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

The Nintendo 3DS will be compatible with standard DSi chargers when it hits stores later this year. Game boxes are also slimmer than DS titles, and 3DS consoles can exchange data with other units even when in sleep mode, reports GoNintendo. The site issued a roundup of hardware details following …

Respawn talks with THQ 'fell apart' on rights issue

Steve Ballmer has declared that the Xbox 360 has evolved beyond being just a games machine. The Microsoft boss told USA Today that the launch of Kinect – as well as various other social and media features – makes the device a family entertainment center”. Xbox isn’t a gaming console,” …

Steve Jobs is to take medical leave from the company, the Apple CEO told colleagues in an email. Jobs will take the time off to focus on his personal health. In 2008 he began a six-month absence at Apple to undergo and recover from a liver transplant, as part of …

CEO says he will still take part in key company decisions while away

Source claims motion controller 'to be integrated into the XNA framework'

Homefront sequel 'will be planned to minimise intense end-of-project workloads'

Nintendo has revealed that 3DS games aimed at adult or mature markets will have slightly different packaging to other titles in Japan. The first game to carry the change will be Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell 3D, the spine of which will be black. Most DS games have a white spine on …

Develop Harmonix has called time on the Wii arm of the Rock Band Network. From tomorrow, no new content will be released on the service. RBN allowed users to create their own tracks for use in the game. Harmonix had until now been manually converting tracks uploaded by Xbox 360 …

Crunch controversy has made its inevitable return, but what can we learn from it?