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

Millions of pounds will be spent on the marketing campaign for Final Fantasy XIII, MCV understands. The publisher plans to make the game’s launch a true event” with a heavyweight TV campaign that will kick off on March 1st and run through Easter and into April, including spots during football …

Donya's auto-LOD tech now easily embeddable in Emergent's engine

The UK may be out of the recession – but publisher bosses are mindful of a slow recovery for video games.UK GDP rose just 0.1 per cent during Q4 2009, and industry heads are wary of the prospect of a ‘double dip recession’ – where the UK economy re-enters a …

Microsoft has announced Fable II and Halo Wars have been added to the Xbox 360 Classics range. The two titles go on sale today with a lower RRP of 19.99 and new packaging that repositions them as part of Microsoft’s budget range. The Classics edition of Fable II includes the …

In scenes grimly reminiscent of a doctor turning of a long-forgotten patient’s life support, Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Live services for the now nine-year-old original Xbox console will be turned off on April 15th. The move affects both games played on the 2001 machine, Xbox 360-compatible Xbox titles and …

How do you go about scoring a sci-fi conspiracy thriller set in 15th Century Venice?

New York General Attorney Andrew Cuomo says he has issued a subpoena to 22 leading online retailers, including GameStop, as part of an investigation into ‘deceptive practices’ which lure buyers into making unwitting purchases. In a statement issued last week, reported yesterday by Kotaku, the Attorney General said that, "when …

Lancashire CG specialist expands for 'strong 2010'

Runaway Facebook hit FarmVille is set to appear on Microsoft’s entertainment portal MSN Games and Windows Live Messenger. FarmVille is a bona fide social media phenomenon and social gaming poster-child, with 75 million Facebook players hooking up with the game, every month. San Francisco-based Zynga says it’s targeting further growth …

2010 'Best Simulation in Real Time' gong goes to CryEngine 3