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

Rovio Mobile has announced it will launch its own in-app microtransactions system. The service will be named Bad Piggy Bank –after the Angry Birds’ arch enemies, of course – will use mobile carrier billing to let consumers pay for extra content in Rovio apps, such as the Mighty Eagle power-up. …

When MCV caught up with the UK top Xbox execs recently, they were in high spirits. A lot of that had to do with the fact their Xmas party was just hours away. The UK team were ready to toast another year of hard work. But there was another cause …

Though the gameâ??s next edition will come at a higher price

Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Zuffa LLC is taking Ubisoft to court over the marketing of Kinect game Fighters Uncaged. Zuffa claims a phrase on the back of the game’s box is confusingly similar to the use of UFC Marks, including the ‘Ultimate Fighting’ name and mark on Zuffa licensed video …

A new range of Dead Space merchandise is rolling out to make the franchise even bigger. EA is launching novel Dead Space Martyr, Blu-ray and DVD animated movie Dead Space Aftermath and comic Dead Space Salvage early next year to support the upcoming sequel to 2008’s third-person action shooter. These …

Capcom has announced Dead Rising 2: Case West will be released later this month. Case West will be made available exclusively through Xbox Live Marketplace on December 27th and will cost 360 owners 800 Microsoft Points. The game is a download-only sequel to Dead Rising 2, which hit shelves back …

Time to give us your thoughts on the 2011 jobs market

PC specialist Excalibur has hit out at leading publishers over their lack of support for retail in the digital marketplace. The firm – whose titles include Farming Simulator 2011, Bus Driver and Dive to the Titanic – believes publishers should work more closely with High Street retailers to develop new …

Earnings set to be processed monthly

Following the assurance yesterday that Kinect functionality will be supported in next year’s racer Forza 4, Microsoft has offered a little more detail on what exactly we should be expecting. Most importantly, the official press material for the title makes more than one reference to controller-based racing”, with Kinect seemingly …