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

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 …

Californian online game publisher to partner with Petroglyph following the shock-exodus of president Jon Van Caneghem

Never doubt the appetite for all things Final Fantasy in Japan – sales of PS3 rocketed last week after the arrival of a playable demo of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII on the Blu-ray release of CGI movie Final Fantasy: Advent Children Complete. Sales of Sony’s machine hit 62,527, up …