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

Online retailer Amazon has stolen a march on Apple and Google by launching a cloud music service for PC, Mac and Android devices. Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon Cloud Player for Web and Amazon Cloud Player for Android all went live this morning in the US, and will let people upload …

Rockstar's Rage tech thought to have been exploited

A San Francisco judge has rejected Trip Hawkins’ plea to use personal bankruptcy to cancel $20m of tax obligations. According to a Forbes blog, US District Court judge Jeffrey S White has upheld an earlier bankruptcy court ruling related to tax shelters Hawkins used to shield the personal wealth he …

Nintendo has further clarified how it chooses to partner with the new generation of independent game creators, following the firm’s divisive claim that it wouldn’t be working with ‘garage’ developers. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Joystiq that its new 3DS system is not catered for unproven talent, and …

eBay is to buy e-commerce solutions and services provider GSI Commerce for $2.4bn (1.5bn). The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, and will give eBay access to GSI’s comprehensive portfolio of e-commerce solutions and digital marketing tools. The move is expected to provide growth …

PS3 is leading both hardware and software sales in France, outselling Microsoft’s Xbox 360 on both counts. This sales triumph was announced by Sony and based on GfK data, according to CVG. The PS3 has sold more than three million units in the country, surpassing 2.3m Xbox 360 sales. In …

Although we’re yet to see any official sales figures for the Nintendo 3DS in either Europe or the US, analysts are already predicting great things. "The 3DS launch in North America and Europe produced sales that Nintendo should be proud of," EEDAR’s Jesse Divnich told Industry Gamers. "Given the awareness …

'Understand your craft, and then come back to us,' says Fils-Aime

Final deadline set: Thursday March 31st

It’s looking increasingly likely that Rockstar will lift the lid on Grand Theft Auto V at E3 in June. Ripten has spotted a fresh casting call listing which mentions a character by the name of James Pedeaston. The site says the character has previously featured as a radio star in …