Capcomunication

Australian retailer GameTraders have confirmed with us that they have had to cancel their midnight launch for Resident Evil 5 - the reason? The game alledgedly doesn’t have a street date. What does this mean? As soon as retailers receive the game, they are able to start selling it.

THQ, Australia’s local publisher for all Capcom related titles have alledgedly removed the street date after taking over from Red Ant. Although this isn’t 100% confirmed by THQ, GameTraders really have no other reason to cancel an event that would otherwise be as big as this without some definitive reason. THQ also did the same with Street Fighter IV, which did not have a street date and thus was sold earlier than most other territories.

Resident Evil 5 is due for a release in Australia on March 12th, a whole day before the rest of the world - however Japanese and Asian fans can expect to have the game by March 8th, a little under 8 days from now. However, with this news, expect some Aussie players to be enjoying Resident Evil 5 as early as March 9th or March 10th!

James M Resident Evil, Sighted! australia, resident evil 5

Capcom have today globally announced Lost Planet 2 via Xbox Live. The video features quite a bit of gameplay footage and is available from the main dashboard of the US Marketplace, but for now the marketplace is only displaying “Top Secret” and won’t allow a download. Here’s some details sourced from members of NeoGAF regarding the project and the video:

• Has an introduction from Jun Takeuchi, taking of his Resident Evil jacket for his “other big project”.
• Kenji Oguro is the director.
• Powered by Version 2.0 of the MT Framework engine.
• A “massive change in climate, which has melted the snow and created brand-new environments such as jungles.”
• “Story won’t be focusing on one main character like Lost Planet: Extreme Condition did
• “Have been some big changes in how the game plays”
• Portable cover / shields similar to Gears of War 2
• Mechs with passenger seats and turrets
• Appears to be a co-op squad-based game
• Story is told from the perspective of different factions of Space Pirates.

As soon as we can, we will update you. For now, it looks to be a 360 exclusive. For those trying to fish this from the Japanese marketplace, the video weighs in at 435.62 mB and is using Capcom’s logo as the image.

UPDATE: Some screens from my terrible cell phone. Will update with some better quality ones as I get them =P

[Show as slideshow]

James M Announcements + PR, Lost Planet Lost Planet, lost planet 2

In a rather surprising move today, EBGames in Australia have begun taking pre-orders for what they call the “Uber Edition” of Resident Evil 5. What’s even more interesting is that the contents are exactly the same as the US collector’s edition we revealed earlier. The official entry for the SKU says:

Includes Game, Steelbook, Bonus Disc featuring 60mins Making Of Doc PLUS trailer for RE Degeneration, Tricell messenger bag, Chris Redfield figurine, BSAA patch and Kijuju necklace.

For those who aren’t quite in the know, here’s what you’ll get if you pre-order the “Uber Edition”

The “Uber Edition” of Resident Evil 5 will cost $169.95 and will be available day and date with the other editions of Resident Evil. No word yet on whether it’s an EBGames exclusive, but for now it seems to be. (For now…)

Check out the product here ( 360 | PS3)

James M Resident Evil, Sighted! australia, resident evil 5

UPDATE: It has been reported that the quote that I quoted was a misquote. The amended quote is the one that you see now.

Those who have subscribed to the Official Playstation Magazine would’ve received their copies today, and would’ve noticed that not only have the magazine review Resident Evil 5, but they’ve also mentioned something very, well, let’s just call it “controversial” for now (considering how much of a fuss the DLC for Street Fighter has caused).

“The fun doesn’t end when you complete RE5’s main story-line,” comments the review. “We’re sworn to secrecy, but we’ve had a peek at an unlockable mode AND forthcoming DLC, and it’s awesome.”

Interesting, is it not? What could it possibly be? The recently released GamePro review mentioned that there was an “Arcade Mode” unlocked after completing the game, so what could this mode be? Could it be Mercenaries - or is the Arcade more already Mercenaries? Regardless, we’ll have to wait to see what happens.

Thanks to Dark Zero for the heads up.

James M Resident Evil downloadable, resident evil 5, rumour

Seth over at Capcom-Unity has posted a link to Game Artisans and their work on the Street Fighter series. Looks like the guys have done a lot of work in rendering the characters in a more realistic, and, well, Gears-Of-War-like manner. My favourite is this Guile one, which just looks awesome if you ask me.

If you want to check it out (there will be heavy wading through pointless posts involved) then head on over to the original topic at Game Artisans.

James M Sighted!, Street Fighter Street Fighter

I get the feeling most of our readers don’t hail from South Africa, but anyway, here’s a short excerpt from the Press Release that Capcom just sent out.

London 11 February, 2009 – Capcom today announced that it has appointed Nu Metro
Interactive as the sole distributor of its titles in South Africa. The agreement is
effective immediately and will see Nu Metro Interactive be responsible for the
distribution, sales and marketing for Capcom’s releases in this territory.

So, if any of you had doubts - looks like  Nu Metro has you covered! =)

James M Announcements + PR press

Yes, this is quite an old news story but I still think it’s worth talking about. Capcom USA’s Corporate Officer / VP of Strategic Planning & Business Development has said what he has to say about High Voltage’s newest Wii game, The Conduit. You may remember that High Voltage were the developers of Capcom’s adaptation of the AdultSwim cartoon, Harvey Birdman.

As I’ve stated before, I know the guys at HV quite well. They developed Harvey Birdman for us (they have excellent writers over there in addition to some solid tech chops). Kerry even offered me my first ‘real’ job in the games industry back in like 1992 or something (I declined in the end and went into magazines and websites instead). All hail The Conduit. They’ve done some nice work…The Conduit has really solid tech and art direction. Beyond that, we don’t know much right now. We’ll see what the reviews and fans say in a few months. What people seem to be reacting positively to is the realistic art direction a la Halo/Resistance/etc. given that it’s has rarely been attempted on Wii. If that’s working for them, fantastic. If you’re asking whether Spyborgs is going to go for a realistic art style, the answer is “no”. It will continue to have a stylized look… intentionally so. Okami, Zack & Wiki, Super Mario Galaxy, Madworld, De Blob, etc. are all beautiful games, without being realistic in their approach. Hopefully Spyborgs can approach the work the team has done on prior Ratchet & Clank titles, which also echewed the need for a realistic art direction to provide beautiful experiences.

Interesting. For what it’s worth, I think that Conduit has the ugliest art style I’ve ever seen in a video game, but what do I know? =P

James M Sighted! sven, wii

Kotaku Australia have a rather interested article about why we might not see our new sandy haird protagonist in Dead Rising 2 taking photographs. You can read the whole article here.

James M Dead Rising Dead Rising, dead rising 2

Hot off the heels of the recently leaked trailer comes an official announcement from Capcom, but Frank West is no where to be seen - his manly black haired physique being replaced by an unknown Blonde character in what appears to be a Las Vegas setting. Amazing. There are two screenshots and a full press release after the jump. The game is, as previously rumoured, being developed by Blue Castle Games. So no, Monumental Games are not involved with this one =P

Update! New screenshots have been added. Thanks to their original sources (seen on the images themselves). Also, a press release is available inside.

Read more…

James M Announcements + PR, Dead Rising dead rising 2, press, screens

Good news to our Australian fans, the Resident Evil 5 Limited Edition will be coming to Australian retailers at the same date as the standard edition. We do not have a source who is allowed to be revealed, but someone within Capcom’s Export division today confirmed that we will be receiving the PAL limited edition in Australia. A reminder of what this looks like:

So it seems that previous sites have falsely reported otherwise! I guess it’s safe to disregard that then!

James M Resident Evil australia, resident evil 5