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

Developer Harmonix has released the first DLC for Dance Central on Xbox Live ahead of the game’s arrival in the UK on Wednesday – the same day, of course, that Microsoft Kinect will officially launch. OXM reports that in total three tracks have been made available – Lady Sovereign’s ‘Got …

Inaugural 48-hour development challenge held during industry conference

Publisher Namco Bandai has posted a net loss of 1.93bn (around $24m) for the first half of its financial year. The number is a big improvement on the loss of 6bn ($74m) seen in the same period a year before. Net sales for the period were up slightly at 173.60bn …

New trailer released for the Unreal Engine-built Infinity Blade

Having repeatedly predicted over the course of 2010 that Activision was preparing to announce a premium addition to its online Call of Duty multiplayer offering, analyst Michael Pachter has now said he doesn’t expect the announcement to arrive until some time in 2011. As a result, Pachter’s firm Wedbush Morgan …

UK-based studio hires art director and senior programmer

The Premier League big guns may have had a torrid time at the weekend with both Arsenal and Chelsea dropping vital points, but Sega’s own Premier League title has hit the spot – Football Manager 2011 is the new UK No.1. It’s Sega’s second No.1 of the year after Aliens …

Entrant numbers for the Independent Games Festival continue to climb

Own an iPhone? You can now download an app that puts MCV’s daily must-read online news content in the palm of your hand. The appoffers a raft of unique functions, including up-to-the-minute news direct from MCVuk.com plus a completely customisable homepage and industry event listings. MCV Online for iPhone is …

Entertainment retailer HMV is supporting the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops with a special launch event in London tonight. HMV’s Oxford Street store is offering a free strategy guide to the first 200 customers in the queue who go on to purchase the game. The first 500 through …