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

Microsoft’s E3-opening press conference has been bought forward by five tiny minutes tonight – and all the clues suggest that a Tony Hawk related announcement is the reason. A recent tweet form extreme sports dude Tony Hawk himself yesterday read: Just practiced my part for Microsoft’s E3 keynote tomorrow (introducing …

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick claims 23 million people are playing online games with friends today. During the Activision Blizzard pre-E3 2009 press conference, Kotick cited the publisher’s recent research as proof that the audience is changing”. An Activision study found that 12 million people played games online with friends 18 …

Japanese business daily The Nikkei is reporting that platform holder Nintendo will reveal a new version of its world-conquering Wii Fit game at its E3 press conference tomorrow. Reuters says that it will be entitled Wii Fit Plus, and that its leading USP will be the ability to share game …

Will E3 2009 be a return to form? According to everyone you talk to at publisher and format-holder offices across the US, the event will definitely be the key event for the games industry this year. Oh… of course they’d say that, they’re the stakeholders. But perhaps for a change …

The European release of Fatal Frame IV has been canned after the publishers ceased worked on the title’s localisation. The Wii-exclusive horror title was originally due for a May release, but Official Nintendo Magazine has reported that this has now been cancelled. The report said: One time envisaged for a …

As if by some sort of choreographed miracle, Konami’s much-discussed teaser site has today changed to depict a glowing range of sunshine – just as it was revealed that a new Metal Gear Solid title is heading to PSP. As part of John Koller’s leaked PSP Go video, the Sony …

Epic Games’ long-rumoured horror title could be unveiled at E3 this week, reports VG247. According to the rumours, the game is being developed by Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski, and will be released exclusively for Sony’s PlayStation 3. The game has been on the radar since November last year, …

Ben Feder promotes stricter standards before signing publishing deals

Grand Theft Auto IV and Midnight Club: Los Angeles have been complemented with DLC. How is Take-Two approaching this model and what are the benefits to it? First and foremost, downloadable content vastly enhances the gameplay experience for our audience. For example, The Lost and Damned, our first downloadable episode …

Localisation of Wii horror title canned as game remains exclusive to Japan