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

Regionâ??s development army bolstered by new deal; threat to UK continues to grow

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 …