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

The reports are correct. There will be no more Guitar Hero games. "Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," a statement in Activision’s financial report, filed tonight, reveals. Earlier …

[Update:Activision has confirmed around 500 job losses.] Publisher Activision will later today announce severe and sweeping cuts across its global organisation, reports claim. The Call Of Duty owner is thought will make an unknown number of staff at London and Leamington Spa studio FreeStyleGames redundant, while the future of Canadian …

Guitar Hero and True Crime projects abolished, with multiple studios braced for cuts

The price of the hotly anticipated Nintendo 3DS has dropped even further today, with Tesco slashing its pre-order price to 197. The offer is only available until tomorrow, but customers who order the device can use a voucher code to save 20 on their purchase, knocking the price down from …

Future Publishing has hired two new publishers for its Entertainment portfolio. James Kick has been promoted to associate publisher for OPSM, PSM3, Firstplay and the Golden Joystick Awards, while Don Ditri returns to the company as associate publisher digital, taking responsibility for CVG, GamesRadar and the ONM and OXM websites. …

Develop's monthly dissection of a recent hit game

Publisher EA has spoken out for the first time since US broadcaster Fox News went live with a piece attacking upcoming shooter Bulletstorm. In the story, Fox quoted psychologist and author Carol Lieberman who claimed: The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of …

id Software co-founder says developers must follow demands of market

When you think of a Top Ten PC game, the likes of StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, The Sims and Football Manager probably spring to mind. You certainly don’t think of Farming Simulator 2011. But this quirky little niche game not only raced into sixth place in the PC Top Ten, it …

Should we have a Metacritic that rates game reviewers, asks David Braben