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

Concluding our special focus on the Yorkshire region's thriving development community, we bring you profiles of Pit Stop Productions, Just Add Water, and Tuna â?? three companies that do a great deal to boost the reputation of the area as a key UK hub.

Team 17 is one of the longest-running studios still around today. Founded in 1990, it has released an astonishing 140 games in its time, across more than 16 different formats.

Don't forget - lobbying ends tomorrow!

Browser-based online games portal reveals Bigpoint DevLounge

Baroness Susan Greenfield has launched an attack on the IT industry, claiming it – along with the games industry – are fuelling the obesity crisis. Speaking to a science seminar at the House of Lords, the peer said that use of computers and video games were ‘infantilising’, changing the way …

Sony’s Jamie MacDonald is to leave the company at the end of this month. SCEE this morning confirmed to Develop that the Sony World Wide Studios VP and London Studio boss will exit on May 29th – however both MacDonald and the format-holder have chosen not to comment further on …

Mastertronic has offered to throw former Empire staff a ‘wake’ – in response to a request from an ex-employee in today’s MCV magazine. A venue is yet to be decided, but the non-formal event will take place next week on Thursday, May 21st. One of the 49 employees made redundant …

Atari’s European operation will be history within weeks, as Namco Bandai swoops to complete its acquisition of the business, MCV understands. Atari Europe’s sales and marketing staff will be safely transferred to newly-formed business Distribution Partners – which will handle all Namco Bandai product in Europe, Asia, Australia and New …

A new batch of features has been added to the RETAIL BIZ previews section, where you can find MCV’s guide to some of the crucial titles due for release over the next month. Leading the pack this week is EA Sports Active, the dedicated exercise game that seeks to improve …

Sony’s PS3 has proven its naysayers wrong by increasing its annual sales by 10 per cent for the year ending March 31st, with sales for the year passing 10m units. However, the ever-popular PS2 is seemingly in a sharp state of decline, with sales of the console plummeting by 42 …