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

GamesBrief editor shares his view on the last decadeâ??s darkest moments

Though commentators would have you believe that the music game genre is in a savage state of decline, new numbers from NPD Group claim that DJ Hero was in revenue terms the most successful new IP of 2009 across America and Europe. Not a bad achievement, considering it was up …

Over two million PS3 owners have downloaded the music streaming app VidZone. And the team behind the service say they are helping to attract thousands of new users to the platform – even giving comparable services like Spotify a run for their money. More than two million users have signed …

Rising Star Games has announced it will be releasing Half-Minute Hero in Europe on February 12th. The Marvelous-developed PSP-exclusive RPG will cater to fans of old-school gaming with its retro-inspired visuals and fast-paced gameplay. Half-Minute Hero challenges players with a series of quests that must be completed within a strict …

Develop pays a visit to the PSP Mini experts

Apple has sent out hundreds of press invitations for a mysterious event on January 27th – and most expect it to be the day when the computing giant at last reveals the much-rumoured iSlate tablet Mac. Furthermore, it seems that the invitations have been sent out to the games press …

Nicholas Lovell chronicles 10 games which eventually killed their creators

With brands such as Wii and Natal already trading off their recognisable names, Sony’s still anonymous motion controller is in desperate need of a title – and rumours are suggesting that ‘Arc’ is the moniker being lined up. VG247 claims to have the information on good authority from a concrete …

Last week we asked readers of mcvuk.com and develop-onlinet.net to respond to an extensive salary survey. Hundreds took part, revealing details on their career and 2010 job prospects. Here we analyse the answers and offer topline insight into the jobs market, and comparing the results to our 2009 survey. For …

Very much in keeping with Japan’s penchant for RPGs, Square Enix’s Dragon Quest IX has emerged as the best selling game of 2009 in the country with sales over 4m units throughout the year. Hot on its heels is the new Pokemon outing, sales of which hit 3.382m units and …