MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The mailing of our latest issue to subscribers has been disrupted by Royal Mail’s strike action. But don’t fear: you can get the latest issue online right now.
Disney’s Brighton-based Black Rock Studio is our cover story. One year after the studio’s acquisition from Climax, we look a how GM Tony Beckwith’s team has changed under the stewardship of the entertainment company and ask European production VP Ed Bainbridge about Disney’s plans to create new games properties in the racing genre.
Racing, competition and new IP is a key theme throughout the issue. To start with, we look at the recent acquisition of Bizarre Creations by Activision, with the publisher confirming that buying the driving specialist was just the beginning of the company’s push into new genres. There’s also an interview with Xbox Live Arcade’s worldwide portfolio planner David Edery, who discusses how the platform can help developers introduce new ideas and stay competitive in the changing games market.
Most important, however, is our exclusive extract from the UK Government’s upcoming ‘Playing for Keeps’ report, an in-depth look at the UK games industry and how it is competing with other territories. It makes for revealing reading, offering a wealth of data, incisive industry commentary from Games Investor Consulting, and exposing potential medium and long-term threats to the UK’s status a prolific creator of games IPs.
We’ve also got an exclusive interview with Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi thanks to an extract from the upcoming Inside Game Design book.
Elsewhere, our Build technology section features all the latest tool news and releases, and looks at the evolution of motion capture in a dedicated feature.
The issue can be downloaded here for free by registered members of developmag.com (registration is free).
