First of all, we at Capcom, when we set out to make a game, we make it on a world-wide basis.

We make a game that people all over the world are going to buy. And I think that that way of thinking is one of the reasons for our successes.

Maybe at other developers, they first of all look at the Japanese market, and then say, "Oh, we can also sell this in the west."

They develop it first for the internal market, for the Japanese market; but we at Capcom, we look at it first of all as selling something for the whole world.

The second reason, I think, is that we in Capcom are based in Osaka, unlike most of the other Japanese developers, who are based largely in Tokyo.

And I think that gives us — we have a lot of creative people, and the atmosphere and feeling in the workplace is a little bit different, and I think that gives us a little bit of originality, and allows us also to make something that's technically very high level.

That's right, next time you play a Capcom game, just remember: It's creators were probably powered by delicious takoyaki or okonomiyaki. Mmm mmm good.

Co-Op Creators: Resident Evil 5's Anpo and Takeuchi Tag-Team Interview [Gamasutra] [Pic]

I know that Inafune-san and I are both huge proponents of the PC platform and Capcom is an active participant in the PCGA. We do believe in the future of the platform and that contrary to what retail data shows, it is growing. Our rosy prognostications aside, somewhere the P&Ls of Capcom Japan's outings on the platform are going to come up and they are likely to have a bearing on the decision making process for future titles. That's my longwinded way of saying "stay tuned because it's not clear yet".

Funny, we thought that was your longwinded way of saying "well, everything else we've done lately has come to the PC, so of course it is, silly".

Capcom PC Q&A [IGN]

HD version can be watched here.

io9: Are We Going To See An Army Of Alices?

Anderson: We're in very early discussions about all of it, so it's not a definite thing by any means. Mila would like to return, and I would certainly like to see the franchise continue. Last year there were, I think, eight 'threequels' got released. Rush Hour 3, Pirates 3, Spider-Man 3...but there was eight of them. Shrek 3. Six out of the eight, the third movie did worse business than the second movie. There were only two where the third movie did better than the second movie. That was Bourne Ultimatum and Resident Evil. So, you know, it is quite an achievement for a franchise to keep growing like that, and we all feel that the audience is excited to see another one clearly. We would like, if we could put it together, we would do it.

io9: Right, but hypothetically how would you go about using all of those Alices?

Anderson: I'm not going to tell you that. [laughs]... but we would.

io9: You would?

Anderson: We would, yes. Absolutely.

Resident Evil Director Confirms Army Of Alices In Resident Evil 4 [io9] [Pic]

Australian actress to star in Resident Evil 5 [News.com.au]

In the next quarter of this financial year, Capcom has no plans to launch any major titles. According to insiders however, Capcom said in a conference call today that it did plan to launch Street Fighter IV on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in the third quarter of this financial year, which would make it a holiday release (this Thanksgiving in the US?). Nothing has been confirmed, but that would make sense as Resident Evil 5 launches in March 2009.

Capcom did provide its sales target for upcoming titles. Resident Evil 5 is expected to move 2.3 units, SFIV is expected to move 1.7 million, Bionic Commando 1.5 million units and Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop 0.5 million units.

Capcom also reports that arcade operations were up 6.5 percent, while arcade game sales were up 47 percent. However, as Capcom states: "Arcades in shopping centers had a particularly difficult time because of the rising popularity games for home video games and escalating gasoline price." Imagine that means the Japanese suburban arcade scene isn't exactly hopping. Between April and June 2008, one Capcom arcade was opened and zero were closed. The arcade division was in the red due to heavy development costs and the lack of new releases. "Card game sales to arcade game machines are running somewhat above plan," Capcom added.

“We’re ecstatic that Resident Evil is returning to WildStorm, where we have already established deep roots into the mythos of this world,” said Hank Kanalz, Vice President/General Manager for WildStorm. “We can’t wait to continue, and bring a freshness and excitement to the property to match the amazing things they are doing with the game.”

Details on creative teams, launch months, and storylines are still forthcoming. This needs to stop. As a recovering weekly comic book addict, combining comics and video games makes it far too easy for me to justify those weekly comic shop visits. Have mercy!

DC COMICS AND CAPCOM® ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR RESIDENT EVIL®, AND DEVIL MAY CRY® COMIC BOOK SERIES

SAN MATEO, Calif. — Jul 25, 2008 — DC Comics, the largest English-language publisher of comic books in the world, and Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced plans to join forces to create a comic book series based on Capcom’s popular gaming properties Resident Evil® and Devil May Cry®.

