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

It may have failed to grab the top spot in the ELSPA GfK-ChartTrack All Formats Top 40 this week, but Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed II has comfortably bettered the performance of its predecessor at retail. The publisher has revealed that the game sold 1.6m units worldwide in its first seven days …

Publisher Capcom has defended Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles from accusations that it glamorises violence and promotes the occult. Bishop Bryant of Jarrow, Archdeacon Brian Smith and Rt Rev John Goddard have all accused the game of promoting such interests amongst the UK’s youth, with the latter stating: If we …

"The Wii market is a little bit unpredictable these days�, says studio manager

Atari’s online reinvention continues with news that the long-time publisher has released free-to-play browser-based versions of six of its classic retro arcade licenses. The publisher’s re-jigged website currently offers four arcade outings Asteroids, Battlezone, Crystal Castles, Lunar Lander as well as Atari 2600 duo Adventure and Yar’s Revenge. For the …

Amsterdam-based publisher Playlogic suffered a net loss of $6.7m for the nine months ending September 30th – a significant increase on the $2m loss suffered in the same period a year before. Net losses for the quarter ending September 30th reached $3.2m, only just above the $3m loss in the …

Company releases statement that wholly contradicts indications made by its CFO

Government body has no plans to represent video games industry despite calls for support from Ed Vaizey MP

UK distributor Gem has found a unique way to help bricks and mortar retailers sell digital content. The firm has partnered with Paramount to sell two of this summer’s blockbusters – Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – as digital movies on USB sticks. Specifically themed around the …

THQ has signed a new partnership with Sky One to sponsor the first series of the popular Stargate Universe. The multi-million pound deal will run for eight months, ending in June 2010, and will see the publisher sponsoring episodes of the new show, as well as repeat episodes of Stargate …

The UK Film Council is staying silent on the possibility of incorporating video games into its remit. The notion of games being integrated into the Council’s responsibilities was suggested last month by Shadow Culture Secretary Ed Vaizey. In his address at this year’s London Games Conference, he described the Film …