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

We expected so much from the first half of 2010 after coming down to earth with a bump last year following the record-breaking sales of 2008. A string of potential hits postponed from the peak season last year were expected to drive hardware sales and improve year-on-year software sales comparisons. …

Games industry show E3 Expo will be capitalising on the iPhone-fuelled boom in smartphone gaming this year, with a dedicated Mobile Games Pavilion. For $2,995, mobile developers will get their own kiosk in the Pavilion, along with an internet connection, signage, five exhibitor badges and ten industry affiliate badges. They’ll …

A technical problem on the European arm of Sony’s PlayStation Network has prevented thousands of gamers from getting their hands on the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Map Pack. Many users are having problems topping up their wallet funding on PSN meaning that if they currently …

British video games trade association points to US industry treatment as model example

Industry body welcomes another education institution to its ranks

Recent news that Sega has cut back on staff numbers only told the horrible half of a fairly revealing transformation at the company. You can see the details here, but in short the firm is steeling itself for the digital future by consolidating its boxed product strategy for Europe and …

UK retailers will work together to raise 500,000 by stocking a new charity pack of video games. Put together by GamesAid, the triple-title bundle will retail for just 29.99 and arrives on June 25th. Key titles Tomb Raider: Underworld, Sega Superstars Tennis and Fuel form the bundle and have been …

A new Assassin’s Creed game – titled Brotherhood – has been announced by Ubisoft following a leaked image of the game’s retail placeholder art appearing online. Kotaku was allegedly sent pre-order materials from US retailer GameStop featuring Assassin’s Creed II’s protagonist Ezio and the text available fall 2010”. A spokesperson …

PC peripherals firm Sandisk has released its first Xbox 360 branded USB memory drives in North America. As spotted by VG247, the devices come in two flavours – an 8GB variant for $34.99 and a 16GB version for $69.99. Microsoft added the ability to use any USB mass storage device …

Reggie Fils-Aime has claimed sales on the Nintendo DS have been unaffected by the launch of the iPad last month. The Apple device, which is developing a strong games offering, has already sold one million units since arriving on shelves, but the Nintendo COO claims this has not proved to …