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

Test Drive Unlimited 2 has more than doubled the week one sales of the original. The MMO racer debuted at No.1 this week and is the biggest launch in the Test Drive franchise, which dates back as far as 1987. It is the first ever All Formats No.1 for Namco …

The Blur and Project Gotham studio closes on Friday; what will be its legacy?

Over half a million fewer games were sold in the UK last month compared with January 2010. It marks a 13.4 per cent dip year-on-year in unit sales for UK games retail, while the market value has fallen 7.9 per cent to 84.6m. Chart-Track director Dorian Bloch pointed to a …

FIFA 11 keeps Electronic Arts at the top spot for a second month, and Ubisoft racks up a third consecutive month of growth. Interestingly, EA only outranks Ubi in terms of full-price software – the ongoing success of the Just Dance series makes the latter leader of the budget market. After …

Microsoft has officially confirmed the second DLC for Xbox 360 shooter Halo Reach. Called the Defiant Map pack, the download will arrive at an unspecified point in March and will cost 800 Microsoft Points. The content was created "in partnership" with Certain Affinity, whose other credits include the multiplayer components …

Publisher Namco Bandai is working on Android, iPad, and iPhone versions of its biggest franchises. The news comes as the company finalises the merger of its US boxed games division with its Networks department – which looks after digital and mobile games. Namco Bandai US vice president Carlson Choi says …

Publisher Activision has officially announced its licensed video game counterpart to Paramount’s upcoming summer movie release Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The game, which is being developed by High Moon Studios, tells a prequel narrative of the events that lead up to the movie itself. A key new feature is …

With Sony pursuing legal avenues against famed PS3 hacker George ‘Geohotz’ Hotz, the bedroom coder has fought back in an unexpected way – by publishing a confrontational hip-hop piece on YouTube. With lyrics that proclaim himself to be "a personification of freedom for all", Hotz goads Sony into continuing its …

Rob Wilkins has been appointed the head of home theatre and entertainment at Best Buy UK. He takes the role following the departure of former entertainment boss Marc Spence. The former GAME and HMV exec left the retailer in August to move to the Middle East. Wilkins had previously worked …

A Valentine’s Day summit will see games media bosses convene with ABC to crack how they can work better together. Key publishing firms representing a host of mostly online, but also print brands, will be on hand at the Monday, February 14th meeting in central London. The agenda is to …