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

Sony’s Three Speech blog has confirmed that the latest PS3 firmware update, 1.90, is now available in Japan, and will hit Europe tomorrow (July 24th). Chief amongst the new features is the ability to display custom backgrounds on the machine’s XMB, or dashboard, and the fact that the machine’s video …

Renowned designer discusses reason behind selling studio to Disney

In an interview with Steve Boxer on semi-official Sony blog Three Speech , SCEE president David Reeves has said that the fact that PS3 arrived later in Europe than other global territories means that it’s still too early to consider cutting the price of the machine. We’ve only been on …

Swedish studio signs up Epic engine for MMO RPG

As part of Microsoft's game division, Carbonated Games has been a pioneer for gaming platforms such as Windows Messenger, Xbox Live Arcade and now Microsoft's cross-platform effort Games for Windows - Live. Develop catches up with Joshua Howard, head developer at Carbonated, for a 'casual' chat...

While Atari is still listed at the moment, the problem stems from the fact that it has yet to file its annual report for the year ended March 31st, and has requested a meeting with the Listing Qualifications Panel to try and resolve the matter, says Kris Graft at next-gen …

Brighton event runs from Tuesday to Thursday, with lectures, expo and our big Awards show

Konami has secured the services of Michael Owen to appear on the box of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, as well as other promotional materials. The Newcastle and England striker joins Manchester United and Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo as part of the marketing campaign for the title. Securing Michael Owen is …

Nickelodeon is launching into the games business, with a $100m warchest earmarked by the Viacom-owned kids TV network to grab a slice of the fast-growing casual sector. According to Marketing Week, Nickelodeon is planning a series of multiplayer games, virtual online worlds and new subscription services. These include myNogging, a …

It could, therefore, have tried to steal the show with an orgiastic outpouring of announcements and forecasts, but, quite frankly, it didn’t. Instead the tone was set by the conference’s lead-off speaker, SCEA boss Jack Tretton. This is not a man from the PT Barnum lineage. He’s a reluctant front …