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

Ubisoft has announced the creation of a new casual brand for Wii, named Play Zone. The label will offer immediate entertainment and recreation” titles for Wii, with the first, Sports Party, hitting retail on July 11th. For the full story, visit MCV sister site CasualGaming.biz.

A video games studio based in Maidstone, Kent, has been accused of unlawfully copying content from other games. Majestic Studios, which is run by Steve Bovis, Tim Croucher and Laurence Francis, sold adventure game Limbo of the Lost to US distributor Tri Synergy, which released the title in the territory. …

Third party developers and publishers will be launching new non-game applications for the PSP and PS3 in the near future. That’s according to SCEE president David Reeves, who was addressing the attendees at DevStation last week. He reminded the audience that third parties are welcome to add their own services …

Activision expects Guitar Hero’s performance across Europe this year to be nearly as big as its entire business last year. That’s according to territory boss Joerg Trouvain, speaking exclusively to MCV this week. We have had a very successful year to date and so has the industry overall, he told …

Opportunity for studios when digital delivery overtakes retail, says Sony as it reveals 40% of PS3 owners download games direct

Amongst them I could sense an upbeat mood – there’s definitely a newer optimism in the air of the company. With the likes of Kaz Hirai and Shuhei Yoshida leading global strategy from Japan, and people like David Reeves pushing the message out across the vast PAL territory, it also …

Speaking at the William Blair & Company Growth Stock Conference in Chicago yesterday, EA CEO John Riccitiello announced that the next instalment in its popular street racing series Need for Speed will be dubbed ‘Undercover’, GameSpot reports. However, following previous comments in which the outspoken executive admitted to disappointment concerning …

This past week I had the opportunity to spend time with not one, but six of the senior execs at Sony Computer Entertainment, from David Reeves through to members of the third-party relations team, R&D chiefs and Phil Harrison replacement Shuhei Yoshida. Amongst them I could sense an upbeat mood …

Leading Japanese games bible Famitsu is reporting that Square Enix is to delay the release of one of its upcoming threesome of Final Fantasy XIII titles, according to reports . Developers who had to date been working on Final Fantasy Versus XIII have been shifted to the team handling PS3 …

Digital distribution will be the ruling force in games within the next decade and the PS3 will be the centrepiece of that new online era – but we must not ignore the serious issues which faced the music industry, Sony’s David Reeves has warned. The president of SCEE last week …