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

The first UK review of the UK-made Batman: Arkham City arrives on the doormat of GamesMaster subscribers today. And Future’s multi-format mag has awarded the title a colossal 97 per cent. The score is in line with much of the secretive industry chatter surrounding the title at the moment, with …

An online report suggests that Sony could be on the verge of an aggressive move into the mobile phone market by buying out partner Ericsson from their joint mobile business. The Wall Street Journal reports that the move will cost Sony between $1.3bn and $1.7bn. Sony Ericsson has been a …

The next trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 airs tonight during the England vs Montenegro European championship qualifier. The new video is a single player gameplay trailer and will air first in the UK before getting a global rollout. It is due to go out at 9pm during …

Industry body GamesAid is asking members to vote for the charities it will support this year. Nine charities are in the running, all of which generate less than 5m in turnover per year. Voting closes on October 21st. The final few will receive at least 20,000 and be revealed at …

Simon Maxwell has been promoted to group publishing director responsible for entertainment (games and film) brands at Future Publishing. A memo to staff from Future UK MD Mark Wood sent last week said Maxwell will be responsible for leading the multi-channel expansion of our brands in this group, in particular …

Popular kids games site Miniclip has been added to the London Games Conference speaker roster. The site’s Chris Bergstresser, VP and commercial director, is the latest to join a session where digital developers will share best practice and advice. Other speakers in the session include GoG.com and PopCap. Miniclip joins …

The triumph of FIFA 12 tells us a number of things about how the games market has changed in 2011. This year’s game made over a third more revenue than last year’s instalment in its launch week. Chart-Track data has that down to a higher RRP and focus on 360 …

The High Street could make in excess of 120m this year from the booming online game headset market. This ultra-competitive sector lets stores get in on the increasingly important multiplayer segment. It is tipped to be the ultimate margin maker for upcoming hits Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. High-end …

Electronic Arts has netted 1m UK sales of FIFA in record time. MCV understands that the latest game in the hit franchise passed the 1m unit barrier earlier this week.It means that FIFA 12 has enjoyed the most successful launch for the series to date. According to Gfk Chart-Track, 18 …

Epic Games rival poised to reveal 'unifying technology for consoles, browsers and mobiles'