MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry

After a successful beta, Microsoft's indie development tool Game Studio Express has hit public release, with XNA Creators Club, Garage Games' Torque X beta and a design competition launching, too.

The Casual Games part of 2007's Game Developers Conference has been expanded to two days.

Valve, creators of Half-Life and owners of the Steam distribution network, has said that the  addition of in-game advertisements to its Counter-Strike game could help fund new game mods.

MotorStorm developer Evolution is already thinking about the next PlayStation, with CEO Martin Kenwright predicting that the games development business model will be radically different once the PS4 appears.

Realtime Worlds, the UK development outfit established by the creator of Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto, has received a USD31 million cash injection.

Cult TV and movie franchise Firefly is to be turned into an online adventure game by MMO tech firm Multiverse - and the company is now scouting for a studio to handle production.

The Expo part of 2007's Game Developers Conference will come in two distinct flavours as the event grows, with two exhibition locations at the event in San Francisco next year.

Graphics and physics middleware company Geomerics has secured a grant worth some £100,000 from the DTI’s 2006 Technology Programme.

Earlier this week French team Nevrax said it would go into receivership this month, but players of its MMO Ryzom are hoping to buy the game and start developing it themselves if the plug is pulled.

A last-minute signing has boosted Autodesk's 3December event, which takes place next week, with studio Rare set to talk about the production of its latest game, Viva Piñata.