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

Sales of video game consoles and software are up by an impressive 57 per cent in the US, despite the economic troubles faced by the country, according to research firm NPD. During March American consumers spent $1.7 billion on games with the Wii comfortably outselling Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. …

Rob Precious has been appointed vice president of sales at Cambridge-based graphics middleware developer, Geomerics. Precious’ main task will be to drive and develop global sales for Geomerics’ debut real-time lighting technology Enlighten, which gained much attention at the recent GDC. We are delighted to welcome Rob as our vice …

Rob Precious joins middleware firm to power Enlighten push

Quebec conference also adds events for the general public

After Scottish games developer Realtime Worlds confirmed it had received a $50m investment to help support its plans for future growth we spoke to CEO Dave Jones to find out more about the studioâ??s online strategyâ?¦

Take Two executive chairman Strauss Zelnick has labelled EA’s ‘hostile’ $26-per-share tender bid forhis company as still being wrong place, wrong time”– and once again urged the firm’s shareholders to turn down the offer. Despite Zelnick’s protestations, however, there’s still time for EA’s bid to be successful: the offer expires …

Take Two has barred newer investors from attending its imminent annual shareholders meeting – in which the publisher is set to give an indication of the outcome of its ongoing acquisition saga with EA . Some who no longer own shares will have a role to play in the conference, …

Microsoft Game Studios’corporate VP Shane Kim has said that the firm is not likely to challenge EA’s $2 billion acquisition bid for Take Two because MS ‘doesn’t have any past relationship’ with the firm and is put off by the price it would have to pay. Answering GameDaily readers’ questions, …

The success of Nintendo’s DS knows no bounds in Japan, with the console’s software sales hitting a stonking 100 million units in the territory since launch. As IGN points out, Nintendo software is now as popular in Japan as ‘The Sims is in the entire world’. The top ten best-selling …

A new research book into the global video games industry, which was produced with $1.5 million of US Government money, has concluded that video games actually help give young people ‘social confidence’. Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Video Games And What Parents Can Do, penned by Lawrence Kutner …