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

Western gamers still face a long wait for the release of Final Fantasy XIII, but the Japanese anticipation has reached fever-pitch ahead of the release of the PS3 version of the game this Thursday. Publisher Square Enix is well aware of the likely mania that will greet the game’s release …

The first game based on popular kids brand Zhu Zhu Pets will be released on DS in spring 2010 thanks to a new agreement between publisher Activision, GameMill Publishing and licence holder Cepia LLC. Black Lantern Studios is currently handling development duties. Zhu Zhu Pets success in 2009 speaks for …

Sales tracker NPD has released its 2009 software sales chart for North America and, unsurprisingly, it’s Activision Blizzard’s world-conquering Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that tops the pile. With sales of 4.2m, the Xbox 360 version currently stands as the best selling game in North America for the year-to-date …

Company director tells Develop that the firm is ready to increase dev projects

Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Blockbuster have rolled them out across the US, and now video game vending machines are starting to crop up in the UK too. POP247 kiosks are already appearing in the top 150 UK cinemas, as well as airports, railway stations, major High Street retailers, shopping centres …

Codemasters will ramp up its digital games output next year – as it brings sequels to its strongest franchises to market in a bid to grow its business. The firm celebrated a return to form in 2009, with Ashes Cricket, Dirt 2 and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising all hitting top …

Ubisoft has begun the second phase of its nationwide Imagine sampling tour, promoting its best-selling range of games for girls in the run up to Christmas. The publisher will be demonstrating the newest additions to the series, such as Detective Adventures and Party Planner, as well as Just Dance at …

In the latest edition of NoJ’s Iwata Asks series, Nintendo president Saturo Iwata has listed a number of names for the firm considered for its recently unveiled DSi XL. According to a translation on Andriasang, the list of possible monikers that Nintendo conjured up included ‘DSi Comfort’, ‘DSi Executive’, ‘DSi …

The Japanese arm of PlayStation platform holder Sony has spoken openly about the possibility of introducing a monthly charge to use some aspects of the currently free PlayStation Network service. Servers and the like have running costs, and we would face difficulties if our business depended solely on the sell-and-forget …

Three-day event will come to San Diego