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

With a nickname like â??Slugâ?? there was never any doubt it would end in tears.

It was the first of Kuju's studios to rebrand itself, and probably the most radical: not only tapping into the burgeoning casual market, but basing its entire identity on a fictional female. Now, one year later, how is it faring?

SCEE president David Reeves has politely criticised recommendations made in the Byron Review, telling its author that she has been too nice” to the UK games industry. At a press conference attended by selected press last week, Reeves told Byron that he was in favour of PEGI becoming the only …

DAVID REEVES: About two-and-a-half years ago, Sony had a series of meetings with the industry, including people from ELSPA. We funded research into the subject of age ratings by a respected German consultant firm to investigate the matter. They did a lot of research in the UK, Spain, Germany and …

The PSP’s resurgence has continued in Japan, with Sony’s handheld trumping all other hardware opponents in the March sales battle, Reuters reports. PSP sold 415,415 units throughout the month, way ahead of rival DS – though Nintendo’s machine still sold an impressive 255,124 in the period. The PSP was boosted …

SCi’s share price has plunged by over seven per cent at the last count today – suggesting that the furious speculation over buyout talks may have calmed down. The stock price reached a high of 60.5p-per-share on Friday, but that dipped slightly yesterday. However, it is today’s unforeseen drop that …

Over five new titles in development will use Unreal Engine 3

EA has confirmed the price for Rock Band, after announcing the European release date of the game this morning. The title will be sold in separate SKUs – a different approach than in the US, where the title is avaliable with all instruments bundled together with the game. Instead, Eurogamer …

Rock Band will be released in the Europe on May 23rd, with the Xbox 360 enjoying an exclusive launch window. Electronic Arts has also revealed that Wii, PS2 and PS3 versions of the game will arrive later in the Summer. The music title received much critical acclaim when it was …

An anonymous development source claims to confirmed to MTV a long-running point of industry rumour and speculation: that Microsoft plans to introduce its own Wiimote-styled controller "Microsoft’s response to Nintendo’s Wii will appear before the end of the year," says the report, which adds that the Xbox 360 motion-sensing device …