for just 99p to anyone willing to hand over their copy of EA’s FIFA 12. HMV is also offering Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport …