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

PC-only release Age Of Conan has taken the top spot in the official German and Swedish charts – finally relegating Rockstar’s GTA IV from its No.1 position . The title’s Collector’s Edition also charted at No.6 in Germany – once again demonstrating the territory’s idiosyncratic love for PC gaming – …

The British Board of Film Classification has responded to ELSPA’s decision to ‘warn off’ publishers to its advances – stating that its relationship with UK games firms is a private matter. As revealed on MCVUK.com last week (23/05), ELSPA requested that leading publishers hold fire on implementing any changes to …

'White Space' development supports games tech and computer arts research and teaching

Ninja Gaiden II has got some great previews from the press – how proud of it are you? I’m very happy with it. It’s not 100 per cent as I think that’s not possible to do, but I think that I was successful in making a game that no one …

The Sun’s sister publication TheLondonPaper – owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News International – has added a major casual games area offering over 200 titles. For the full story, visit www.casualgaming.biz .

Independent retailers have turned to the likes of Tesco and Asda to secure cheaper stock in favour of the usual distribution channels. Described as ‘Tesco Distribution’ from within the trade, indies have been making the most of the supermarkets to make up for their low allocation of products such as …

Sega has signed IGA Worldwide to provide in-game advertising for the popular Sports Interactive Football Manager series, including the upcoming Massively Multiplayer Online version, Football Manager Live. The deal grants IGA the rights to sell advertising space in the game, including league and tournament sponsorship, pitch-side billboards, web-based MPUs and …

All the big Euro execs will be in Cannes next month for the IDEF expo , and so will MCV – following its appointment as media partner for the fast-rising European trade event. The festival, run by the French trade body SELL, is heading into its third year and is …

July event boosted as four key Sony Japan speakers sign up

Digital distribution of games doesn’t hurt traditional retail outlet sales – that’s the message Steam platform holder Valve Software told assembled media journalists at a briefing in its Seattle offices today. The US independent developer, responsible for games like Half-Life and Portal, also runs the popular Steam digital distribution service, …