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

The mass-market friendly Project Natal may be grabbing all the headlines, but Microsoft insists it won’t lose sight of the core gamer audience. There’s a slew of major titles due from the platform holder this year, including Alan Wake, Crackdown 2, Halo: Reach and Fable III. And Microsoft’s European Xbox …

Valve has announced Portal 2 will arrive at Christmas. No platform details have been revealed, although the use of the word ‘shipment’ in the press release implies a retail launch. The original Portal was made available in The Orange Box, and won multiple game of the year awards. A Xbox …

Apple has announced that its iPad tablet will go on sale in the US on Saturday 3rd April. That’s the Wi-Fi-only model – the Wi-Fi + 3G model will go on sale there in late April. That’s a slight delay – the Wi-Fi version was expected to go on sale …

Microsoft has confirmed a change to its terms and conditions that will allow users to more freely express themselves in their online gamertag. The move comes amidst criticisms that Microsoft had unfairly discriminated against users of minority or ethnic groups by blocking the use of terms or names that can …

Following his seemingly harsh criticism of the Nintendo Wii earlier this week, former DICE boss and current head of Antic Entertainment Fredrik Liliegren has balanced his claim with some praise for Nintendo-s record-breaking machine. Speaking to GamingUnion last week the acclaimed developer stated: Wii I would describe it as a …

Students and MMO devs also set to gain from tech releases

Emerging UK games force Foreign Media Games is to publish Casual Mania – its second release in the region – on DS next month. The game bundles four established casual game types into a varied handheld collection – hidden object (Mystery Case Files), marble popping (Zuma), match-3 (Bejeweled) and time …

A new take on how to deliver demo games has reportedly been patented by PlayStation platform holder Sony. Best described as a ‘deteriorating’ or ‘degradable’ tech, the idea is that gamers would initially receive the full version of the game in question. However, over time features would be removed until …

Jason West and Vince Zampella accuse publisher of forcing them out to reclaim Call of Duty

Some of Blockbuster’s 650 UK stores could be at risk as the company seeks to slash property costs. MCV understands that the retail giant has recruited KPMG to help renegotiate rents and leases with landlords, which could result in the closure of UK stores if agreements can’t be reached. However, …