“Capcom is thrilled to be partnering with DC,” said Germaine Gioia, Senior Vice President of Licensing for Capcom Entertainment, Inc. “Comics are a critical component in Capcom’s merchandising strategy for our most cherished franchises, as they target the same discerning, loyal fans that care most about these established brands. DC’s undisputed development and distribution strength within the comic industry make them an ideal partner to further expand two of our most successful and sophisticated gaming properties.”

Details on the new series, including creative team and launch month, will be announced at a later date. Both titles will be published by DC Comics’ WildStorm imprint.

“We’re ecstatic that Resident Evil is returning to WildStorm, where we have already established deep roots into the mythos of this world,” said Hank Kanalz, Vice President/General Manager for WildStorm. “We can’t wait to continue, and bring a freshness and excitement to the property to match the amazing things they are doing with the game.”

The Resident Evil series of video games has sold over 34 million units since the original game was released in 1996, as well as spawned a multi-million dollar trilogy of films from Sony Pictures. Resident Evil® 5 will revolutionize the Resident Evil series, just as Resident Evil® 4 did. To coincide with the Resident Evil comic book is the latest installment in the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil 5, which unveils a world where the biohazard threat has not ended: Just when it seemed the menace of Resident Evil was destroyed, a new terror appears in Resident Evil 5. Resident Evil’s returning hero, Chris Redfield, has followed the path of the evil around the globe, and after joining a new organization, heads to Africa, where the latest threat is transforming people and animals into mindless, bloodthirsty creatures. Joined by a new partner, Sheva Alomar, the duo must work together to unravel the truth behind the evil menace.

The latest in the Devil May Cry series, Devil May Cry® 4 is already a bonafide hit in the console world, having shipped over 2 million units worldwide since its release in North America in February. Devil May Cry 4 immerses gamers in a gothic supernatural world, where a new protagonist clashes with a familiar hero. As the new leading man, Nero, players will unleash incredible attacks and non-stop combos using a unique new gameplay mechanic: the powerful “Devil Bringer” on his right arm.

“Dante, Nero and the world of DEVIL MAY CRY is a perfect fit for the sensibilities of our studio,” Kanalz said. “We have such terrific inspiration from the anime and games and we intend on meeting the exceptionally high standard of quality that has been set for this.”

The "Umbrella Incident" that took place in Raccoon City ended with a missile attack ordered by the government intended to wipe out the deadly zombie virus. Following this catastrophe, the Umbrella Corporation’s stock plummeted. This serious blow to the business giant resulted in its complete dissolution. 7 years later, at an airport somewhere in the United States, on an ordinary autumn afternoon, a zombie is unleashed. Now, in an airport beginning to fill with the undead, the horrific disaster is about to repeat itself...

Well that certainly sounds...like every other zombie movie ever created. The difference here? Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy. They really didn't have to go to all this trouble. They could have have just issued a press release that said "Leon. Claire. Zombies. Guns." and we'd be sold.

Sony Pictures and CAPCOM® Introduce RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION
Fans at San Diego’s Comic-Con International Get a Sneak Preview of the All New CGI Animated Feature Film Based on the Popular CAPCOM Video Game Franchise

Comic-Con International 2008
SAN DIEGO & TOKYO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Seven years after the destruction of Raccoon City, the war against the zombies rages on in RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION, a co-production of CAPCOM Co., Ltd. (CAPCOM) and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan Co., Ltd. (SPEJ) based on the popular video game and film franchise. Making its theatrical debut this fall in Japan and coming to DVD, Blu-ray™ High-Def and PSP in North America later in 2008, this spectacular, all-CGI animated feature takes the zombie action to a whole new level with its ground-breaking visual effects and thrilling new storyline.

SPEJ and CAPCOM hosted a sneak preview of RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION during a panel and press conference, open to the public, at San Diego’s Comic-Con International in San Diego on Friday, July 25 at 1:00 PM P.D.T. in the San Diego Convention Center (Room 2). During this event, producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi (associate producer of Resident Evil: Apocalypse and video game producer of Resident Evil® 4 and Devil May Cry® 4) and director Makoto Kamiya (special effects director of L: Change The World, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack) presented the worldwide debut of the film’s revealing two-minute theatrical trailer and answered questions about RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION.

