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

PlayV has announced that its range of educational titles will be released on Nintendo DS in February 2009. The Mind Your Language series has been fully accredited by international language school Inlingua and teaches a variety of tongues, including Spanish, French, German and even Japanese. PlayV’s marketing manager Brian Faller …

Despite traditionally being the quieter time of the year, the first six months saw new iterations in the Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry, Grand Theft Auto, Mario Kart, Gran Turismo and Super Smash Bros. franchises – and that’s not including the release of a certain Wii Fit. There’s been …

Following the success of its Nintendo DS range, book specialist Waterstone’s has introduced a line of Wii titles to its new Liverpool-based store. Waterstone’s began selling DS Touch Generation titles in a handful of stores last year, with over 100 branches now stocking a selection of DS software. The firm …

The much-discussed relaunch of the infamous Gizmondo console has been delayed until 2009 following news that the firm behind the device is struggling to secure investment. Gizmondo boss Carl Freer told Swedish blog The Nordic Link: Unfortunately, we’ve had to reschedule the launch of Gizmondo. It’s due to the economic …

New research from PricewaterhouseCoopers show that 82 per cent of UK High Street retailers are now offering significant sales or reductions in an effort to get shoppers spending money in the run-up to Christmas. Retail Bulletin reports that just 52 per cent of stores were running sales promotions one month …

Were your surprised by your win?I really was. I’ve only been writing my column for just over a year now, and it isn’t the most noticeable section in The Scotsman, sitting buried under the weekend crossword and next to a ‘funny internet links’ info panel. I never once thought that …

Rising Star Games has revealed a new marketing push set to make it as iconic for Japanese content as the likes of graphic novel and animation specialists Tokyopop and Manga. At its recent trade conference in London, the company presented plans for 2009, including an initial product line-up and the …

EA has scored its sixth Christmas number on in eight years – FIFA 09 has claimed the top spot and trumped the favourite Call of Duty: World at War. Retailer promotions saw sales of FIFA 09 rocket by 89 per cent according to the weekly sales data from Gfk-ChartTrack. Call …

10 per cent of workforce to go as part of $120m cost savings; Black Box studio first to close

With 2008 drawing to a close, MCV looks back at the news that defined the last 12 months in the games industry. In Q1 we saw the demise of HD-DVD, Gordon Brown throw a menacing glare at gaming, trouble at SCi, confident predictions from Woolworths, high-profile departures and hires at …