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

After a massive marketing campaign and a huge amountof hype, THQ’s big FPS contender Homefront has debuted at the top of the UKIE games charts compiled by GfK Chart-Track. Last week’s chart winner, EA’s Dragon Age II, slips to second spot ahead of Nintendo’s Pokemon White which also slips one …

Neil Young highlights Microsoft as the strongest platform holder

NBA Jam will be the last EA Sports title to include a printed instruction manual in the box. The move is effective as of March 1st, spokesperson Rob Semsey confirmed to Kotaku, with Fight Night Champion being the first title to ship sans-paper. The publisher cites environmental causes for the …

Asda will open 168 new shops this year, but the majority of them won’t stock video games. That’s because 147 of these shops are former Netto stores – outlets considerably smaller (about 8,000 sq ft) than your typical Asda supermarket (roughly 38,000 sq ft). However, the grocer told MCV it …

A new Gem microsite dedicated to Nintendo products is due to go live this month. The distributor is launching its online service on March 25th – just in time for the UK debut of the 3DS. The site will serve as a one-stop shop for retailers and provide them with …

Australian smartphone game developer Firemint invested $2 million in building its high-end mobile game Real Racing 2, the studio has said. And, in further resemblance of the triple-A console project model, Firemint said the Real Racing sequel also took 18 months to finish. The revelations come with the games development …

As the games industry becomes increasingly global, doing business across cultural boundaries can be an increasingly important skill

Group seeks initial public offering in New York

One of the most successful console developers of our generation has warned that the traditional core games audience as we know it "isn’t really expanding much". The confession comes after Insomniac Games – the creators of IP such as Ratchet & Clank and Resistance – announced the formations of its …

Expanding market is 'the only long-term solution', studio boss says