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

MMO firm acquired by casual games company

Games blog Joystiq is reporting that one eagle-eyed reader has spotted a message on the back of a recently purchased Microsoft Points Card that refers to the European version of Microsoft’s Xbox Live Video Marketplace – and claiming that the service will be exclusive to the UK, Ireland, France and …

George Harrison says that firm has no plans to increase US, let alone European, development

Despite Nintendo’s current video games dominance across the globe, NoA senior vice president George Harrison has said that the platform holder has no plans to increase its current Western-developed output. Speaking to Wired, Harrison stated: "I’m not aware of any plans to push for more software development here in the …

Swedish online games firm using popular project management solution to aid expansion

English children’s reading skills have slipped from third to fifteenth in the world, according to a new study – and it’s all the games industry’s fault, says The Sun. Kids hooked on computer games have sent England plummeting down world league tables for reading,” begins the story in today’s Sun. …

With the release of Sega’s Nights Journey into Dreams on Wii pencilled in for early next year, rumours abound that another classic Saturn franchise could be making its way to next-gen consoles in the near future. Speaking to Future games site Games Radar, Sonic Team USA boss Takashi Iizuka said …

Though it arrived in Europe for the first time just last year, the Dragon Quest series remains one of the hottest properties in the Japanese games market – and the latest instalment, Dragon Quest IV on DS, has kept up the tradition with sales of 597,000 in its first week. …

It had previously been suggested that a multiplayer beta for Sony’s next-gen FPS Killzone could make its way to the PlayStation Network before the end of the year, but SCEA has now stated that shooting fans will have to wait to next year to get their hands on the preview. …

A recent study by Professor Rowell Huesmann of the University of Michigan has claimed that viewers of violent TV and video games are more susceptible to increased aggression, according to Science Daily . "Exposure to violent electronic media has a larger effect than all but one other well-known threat to …