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

Half-life and Left 4 Dead developer Valve has reportedly revealed a February 9th 2011 release date for its PC and console puzzle FPS Portal 2. CVG also reports that Office writer and comedy actor Stephen Merchant has been drafted in as the voice of the ‘Buddy Sphere’ Wheatley in the …

FarmVille studio buys rival Facebook developer, establishing Zynga Boston

MCV wasn’t alone in keeping a particularly close eye on Sony’s Gamescom briefing last night in the hope that Sony would use the venue to at last reveal all about the still mysterious PSP2. But, despite persistent rumours and many developers having admitted to recently signing PSP-related NDAs, yet again …

Trip warns tarns that Android OS 'strikes out' for gaming

Walmart owned supermarket chain Asda has suffered a second successive year-on-year decline in quarterly sales. For the three months ending June total sales fell 0.4 per cent. This follows a 0.3 per cent in the preceding quarter. In the period Asda’s grocery sales increased by 1.9 per cent, though compares …

UK games development trade association seeks to prevent RTW debacle from recurring

Electronic Arts is not announcing any launch games for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 smartphone OS for now, says the publisher. EA’s omission from a list of 63 launch games published yesterday by Microsoft was puzzling, given the inclusion of rivals like Gameloft, Glu, Namco Bandai and Digital Chocolate. Sister site …

UPDATE: Konami has told MCV that the UK release date for PES 2011 looks currently like being October 8th, the week after FIFA 11. An equally bold move – but for completely different reasons. ORIGINAL: According to a report on Spong, Konami has announced a September 30th UK and European …

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a TV advert for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII after it was ruled that footage from the PS3 version of the game was used to promote the Xbox 360 SKU. The ruling comes after a viewer complained that the ad was misleading because the …

Zynga has announced it has acquired Conduit Labs, a Boston-based social games developer. Conduit Labs, creator of Facebook games such as Music Pets and Super Dance, will be renamed Zynga Boston and will focus on developing new products. As a result, the aforementioned titles will be closed. The company’s CEO …