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

Konami will hold a series of events featuring development legend Hideo Kojima to promote Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the firm has told MCV. The Japanese publisher claims the upcoming release is ‘the most anticipated PSP title of all time’, and will back it with an online and print marketing …

Intent Media’s Sourcebook is back this July. The annual guide to the leading service companies operating within the European games industry will have a print circulation of 20,000 copies. An online version will be promoted all year via MCV, Develop, CasualGaming.biz, PCR, and Mobile Entertainment. The sectors this year’s guide …

UK retail sources are suggesting that Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 is to see its release date pushed back from this Q4 to Q1 2011, paving the way for yet another massively competitive opening quarter to the gaming year. We’ve been told that Warner has acted early to avoid releasing the …

ModNation Racers will be released for the PS3 in the UK on May 21st, Sony has confirmed. Speaking to VG247, a spokesperson added that there’s still no date for the PSP version of the game, which combines Mario Kart-style racing with LittleBigPlanet-style customisation. The UK will get the game ahead …

Modern Warfare will live on, it will continue to sell by the bucket load – but both review scores and overall sales will forever be less than they were due to Activision’s legal spat with Infinity Ward, according to Michael Pachter. I think that it is likely that future games …

Hackers have reportedly found a way to circumvent Ubisoft’s controversial PC DRM that requires users maintain a constant internet connection even when playing single-player games. CNET reports that a host of modified executable files for a number of Ubisoft titles have appeared on multiple peer-to-peer networks online. When used with …

Roy Stackhouse, Activision’s UK senior sales director, was honoured with our Retail Advisory Board’s Special Recognition prize at the MCV Awards last night. Stackhouse has been at Activision for four years, and has held the role of UK sales boss for two years – he was joined the firm in …

Nintendo was once again the big winner in the MCV Awards’ PR & Marketing category. The format-holder’s UK team took home the prizes for Marketing Team and Trade Marketing Team. That makes it five years on the trot for Nintendo to win the Marketing Team award – and the second …

Ubisoft’s Just Dance won two key prizes at last night’s MCV Industry Excellence Awards. The game took home New Games Brand and Sales Triumph. Not bad for a game that only hit retail just over three months ago. Just Dance has been No.1 in the UK five times this year, …

HMV was the big retail winner at last night’s MCV Industry Excellence Awards. The entertainment specialist won the overall High Street Chain prize, while one of its individual stores – the 360 Oxford Street branch – won Star Store. Elsewhere, Play.com won Online Retailer, and best Independent Retailer was Grainger …