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

The already turbulent story of Activision and Infinity Ward has taken another bitter twist with confirmation that ousted IW bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella are to sue the publisher. The pair claim that Activision terminated their employment just weeks before they were due to be paid ‘substantial royalty payments’ …

Developer dispatches senior staff to trade event; awaits OnLive announcements

EA UK has announced that Sophie Orlando has been promoted to PR manager for the EA Games label. More specifically, she will handle PR duties on all titles from BioWare, Visceral and DICE. Orlando fills the gap left by Jon Goddard, who departed for EA’s European PR team last month. …

Namco Bandai expects that Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks will be the most successful game in the multi-million selling franchise when it hits shelves next month. Ben 10 has become a major video game property over recent years, with the previous two games – Protector of Earth and Alien …

Take-Two has announced Q1 revenues up $14 million on last year, from $149m to $163m. The firm took a loss of $34m, down from $54m for the same period in 09. Staff cuts, inevitably, are being touted, with a 15% headcount cut resulting in savings of $8 million in the …

Activision’s upcoming racer Blur will be the first game to allow PS3 and Xbox 360 players to compete against each other AND the first to offer online multiplayer for Silver members of Xbox Live Arcade. That’s the headline claim being made by Bizarre Creations, though the mechanics of the functionality …

Buzz begins for Canadaâ??s key trade event

Aliens vs Predator has become Sega’s fastest selling game in the company’s history. The game was part of a bumper seven days for Sega last week. The firm’s Winter Olympic tie-in Vancouver 2010 saw sales leap 274 per cent following the opening of the sports event, while Mario & Sonic …

Publisher Ubisoft has bolstered its UK team with the appointment of Gareth Evans as business account manager. Evans joins the firm from Capcom and has five years experience working on brands such as Resident Evil. At Ubisoft, he will work primarily with HMV, Sainsbury’s, TRU, Ireland and independents. The publisher …

Mark Rein discusses the people who Make Something Unreal