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

Derby University to host XNA development initiative

In a surprise move, the former boss of EA’s casual division Kathy Vrabeck looks set to return to the industry as the figurehead of Legendary Pictures’ push into the games sector. CasualGaming.biz has the full story – click here to take a look.

ESA is changing the rules on booth sizes for 2009’s E3. After the failed attempt to control booth sizes for the small-scale summits in 2007 and 2008, ESA is now lifting all restrictions, even those which meant format holders had much bigger booths than publishers. One thing we’re doing is …

Not content with merely entering the ELSPA GfK-ChartTrack All Formats Top 40 in first spot , Capcom’s Street Fighter IV has also become the best selling All Formats Number One of the year to date. It’s sales success also makes it the best selling ‘traditional’ beat ‘em up since the …

Capcom’s Street Fighter IV has knocked Nintendo’s Wii Fit from the top of the ELSPA GfK-ChartTrack All Formats Top 40 – as predicted by MCV earlier today . Nintendo’s title has spent a record-setting five weeks at the top of the listings, though it only just manages to resist the …

Funcom’s chief financial officer Olav Sandnes has stood down from his position at the MMO to take up a role in a different sector publisher following the firm’s confirmation of losses in Q4 2008. He will remain in the role until a successor is found. In total, Funcom suffered an …

A lack of users for Sony’s Go!Messenger software on PSP has lead to the platform holder confirming that the service will be shut down at the end of next month. Go!Messenger was an internet telephone, or VOIP, service run in collaboration with telecoms giant BT that allowed PSP owners with …

Atari’s The Chronicles Of Riddick: Assault On Dark Athena will be released in Europe on April 24th. The highly anticipated title contains a brand new campaign, as well as a HD remake of the critically acclaimed Escape From Butcher Bay and various multiplayer options, including the Pitch Black mode. Playable …

Is it too late to leave leave QA until the alpha stage? Testologyâ??s Andy Robson draws upon his experience to put forward the case for using testers to their full potentialâ?¦

Microsoft has announced that, following a successful trial last December, it is to resurrect its Xbox Live Arcade ‘Deal of the Week’ this year – and it begins today with a 33 per cent cut to the price of Jonathan Blow’s Braid. MCV’s sister site CasualGaming.biz has the full story …