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

The open beta of PS3 Home will be made available to all PS3 users from tomorrow (December 11th), SCEE has announced. The open beta will include Ubisoft’s themed Far Cry 2 Home space, with additional spaces for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Warhawk, Motorstorm and SOCOM on the way shortly. Commercial partnerships …

Japanese publisher and RPG specialist Square Enix has revealed that it was at one stage in talks with Sony regarding a PS3 port of its still popular MMO Final Fantasy XI. The game’s producer Hiromichi Tanaka told 1UP at the recent Fan Fest event in Hollywood that: Initially we were …

A brand new virtual world targeting both Muslims and all those with an interest in learning more about the Muslim community has been launched by social network Muxlim. The virtual world, called Muxlim Pal, is visually similar in style to popular virtual hangout Habbo, and lets users customise the appearance …

Nintendo’s DS Lite has broken the all-time weekly sales record for hardware in the UK, MCV can reveal. ELSPA/GFK-ChartTrack figures show that the console broke the record in week ending December 6th (week 49). The system surpassed its own record to claim the achievement. And GFK-ChartTrack has predicted that the …

Activision Blizzard has announced it will publish X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a video game companion to the upcoming film of the same name. Due to arrive alongside its cinematic counterpart in May 2009, X-Men Origins follows the early adventures of popular superhero Wolverine. Set before the recent movie trilogy, the game …

Developer and publisher Rockstar has announced that its entire PC catalogue, including the recently released Grand Theft Auto IV and hits such as Bully and Max Payne, is to be made available on Metaboli’s ‘download to own’ digital portal Gamesplanet.com. It is a genuine pleasure to be able to list …

Seemingly not satisfied with conquering the world’s living rooms with its music series Guitar Hero, Activision-Blizzard is to bring its franchise to arcades around the world – and the surprise is that Japanese rival Konami is on board with the project, MTV Multiplayer reports. Guitar Hero Arcade is based on …

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed that sales of his firm’s Wii console this Black Friday were double that enjoyed by the machine in the same period in 2007. Though he was not exact about the timeframe, he did state that the sales were measured over a week-long period that …

Speakers from Rockstar Leeds, EA, Nintendo and Ubisoft to attend inaugural event

Firm to become exclusive in-game ad partner for Ludiaâ??s 2009 range, which includes American Idol and Price is Right