MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
It’s a very different looking Top 40 this week, with 12 new games in the charts. Critically acclaimed shooter Crysis 2 takes the No.1 spot, beating off stiff competition from 3DS software and LEGO Star Wars III, the latter making No.2. This means THQ’s Homefront has dropped slightly down the …
Read More »Heard About: Dead Space 2
John Broomhall speaks to BAFTA-award winning composer Jason Graves about his work on Visceral's horror title
Read More »‘EA in better digital shape than Acti’
The founder of mobile games firm Ngmoco has said that EA is best positioned to face the transition from boxed sales to digital downloads. Neil Young – also a former EA Los Angeles executive – claimed that publishers such as Activision are doing a worse job of preparing a strong …
Read More »EAs The Sims backs Comic Relief
Electronic Arts is set to raise thousands of pounds for Comic Relief via its best-selling The Sims franchise. The publisher will donate 1 for every Sims title sold in February and March to the charity – including the PC expansions and console versions of The Sims 3. Humour is an …
Read More »$60 games are ‘exploitative’
Ben Cousins, the general manager of EA’s free-to-play division Easy Studios, has lashed out the high price business model that continues to boss the console market. I can’t think of anything more exploitative than gating all of your content behind having to pay someone $60," he told Rock Paper Shotgun. …
Read More »Dragon Age II in DRM row
Dragon Age fans have accused Electronic Arts and BioWare of hiding controversial DRM measures in their latest release. According to anti-DRM consumer watchdog Reclaim Your Game, the recently released Dragon Age II contains the SecuROM-related Sony Release Control and have protested that the game’s developer and publisher failed to inform …
Read More »EA Sports scraps paper manuals
NBA Jam will be the last EA Sports title to include a printed instruction manual in the box. The move is effective as of March 1st, spokesperson Rob Semsey confirmed to Kotaku, with Fight Night Champion being the first title to ship sans-paper. The publisher cites environmental causes for the …
Read More »VIDEO: Valve-made Portal 2 TV ad
Half-Life studio Valve has shown off its TV advertisement for Portal 2 for the first time. The developer created the spot in-house after questioning the value of external ad agencies. Portal 2 is a first-person-puzzler that hits shelves on April 21st on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. EA is distributing …
Read More »EA to meet Activision in court
Electronic Arts has lost its bid to be cleared from a bitter and expensive lawsuit between rival Activision and axed Infinity Ward staff. EA’s argument, that accusations thrown at it were without merit, was dismissed this week by a California judge. Activision is suing EA for surreptitiously recruiting two men …
Read More »WoW bosses hopeful SWTOR will be a hit
Blizzard believes the eagerly anticipated EA/LucasArts MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, could be the biggest shot in the arm for the genre since World of Warcraft. The firm’s co-founder and executive vice president Frank Pearce told MCV that one of the keys to World of Warcraft’s success was building …
Read More »