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

Following Monday’s clarification of Sony’s plans for its new Trophy system , the first games supporting the update have gone live – and more developers have pledged their support for the new rewards scheme. Firmware 2.40 was made live this morning and is now available for download from the PSN …

Infogrames made an offer for SCi back in April which it believed had The potential to be significantly value enhancing to both SCi’s and Infogrames shareholders”, but SCi ‘declined to entertain’ the bid. A clarification sent out to the City this morning confirms that while Infogrames has no current intention …

Blockbuster has dropped its bid to buy US electronics retail giant Circuit City. The entertainment chain, which made the offer in April, cited difficult market conditions. "We continue to believe in the strategic merits of a consumer retail proposition that would bring media content and electronic devices together under one …

A PC games publisher has won a court-action against four individuals who uploaded Dream Pinball 3D onto illegal file-sharing websites, according to Metro. The four were ordered to pay 750 in fines and 2000 in costs to Topware Interactive, in a case that could lead to the conviction of thousands …

Total War developer outgrows old Southwater premises; new studio features recording studio

Anglia Ruskin-run student art competition supported by Sony Cambridge

QA, localisation and testing firm Babel Media been acquired by Indian outsourcing firm Quatrro. The move sees Babel – which already boasts 500 staff across offices in Brighton, Los Angeles, Montreal and New Delhi – become part of a bigger operation that specialises in business process outsourcing. Algy Williams, co-founder …

Up to a third of Atari’s Hammersmith-based UK team are set to have left by the end of this month. MCV can reveal that five staff have already accepted redundancy packages, with another key exec still considering his options. Atari’s reduction of overhead further underlines its intention to streamline the …

Sony has shot down a rumour that it is set to introduce PS2 titles as downloadable games on the PlayStation Store. Next-gen.biz reports that a strong source supplied a PSN screenshot (pictured) that suggested Sony would be revealing the service at E3 this year – as its answer to Xbox …

Swoop for popular services and testing firm also sees EA's Leinfeller joining as CEO