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

Unrest amongst Vivendi developers ahead of Activision merger with possible project cull in the offing, says report

EA chief executive John Riccitiello has said that his employer can be Rockstar’s ‘white knight’ – suggesting that only a successful acquisition of Take Two can give the developer a secure future. However, leading analysts have condemned the statement, with Janco Partners’ Mike Hickey telling GameDaily.biz: My belief is Rockstar …

Deus Ex creator Warren Spector used to be a man always in the headlines, but the past few years have seen his Junction Point studio joining the Disney Interactive family and little else. We caught up with him at GDC08 to talk independence, reputation and the problems with game stories...

Viacom-owned MTV Networks’ kids brand Nickelodeon has big plans in the casual games space – head over to Develop for the full story.

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Production company to help keep IP rights with developers

Business technology site Digitimes is reporting that Asustek owned manufacturing firms Pegatron and Unihan have struck a deal with Microsoft to produce around 500,000 Xbox 360 consoles a month from its bases in China. Both bases are also OEM producers of Sony’s PS3. The news comes after Microsoft blamed its …

Critically-acclaimed Wii release No More Heroes has made it to fourth in the Wii charts, according to Chart Track. The result follows a concentrated PR campaign by publisher Rising Star Games and game designer, Suda51. The game, which received much acclaim from the specialist press, also made it into the …

MTV Networks label spends $100m investment on vast catalogue of massmarket titles

Seemingly not content enough with the release of both Ceramic White and Satin Silver versions the PS3, Japanese weekly games magazine Famitsu reports that a new Steel version of Sony’s machine will arrive in conjunction of the release of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 4. The game, which will be released …