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

Publishers are being urged to take a chance on a Roland Rat game, after a US IP agency snapped up the rights to the classic 1980s television character. The Sharpe Company announced it had acquired the licence for the fluffy presenter last month, with a review to relaunching him as …

Following the release of a promo video yesterday that hinted at a gaming-orientated future for Microsoft’s new portable multimedia player the Zune HD, the Xbox platform holder has finally broken its silence and spoken openly about its gaming aspirations for the device. However, Microsoft is not yet planning on opening …

Geomerics showing off Age of Conan integration at GDC Austin

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has predicted that triple-A games originally slated for a 2009 release and now pushed back to Q1 2010 may yet be pushed further back by panicked publishers. Ubisoft’s own Splinter Cell: Conviction has been pushed back to next year afte originally being pencilled din for Christmas. …

Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment believes that innovative new DS puzzler Scribblenauts can emulate the success of Nintendo smash Professor Layton. The publisher is backing the title with a major TV campaign and Q4 sampling tour to drive home Scribblenauts’ mass-market appeal. The title picked up 35 Awards at this year’s …

Activision boss wants to turn developers into economists and â??take the fun out of game designâ?

EA has for the first time lifted the lid on its upcoming Skate 3, stating that the third outing in its successful skateboarding series will be released on both Xbox 360 and PS3 in may next year. The game, which is being developed by Black box, shifts the focus onto …

Namco Bandai Partners and Ubisoft have become the latest big name publishers to get behind this year’s Games Media Awards. Ubisoft has stepped up to sponsor the Best Games Coverage in a Mainstream Magazine category – won last year by Simon Munk for FHM. Ubisoft UK marketing director Murray Pannell …

Electronics retail chain Comet has hired Azeem Sadiq as its category buyer for gaming. Although new to the games industry, Sadiq has eight years of retail experience, having held various buying roles for House of Fraser, MFI and online retailer CSN. He replaces Debbie O’Neill, who moved from the games …

The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of EA’s Grand Slam Tennis won’t make it to market until both Sony and Microsoft release their respective upcoming motion controllers (or non-controllers, in the case of 360’s Natal), EA Sports boss Peter Moore has claimed. CasualGaming.biz has the full story.