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

New edition shown at August's GameFest and includes new networking features

SCEA has ruled out any suggestion of it phasing out the 60GB model of the PS3 in North America. The news comes after a SCEE spokesperson appeared to suggest that stocks of the lower-end system would dry up by the holiday season” earlier today – leaving the more expensive 80GB …

A special edition of Gamer TV featuring highlights of E3 airs on UK cable and satellite channel Bravo this weekend. Included in the programme is analysis and reaction to the Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft press conferences, plus some of the more embarrassing moments of this year’s event. The programme airs: …

The changing of the guard at the Department of Culture Media and Sport has left some members of the development community anxious, having been used to the previous crop’s vocal recognition and support of the games industry – the extent of which would have seemed unlikely as little as five …

The latest employment opportunities printed in this month's Develop magazine

Future has announced its first ABC Electronic figure for the Computer and Video Games Network, with the site attracting some 1.6m unique users visiting the site during May. With an exact unique user figure of 1,560,247, CVG also generated 11,472,341 page impressions from May 1st to 31st. These are encouraging …

It looks as though Sony Computer Entertainment America is to ‘phase out’ the 60GB PS3 – and plans to leave the 80GB version as the only SKU available to consumers at Christmas. A SCEE spokesperson told next-gen.biz in an email that the US will have ‘only one SKU going into …

SCEA’s VP of marketing Peter Dille has predicted that HD-DVD will be obsolete in a matter of months”, and attacked the build of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 – following an admission by the Seattle firm that it had seen an ‘unacceptable’ number of faulty machines. Dille also condemned his rival’s history …

Recent additions bolster line-up

Velvet Revolver star Slash has agreed to be an in-game end-of-level boss in Activision’s Guitar Hero III. The former Guns’N’Roses axeman has lent his likeness to the game – as well as penning and performing the title music. According to Reuters, the news was revealed at Activision’s E3 media briefing …