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

It has emerged that Dan Wagner, the man behind Shiny Media investor Brightstation Ventures, is the ‘minority shareholder’ stalling the current salvage plans of the troubled internet publisher.

 Brightstation owns 50 per cent of Shiny Media following its 2007 investment of 2.7m – though Shiny co-founder Chris Price has since …

Head over to the RETAIL BIZ Previews section, where you can find our take on the hottest games heading to retail in the next few months. This week, we take a look Codemasters’ Ashes Cricket 2009, a title the publisher hopes will reinvigorate the cricket genre. With the public’s interest …

Another UK studio unhappy with the increasingly risk-averse nature of big publishers has turned to self-publishing. Indie firm Icon Games this week announced intentions to self-publish five digital titles for the likes of PSP, DS, iPhone and consoles before the end of they year. These include Arcade Darts (WiiWare/PSP), Stuntcars …

Rumoured Microsoft division confirmed as Frank Oâ??Connor talks Halo anime

The Government is to create an all-new ‘video games committee’ – in which cross-departmental representatives will be tasked with considering changes in policy to help the industry. The decision was a result of ELSPA’s first formal meeting with new Minister for Creative Industries Sin Simon last week. ELSPA director general …

The inaugural Gamescom this August is proving to be an ambitious event, supported by everyone who is anyone in the industry – and open to all. But don’t just take our word for it. Here, Oliver Kuhrt of organiser Koelnmesse runs through the plans for the event… In less than …

More than one million levels for LittleBigPlanet have been published since the game’s launch. Media Molecule announced LBP players have passed this milestone nine months after the title launched, calculating that a new level has been published every 21 seconds. It also revealed that the game’s user-created levels have been …

Ministers from Culture, Business and Health departments form after ELSPA meeting

Chinese developer partners with Mythic to deliver new Ultima MMO

The hotly-tipped APB by Scottish developer Realtime Worlds will arrive at retail in March, MCV can reveal. MCV understands that EA Partners is distributing and marketing the PC and Xbox 360 game, which has been branded by some commentators as the natural successor to GTA. However, insiders have scotched industry …