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

The second-in-command at publisher Electronic Arts resigned from his role to join Zynga, the social games group has finally confirmed. Zynga snapped up John Schappert, who was formerly Electronic Arts’ chief operating officer, in May this year. At the time, both groups declined to comment when rumours of the switch …

MCV is expanding into the Pacific territories with the immediate introduction of a dedicated news feed at mcvuk.com, followed by the launch of a standalone website in October. MCV Pacific will be based in Sydney, Australia, with industry journalist Leigh Harris, who has a background in Rockstar Games PR, being …

Fledgling Gold Coast publisher/distributor All Interactive Entertainment (AIE), publishing arm of parent company All Interactive Distribution (AID) has acquired the exclusive distribution rights to Bethesda’s Rage and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim throughout Australia and New Zealand. Robert Kingston, director of AIE, told MCV Pacific: The whole AIE and AID …

Brisbane-based indie developer 3 Blokes Studios has been bought by Californian social games company RockYou. The company plans to expand and is currently seeking a back end engineer and producer. Founded in 2006, 3 Blokes Studios has released several titles including Hospital Town and the successful Galactic Trader. It is …

The service kicks off today with ‘podcast’ radio programming offering updates on the new series of Celebrity Big Brother, but it will eventually be extended to include full television broadcasts, according to an article in The Times this morning. Though consumers have always been able to copy media files to …

The Australian video game market fell by 16 per cent in 2010, but the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA) has insisted that the downturn is a blip – and that it will soon be heading for a new high. For the calendar year 2010, Australian sales reached AUD$1.7 billion, …

Eve Online uproar went too far, says company CEO Hilmar Pétursson

The Mana Bar, Australia’s only video game-themed cocktail bar, will open a second venue, in Melbourne, later this month – and has plans to eventually go global. The first venue opened in Brisbane on March 20 2010 and has been a huge success. The Melbourne bar will open on July …

PlayStation games to be bundled with online pass for first-time buyers only

For those of you not in the know, Noel Gallagher is best known for his former membership of UK rock band Oasis. Now he’s going solo. He has a new album coming out. And it’s not f*****g Guitar Hero. Those are Noel’s words, not ours. In Britain we’re used to …