SYNOPSIS

The "Umbrella Incident" that took place in Raccoon City ended with a missile attack ordered by the government intended to wipe out the deadly zombie virus. Following this catastrophe, the Umbrella Corporation’s stock plummeted. This serious blow to the business giant resulted in its complete dissolution. 7 years later, at an airport somewhere in the United States, on an ordinary autumn afternoon, a zombie is unleashed. Now, in an airport beginning to fill with the undead, the horrific disaster is about to repeat itself...

Image courtesy PSU

Pro Tip: Don't show up for the Resident Evil: Degeneration panel at Comic-Con less than 30 minutes prior to it happening or you won't get in. With the San Diego Con at capacity, getting into the Capcom helmed panel required serious Resident Evil dedication. We were covering Jordan Mechner's panel instead, but thanks to GameTrailers, we have the good stuff — the trailer itself. Enjoy!

In this final assignment for Beyond Good & Evil you'll need to complete the game. After finishing up the game, try to think up some interesting questions and discussion topics. I will have a list of my own, but I'm hoping we can all ask each other interesting things to discuss.

The game is available for the Xbox (not backwards compatible) PS2, Gamecube and the PC via Steam and Gametap.

Remember we'll be meeting on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Mountain. Just come to the site and look for the Game Club Beyond Good & Evil Discussion post. Again sorry for the delay in putting this out to you all.

Hit the jump for the Game Club rules.

The Game Club is going to be conducted via the Internets, meaning, sadly, we won't all be meeting in Fahey's living room over coffee and crumpets to discuss the latest Game Club game. Instead, we will be meeting both on Kotaku and in a giant chat room.

I hope to dump the on-going discussion the group of people is having into the Kotaku post so those who couldn't make it in or who arrive late can still participate with one another.

Once in the room, I'll moderate the chat. The idea here is that we don't want a few dozen people all trying to talk about the game at the same time. So, I hope we can get someone to ask an intelligent question and then take turns discussing it. Remember this is a work in progress so we'll make tweaks to the mechanics of how this works as we proceed.

A cardinal rule will be that there will be no off-topic talking, no trolling, no flame wars, no fan-boyism in the chat or the person will be kicked out. We're all intelligent people, I don't see why we can't act like we are when gathered together online.

In general the idea is for people to discuss the current video game in a thoughtful and meaningful way. Why we won't totally disallow discussion of things like graphics and play mechanics, those particular topics should really be brought up in a way that addresses the deeper meaning and ideas presented in the game.

Each week I'll do a post outlining the Game Club's assignment. Please, no playing ahead. This could taint your views of what's currently going on in the section we hope to discuss.

Hopefully, this mostly makes sense. Ask your questions here about how this will work and I'll try to answer them.

Not to worry, Capcom told MCV:

“We’re never going to create a gore-free Resident Evil title to try and get a lower rating as it’s a game about the horror experience and gore is part of that,” said Rhys Cash, Capcom UK's research and planning manager.

“We’re primarily about making great games and if it’s appropriate to the title we won’t shy away from making a 15+ or 18+ title.

What if Sega president Simon Jeffery's wagging tongue is actually a prophecy foretelling the advent of RE5 to the family-friendly Wii?

“As we’ve shown with Resident Evil 4 Wii and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles there’s still a market for more mature titles even on these formats.”

Cash also said Capcom sees no need to "shy away" from adult content, but that he feels the wariness about shock value indicates not a prudishness on the part of the industry, but rather a desire for more complex content instead of gore for its own sake.

Capcom refuses to cut the gore in RE5 [MCV]

When we talked to SEGA of America president Simon Jeffery at E3 last week, he showered us with knowledge and know-how. He also threw in a quick mention of a game we hadn't heard anything about — officially, that is — Resident Evil 5 for the Wii. To say that we were surprised to hear it mentioned would be an understatement, despite our non-reaction if front of Mr. Jeffery.

We followed up with a couple folks about the on camera slip of the tongue, starting with Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime.

Discussing our Executive Pop Quiz, in which we asked Nintendo Corporate Affairs VP Denise Kaigler if Resident Evil 5 was getting a Wii version, Mr. Fils-Aime fired back with a "Not yet!" and a laugh that left us more confused than when we started the question.

