Game industry business news

Following Sony’s settlement with rumble firm Immersion, many see it as a given that the PS3’s Sixaxis joypad will soon receive rumble functionality – but SCEA’s Dave Karraker claims that reports which stated that rumble-enabled pads are already in the hands of developers are incorrect. GamePro reports that whilst rumble …

After a listing on its site created a bit of a stir amongst Xbox gamers keen to grab a piece of Solid Snake’s latest outing, retailer HMV has now stated that a dated release for a 360 version of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was a mistake. …

The temptation for Britain’s benefit-starved studios to move their talent abroad is set to get even greater – as a new German business centre strives to entice UK development houses to Leipzig. Backed by funds from the city itself and promising lucrative networking opportunities with Central and Eastern Europe, Game …

Format holders have long resisted it for fear of muddying the perception that their machines are not simply PCs that sit under the TV – but it seems that Sony is to break the mould and allow Epic to implement ‘proper’ mouse and keyboard support in unreal Tournament III. CVG …

The firm has developed a new strap for the Wii controller, which has a fasten-able plastic clip designed to make it more secure in the gamer’s hand, reported Next Generation. The emergence of the new straps follows reports that the controller sometimes flew out of gamers hands during game play. …

It’s been on the radar of PC gamers for quite some time now, and now EA and Namco Bandai have confirmed that gothic London-based shooter-and-slasher Hellgate London will be hitting European retail on November 2nd. North American gamers will receive it a couple of days earlier, on October 31st. The …

SCEE has announced that the PS3 Starter Pack offer will be terminated in Australia by the end of the month, despite only launching four days ago on August 2nd. The Starter Pack includes two controllers and two first-party titles for AUS$999.95. According to Next Generation , a marketing e-mail was …

20 games through to the final of Microsoftâ??s XNA competition

The BBC plans to ‘beef up’ its strategy for gaming and return to games development, according to a report in Scotland on Sunday, with the first word about the corporation’s plans to be unveiled at next week’s Edinburgh Interactive Festival. Simon Nelson, controller for multi-platform and portfolio of BBC Vision, …

Next-gen.biz reports that both the DS SKUs have the market all sewn up in central Europe, with a dominant Nintendo also scoring major success with its range of brain training titles. While DS, Wii, PS2 and PSP games domninate, there’s no sign of PS3 or Xbox 360 in the latest …