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

So when someone says a big summer/Q4 blockbuster is delayed for ‘extra polish’ they mean ‘the game wasn’t ready for release next month, and we’ve wised up to that just in the nick time’. Certainly, the games industry is no stranger to spin. Or in other words, untruths. You might …

SOE’s promising browser-based MMO Free Realms has already seen one million members register on the virtual world service – despite having only gone live 18 days ago. As a reward to all existing users of the game, SOE is dishing out in-game t-shirts. The one millionth member is also in …

David Brabenâ??s studio joining ELSPA to address issues of piracy, game ratings and the pre-owned business

French developer Arkane Studios has announced that its upcoming FPS The Crossing has been put on hold. According to Arkane CEO Raphael Colantonio, production of the game has suspended due to funding issues. In fact, Colantonio told Joystiq that the developer ran into unexpected financial challenges” a number of months …

Capcom Japan cautious on E3 attendance as Inafune cancels Nordic Game appearance amid Swine Flu fears

North American retail giant Wal-Mart has quietly entered the pre-owned games market over the weekend with the surprise introduction of trade-in vending machines in some of its stores. NeoCrisis reports that the machines offer users that chance to sell off titles on a number of formats including Xbox 360, PS3, …

A new visual tweak on an already heavy speculated Konami teaser site has given the biggest hint yet that Metal Gear Solid 5 will be revealed early on Friday morning. The site, which is tentatively entitled ‘Next’, has been updated with the number five now appearing briefly every few seconds. …

French developer Arkane Studios says the game has been put on hold due to â??unexpected financial challengesâ?

Nintendo’s Wii Fit has topped the ELSPA GfK-ChartTrack All Formats Top 40 for the 16th time this week – if the title can manage to claim two more chart crowns it will level the long-standing record of Eidos’ Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It’s the seventh week in a …

The cost of manufacturing a PS3 is currently around ten per cent higher than the system’s retail price. That was the claim made by Sony’s CFO Nobuyuki Oneda, who – according to news site Andriasang – compared manufacturing to retail costs during the company’s earnings report last week. Analysts have …