Talking to Capcom's Chris Kramer outside the publisher's E3 meeting room, he seemed genuinely surprised to hear of such a product. We told him that we already knew about the existence of Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop and he suggested that Mr. Jeffery was simply confusing the two products.

As far as a Wii port of the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 title, Kramer asked of us "Have you seen Resident Evil 5?" implying that such a port would be almost impossible, adding that he'd not heard any such product was in the works for Nintendo's platform.

Finally, we followed up with Mr. Jeffery himself who said the mention of Resident Evil 5 for the Wii was just a "simple slip of the tongue."

"We’d been discussing the Res Evil 5 showing at the Microsoft event earlier, and it was still on my brain – that’s all," he wrote in an e-mail.

After the surprise announcement that Dead Rising was making the transition to the Wii — as Resident Evil 4 did, very successfully — we wouldn't discount anything at this point. Capcom seems to love all platforms equally. Resident Evil 5 for Wii has been officially denied, albeit in roundabout ways, so we won't cancel our pre-orders for the superior Wii version just yet.

But who knows what the future holds?

Keep in mind we are only talking about what's taken place through the end of the Slaughterhouse section of the game.

Hit up the full Assignment Two announcement for all of the rules and the latest stopping point.

Assignment Two

But what about what we didn't do? There are a handful of key titles that we thought we could expect for this year's holiday season, so why weren't they showing alongside their seasonal bretheren? We rounded up for you a complete list of this year's no-shows and the hype that preceded them, and then tried to get to the bottom of their conspicuous absence.

Hit the jump for the full report.

The Game: Alan Wake

The Hype: Max Payne developer Remedy announced the "action thriller" way back in 2005, promising to unveil it at E3 — but the game's skipped every event since then, while the developers denied cancellation rumors.
The Facts: A recent story referring to a Windows-branded contest that suggested the game would be shown at this year's Tokyo Game Show turned out to be old news from last year - Remedy posted on its Alan Wake forums that the team's just gotten back from a bit of holidaying, and that they "haven't had time to chat with Microsoft on upcoming shows/showings yet." We contacted Microsoft, and got a "no comment."

The Game: Beyond Good & Evil 2

The Hype: After the original Xbox title first earned critical acclaim in 2003 (making it the ideal title for the return of Kotaku's Game Club), Ubisoft at last announced a sequel for Xbox 360 and PS3 at its Ubidays 08 late in May with a single trailer. No release date was given, and the only other thing we've heard from boss Yves Guillemot is that the sequel will be "more accessible" (read: easier) than its predecessor.
The Facts: Ubisoft has not returned requests for comment, but since the lid was only peeled off the first trailer late in May, it's probable that E3 came too soon to expect the developer to put together a serviceable E3 build.

The Game: Tekken 6

The Hype: Back in 2006, some less-than-impressive E3 screens surfaced for the sixth Tekken title, and in early 2007, unconfirmed rumors suggested the title would launch on Xbox 360 after a period of PS3 exclusivity. When? All we heard is "after Soulcalibur IV" — that's this month, and with no show at E3, that seems pretty unlikely.
The Facts: It's been out on Namco's Japanese arcades, the ones modeled on PS3 hardware, since November 2007, and that's the only place it's been seen since then. We've got no comment from Namco as of press time.

The Game: APB (All Points Bulletin)

The Hype: Dave Jones of Realtime Worlds, the team behind Crackdown, first unveiled APB at GDC 08 in February, wowing audiences with the Counter-Strike-inspired MMO that featured character customization with so many choices that Jones demoed a battle featuring modded FFVII characters. It must have inspired investors, because only a month later Realtime Worlds scored an eye-popping $50 million in venture capital to support the game's development.
The Facts: After the developer bought full rights to the game back from Korean company Webzen, rumors abounded that the developer was angling to sell the game to Rockstar, to create a GTA IV-branded MMO. No such deal surfaced, and early in June the developer said they were in alpha, heading for a full public beta.

Realtime Worlds president Tony Harman told Kotaku that the investment, plus the changing of hands, is the reason behind the no-show at E3: "This year we would have had an exciting presence with APB at E3 if we had continued with Webzen as our publisher," Harman said. "But, given that we re-acquired the rights to APB just this spring and closed a very large fundraising round ($50,000,000) to secure APB’s future, the timing just wasn’t right to attend E3."

