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

Sales of Xbox 360 hardware were up an amazing 42 per cent year-on-year in the US in December, paving the way the console’s most successful ever month in the territory. In total it sold 1.86m units – significantly less than the 2.5m analyst Michael Pachter had predicted but still an …

The latest numbers from US games tracker NPD have shown that the US video games market declined 5.7 per cent year-on-year in 2010. This means that of the world’s leading video games markets the US market declined less the least. The Japanese market shrank by nine per cent in 2010 …

Publishers and other games firms can now target fitness fans directly with advertisements in gyms across the UK. Boomerang Media says it reaches almost 900,000 individuals in over 250 health clubs – including Fitness First and Virgin Active – which can be targeted by location or chain. Adverts can be …

Core games boss Danny Bilson to target Montreal dev scene for more hires

Since Nintendo’s Wii Fit arrived in April 2008, fitness games have emerged as a key sector for casual gamers, gym goers and those who wouldn’t usually pick up a controller. Going into 2011 the category is stronger than ever – during the past 12 months it has seen an explosion …

Electronic Arts and MCV are giving five readers the chance to win a ticket to Dead Space Exposed, a special preview event for Dead Space 2. Attendees will be able to play the upcoming sci-fi horror sequel for themselves, as well as explore the franchise at large and meet the …

Retailer Tesco has reported UK like-for-like sales growth of 0.6 per cent for the six weeks ending January 8th 2011. Overall UK sales were up 4.2 per cent with new store sales up 3.6 per cent. Overall Tesco Group sales were up 7.6 per cent over the period, with European …

Vortex make their gaming debut with new iPhone and Facebook games

Athletes Linford Christie and Mark Lewis-Francis will race gamers as part of a new Xbox 360 Kinect promotion. The Olympic stars will compete against one winning family in a game of Kinect Sports, while runners-up will win a video chat with the gold medallists. A 4GB Xbox 360 Kinect bundle …

Esprimo FH99 to hit the Japanese market next month