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

Free-to-play MMO studio named as the 22nd fastest growing tech company in the UK today

Activision has signed Zane Lowe to help promote and develop its Guitar Hero series. The collaboration will see the Radio 1 DJ fully endorse the Hero series as well as offer up his expertise to help grow the brand. DJ Hero will also be the headline sponsor of Zane Lowe’s …

Activision has teamed up with MCV in one of the competitions of the year – in which YOU could win a copy of DJ Hero. And that’s not all… A copy of fantastic racer Blur, along with Ultimate Alliance 2 and Star Wars: Clone Wars Republic Heroes will also wing …

Publisher EA will this Sunday air its one-off two-minute TV special starring England front man Wayne Rooney to promote the upcoming release of FIFA 10 on October 2nd. The spot, which will not be aired again on UK TV, will be shown on Sky Sports 1 in the second ad …

Glu’s EMEA managing director Frank Keeling has left the company, MCV’s sister site ME has learned. The former Vodafone and RealNetworks exec joined the mobile games publisher in December 2007 to head its European activities, but his role has now been split between EMEA marketing director James Scalpello and EMEA …

Frontier celebrates Elite anniversary with public twitter interview

A deal has been struck between Japanese publisher Square Enix and growing casual games force Disney Interactive that will see the RPG specialist bring Disney’s upcoming range of digital entertainment offerings to Japan. All the details are over on CasualGaming.biz.

Meanwhile, Gamescom, the largest video game event in Europe, has signed up as an Event Partner with the Games Media Awards. After a successful debut show in Cologne this summer, the Gamescom team will be renewing its acquaintance with the UK media and industry at Jongleurs, Camden. Gamescom’s press and …

Following last night’s focus on alleged manufacturing problems with Sony’s PS3 on BBC consumer rights show Watchdog, the broadcaster has fought back in its war of words with platform holder Sony. Yesterday’s show, which has since been widely ridiculed by the UK games industry (and, indeed, MCV) claimed that Sony …

One-day event on transitioning to Unity free for Unite 2009 attendees