"RTW is very excited with APB's progress and we have used our fundraising as a means to invest even more heavily in the APB development team. RTW hopes to release more information later this year with regards to gameplay details and beta plans."

The Game: Brütal Legend

The Hype: The "heavy metal roadshow" epic, starring Jack Black and in development by Tim Schafer-fronted Double Fine, was first announced in September 2007 to much anticipation. We've since seen some effervescent concept art and even a trailer, enough to provoke anticipatory handwringing over the next opus from the well-reputed Psychonauts genius.
The Facts: Alas, it looks like the Activision-Vivendi merger tangled E3 plans for Brütal Legend — Vivendi was the game's original publisher, and the newly-combined company largely snubbed E3 amid its withdrawal from the ESA, though it did hold a press conference there. Just ahead of the event, Schafer confirmed that he hopes to show the game "soon after" E3, and told MTV Multiplayer that "As soon as the dust settles from this whole [Activision Blizzard] merger thing we should be able to talk about the game a lot more.” On Double Fine's official blog, though, Schafer humorously told readers that he skipped E3 because he was much too fat to get through the door, but hopes the South Beach Diet will help.

The Game: Indiana Jones

The Hype: The game was announced in 2005 and first unveiled at E3 2006, appearing to be slated for a 2007 release — when 2007 came and went, we figured that LucasArts would time the game's launch with the release of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull flick. Nope.
The Facts: LucasArts has had its share of troubles lately; back in June, it sacked anywhere from 75 to 100 employees. Though the publisher stated it was still committed to internal development, it joined Activision, Vivendi, id and others in ditching the ESA, and while it still presented at E3, LucasArts told us in late June not to expect any new announcements or titles at the show because of "too much noise" around the event. The publisher has not yet returned requests for comment, but the facts seem to point to a resource-limited LucasArts preferring to focus on Star Wars right now.

The Game: Team ICO's Mystery Project

The Hype: The team behind ICO and Shadow of the Colossus is working on something, possibly even two somethings, with a Sony exec saying he was "pretty sure" it was an ICO sequel while another rep said it seemed "close to Shadow of the Colossus" in atmosphere. Since then, all we've seen is an exciting screenshot of a chain disappearing into a hole of some kind.
The Facts: Sony says there's nothing new to announce — if there are any details to be known about when we'll see the Team ICO game, they aren't telling us.

The Game: Duke Nukem Forever

The Hype: The "Forever" in the title must refer to how long it's been since we first heard about this game. Actually, it's been more than a decade — that's right, it's said to have entered development in 1997, a whole 'nother console generation ago. Since then, we've seen the occasional stray screen and twittering rumor to remind us that our favorite piece of vaporware does exist. But then, when a trailer surfaced at last, a 2008 release date was confirmed (and then promptly un-confirmed), and Shacknews actually got to take a demo for a spin, we wondered — could this E3 finally be the one?
The Facts: 3D Realms' Scott Miller said at the end of June that the game, although "coming along" (of course), would not be at E3. Why? Because E3 has become so unimportant that Miller just forgot it existed. "It's just that we view E3 as irrelevant nowadays. In fact, I wasn't even aware it was coming up," he said.

The Game: Aliens: Colonial Marines

The Hype: A new FPS based on the Aliens IP? Count us in. Sega first revealed official details of the Gearbox-developed title in February 2008, teasing with a quick trailer at its gamers' day in May. The release date is supposed to be "late 2008," the same timeline as other games shown at E3. So why did Aliens: Colonial Marines skip the party?
The Facts: Sega of America president Simon Jeffery told our own Crecente that Aliens was the game he was most looking forward to among the publisher's entire lineup. "I think Aliens is going to be kickass," he said. Coming out this year, then? "Well, fiscal year," said Jeffery. "This E3 we're really focusing on stuff that's coming out by the holidays, as much as possible," he added.

The Game: Bungie's Next Project

The Hype: Rumors abounded about what Bungie's next project would be — a Halo sans Master Chief? A 2D platformer featuring a plunger-wielding hero? Whatever it was, when a cryptic splash page appeared on Bungie.net at the start of E3 week, it seemed we were just about to find out.
The Facts: What's E3 without a little drama? When no Bungie announcement came, Bungie president Harold Ryan was quick to reveal the reason why via a simple letter posted on the front page of the developer's website — Bungie had been planning to announce its next game, but said it was as disappointed as the fans when its "plans were just changed by our publisher." When Microsoft's Don Mattrick let slip during E3 that Bungie's next project was indeed a Halo game, the publisher soon followed up with an explanation for why they held off on a big reveal: Microsoft thought it had its competition well enough beat with its E3 presser, and decided to save some of its "embarrassment of riches" for a later event that would "do this game more justice."

