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

Special effects hardware firm amBX this week took a step closer to wider acceptance after signing up as a tools provider for the PlayStation 3. The agreement with Sony Computer Entertainment means that amBX – which recently spun out of Philips via VC funding – can develop its light, sound …

Ambient tech reaches major milestone as it gets its first console outing

French publisher Ubisoft has announced that its upcoming Tom Clancy flight-sim Hawx will hit shelves on March 6th for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. PC gamers will have to wait a week until March 13th, just two weeks after Tom Clancy: End War gets its release on the format, which …

TT Games and Warner Bros are set to release a trio of new strategy-based Lego DS games, entitled Lego Battles. The new titles are due for release in the summer, and are based on the themes Lego Pirates, Lego Space and Lego Pirates. Lego Battles offers players the action-packed and …

Rockstar Games has finally answered the long-running rumours of a sequel to Red Dead Revolver by confirming that the title is indeed in the works and is due for release this autumn. Red Dead Redemption is being developed for Xbox 360 and PS3 by Rockstar San Diego, the studio behind …

Disney Interactive Media has reported a 13 per cent increase in revenue for the quarter ending December 31st 2008, but has nonetheless suffered a loss for period. Revenue reached $313m, up from $276m in the same period the year before. This wasn’t enough to prevent a loss of $45m, down …

Online rental service GameFly has acquired the independent video games site Shacknews. The deal covers all of Shacknews’ related destinations, granting GameFly control over various websites and services including FileShack, a popular downloads site. GameFly has pledged to retain the current Shacknews staff and ethos, as well as improving the …

The Develop Conference is set to expand its coverage by examining include new trends in development for the 2009 showing in Brighton.

Looking at the sales numbers it is clear that the industry showed significant growth and most public game companies have been reporting strong revenue increases. Of course, with market conditions as they are, this growth has not translated into increased investor value. In the latest issue of the DFC Dossier, …

North American games publisher EA has pledged to make casual and family gaming a big part of its reinvention roadmap following some disappointing financial results for the firm’s last three months of 2008. It’s online games portal POGO is currently riding high with record subscribers of 1.7m, and EA Mobile …