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

Growing online retailer The Hut has hired a new marketing manager for its games category. Sarah Jasper joins the firm after working as brand marketing manager on the Play.com-sponsored Take That tour. She has also previously worked for Sony Vaio and BMW. In addition, she joins MCV’s Retail Advisory Board …

Nintendo has confirmed it will launch a limited edition black Wii in the UK and Ireland on Friday, November 6th. The console will hit mainland Europe two weeks later on November 20th. Nintendo senior product manager for Wii Rob Lowe told MCV: Nintendo has always taken the European market seriously …

The mighty DS once again emerged as the best selling console in North America for the month of September, but the numbers gave each platform holder a chance to celebrate. DS was the best selling machine for the sixth month on the trot with sales of 524k, though this was …

Even Nintendo’s perennially popular offerings were not enough to challenge Halo 3: ODST’s dominance in the North American September software battle, with Microsoft’s shooter drastically out performing all of its rivals. NPD reports that Bungie’s Master Chief-free FPS shifted 1.5m units in the period, way ahead of its closest rival …

UK Music's Feargal Sharkey to join Blitz and Positech on piracy panel

Star Trek Online will arrive between January and March 2010, Cryptic has told Videogamer. The upcoming MMORPG combines space combat with on-foot battle, and is getting positive previews from the press. Executive producer Craig Zinkievich told Videogamer: "Without giving you the date, which I’m not allowed to give out or …

Apple has reported revenues of $9.87bn and net profits of $1.67bn for its fiscal fourth quarter – its most profitable ever. The company sold 7.4m iPhones during the quarter, up 7 per cent year-on-year despite component shortages for the iPhone 3GS in July and August. "For almost the entire quarter, …

EA’s FIFA 10 has sold 1 million units in the UK in just three weeks, Chart-Track has announced. It took FIFA 09 six weeks to achieve the same milestone, which went on to sell over 10 million units worldwide. As reported yesterday, FIFA 10 remains top of the ChartTrack Top …

Don’t say we didn’t warn you: the deadline for nominations for this year’s 30 Under 30 is very close. It’s the end of play today, Tuesday 20th, in fact. Every year, MCV presents a list of the UK games market’s rising stars, and the 2009 edition of 30 Under 30 …

AUDIO SPECIAL: Side's guide to using actors for in-game audio