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

ITV’s flagship news network ITN has featured Nintendo’s DS in its infamous ‘…and finally’ segment. The feature – which traditionally ends the network’s main bulletins with a light-hearted story – today reported on the console being used in Japanese classrooms. The video clip can be found here.

‘Sexual predators’ are using home consoles to ‘groom’ young children, according to a USA Today report. Bizarrely, the article doesn’t report on any new cases – instead taking a look back a series of previous convictions with fresh comment from police officials. "Child predators are migrating from traditional methods to …

PlayStation Network director of operations Eric Lempel has reassured consumers that Sony isn’t about to start charging for its PS3 online service – despite continuing with a policy of continual software improvements. Sony this week detailed its 2.40 Firmware update and the introduction of a new trophy system. Lempel told …

Indie devs Mark Morris (Introversion) and Jon Blow (Braid) to talk at Brighton conference

The eight Gamesman stores will expand GameStop’s presence in New Zealand to a total of 38 stores, bringing the total store count to 308 in Australia and New Zealand. We are very excited about the union of EB Games and Gamesman,” said managing director of EB Games New Zealand and …

Yesterday, UK-HQâ??d Babel Media â?? which offers services like QA, and localisation â?? announced it had been acquired by global giant Quatrro. Ahead of the announcement we spoke to Babelâ??s sales and marketing director Keith Russell to find out what the move means for the rest of the industryâ?¦

The US-based Sony PlayStation website has been infiltrated by hackers, according to a claim by IT security and control firm Sophos. ‘Experts’ at the company have apparently discovered that cybercriminals have injected unauthorised code on pages promoting the PlayStation games SingStar Pop and God of War. According to the firm: …

NaturalMotion's tech to help character animation 'in a low-gravity environment'

Sony has filed two patent applications related to a new touchscreen gaming interface – and the company has codenamed one ‘Phil Harrison’. According to the EETimes: ‘One application shows a handheld touch device that would allow both direct and gesture-based input and which would also provide force feedback across the …

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 …