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

The University of Abertay's popular computer games design competition for students, Dare to be Digital, has launched for an eighth year with a significantly expanded schedule and a call for entries.

Just days after Eidos announced plans to open a studio in Montréal, and a week after Ubisoft said it would grow its own team in the city, QA specialist Babel Media has confirmed plans to grow its own Quebec base to 500 staff.

Its senior management is currently denying it, but reports on the web today say that Circle Studio, opened by former Core founders Jeremy and Adrian Heath-Smith, has closed.  

Reports emerging from the Irish press are claiming that US publisher Activision is on the verge of acquiring Dublin-based middleware firm DemonWare.

Cambridge-based technology company Geomerics has announced that its Enlighten lighting tool has joined Epic's Integrated Partners Program for Unreal Engine 3.

Studio management team ISM has teamed up with GDC organiser CMP to put together the conference's first charity poker tournament, supporting the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

Just a week after Ubisoft Montreal upped its ambitious expansion plans, Eidos has confirmed it will open a games development studio in the city, creating 350 jobs in three years.

The CEO of Capcom's closed Clover studio has opened a new Japanese development company called Seeds - and he has already populated the team with fellow Clover refugees.

EA will add social networking - and perhaps music games - to its development capabilities thanks to the acquisition of SingShot, a San Francisco-based online karaoke community.

The former executives of Gathering of Developers have established a new publishing outfit, called – bizarrely - Gamecock Media Group.