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

One of the largest names in book publishing has reportedly set up an internal games-focused team with then intention of creating original stories specifically for video games, as well as offering narrative advice to developers. WSJ reports that Bertelsmann’s Random House unit is looking to sell two original games projects …

Video games have come under fresh attack after a North American newspaper columnist accused them of promoting the devil and portraying God as an enemy. The story, published by Philadelphia’s The Bulletin, opens with the remarkable claim that even the most hard-core gamers are sounding the alarm about the rise …

Staff writer steps up to key position on leading industry magazine

You can find all the details online here. There were, as there always are, some safe bets for nominees. Activison, Ubisoft, EA, Sony, Sega, Microsoft and Nintendo all have seven or more nominations each. GAME and sister chain Gamestation share five nominations. And while the event champions smaller companies as …

Nintendo’s unstoppable motion-sensing home console Wii has now passed the 10m unit sales barrier in the company’s homeland of Japan, Kotaku reports. Being more specific, the Wii has now sold 10,009,736 units in Japan. Interestingly, it took the machine 170 weeks to reach the milestone – 39 weeks longer than …

The former boss of Swedish Battlefield developer DICE has slammed Nintendo’s Wii for being, in his words, a toy and not an entertainment focused product”. Wii, to me, I would describe it as a virus that doesn’t stick,” the dev told GamingUnion, as spotted by CVG. It’s a toy, people …

Motion capture group looking to partner with more dev studios

Having shot straight to number one in the ELSPA GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 this week, Sony has revealed that landmark PS3 release Heavy Rain is suffering shortages on the UK High Street. However, Sony hopes to have got extra stock into the channel by next week. We have …

What would a game series based on The Sopranos look like, asks studio CEO

A new Borderlands DLC pack will be released in stores, containing previously download-only content. 2K Games has confirmed the disc will include two of the three expansions – The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned and Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot. It will not include The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. The …