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

50. Defying the economyAndrew Brown, Activision UK MD says: I hope that in-home entertainment – and of course video games – proves to be resistant to the economic down turn. As long as demand continues to grow, the market will eventually adjust to the bad news of retail closures.” 49: EA’s …

BAFTA has announced that High Street specialist GAME will be the title sponsor of the British Academy Video Games Awards 2009. The ceremony will be held on March 10th at the London Hilton on Park Lane, and GAME will be responsible for the only publicly voted award of the night …

A resurgent Wii Fit is one of the few key differences at the top of the ELSPA Gfk-ChartTrack All Formats Top 40 this week as EA’s FIFA 09 holds firm at the top. Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: World at War and EA’s Need for Speed: Undercover remain in second …

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Burgeoning UK games publisher 505 Games is to enter the increasingly competitive girl-gamers market on DS with the announcement of its new The Academy range, which is due to arrive on Nintendo’s portable DS in mid 2009. CasualGaming.biz has the full story – you’re just a single mouse click away.

Nintendo is expecting the nation’s post-Christmas health push to drive sales of Wii Fit in January – but has told MCV that there may be stock shortages during the month. The title, which comes with the Wii Balance Board, secured the No. 10 spot in the ChartTrack/ELSPA Christmas top ten …

TT Games acquisition deemed 'wildly successful'

Japanese games developer and publisher Konami has announced that it is to release its first title designed to work with Nintendo’s Wii Fit accessory the Wii Balance Board this April – Marbles! Balance Challenge. For the complete story, click here to precariously wobble your way over to CasualGaming.biz.

Do you have a pic of your sales director doing the dosey doe with Lara Croft? Was your store manager ever snapped burning his Carmageddon POS stuff? Perhaps your MD had his arms round a man dressed as Croc – with a face that said ‘this is definitely going to …

Korean developer Softmax has announced its Xbox 360 exclusive RPG Magna Carta: Crimson Stigma will be published by Namco Bandai. Crimson Stigma is the sequel to the studio’s 2002 RPG, which proved to be a big hit in Korea and Japan. The company has yet to confirm a release date …