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

Online downloads, casual games and MMOs are little more than an irritant to retail – which is still a hugely dominant distribution channel. That was the conclusion from the UK Department for Trade and Investment this week – as exclusively revealed by MCV sister mag Develop. According to the UKTI’s …

After A week of rumour and speculation, EA has said that its move to Chertsey is not a headcount-cutting exercise” – yet industry chatter points toward significant cuts in the publisher’s studio operations. MCV revealed last week that CEO John Riccitiello’s plan to split the company into four divisions (EA …

This month's guide looks at keeping your code locked and bolted

Nothingâ??s completely secure, but in a digital, connected world, itâ??s well worth ensuring your content is as protected as possibleâ?¦

Sony has confirmed that SingStar on PS3 will be released in the UK on December 7th. The company will promote the title via its MySpace site and through dedicated ‘Singstar Studio’ pods at the 02 arena in London. A wider European release will follow on December 12th. The news was …

All three platform holders have told MCV that stock of PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii hardware may not meet demand over the festive period. After a storming year with Wii and DS, Nintendo UK general manager David Yarnton said: Every year it seems to happen with stock being tight, and …

Movie giant 20th Century Fox looks set to follow fellow Hollywood studio Warner Bros back to the games market. It is understood that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation will launch a two-pronged attack, as social networking giant MySpace also strides into the interactive entertainment space. In the same week that Fox …

Bungie jumped, Bizarre was bought, and Bioware went to EA. If you believe the pundits, the past month has been tumultuous and troublesome for Microsoft Game Studiosâ?? as its development partners go elsewhere. But MGS general manager Phil Spencer would beg to differâ?¦

Tesco has been selling an Xbox 360 hardware bundle including Forza Motorsport 2, Viva Pinata and a wireless control pad for 34.99. Tesco would not comment when contacted earlier – but Microsoft has told MCV that it believes it is an administrative error. Virgin and Woolworths were also rumoured to …

Following the appearance of a report on Dutch games site Gamed.nl which claimed that Sony is experiencing a 40 per cent failure rate of its recently launched 40GB PS3, Sony has insisted that the figures are completely inaccurate. The story, which has since been removed and replaced with this apology, …