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

Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has (not for the first time) levelled some harsh criticism at the Japanese games market, stating that Japanese gamers still harbour an unfair bias against Western-developed titles. Wada was speaking in a YouTube interview, spotted by Kotaku, about the Japanese word ‘youge’. Directly translated it …

It already boasts a popular and competitive MP3 marketplace and now leading national supermarket Tesco has taken a huge stride into the digital video space with the announcement of its new Virtual DVD offering. Using Microsoft’s Silverlight – an ambitious rival to Adobe’s Flash technology – the products will offer …

Globally recognised pro skateboarder Tony Hawk has spoken in defence of Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride, accusing many critics of failing to give the game the credit he feels it deserves. Most snarky critics had their minds set before ever seeing/playing the game,” Hawk said on his Twitter profile. I’m proud …

Our guide to the solutions that your studio should consider

In a blow to its ongoing battle against video game piracy, platform holder Nintendo has lost a lawsuit against a manufacturer of a DS Flash card. Ruling in favour of the Divineo Group, a French judge accused Nintendo of deliberately locking out developers from its range of hardware, adding that …

Its release remains a long way off but the hype machine looks like its about to kick into life as Microsoft looks to finish the year by bigging up what could be its biggest release of 2010 – Bungie’s Halo Reach. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Video Game Awards on December …

Nintendo may have weathered a mixed 2009 – particularly in Japan – but new sales numbers from Japan suggest that its iconic mascot Mario remains as popular today as he ever was. According to Andriasang, upon its release last week New Super Mario Bros Wii shifted an impressive 422,000 units …

Northwest Vision and Media provides financial boost to local digital companies

Sega has called Bayonetta the first triple-A launch of 2010 following its perfect score from Edge Magazine. The action adventure title developed by acclaimed studio Platinum Games is due for release on January 8th in Europe, and has also received a 40/40 from Famitsu and 9/10 from Eurogamer. And Sega …

Activision’s record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has claimed its fourth consecutive number one in the ELSPA GfK-ChartTrack All Formats Top 40. It does so despite a seven per cent drop in sales – and despite the advances of EA’s resurgent FIFA 10 which enjoys a 24 per cent …