To answer the question that was posted on your blog, there are black members in the development team. We do have staff working on the game, who are aware of the historical background and we are constantly checking these kinds of things with them.

Course, he doesn't say how long those staff have been working on the game, but slow, reactive progress is progress nonetheless.

‘Resident Evil 5′ Producer Comments On Horror, Chainsaw Ownership And Whether Black People Worked On His Game [MTV]

In this second assignment for Beyond Good & Evil you'll need to complete the Slaughterhouse section of the game. Make sure you don't play past that point because I'd like us all to be on the same page, so to speak. After playing through the chunk, try to think up some interesting questions and discussion topics. I will have a list of my own, but I'm hoping we can all ask each other interesting things to discuss.

The game is available for the Xbox (not backwards compatible) PS2, Gamecube and the PC via Steam and Gametap.

We'll be meeting on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. Eastern. Just come to the site and look for the Game Club Beyond Good & Evil Discussion post. Again sorry for the delay in putting this out to you all.

Hit the jump for the Game Club rules.

The Game Club is going to be conducted via the Internets, meaning, sadly, we won't all be meeting in Fahey's living room over coffee and crumpets to discuss the latest Game Club game. Instead, we will be meeting both on Kotaku and in a giant chat room.

I hope to dump the on-going discussion the group of people is having into the Kotaku post so those who couldn't make it in or who arrive late can still participate with one another.

Once in the room, I'll moderate the chat. The idea here is that we don't want a few dozen people all trying to talk about the game at the same time. So, I hope we can get someone to ask an intelligent question and then take turns discussing it. Remember this is a work in progress so we'll make tweaks to the mechanics of how this works as we proceed.

A cardinal rule will be that there will be no off-topic talking, no trolling, no flame wars, no fan-boyism in the chat or the person will be kicked out. We're all intelligent people, I don't see why we can't act like we are when gathered together online.

In general the idea is for people to discuss the current video game in a thoughtful and meaningful way. Why we won't totally disallow discussion of things like graphics and play mechanics, those particular topics should really be brought up in a way that addresses the deeper meaning and ideas presented in the game.

Each week I'll do a post outlining the Game Club's assignment. Please, no playing ahead. This could taint your views of what's currently going on in the section we hope to discuss.

Hopefully, this mostly makes sense. Ask your questions here about how this will work and I'll try to answer them.

The demo starts off with my character (Chris) holed up in a shack with Rosario Dawson.

Okay, so she isn't Rosario Dawson, but the South African B.S.A.A. member Sheva Alomar bears a striking resemblance to the Clerks II actress. In fact, throughout the demo I could be overheard mumbling, "out of the way, Rosario" or "I'll save you Dawson!" Perhaps an unintentional likeness, but I'd like to think that if I found myself in the middle of a zombie holocaust Rosie would be nearby, just in case.

Chris and Rosie are holed up in a shack, peering out the window as a big boss baddy has a character executed by a bulky figure with an axe, much like RE4's giant guy with chainsaw. Of course we all know what happens when you peek. The bad guy sees Chris through the dirty window and orders his minions to attack.

You're in a dirty shack in a small African town and you're surrounded by zombies. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO!? You and Rosario Dawson open fire, of course. The controls are very similar to RE4 right now, though of course that's subject to change. Hold down the right trigger to pull your gun, aim with the stick, fire with one button, reload with another. Pull up the menu to switch weapons, left trigger does a melee attack with your knife.

These new zombie-ish enemies begin pouring in, crawling over obstacles, coming through windows, or using the door like polite diseased madmen. Killing them is extremely enjoyable. Shoot them in the head and it could blow off, revealing a strange tentacle creature sprouting out of their necks. The enemies react to where you shoot them, which is even more enjoyable when you switch to the shotgun and start shooting them...well, everywhere.

From time to time you'll be forced to do the old left-stick waggle out of a grapple trick, or you'll get the opportunity to deliver a special attack with a button push in certain situations. Rosie gets into a lot of trouble with the zombies, required you to rush to her aid, brutally brushing off her attackers. She also returns the favor, responding to your calls for help when things look most dire.

