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

Having previously confirmed a March release for its Shenmue-like Yakuza 3 in Europe and the UK, Sega has now nailed down a specific release date for the adventure brawler – March 12th. The game performed strongly in Japan upon its release early last year, selling 300k copies in its first …

Conservative culture minister Ed Vaizey has repeatedly urged the two associations to merge

Mormpheme animation harnessed for HapaMe social network

From February 25th Japanese consumers will be able to get their hands on a brand new range of budget Wii software, Nintendo of Japan has confirmed. Kotaku reports that the Minna no Osusume Collection – or the Everyone’s Recommendation Collection – will retail for YEN 2,800 (19). Each title will …

Platform holder Sony has for the first time spoken openly about the prospect of PS2 games being offered as digital downloads via the PlayStation Network. MCV exclusively revealed in September of last year that Sony was already talking to third parties about plans to bring the PS2 back-catalogue to PSN, …

We profile the Covent Garden interactive TV studio

David Braben has issued a stark warning on the future of the UK game industry. Speaking at today’s Westminster eForum, Braben said it was looking very likely that this year [Britain] will be sixth in the world,” referring to the international game development league that Britain has in recent years …

A new PC digital platform is on the way that will allow consumers to sell back their download purchases. Green Man Gaming is due to arrive in March, with over 400 titles available at launch. The service’s customers can trade back their games for discounts on future purchases. The firm …

Microsoft has claimed that the total time spent by gamers using its Xbox Live service has surpassed 17 billion hours. Company employee Trixie360 added on her Twitter: That’s more than two hours for every person on the planet.” G4 observed that this equates to around 2 million years, or 850 …

The UK took too long to recognise the cultural and financial merits of video games, Eidos Life President Ian Livingstone has said at the Westminster eForum. Speaking at the eForum debate on the future of the UK game industry in Whitehall, London, Livingstone criticised the national news media’s tendency to …