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

XNA developer conference dates confirmed

With its previous identity now officially behind it , the newly born High Street and online retailer Zavvi is to be begin its first heavyweight marketing push on November 29th, Brand Republic reports. The retailer will focus its Christmas message on its ability to cater for a wide variety of …

Sony is ramping up its support for the recently launched EyeToy successor the PlayStation Eye by releasing two new titles for the peripheral – Operation Creature Feature and Aquatopia. The first tasks players with directing creatures around the in-game landscape with the use of hand movements, whilst the second takes …

In the wake of last month’s release of controversial Rockstar title Manhunt 2, four US senators including Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman have signed a letter calling for the review of US games body the Entertainment Software Rating Board, Next-Gen reports. This time last year said senators praised the ESRB …

A new version of the PlayStation Store has gone online, allowing PSP owners to access and download content for the handhelds over the internet. The site adopts the same basic design as the PS3 version of Sony’s Store, and allows gamers to purchase games that are already available on UMD, …

Music game premieres on new PSP download service

Following the announcement by Nintendo that two new specially coloured DS consoles will be available in the US by the end of the week, the format holder has said that the new bundles will not be available here in the UK. We have no plans to bring these bundles to …

Despite suggestions last week that Ubisoft’s highly anticipated FPS Haze would indeed make it to retail before Christmas, the latest financial results from the firm confirm that a 2008 release is now on the cards. No firm release date has been given beyond saying that the game will arrive in …

French publisher Ubisoft’s financial report for the six months ending September 30th 2007 has been announced, and the figures show that the publisher’s sales climbed by over 50 per cent compared to the same period last year. The firm’s gross margin hit 64.1 per cent, up from the 59.4 per …

North American games retail will this Friday see the arrival of two brand new themed DS bundles – one based on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and the other on new software release Nintendogs: Best Friends. The former machine will be gold in colour and carry the in-game Triforce …