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

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 …

University of Abertay Dundee and Media City UK to manage funds for UK developers

So it’s with wide arms that we welcome Alworths to the retail fold. It’s not been an easy ride for Andy Latham’s new chain. One of the original architects, Tony Page, left the project early on, while Shop Direct – owner of Woolworths.co.uk – is threatening legal action over the …

Sony has announced that Buzz! Quiz World will be available to PSP owners on December 17th. The game will be released as a PSN-exclusive title, and will boast more than 3,000 trivia questions, according to the US PlayStation Blog. It will also be the first PSP Buzz! title to be …

London institution lauds efforts to bring academia and industry together

Woolworths’ former development boss has told MCV he will open up to 200 Alworths stores throughout the UK – and games will be stocked in all outlets. Andy Latham – MD of the new retail chain – launched the first five Alworths stores last month. He has hired a team …