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

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 …

Triple-A becomes free-to-play, but Valve may not push the model to other blockbusters

Valve explains to Develop why it relaunched Team Fortress 2 as free-to-play forever

Sony has confirmed a PS3 box set containing the first two Uncharted games will arrive on July 22nd. Uncharted Collection will include both action adventure hits Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. A listing for the game first appeared on the Best Buy website before a Sony spokesperson …

Just Dance 2 – Extra Songs will be released for Wii on July 22nd. The game is the first retail expansion pack for Ubisoft’s best-selling dancing series and features 21 tracks that were previously only available via download. It will not require Just Dance 1 or 2 to be playable. …

Disney-owned developer likely turning its attention to digital games