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

Rockstar’s GTA IV has retained the top spot in the ChartTrack/ELSPA All Formats Chart for a second week – despite a massive 77 per cent drop in sales. The record-breaking title still managed to outsell Nintendo’s Wii Fit – which held onto second spot – by 4-to-1 in the week. …

Eidos has hired Roy Meredith as its first general manager of the Championship Manager franchise – and he’s promising to lift the franchise out of the doldrums”. Meredith joins from EA, where he has spent the last two years as global marketing director of the firm’s studios. Before that, he …

The president of leading portal Big Fish Games Jeremy Lewis has told MCV sister site Casualgaming.biz that his firm isn’t worried by the likes of EA, Activision and Midway upping their game in the online casual market. Speaking as part of a wider interview, Lewis said that investment from established …

This week’s MCV letters page presents a potential solution to the age-old problem of rogue retailers breaking street dates – but what’s your view? We want your thoughts on Comet buyer Debbie O’Neill’s letter below, and your opinion on how to stop retailers selling early. Mail us here or post …

EA is to buy gaming social network Rupture for $30 million, according to TechCrunch . As reported on MCV sister site Develop last week, Rupture was formed by former Napster founder Shawn Fanning, and produced a social network for World of Warcraft players that never left beta. The company had …

UK trade association teams up with University of the Arts London, Imperial College and Royal Institute of British Architects

MCV’s sister site PC Retail reports that the chief executive of the mammoth electronics specialist has gone on record to speak about Best Buy’s plans in the UK, with a possible bid for DSGi and Comet among the options. Head over to PCR’s site for the full story.

Multimedia college throws open its doors on May 25th

Electronic Arts has confirmed that the second iteration of popular skateboarding title SKATE is in development for PS3 and Xbox 360. However, the publisher hasn’t released any information regarding release date or price for SKATE 2. The news came as EA announced that it will release the next SKATE game, …

Electronic Arts has confirmed that the next iteration of its SKATE series will be playable on nintendo’s Wii balance Board. SKATE It is due for release later this year, and will also be released on the Nintendo DS. Wii owners can also use the Wii remote to perform tricks. Both …