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

One of the worst kept secrets from camp Microsoft is finally official with the news that the Xbox Arcade bundle is real and heading to European retailers this Friday (October 26th). The package includes an Xbox 360 console, a wireless joypad, an HDMI connection, a 256MB memory card and five …

MySpace has forged a deal with casual games developer Oberon Media to create a new gaming channel on the social networking site. The deal let users of News Corps’ site add games from Oberon’s catalogue and embed them in their MySpace profiles, reports Reuters. Called MySpace Games, the channel will …

The UK’s obsession with all things football continues this week with one sports sim, EA’s multi-format FIFA 08, being dislodged by another, Sega’s Football Manager 2008, at the top of the ChartTrack All Formats UK Top 40. It’s Sega’s first number one since the release of last year’s Football Manager, …

Chinese MMO developer enters Japanese market

Developer and publisher helps build new casual games channel on social networking site

Ahead of the release of its PS3 shooter Haze next month, Ubisoft has teamed up with hard rock outfit Korn to help promote the game. The band has recorded an original song that was ‘inspired’ by the game, and it will be released on the radio and via video to …

The latest chart data from Media Control Gfk shows that EA football sim FIFA 08 continues to ride high in the Spanish and German charts – and it’s the PS2 version that is proving the most popular, outperforming all of the next-gen iterations. In fact, aside from the presence of …

Jeetil Patel, analyst for Deutsche Bank, has claimed that the most successful console the world has ever seen, the PS2, could be finally approaching the end of its days following the publication of NPD’s September sales figures for the US. GameDaily quotes Patel as saying: PlayStation 2 software sales fell …

Hot on the heels of the release of its kid-friendly superhero outing Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, US publisher Activision has joined forces with anti-bullying body bullying.co.uk which will promote a whole range of initiatives. Ahead of the national anti-bullying week next month, Activision will be giving away copies of the …

Whether it’s the banning of Rockstar’s Manhunt 2, the requested editing of Codemasters’ Clive Barker’s Jericho, the hot coffee scandal that recently enveloped Grand Theft Auto or the recently announced government investigation into the issue, violence in games has never been a bigger issue than it is now. As part …