MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Electronic Arts has unveiled its 8lb Gorilla; the newest addition to its fleet of development studios. 8lb Gorilla will strengthen EA’s push into the ever-growing iPhone and App Store scene, though the studio’s production schema – to release unique, unadulterated and particularly cheap titles on a monthly basis – will …
Read More »Nokia closes N-Gage studio
Nokia has shut down its Vancouver-based game studio, affecting some 100 jobs in the process, Develop understands. Nokia’s N-Gage Design Studio in Vancouver had developed a significant number of titles for the first and second generation N-Gage systems, as well as for mobile phones. The group worked on franchises such …
Read More »Secret Duke Nukem game in development?
Publisher Take-Two has signed an agreement with a ‘well known’ studio to develop an unannounced Duke Nukem game, according to a GamePolitics report, despite the fate of the current Forever project suspended in legal flux. Court documents filed last week by former Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms – in …
Read More »Microsoft’s Kodu to launch by end of June
Microsoft’s Kodu is set to launch by the end of this month, according to blog post by lead designer Matt MacLaurin. The Xbox 360 app, which will be available to download over Xbox Live, allows users to create games using a simple visual rule-based language and a library of supplied …
Read More »Itagaki forms Tokyo Vikings
A new Japanese game development group has been established at the helm of overcompensating game designer Tomonobu Itagaki. Itagaki, who previously headed up Tecmo subsidiary Team Ninja, was involved in the development of a number of popular fighting titles such as Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. Last year Itagaki …
Read More »Factor 5 closes US dev studio
Factor 5 is to close its San Rafael studio, the company’s CEO has revealed. According to a post on the official website, the ‘obstacles created by the sudden bankruptcy of Brash Entertainment for the continuation of operations have turned out too great to overcome in the current economic climate,’ wrote …
Read More »Mortal Kombat devs to abandon Midway?
Claims that withholding of bonus payments has prompted team to begin talks about establishing new studio
Read More »PopCap: The end of retail still a long way off
Leading casual games developer PopCap has stated that High Street retail still forms a vital part of its business plan as it allows the company to reach customers that remain inaccessible through digital delivery platforms. While a platform such as Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network gives us an opportunity …
Read More »PopCap on the look out for new development partners
Having teamed up with Q Entertainment for Peggle DS, casual firm seeks new dev deals
Read More »Now Microsoft cuts console dev costs
Microsoft has outlined its efforts for developers, marking 2009 as the year it looks to ‘reduce risk and cut the cost of art development’ As part of that drive, the platform holder has announced a new version of the Xbox 360 development kit, and detailed a new version of its …
Read More »