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

Activision Blizzard’s powerhouse franchise Call of Duty racked up yet another success at the weekend with the news that the recent downloadable map pack for World At War was downloaded over a million times in its opening weekend. The number includes all sales of the DLC on both Xbox Live …

Call for speakers still open to industry leaders

Publisher THQ has revealed that its upcoming FPS sequel Red Faction: Guerrilla will be released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on June 9th in North America, according to Shacknews. No European date has been announced as of yet, though a June 12th release is now likely. Volition’s title once …

Sources have told MCV sister site Develop that a huge amount of layoffs have hit THQ’s Big Huge Games studio. Based in Baltimore, Maryland, Big Huge Games most recently made the Xbox Live Arcade title Catan, and was working with Elder Scrolls creator Ken Rolston on a ‘Big Huge RPG’. …

Sony Computer Entertainment America’s hardware marketing boss John Koller has stated that he believes the recent price drops to PS2 in the Europe and the US – though not in the UK – could see the PS2 eat into Wii’s market share. We do think the $99 price point could …

Catan and Rise of Nations developer sees headcount slashed in THQ cutbacks

Xbox 360 platform holder Microsoft has told MCV that it’s not surprised by Sony’s PS2 price drop announced today, saying that the console is now at the end of its lifecycle. This move from Sony at the end of the PS2’s life cycle is not unexpected,” Microsoft’s regional VP of …

Reggie Fils-Aime, the outspoken president of Nintendo of America, has claimed that the growing trade-in business at games retail is not in the best interests of the consumer – though he admits that the situation would be better if publishers were to receive a slice of the pre-owned profits. More …

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has stated that he doesn’t believe OnLive’s recently revealed games service can stand up to the challenge posed by the quality of modern console software – though he does believe it could be an interesting proposition for the PC sector. I haven’t spent any …

At E3 in 2004, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata unveiled the prototype DS. The peculiar dual screen/touch screen concept was greeted with disdain by critics and consumers alike, with many doubting that it could stand up to Sony’s sleek and promising PSP. Four years later and the DS has secured its …