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

Californian game maker Blizzard has announced it’s working on a third expansion package for the world’s most popular MMORPG. The project, entitled World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm, was announced at the fourth annual BlizzCon event. The announcement confirmed that Blizzard is not yet ready to focus its core workforce on new …

International gym giant Fitness First has increased its presence in the ‘healthy gaming’ sector with a new range of official peripherals. In May, the firm put its name to Black Bean and Ubisoft’s Wii fitness title New-U, due for release next month. The publishers claim that NewU is the first …

Event advisor and Square Enix R&D man Naoto Yoshioka on the origins of the conference

SCEE developer relations doc explains submission process behind new handheld micro games

The new slimline PS3 and its price cut could boost sales of the console by 60 per cent in the US, NPD reports. The firm made the statement to Information Week, but warned that price alone won’t see Sony narrow the gap between the PS3 and its rivals, citing the …

2K believes its new IP Borderlands can stand shoulder-to-shoulder” with this Christmas’ biggest games, which include Call of Duty, Halo and GTA. The Bioshock publisher told MCV that it hopes Borderlands can become a long-term franchise for the firm, and may even spawn a new genre of shooter. Borderlands is …

Future Publishing has told MCV it will consider creating other magazines dedicated to a single game – after the announcement of its global World Of Warcraft publication yesterday. As revealed by MCV, Future’s quarterly WoW magazine will be available to consumers quarterly via a yearly subscription. The publisher has decided …

But this week it was clear the European territory has found the best solution to providing something that caters for both the Western-ised, retail focused part of the global games market, whilst being tailored to local tastes. It also fulfills a joint purpose, with the marketing on the ground useful …

Microsoft’s ongoing silence concerning its anticipated Xbox 360 price cut may show no signs of abating, but the industry continues to expect an announcement shortly with a number of analysts predicting an Elite price drop in line with industry expectations. I could see a model refresh with the Elite version …

New German games expo Gamescom welcomed 240,000 visitors through its doors last week, with its success leading to organisers Koelnmesse to hail it as the world’s largest games trade event. In total 458 companies exhibited at the show, representing 31 different countries. This, according to Koelnmesse, makes Gamescom the world’s …