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

Test Drive Unlimited 2 has topped the GfK All Formats Top 40 this week ahead of EA’s Dead Space 2. The multiformat driving game is Atari’s first No.1 of the year. It is distributed by Namco Bandai in the UK. Nintendo’s new Mario games continued to rise up the charts …

The upcoming launch of the NGP later this year does not spell the death of the PSP, Sony has confirmed. In fact, the platform holder says that it is still "struggling to meet demand" for the handheld, which continues to thrive in Japan. "The NGP features everything Sony can and …

One US analyst has predicted that publisher Take-Two would accept a takeover bid of around $20-$22 per share from rival company Activision. MCV exclusively revealed last Friday that there’s increasing noise about a possible move amongst some of the industry’s highest level execs. And now speaking on Twitter, US analyst …

TV celebrity and retail specialist Mary ‘Queen of Shops’ Portas directed her attentions at retailer GAME this weekend, and highlighted her lack of respect for the ratings system in the process. Speaking on Twitter, Portas was seemingly outraged that the Oxford Street brand of the retailer was unwilling to sell …

It’s one of the worst kept secrets in games – and thankfully, it’s not a secret any more, and it hits shelves in just a matter of days. Sony Ericsson this evening finally took the wrappers off its new PlayStation-oriented games smartphone, the Xperia Play. It is a slide-open device …

With an air of mystery still surrounding Activision’s new Call of Duty studio ‘Project Beachhead’ and its long-term roadmap for the shooting franchise, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has played down the possibility of a subscription-based extension to the brand. "You know, honestly, we don’t really spend a lot of …

Following our report that the Performing Rights Society is charging stores for the use of in-game music, one retailer details his previous encounters with the organisation For years I’ve had the Performing Rights Society bug me. It claims to collect royalties for singers and songwriters. But it has never proven …

Publisher 2K Games has announced a collectible SKU for Duke Nukem Forever that will be released alongside the standard version of the game in the UK. The headline inclusion is a collectible bust of the Duke himself. Also in the box is: • Numbered, limited-edition certificate of authenticity• 100-page hardcover …

The shock alliance between Nokia and Microsoft nearly never happened, with the Finnish company admitting that it gave serious consideration to switching to Google Android mobile OS as opposed to Windows Phone 7. "We spent time with our colleagues at Google," CEO Stephen Elop confessed. "It’s an attractive ecosystem, but …

This week we look at a wider reach of renowned studios, from Zynga to Starbreeze