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

Hurry! There is only one week left to make your voice heard. Lobbying for the 2011 MCV Industry Excellence Awards is currently open but the deadline is approaching. All nominations must be sent to AwardsLobbying@intentmedia.co.uk by 12pm on Friday, February 11th. A full guide to the awards can be found …

Publishing giant Electronic Arts has indicated it will throw more weight behind the Facebook games platform. Speaking at an earnings report this week, where the publisher reported a $322 million net loss, an EA exec said Facebook remained integral to the firm’s future. We’re seeing an increase in game traffic …

Virgin Gaming is braced for the big time in Europe after signing a deal with EA Sports. The tournament provider expects a surge in users when it is integrated into the publisher’s FIFA titles. It has already seen almost 40,000 new gamers sign up after running a similar scheme on …

It’s still a pretty embryonic issue, and few will be drawn on talking about it on the record so early. But closer ties between UKIE and Tiga would be welcomed and useful for the trade. Outside the industry, the two have cemented connections with authorities and score respect from The …

Only the other day I joked to one of the leaders of our two trade associations that we were due the yearly, previously silly, ‘Why don’t you guys merge?’ questioning from external pundits. Then it was just a joke. Today, it seems like a potential reality. It’s still a pretty …

EDUCATION WEEK: Redundancies afoot as computing division is stripped

Sega Sammy has posted its financial results for the nine months ending December 31st, with a 117 per cent rise in profit year-on-year. Total sales increased 8.7 per cent during the period to 310bn (2.4bn), up from 285bn (2.2m) the year prior. Profit rose from 17bn (129m) to 37bn (281m). …

Japanese publisher Namco Bandai has revered the Y11.7bn loss seen in the quarter ending December 31st 2009 by reporting a profit of Y3.7bn for the same quarter in 2010. For the nine months ending December 31st sales were up 1.8 per cent at Y288bn. Operating earnings were up 253 per …

Ahead of its release on February 25th in the UK, the review embargo on Sony’s Killzone has lifted to reveal mainly positive reviews of the new shooter. The game currently has an average of 87 per cent on Metacritic, with two scores of 100 per cent but also two 70 …

A Microsoft exec has claimed the only solution to piracy in the PC market is to embrace free-to-play downloadable games. Microsoft Games Studios’ general manager Dave Luehmann told MCV he is confident his current project – Age of Empires Online – will suffer from less piracy than it would have at …