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

The slow and steady hype machine that builds us up every year to the annual North American E3 Expo begins today with confirmation of the first round of exhibitors. This year’s E3 Expo takes place on June 15-17th as its usual home – the LA Convention Centre. Companies confirmed so …

Sony’s Asian aspirations have been given a fresh boost with news that SCE Asia has officially launched the PS3, PS2 and PSP in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam becomes the eighth country in the region to get an official hardware launch. Official SKUs now on sale include the 120GB …

Games analyst weighs in on rumours that Square Enix is set to acquire

Sony has described 2009 as a turning point” for PS3 and ELSPA said the console was last year’s star” performer, but new analysis from Gamasutra paints a far less rosy picture for the PlayStation platform holder. More specifically, the site claims that Sony suffered a $1.3bn year-on-year drop in revenue …

£35 art budget helped London-based PSP Minis developer charm customers

Nintendo’s primetime TV ad featuring popular Geordie duo Ant and Dec has been named as one of the most irritating shorts of 2009, according to a new survey from Adwatch. The pair were picked for the creative due to their mainstream appeal and family-friendly personas. The ads highlighted Wii and …

Game developers are slightly richer, new research shows

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 …