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

Global tech giant Microsoft is to pay a record 178m ($290m) issued by the US Supreme Court for infringing a patent. Canadian company i4i originally sued Microsoft in 2007 after discovering PC word processor program Word had infringed a patent relating to text manipulation software. Despite several appeals, the judges …

More than 2.5 million PC users have picked up a copy of Minecraft to date. The sales achievement was revealed by the game’s creator Markus Persson via Twitter, where he said: 2.5 million sales! That’s as much as Diablo 1 and Far Cry, according to Wikipedia.” The news comes just …

This is the latest of a series of articles from MoMinis to coincide with the launch of its $15,000 Mobile Game Development Contest – GameCast 2011. Find out more about the contest here. There’s no shortage of information about the mobile fragmentation problem occurring in today’s mobile market. Just plug …

The virtual Nintendo 3DS eShop which went live last week took its design ideas from High Street stores. Designers who worked on eShop, which allows 3DS owners to purchase downloadable games such as Super Mario Land, said they wanted to create a fun shop for browsing – a place where …

Bethesda has confirmed that hackers have attacked several of its websites. The publisher also reported that personal data from these sites had been compromised, according to VG247. Hackers were able to access usernames, passwords and email addresses. No personal financial or credit card information was affected. Though its official blog, …

The Wii U and its innovative controller will look almost exactly like the model seen at this year’s E3. Speaking to VentureBeat, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed that the design of the prototype hardware is almost final and explained why the new console is larger than the original …

The Nintendo 3DS has sold more than one million units in Japan. It has taken 13 weeks for the firm’s latest handheld to reach this milestone since its launch in February, according to CVG. The original DS topped 1m sales in just one month after its launch, with the DS …

New York studio informs staff of fate; THQ Montreal to take over Homefront; UK studio axed

Publisher puts team of 46 on notice, Develop understands, after almost a decade of work

One of GAME’s most high profile execs will leave the High Street retailer on July 29th. Martyn Gibbs is regional MD at the Group, looking after stores in the UK, EIRE, Scandinavia and Czech Republic. He is leaving to ‘pursue his career in other areas.’ GAME has moved swiftly to …