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

The Home of Japanese Games” Rising Star has signed up the publishing rights for yet another interesting Eastern games property – the Wii exclusive Fragile. The game is being developed by Tri Crescendo, the outfit behind the distinctive and beautiful Chopin-based RPG Eternal Sonata as well the popular Baten Kaitos. …

The latest adventure in the digital life of the bad-tempered Ryu Hayabusa, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, will be released for PS3 in Japan on October 1st, it has been confirmed. NGS2 is a reworked version of Xbox 360 exclusive Ninja Gaiden II and includes a host of new additions such …

As revealed in a tweet by Blue Omega Entertainment programmer Geoff Rowland, the entire workforce at the developer has been laid off. "The entire Blue Omega team was laid off today (well, starting Friday)," said Rowland’s post. "If anyone has job openings, send them my way and I’ll pass them …

It was the big pre-E3 rumour that never happened, but talk has once again emerged of a slimmed down re-imagining of Sony’s PS3 console, with claims that contracts with manufacturers have now been finalised. Joystiq reports that two Taiwanese manufacturing companies, Foxconn and Pegatron, who already enjoy contracts to make …

Dutch publisher Playlogic has launched a brand new digital distribution portal named Gamessence.com, a move that the firm believes will aid its quest to become one of the world’s leading publishers”. The site, which is being run in conjunction with digital specialist Metaboli, promises an easy to use UI. 40 …

Global audience embraces socially networked games

Ugly word, ‘blog’. Sounds like bog and log. But, by far, the blog is the most important aspect of any social marketing campaign. It allows you to access and maintain audience at a very low cost. It allows you to message directly, without any media third parties sucking your budgets …

Microsoft has outlined some early details concerning its upcoming Xbox Live tie-up with popular music streaming service Last.fm, and the good news is that access will be free to Gold members of the online games network. Speaking to Joystiq, Xbox Live general manager Christina DeRosa stated: "Gold users will have …

Austrian developer brings a gaming history lesson to Nintendo

The global boss of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment has told MCV that the pre-owned market could damage the games industry. In an exclusive interview, Martin Tremblay said that the publisher was always looking at new data” – but that he couldn’t condone re-selling of old titles at retail. He commented: …