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

In a new weekly feature, we look at the overall advertising activity for video games on TV. This is provided by specialist communication firm Generation Media which focuses on the entertainment and leisure industries. In week one we take a look at the year-on-year weekly marketing dynamics from January 1st …

Publisher EA has at long last officially revealed the much rumoured Burnout spin-off Burnout Crash and if nothing else it’s certainly a radical departure for the IP. Crash ditches the destructible 3D visuals players of the previous games’ crash junctions are used to in favour of a more cartoonish top-down …

Peripherals manufacturer Mad Catz has signed a publishing agreement with Microsoft to produce games for Xbox 360. The news comes following the firm’s opening of in-house developer ThunderHawk Studios which is working on a flight simulator game. Other details on its first Xbox 360 games have not yet been revealed. …

Sony Online Entertainment has finally lifted the security gates on its long-rumoured first person MMO project – Planetside 2. Little is known of the game aside from the fact that the shooting action takes place in a persistent world and will feature a wide assortment of combat roles, though several …

Australian broadcaster ABC3 has extended the running time of its video game TV show Good Game: Spawn Point (GG:SP) from 15 to 30 minutes after a hugely successful first season. GG:SP recently held a preview screening for its newly expanded show at the ABC offices in Sydney, boasting some impressive …

The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA) says it is working hard to ensure legislative and regulatory framework is conducive to healthy growth in the Australia and New Zealand markets. Speaking to MCV Pacific, iGEA CEO Ron Curry said that was the major challenge faced by the industry now that …

Lead designer Matt Cavanagh launches indie group Totem Games

City Interactive got a taste of the big time last year with Sniper: Ghost Warrior, and now it wants more. We talk to Marek Tyminski and Jon Goddard about the experience… When you appointed Jon Goddard to your team, you stated that you were ‘repositioning’ City and following through with …

Smart phones, social networks and other relatively low-entry gaming platforms have spawned a new wave of indie developers and fresh IP. Not since the late ‘70s and early ‘80s days of ‘back bedroom’ coding have so many flowers bloomed, or has it been so easy to get a gaming concept …

Geomerics founder Chris Doran looks at the latest real-time lighting technologies