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

GAME Group has pledged that it will keep securing exclusive products, after grabbing the rights to the limited edition Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360. The console joins a raft of GAME-exclusives this Christmas, which includes the special edition of Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, the Assassin’s Creed II …

UK testing and localisation firm Babel has formed a partnership with Japan’s market intelligence company Enterbrain – publisher of Famitsu magazine. Under terms of the partnership Babel will supply focus testing and localisation services to Enterbrain’s customer base. The hot topic for Japanese developers is how to make successful games …

FIFA Soccer 10 has launched in North America, EA has announced. The game was released in Europe earlier this month, selling 1.7 million units in its first week. The North American edition of the game features Major League Soccer stars Cuauhtmoc Blanco of Chicago Fire and Sacha Kljestan of Chivas …

Advertising and design agency Head First is looking ahead after celebrating its tenth birthday. The firm has re-designed its website to highlight the milestone and is even running a series of blogs around the number ten. And the company is now looking to grow its presence in front of the …

The lid has been lifted on a brand new IP from publisher Namco Bandai – third person action outing Inversion. The game, which is in development at TimeShift creators Saber Interactive, looks to differentiate itself from the many other competitors in the genre by granting players the chance to toy …

Electronic Arts UK VP Keith Ramsdale has warned that publishers producing ‘me too’ product will struggle on Nintendo formats. The publisher unveiled its Flips range last month – a line-up of e-books for kids on DS from popular authors including Enid Blyton and Eion Colfer. And Ramsdale said that the …

EA will release kids’ e-books range Flips for DS on December 4th. Tim Ingham catches up with UK boss Keith Ramsdale and head of EA Play Harvey Elliot… Will you be taking Flips global? Harvey Elliott: There are territory restrictions based on the publishing agreements we have with each of …

It seems that Ubisoft’s next instalment in its successful FPS-strategy series Ghost Recon will be called Ghost Recon: Predator, if a new ruling from the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification is anything to go by. The OFLC has granted a 15+ rating on the mysterious title, which is …

Troubled Australian studio shuts up shop; was working on unannounced LucasArts game

Entertainment retailer HMV has confirmed that it’s upcoming temporary Christmas stores will target locations now vacated thanks to the demise of Zavvi and Woolworths. The idea is to bring a viable entertainment offer to towns that are currently short on options, according to GigNews. HMV chief exec Simon Fox said …