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

If you think it’s hard getting games to stand out amongst the Christmas blockbusters of FIFA and Call of Duty, try being a retailer. Each year there appears to be another outlet or two trying to muscle in on a market already crammed full of competitors. This year Bee.com is …

A new Driver finally makes it to store shelves today – five years after Ubisoft spent $24m buying the brand and its studio.But it’s just the first step in Ubisoft’s plans for both the re-engergised franchise and the driving genre, says CEO Yves Guillemot. Driver: San Francisco takes the series …

The UK boxed games market has recovered from its ten-year low on the back of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Square Enix’s latest blockbuster shot to the top of the charts, and is the first quality triple-A title released in months. The UK games retail market was worth 14.6m this week, …

The High Street can play a major part in selling digital games, and Microsoft has the proof. Two thirds of Xbox Live Gold members paid for their subscriptions via traditional retailers, the platform holder told MCV. It highlights the extent to which retail has played a major role in growing …

Mobile games publisher Gameloft has reported a net profit of €5.3 million (around $7.6m) for the first half of 2011, the same as it reported for the first half of 2010. The company’s revenues rose from €66.6 million to €76.8 million in the same period, so why were net profits …

Nintendo has confirmed that its popular roadshow from last year called the Nintendo Connection Tour will be returning this year. The tour, which commences at Westfield Southland in Victoria on Saturday 24th September, will have The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword playable on Wii for the first time, as well …

Although it wasn’t due for release until next week, Wallabies Rugby Challenge has just landed in stores Australia-wide. The game was developed by Sidhe in Wellington, New Zealand, and had its NZ release as ‘All Blacks Rugby Challenge’ last Friday to great success. Mario Wynands, managing director of Sidhe, told …

The current top 5 paid apps on the iOS App Store contains not one but three Australian-made games from Firemint and Halfbrick. The newly released SPY Mouse from Firemint Studios in Melbourne is currently the #1 selling iPhone game, and is receiving very positive reviews. It expands upon the team’s …

escapeVektor: Chapter 1 has been given pricing and a release date by developer Nnooo today, who has spoken to MCV about releasing games for WiiWare. The downloadable Wii title will be available worldwide on 29th September for 500 Nintendo points, and blends Tron style arcade gameplay with intense puzzle action …

This week, we’re going to look at Fable using the GameVision Brand Map you can buy direct from MCV online. At E3 in June, Microsoft Game Studios’ creative director Peter Molyneux unveiled Fable: The Journey, a new chapter in the Fable series that uses Microsoft’s Kinect. But is Fable such …