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

IGN Entertainment’s US-based editorial team has been downsized, with at least four members laid off. The site’s ‘expanded audience’ editor-in-chief Dana Jongewaard confirmed on Facebook that she has left the firm, while writer Nicole Tanner posted on Twitter that she has been laid off today. Gamasutra reports that GameSpy’s editor-in-chief …

Retailer HMV has launched an impressively innovative 3DS offer for customers. It will give a ten per cent discount on any 3DS game to any customer who picks up an HMV store Mii using the 3DS Street Pass system. Street Pass, for those who aren’t familiar, allows 3DS owners to …

Activision has said that the mysterious "action-adventure" instalment to the Call of Duty franchise is on hold. The game was first cryptically mentioned in the wake of the Infinity Ward saga of early 2010. However, with Sledgehammer named as one of the four studios working on Modern Warfare 3 the …

Tickets for the first ever UK GAMEfest show have gone on sale. GAME reward card owners can buy tickets from the GAMEfest website, while those without loyalty cards can sign up for one first at www.game.co.uk or in-store. Tickets cost 10 for customers over 12 years old or 5 for …

An American lawsuit filed this week alleges that Sony laid off a number of staff in charge of maintaining the security of its online networks. It also claims that the company invested more in securing its corporate information than it did in protecting the details of its customers. Reuters reports …

Japanese gamers are still none the wiser as to when the PlayStation Network will be fully restored in their country where the PS Store still remains offline. When PSN was eventually reactivated last month, the Japanese government stepped in to block its restoration in Japan saying that it wanted further …

A supposed member of LulzSec has claimed that Ryan Cleary, the man arrested and charged by the MET earlier this week, is not a member of the organisation. Although concrete information on the subject is sparse, many believe that Cleary is indeed the mastermind behind LulzSec. Not so, an anonymous …

David Braben reflects on the console cycle, and wonders if things are about to change

Everyone thought Play.com or Amazon would do it first. Even The Hut Group talked about it last year. But it’s emerging online retailer Bee.com that has taken the bold step onto the High Street. The website launched a shop in the Manchester Arndale Centre last weekend. The new outlet is …

The lucrative dancing game genre shows no signs of slowing down. Over 1m dance games are sold globally every month, according to MCV research. That includes 12m Just Dance games, over 3m copies of Michael Jackson, 2.5m copies of Microsoft’s Dance Central and 2m units of 505 Games’ Zumba Fitness. …