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

Leading global games retailer GameStop is celebrating the opening of its 5,000th store in Jackson, California. The milestone keeps the chain on-track for its target of opening between 500 and 700 new stores in 2007. "With more customers being attracted to the video game category, they will increasingly find a …

How successful would you say your initial releases on Wii have been? We have surprised ourselves at how popular they are. On the Monday after a recent release I called Koch for some copies for reviewers and was surprised and delighted to be told that we were out of stock. …

BBFC senior examiner Gianni Zamo has told MCV that rating a game can be harder than rating an equally violent film, and that the process it follows is to be re-examined over the next year. As part of its recent Violence in Games Special, MCV spoke to Zamo about the …

What problems do more realistic graphics pose for the BBFC when it comes to rating violent games? I am assuming that when you talk about ‘realism’ you mean the degree to which a game is capable of showing the visceral aftermath of a violent attack? Clearly this ‘process’ does and …

The latest issue of Future’s Edge magazine has the scoop on the confirmation that the upcoming Wii iteration of popular franchise Animal Crossing is to be a fully-blown massively multiplayer online experience, CVG reports. The mag reads: "A Japanese source has confirmed to Edge that the upcoming Wii iteration of …

Semi-official Sony blog ThreeSpeech has announced the latest batch of PS3 release dates, and it’s the news that the delayed SingStar PS3 will be arriving some time pre-Christmas that has caught the eye. Though no specific date has been given, the likelihood of the game arriving after December 25th is …

In response claims last week that Toshiba is currently working with Microsoft on a revised Xbox 360 console that integrates an HD-DVD drive, a spokesperson for the company has told gadget site Stuff that it knows nothing about it. "It’s got nothing to do with us," the Toshiba spokesperson stated. …

Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital has struck a deal with the BBC that will see episodes of the massively popular Top Gear series available to download as part of GT5’s GT TV media service. 40 episodes chronicling Clarkson, May and Hammond’s vehicular exploits will be made available through the service, …

Long-heralded by the trade as problematic quirk of the games industry, the Q4 rush brings great rewards for those who succeed but can yield a heavy price for those who fail – and Nintendo says that it intends to change the way it looks at the traditional release calendar very …

Playtesting and making the game accessible to casual gamers key, says Sims creator