MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
A new Flurry report reveals that a record-breaking 17.4m iOS and Android devices were activated worldwide on Christmas day. Also breaking records were app downloads, which reached an estimated 328m. The period between December 25th and December 31st was also record-breaking, with in excess of 50m iOS and Android devices …
Read More »Sainsbury’s and Morrisons expected to report poor Christmas trading
The share prices of Sainsbsury’s and Morrisons have fallen amidst predictions that the pair will report disappointing Christmas trading results later this month. The Grocer reports that analysts are expecting a 2.8 per cent drop in like-for-like sales over the period for Morrisons and a dramatic slowdown of growth at …
Read More »New Sony pre-owned block tech patent unearthed; Bound for PS4?
Could physical retail about to be dealt a fatal blow? We’ve heard the rumour before, and now a fresh patent from Sony has once again hinted that the platform holder is looking for a way to block pre-owned games on the PS4. The tech-heavy document describes a process that sees …
Read More »Star Wars: The Old Republic promises that gay relationships are coming
BioWare is to continue its fine work in the area of same sex relationships by bringing them to MMO title Star wars: The Old Republic. The studio has previously attracted praise (and, from the right at least, some criticism) for integrating gay relationship options into games like Mass Effect. Players …
Read More »Elite: Dangerous gets Kickstarter green light
David Braben’s Elite: Dangerous has hit its 1.25m Kickstarter funding goal. It reached the target with 52 hours to go and at the time of writing stands at 1.282m with 38 hours left before it closes. Braben’s studio Frontier Developments has also announced some new stretch goals to try and …
Read More »Connecticut town paying residents to destroy violent video games
The tragedy of the Newtown school shooting is at risk of claiming another undeserved victim – video games. Polygon reports that residents of Southington, a small community around 30 miles from the site of last month’s horrific shooting, has launched what it is calling The Violent Video Games Return Program. …
Read More »158 days – the Xbox 720 countdown begins
The fist shot in the next-gen console battle has seemingly been fired. Microsoft’s community voice Major Nelson has, without any hint of explanation, gone live with a countdown on his blog that leads up to E3. The only text included is thus: And it’s on…” Having at one stage planned …
Read More »LEGO unveils trio of Chima games
Having only officially launched on Boxing Day, LEGO’s Chima brand is to expand with three video game releases this year. Notably, however, none of them are for home consoles. LEGO Legends of Chima: Speedorz is a racing title that will launch on LEGO.com today and iOS tomorrow (January 3rd). LEGO …
Read More »Torchlight 2 reaches 1m digital sales
Runic’s digital isometric RPG Torchlight 2 has sold over 1m units. "We had an amazing 2012, and proud to say that Torchlight2 has sold over one million units! Thank you! Happy New Year’s Eve everyone :)," a tweet from developer Runic confirmed. The milestone was reached just three months after …
Read More »Capcom unlikely to port back-catalogue to Wii U
Recent releases Resident Evil 6, Street Fighter X Tekken and Okami HD are unlikely to be ported to Wii U. That’s because Capcom has revealed that it is not currently planning on re-releasing any of its recent titles on Nintendo’s hardware. When asked on the Capcom Unity blog whether or …
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