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

The next update to Sony’s PS3 digital TV peripheral PlayTV will be a premium download from PSN and not a free firmware upgrade. Later this year a host of new features will be added to the PVR device including social networking platform Chat TV, a seven-day programme guide, new listings …

Guinness World Records has suggested that the next edition of its Gamer’s Edition will bring with it a new swearing champion. Having compiled a video chronicling 200 instances of the f-word it could find in 2K Games’ Mafia II, Achievement Hunters has, according to Kotaku, received an email from Guinness …

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick wants the world to know his firm is embarking on an exclusive ten-year partnership with Bungie, and in typical fashion he is doing so by way of cavalier and comical sound bites. Speaking at a recent investor meeting, the CEO of the world’s biggest third-party game …

Speaking to an audience at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2010 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, EA boss John Riccitiello has outlined EA’s role in the critical decline of Need for Speed – but also asserted that the series is once again in pole position. If you went back …

Entertainment firm SEE Virtual Worlds has announced that it is working on an MMO based on pop icon Michael Jackson. Not to be confused with the console title in the works at Ubisoft, Planet Michael is an immersive virtual space themed after iconic visuals drawn from Michael’s music, his life …

The man behind Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect technology has warned of the dangers of simply tacking on motion control into games primarily built for the joypad – and at the same time claimed the death of the first person shooter genre on PC. Halo did an awesome job of building …

A new section of the Apple website dedicated to video games has gone live. The hub features a web store where users can buy Mac games including StarCraft II, Modern Warfare and The Sims 3. Visitors can also download demons and updates, view the latest trailers and read a selection …

The US arm of retailer Best Buy is to increase the shelf space it gives to video games by cutting the allocation granted to DVDs and CDs. Daily Finance reports that the extra footage will be used to maximise sales of new launches such as PlayStation Move and Kinect, as …

New studio aims for 150-strong workforce in 3 years

Though question marks hang over Activision’s true intentions toward a possible Premium online Call of Duty service, the publisher’s COO Thomas Tippl has admitted that the company is looking to give Call of Duty fans more choice” as it looks to extend revenue models”. However, Tippl did promise that the …