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

After Monday’s admission from lead designer Shingo ‘Seabass’ Takatsuka that his recent release Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 had failed to meet his expectations, Konami has released a patch for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game that addresses some of the major criticisms. The download is an effort …

Sony is to release a new battery pack for its portable games console the PSP that claims to be able to double the operating time of the new Slim & Lite version of the machine. The power cel, dubbed the PSP Extended Life Battery Kit, is actually thicker than the …

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has forecast that both Sony and Microsoft will need” to drop the price of their next gen consoles to $199 (100) in the next two years to reach mass market consumers. He added that he believes the Wii, which currently sells for $250 (125), would drop …

The video games market in the US is growing at a far greater pace than the wider economy, and is adding ‘real growth’ to the US economy, The Entertainment Software Association reports, according to Next-Gen . Stephen E. Siwek’s ‘Video Games in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the US …

US movie journal Variety has predicted that cinema and TV writers striking in the US over royalty payouts may soon turn to scripting video games. Members of the Writer’s Guild Of America union have been on strike for four weeks over the amount of money they receive from DVD sales …

Some has suspected that in the light of the upcoming Xbox Originals service on Xbox Live, Microsoft’s support of its ongoing backwards compatibility efforts on 360 might wane – but next month’s ‘Fall Update’ will bring with it a renewed roster of compatible Xbox games. Newly-functioning titles will include FIFA …

Union grants disgruntled wordsmiths permission to script interactive entertainment

Leading platform holder Nintendo is celebrating success on two fronts after announcing that both its home console the Wii and its portable machine the DS have racked up huge sales over the Thanksgiving weekend and through the month of November as a whole. The Wii sold 350,000 units throughout Thanksgiving …

California HQ'd mobile developer Javagrounds chooses Canada for expansion

Game designer examines games' cultural impact, BioShock's shortcomings and other design pitfalls in second MIGS keynote