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

Chinese publisher uses a unique pay-to-play system that becomes a hit with 1 million players

Stylised 2D action platformer Muramasa: The Demon Blade will be published by Ignition in North America this September. Muramasa is developed by Vanillaware, and its unique visuals stem from the fact that the whole thing is hand drawn. It has already been dubbed by many in the specialist press as …

EA is flaunting the popularity of its online game services by announcing that its Sports label has clocked 500m online games since June last year. EA says that an average of 2.2 million online games have been played each day since June; when the publisher first started releasing its 2009 …

Nintendo has launched a major new advertising campaign designed to encourage UK Wii owners to use the console’s online services. The eight-week promotion comes under the tagline ‘Get it online’, and shows mainstream gamers how to connect their Wi-Fi-enabled console to the internet. The promotion has been seen as a …

Amazon took its second big stride into the digital console content market earlier today with the introduction of WiiWare code sales through its US portal – but Nintendo has told CasualGaming.biz that it has no plans to bring the offer to the UK. Read the full story here.

Ambitious new UK studio looks to beat Nintendo at its own game with new peripheral-based lifestyle games

Think's conference returns to Chinese soil this October

A daring and contentious budget speech by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling was punctuated with an interesting promise: the UK economy is set to grow at the start of next year. Speaking in the Commons, Darling said that GDP will grow 1.25 per cent by 2010 and climb …

500 million online games since June last year, as FIFA and NFL each clock over 2.4 million registered users

Value retail chain Poundland has today announced that it has purchased 12 ex-Woolworths stores. One hundred former Woolies staff have been taken on by the firm following the buy, which forms part of Poundland’s planned expansion. The retailer is committed to opening at least 30 new stores in the UK …