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

The amount of money invested in the video games sector by venture capitalists in North America was down 29 per cent in 2010 according to a new data from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Boston.com reports that in 2008 money from venture capitalists funded the development of 35 games in North America, representing a …

The Xbox 360 and PS3 multiplayer demo for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has been downloaded over 3.5m times since it was released by EA last month, the publisher has revealed. Since its arrival gamers have successfully slaughtered 500m times, though they’ve also revived 25m of their fellow soldiers. In addition …

2K Games has announced it will be supporting BioShock 2 with an aggressive line-up of post-launch downloadable content. The first DLC pack – Sinclair Solutions Test Pack – will hit Xbox Live and PSN in March, and adds new characters, weapons upgrades and maps to the multiplayer mode, as well …

Platform holder Nintendo has filed a patent for portable force feedback, further adding to rumours that Nintendo is already at work on a successor to the DS. The Japanese games manufacturer made an amendment last month to a patent made in August 2005. It reads: A game apparatus includes an …

Longstanding UK developer Rebellion has that it’s keen to progress negotiations with Sega for a sequel to the game after it shot to number one in the UK charts. We’re also in discussions with Sega about ongoing support for AvP, and also about a sequel to the game,” said company …

PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain has become the latest game to be banned in the United Arab Emirates thanks to its inclusion of adult material. In a statement released to Kotaku, Sony said: The UAE’s National Media Council has banned Heavy Rain on PS3. Heavy Rain has an 18+ PEGI rating …

Proper's Chris Wright and Thirteen1's Albeck appointed to trade body's board

CEO Jason Kingsley happy with most reviews of the title

EA has acquired Australian mobile game developer IronMonkey Studios, reports allege. A story from news site Tsumea cited reliable sources” insisting that EA has acquired the Melbourne-based outfit, though no details were reported. Develop has the full story.

Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead developer Valve has slammed the slew of mini-game titles that have arrived a result of the motion-gaming revolution and urged developers to make more creative use of new technologies. Hopefully we’ve gotten past the point of mini-games,” Valve writer Chet Faliszek told CVG. I’m …