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

This weekend will see the launch of one of Sony Computer Entertainment America’s largest ever advertising campaigns as it looks to promote the upcoming revised 40GB PS3 model in the territory, Gamesindustry reports. The company’s growing PlayStation Network is to take a front role in the media push, as well …

Plans build for Australian game development event

Stanford University’s disease studying distributed computing project Folding@Home has won Sony’s PS3 a place in the Guinness Book of World Records by becoming the largest network of its kind anywhere in the world, Spong reports. For those not familiar with the project, Folding@Home is a programme that connects a user’s …

Though it’s yet to reach the Pokemon-like levels of hype once touted, Microsoft’s Viva Piata series continues to gain momentum and popularity, and it has been confirmed that the second instalment in the franchise, Party Animals, will hit European games retail on November 16th. Developed by Ty the Tasmanian Tiger …

Xbox 360 platform holder Microsoft has announced that all owners of an Xbox 360 and a broadband internet connection will be able to access the full-blooded Xbox Live Gold service free of charge on the weekend beginning November 23rd. In addition, Microsoft is lining up a number of online events …

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has predicted that video games’ pricing model will be forced to change in the next decade – and said that EA may be one of the first to experiment. Speaking to Berkley Haas School of Business, Riccitiello said the standard next-gen software price of $59.99/49.99 …

Next-Gen reports that Infogrames publisher Atari could be facing the possibility of losing the highly lucrative Dragon Ball Z franchise, following a disagreement with licensor FUNimation. However, MCV understands that Atari’s right to publish the games in Central Europe will remain unaffected, regardless of the US outcome. The publisher licenses …

EA CEO says industry will have to rethink business model in the long-term

Technology blog Engadget reports that as well as the more publicised differences between existing PS3 hardware and the newly released 40GB version, such as the removal of the card reader and backwards compatibility, the machines also boast a revised Cell CPU. The new 65nm version of Sony’s much-touted processor consumes …

Whilst the practise of working with your peers to gain Achievement points is fairly common – indeed, games such as Project Gotham Racing 4 actively encourage it – but Microsoft has warned that those who go as far as sharing their account information to do so face possible dire consequences, …