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

Hot on the heels of its two successive weekly victories in the Japanese hardware charts , Microsoft has won another Far Eastern battle by outselling Sony’s rival PS3 console for the month of September in Japan, Reuters reports. Throughout the month Microsoft sold 53,547 Xbox 360 consoles, ahead of PS3’s …

The long-awaited announcement of BioWare’s MMO based on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic franchise should occur by the end of the month, according to online reports. CVG supposedly has it on good authority that the title, which is being developed by BioWare Austin, will be officially announced …

MCV sources have revealed that Sainsburys are set to aggressively cut the price of Wii and 360 hardware. As of tomorrow morning, the supermarket chain will reportedly cut the Nintendo Wii from 179.97 to 149.97, whilst the Xbox 360 Arcade is to be dropped from 129.97 to 99.97. The Xbox …

The fifth Virtual Worlds conference is set to kick off in just over two weeks, and the organiser has told MCV that attending the event is more vital than ever for the video games industry. Starting Monday October 20th and finishing October 21st, Virtual Worlds London 2008 aims to help …

Retail came in for strong criticism after a series of dramatic price cuts, as we reported last week (MCV 26/09). With Morrisons slashing 50 per cent off the price of EA’s Mercenaries 2 and Asda trimming The Force Unleashed to 30 a week after release, the industry has already voiced concerns …

The response from indies to last week’s price wars story online was phenomenal – both in its quantity and its choler. Yet despite a no less gloom-sodden cover story this week, it might be time for indies to celebrate. After all, the real spice in the battle between EUK’s ‘everything’s …

Sales of both the PS3 and PSP are almost a third higher than Sony had estimated in its year-to-date predictions, SCEA boss Jack Tretton has stated. Reuters reports that the US arm of Sony is now very confident that it will meet, or even exceed, its estimations despite the global …

Tomorrow marks the launch of one of this year’s biggest releases, and retailers have already slashed the price of FIFA ‘09. Tesco has made the most significant cut, releasing the game at just 29.71 on PS3 and Xbox 360, whilst Asda is to sell the game for 32. These offers …

Nintendo has told MCV that it won’t be dropping the price of the DS or Wii for Christmas, despite the fact that competitor Microsoft has already heavily slashed the price of all three Xbox 360 SKUs in time for Christmas. Following the 360 price cuts, Nintendo’s Wii is no longer …

It has been confirmed that the UK’s first official National Videogame Archive is to be launched at a cost of 22bn, with the aim of preserving the history of the now global games industry. The scheme has been formed by academics at Nottingham Trent University, and will be housed at …