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

Over two years after its UK debut and after no end of shortages, Nintendo’s Wii has now reached a level of open availability for UK retailers. Koch has told Nindie.com retailers that Wii hardware, which includes Wii Sports, is now freely available and will no longer be restricted to purchase …

Street Fighter publisher Capcom is to bring one of its popular fighting series to Xbox 360 and PS3 this summer, with a download-only version of Marvel vs Capcom 2 now officially confirmed. The game will be released on both Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade and Sony’s PlayStation Network, and is based …

Cult RPG developer Nippon Ichi has signed a deal with publisher Koei that gives the company the exclusive rights to distribute its titles in the UK. The first games to appear as a result of the agreement will be Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of the Metafalica on PS2 (May 29th), …

The Entertainment Software Association has hit back at a contentious study which recently concluded that 8.5 percent of young gamers are pathologically addicted to their hobby. In an open letter, ESA CEO Michael Gallagher claims that the study was based on flawed methodology”, and has asked science journal Psychological Science …

Left 4 Dead picks up four awards, while Bethesdaâ??s Fallout 3 takes Best Console Game

As Square Enix expands its presence in the west with the 84.3 million acquisition of Eidos, global president Yoichi Wada has criticised Japan’s development culture for being too inwardly-focused. In the last five to 10 years, the Japanese games industry has become a closed environment, with no new people coming …

All Sega studios, as well as Capcom and Grin, among the crowd of teams licensing Nvidiaâ??s PhysX and APEX tools

Squareâ??s Yoichi Wada calls for an end to Japanâ??s â??closed environmentâ??, adds that Square Enix may acquire more western groups

High Street retailer GAME has launched a special offer for customers following its success at the MCV Awards last week. The chain’s ‘award winning offers’ includes a Wii for 164.99 and a DSi for 139.99, and will run until May 4th. The cut-price hardware can only be gained by using …

Keep on moving is the message for the UK games business in 2009, as demonstrated by leading execs in this year’s MCV Awards video skit. Watch David Yarnton (Nintendo), Michael Rawlinson (ELSPA), John Clark (Sega), Martyn Gibbs (Gamestation) and Murray Pannell (Ubisoft) re-enact the dance moves from a cheesy pop …