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

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. …

After the glitz and the glamour of E3, the UK games trade came crashing back down to earth when it returned to work last week. E3 offered plenty of reasons to believe in a successful future. Kinect was proven more than a fad, Vita literally shows life in PlayStation portables, …

Best of all it is followed next by a new Resident Evil. Then there’s that line-up for Christmas – Star Fox, Mario Kart, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario and Kid Icarus. 3DS is one of those machines that will benefit from word of mouth, and unique features such as Street …

Tesco has hired another games retail veteran. HMV’s games commercial manager Jonathan Hayes, has joined the grocer as buying manager. He will report to senior buying manager for games Sarah Kaye. Hayes has worked for HMV for seven years. He joined in 2004 following a six-year stint at distributor EUK. …

Sony is planning another Gamescom barnstormer – with a PlayStation 3 price cut on the cards. An announcement is expected at the August event in Cologne. Trade insiders told MCV the RRP will be 199.99, with retail prepared to go to 179.99. But Microsoft might have to act in response …

We profile Ninja Theory, Crytek, FreeStyleGames, Lionhead, Rare, Playdead and Somethin' Else

#AltDevBlogADay Insomniac's Mark Lee explains why deadlines can be missed

Valve has once again turned to Team Fortress 2 as the studio’s outlet for experimentation, this time with a daring move to make the triple-A game entirely free to play. In an exclusive interview with Develop – now live – Valve’s Robin Walker assured that Team Fortress 2 would only …