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

Entertainment giant HMV struggled over the summer, with Group sales declining 19.4 per cent. Total retail sales, hurt by the closure of 29 HMV stores, fell 21.8 per cent. CEO Simon Fox says the trends for HMV’s retail business were ‘broadly unchanged’ for the period. But was keen to point …

IGN’s ambitious president Roy Bahat tells Christopher Dring what the recent UGO acquisition brings to its business, why it sold Direct2Drive and how it plans to grow the entire video games market. IGN’s Roy Bahat is one of the most powerful men in the games media.He is in charge of …

HMV has recruited former Asda chief Mark Hodgkinson as marketing and e-commerce director. He replaces former e-commerce director Steve Napleton, who leaves the retail chain with immediate effect. Hodgkinson takes a dual role because of his ‘extensive marketing, e-commerce and digital skills.’ He joins from Asda where he has been …

Look at screenshots, videos or even packshots for Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, and you’d be hard-pressed to tell them apart. Shadowy men stood in urban landscapes besieged by war. On the cutting edge of video games, it seems the year’s hot ticket titles are fighting a battle to …

Ratings body PEGI has introduced a new system for mobile games – and it wants the likes of Apple and Android to start using them. Last week PEGI unveiled PEGI Express with Microsoft. The classifications and ratings seen on all PC and console games will now be included in all …

As was rumoured back in July, developer Crytek is to finally bring PC classic shooter Crysis to both PS3 and Xbox 360 – and the release date is right upon us. The four year-old title will be getting a few tweaks, too. The PC original was a graphical powerhouse and …

Media Molecule's matriarch gets the rapid-fire question treatment

The GAME and Turtle Beach Battle of the Clans competition is underway, and coverage of the events is now rolling out on GAME TV. The heats have been held at the Beresford in Sydney, and are the grand final is set to take place in Homebush later in September. Weekly …

The debut Insert Coin(s) event took place in Sydney last night, and co-creator Pat Kolan has confirmed to MCV his plans to expand the concept for future events. The event was held at the Oxford Art Factory, and hundreds people came through the door to enjoy live music and art …

With the Xbox Live rewards scheme now up and running in Australia and New Zealand, MCV talks to Andrew Jenkins, Group Xbox Live Program Manager. Other service-based industries (which the games industry is rapidly becoming) have had reward programs for some time. Why do you think it has taken so …