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

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 …

Publisher Square Enix has voiced its support for Sony’s PSP and vowed to continue to release many of its major IP both on physical UMD and through Sony’s growing digital PSN portal. The PSP is a great portable device, for both disk-based and digital content,” VP of brand for the …

Blitz announces landmark tenth game signing; will now sell games direct

Microsoft’s Natal will thoroughly outpace Sony’s Motion Controller when the pair are released later this year – that’s the prediction of industry analyst Michael Pachter. Speaking to PS3Centre.net, Pachter reckons that the Xbox 360 attachment could sell anywhere between five and ten times the number of the PS3 device. I …

In a meeting at Maxis’ offices where the exec was considering a possible acquisition of the studio, Activision boss Bobby Kotick was offered the chance to preview the latest secretive creation of Sim-series mastermind Will Wright. However, as Sim City 2000 was too much of a mess”, as Kotick described …

Only a few seats remain for the new self-publishing focused event

As event organisers announce new exhibition opportunities

Video games have been blamed for turning children into sex objects”, a leading psychologist has claimed. TV’s Dr Linda Papadopoulos criticised games with sexual content and web browser fashion game Miss Bimbo, where girls compete to accumulate boob jobs in order to marry a billionaire”. The London Metropolitan University’s clinical …

The contentious copy-protection method that will require all Ubisoft PC titles to be constantly connected to the web is crucial for fighting piracy, the publisher says. The new ‘online platform’, as the publisher describes it, will be introduced with the release of Assassin’s Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 on …