Publishing

Ubisoft has signed a deal with Valve to bring over 40 of its titles to North America through the online Steam platform. Assassin’s Creed is the first title to be made available for pre-purchase, and will be able to be downloaded from April 9th. Tom Clancy titles, the IL-2 Sturmovik …

EA’s UK VP and general manager Keith Ramsdale has revealed his disappointment over the Byron Review’s scaling back of PEGI’s powers – and vowed to convince the Government of the body’s importance. With the Review published and backed by PM Gordon Brown, the Government now moves into a period of …

Ubisoft’s share price has jumped by over six per cent at last count – off the back of yesterday’s increase in its annual sales forecast . The publisher announced that better-than-expected sales of titles such as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 had raised expectations – and the financial market …

As the games industry looks on in bewilderment at the ping pong litigations firing back and forth between Gibson, Activision and Harmonix regarding a 1999 Gibson patent for technology to simulate a musical performance, those involved in the musical instrument trade shrug and ask ‘what’s new?’ Gibson relishes a good …

Gibson Guitar has filed infringement lawsuits against five large retailers, including US giants Target and Wal-Mart, according to MMR news. Software developer Harmonix and publisher Electronic Arts are also being sued in a separate lawsuit, with both relating to ‘popular guitar simulation games and their alleged infringement of Gibson’s 1999 …

Those who’d noticed the recent ad on PSN won’t be surprised to hear that Sony has officially confirmed that its PlayStation Store is to receive a visual and structural makeover later this month. Feeding on the weighty response from users of the service, the main changes will be to the …

If EA’s all-conquering franchise The Sims was a musician, it would be someone like James Blunt or Natasha Bedingfield – impossibly successful, but constantly subjected to critical disdain. In the past, The Sims has been derided as a game for non-gamers. However, if you’re interested in games, then The Sims …

Tesco’s exclusive distribution partner Handleman is going all out to secure similar deals with other leading games retailers – including specialists such as GAME. Handleman’s MD James Wilding told MCV that the firm is in discussions with other High Street chains to expand its ‘fee for service’ model across the …

In one of the more unbelievable media twists to come in the aftermath of last week’s Byron Review, a national newspaper is offering readers ‘hundreds of pounds’ to confess that games pushed them into a life of crime. An advert encouraging readers to ‘pitch’ their story to the newspaper has …

Sega Sammy has announced that it is to shut down its Korean office, as well as discontinuing the development of its entertainment complex in Japan’s second biggest city. Following a Board meeting, Sega Sammy Holdings announced: ”We determined [Sega Korea’s] dissolution for global business optimization.” According to Next-Gen.biz, Sega’s Korean …