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

Retailer Tesco has made a bold move into the digital space by acquiring a majority 80 per cent stake in video-on-demand service Blinkbox. Blinkbox, which launched in April 2008, boasts around 2m UK visitors a month and has a catalogue including over 9,000 movies and many TV shows. It offers …

Virtua Tennis 4 has been backed by a 1m marketing plan to ensure it’s a smash hit with gamers. The Sega sports title will benefit from a series of online, TV and print advertisements around the game’s release on Friday, April 29th, the day of the Royal Wedding. Ads will …

White Room Games has teamed up with Vidisfor its first move into the accessories market. The UK firm is responsible for distributing the Duracell gaming range and Brooklyn range to selected online retailers. Over a dozen products have been launched, such as the Duracell Pad and Move Charger for PS3. …

The dollar mobile app is damaging the industry, a leading executive at Epic Games has said. Epic company president Mike Capps says the prevalence of the rock-bottom app price point is deforming the value of games in the consumer conscience. If there’s anything that’s killing [the retail games business] it’s …

Rockstar Games is the latest firm to commit to developing on the unconfirmed Wii 2 console, according to rumours. The speculation comes again from French tech website 01.net – a publication that is betting its long-term credibility on a series of explosive claims regarding the console. The website is now …

UK internet service providers BT and TalkTalk have lost their challenge against the Government’s Digital Economy Act. The pair had been arguing that some of the legislation contained in the DEA had been rushed and was unlawfully restrictive in regard to the obligations it places on ISPs to report users …

If you’re planning to attend E3 2011 but haven’t registered for your pass yet, then hurry – online applications close in a week. E3 runs from June 7th to 9th in Los Angeles and offers the industry a chance to test-drive the latest video game titles, discover products about to …

New Seattle outfit on hiring run for web engineers

Version 1.5 offers real-time multiplayer, updates physics, and more

UK retailer GAME has put the PC version of EA-published Valve title Portal 2 on sale today, a day ahead of its official release. The game was released digitally via Steam yesterday, though the official release date for the boxed versions is tomorrow. "We had a conversation with EA yesterday …