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

New free-to-play model will give it a chance it deserves, says new owner

The Daily Mail is on the case of games again this morning – and this time it’s blaming them for being a passion killer. The newspaper cites a report by One Poll which reveals that five per cent of gamers admit that their hobby has cost them their relationship. In …

Lygo International has signed a new deal with Voyetra Turtle Beach, the firm behind the popular Turtle Beach products. The accessories firm will now exclusively handle UK distribution for the Turtle Beach-branded headsets and more, starting on January 1st, 2011. We are delighted to add the award winning Turtle Beach …

Just two weeks after its official launch the MCV Online iPhone app has been downloaded 1,598 times. The free app has proved an instant hit with the trade who want to access our news. And the impressive numbers come off the back of MCV’s overall brandstrength. Did you know that …

At least $1 million set aside to renovate and improve on RTWâ??s final game

Amid all the buzz around Rovio’s Angry Birds franchise in recent weeks, something appears to have gone unnoticed this week. It’s being out-grossed by the Smurfs. Specifically, Capcom’s Smurfs’ Village iPhone game is ahead of Angry Birds in both the US and UK App Stores’ Top Grossing Games charts. That’s …

With a concrete release date now nailed down, retailer ShopTo.net has predicted that Gran Turismo 5 will be the biggest selling PS3 game of 2010. The game is currently the pre-ordered on the site, which is selling it for 34.85. This year’s first party release slate for the console included …

One of the most destructive and unequivocal commercial failures of the modern games industry is being given a second chance. APB, the 100 million white elephant that brought down Dundee studio Realtime Worlds, has today been confirmed as a new acquisition for the free-to-play evangelists GamersFirst. A trusted source close …

For a brief period yesterday iPhone and iPad owners were briefly able to download what to all intents and purposes was a functional portable version of smash indie PC hit Minecraft. Called Minecrafted, Gizmodo reports that the title was built without code or content from the original” but boasted more …

GamersFirst buys the IP for â??less than one per cent of original dev costsâ??