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

Xbox 360 platform holder Microsoft has told MCV that reports claiming Twitter and Facebook access on Xbox 360 will be reserved for Gold members of Xbox Live only are incorrect. The belief stems from a footnote in this morning’s announcement of a price cut for the Xbox 360 Elite console …

Ahead of the release of Need for Speed: Shift on September 18th, publisher EA has teamed up with the UK’s leading games retailer GAME to run a nationwide competition that takes place in key GAME outlets. Kicking off on August 28th, heats will take place in 49 stores across the …

NEoN 09 to unite Tayside area's creative industries

In a surprise move, UK publisher Codemasters had confirmed that Sony is to take over sales and distribution duties for the upcoming Colin McRae: Dirt 2 on both PS3 and PSP. The deal echoes Sony’s swoop to capture the PlayStation publishing rights to Atari’s Ghostbusters earlier this year – though …

Electronic Arts has announced the official title for the next instalment in its long-running strategy series will be Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight. The game is due for release on PC in 2010 and brings the series’ Tiberium saga to an end. The subtitle was submitted and voted for …

A Microsoft exec has claimed the Xbox 360’s notorious hardware problems can now be considered a thing of the past. Xbox 360 production boss Aaron Greenberg told Gamespot the Microsoft’s production advancements have made the console much more stable. Owners should be less likely to suffer from the E74 error …

Sony says it will win over lapsed gamers, Wii owners and former PlayStation 2 gamers with its mammoth marketing push for PS3. Earlier this week the format holder revealed plans to spend over 80m on European marketing efforts for the redesigned console, which arrives on Tuesday, September 1st priced at …

Click here to access the RETAIL BIZ previews section for an in-depth look at some of the most anticipated games heading to UK shelves in the coming months. This week, we offer a guide to Microsoft’s Halo 3: ODST, the long-awaited prequel to the Xbox 360 manufacturer’s massively popular 2007 …

EA’s Maxis studio – originally responsible for The Sims franchise and most recently Spore – has seen layoffs amongst its staff, the publisher has confirmed. "Often in the video game industry, the size of a studio fluctuates in response to business conditions," Shacknews was told by Electronic Arts in a …

Did you know that 80% of surveyed publishers would boost their dev funding if the UK introduced subsidies? More stats inside.