Your enemies keep coming in relentless waves, as the whole point of the demo is to survive until your support opens an escape route via missile strike. The game looks slick, though there are a few places where nitpicking can be applied. At one point I took cover against a wall and could see the zombies on the other side clipping through as they lined up to scale the surface and take us out. Other times enemies reacted strangely, such as the executioner from earlier, who would take a swing at me and then just stand there with his back turned until I did damage to him. Of course an E3 demo isn't the full game, and I am sure they'll get that cleaned up in post.

While I am not the biggest fan of the Resident Evil series, I have stuck with the series over the years and am happy with the evolutionary steps the franchise has taken. Resident Evil 4 wowed me when it debuted on the GameCube, with graphics unlike anything we had seen on the system and new gameplay mechanics. Resident Evil 5 isn't as much of a leap. It looks great, but aside from a few mechanics (you crouch to pick up items) it feels the same as the last one. That fact bothered me for a moment, and then I pulled out the shotgun and took out six of the crazy bastards at once. Not too big of a leap, but when your starting point is as excellent as 4 was, anything above that is icing on the cake.

It's possible that a lot of people who play Resident Evil 5 may not have played Resident Evil 4. But they might have played Gears of Wars or Call of Duty. Those are both games that I and our team really, really like. So don't be surprised if at the Tokyo Game Show, the controls are different. For now, we have the control set up for RE4. I'm not confirming or denying anything, but we like to surprise people.

Another interesting tidbit: When Takeuchi saw Gears of War, he thought the guys that made it must really like Resident Evil 4. And when he met the Gears of War team, they told him, yes, they were big RE4 fans. And like that, we come full circle! Or something.

The Microsoft press conference at E3 2008 saw a game demo of Capcom's Resident Evil 5, after which Jun Takeuchi announced the release date for the eagerly anticipated title. Resident Evil 5 will be launching worldwide on Friday, March 13th 2009, except for Japan who get it a day earlier. Friday the 13th? Really? How many months do you think they pushed it back just to get that special, more-evil Friday the 13th release?

Keep in mind we are only talking about what's taken place through the end of the Black Isle Mines section of the game.

The First Assignment

Don't forget the first Beyond Good & Evil Game Club meets tonight. We're testing out some new software that has no limits and allows for some pretty decent comment controls. Make sure to check back at 7:30 p.m. Mountain Time tonight to discuss our first assignment. If you forgot to play check out the link and get on it. It took me about an hour to get to where I needed to be.

Game Club Beyond Good & Evil First Assignment

We will be meeting weekly, on Monday's at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, though this month with the holiday and E3, is going to have an odd schedule. I'm pretty sure it will be easy to get through the game in four meetings. So let's plan on our first meeting to start on July 7 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern. Just come to the site and look for the Game Club Beyond Good & Evil Discussion post.

In this first assignment for Beyond Good & Evil you'll need to complete the the Black Isle Mines section of the game. Make sure you don't play past that point because I'd like us all to be on the same page, so to speak. After playing through the chunk, try to think up some interesting questions and discussion topics. I will have a list of my own, but I'm hoping we can all ask each other interesting things to discuss.

The game is available for the Xbox (not backwards compatible) PS2, Gamecube and the PC via Steam and Gametap.

Hit the jump for the Game Club rules.

The Game Club is going to be conducted via the Internets, meaning, sadly, we won't all be meeting in Fahey's living room over coffee and crumpets to discuss the latest Game Club game. Instead, we will be meeting both on Kotaku and in a giant chat room.

I hope to dump the on-going discussion the group of people is having into the Kotaku post so those who couldn't make it in or who arrive late can still participate with one another.

Once in the room, I'll moderate the chat. The idea here is that we don't want a few dozen people all trying to talk about the game at the same time. So, I hope we can get someone to ask an intelligent question and then take turns discussing it. Remember this is a work in progress so we'll make tweaks to the mechanics of how this works as we proceed.

A cardinal rule will be that there will be no off-topic talking, no trolling, no flame wars, no fan-boyism in the chat or the person will be kicked out. We're all intelligent people, I don't see why we can't act like we are when gathered together online.

In general the idea is for people to discuss the current video game in a thoughtful and meaningful way. Why we won't totally disallow discussion of things like graphics and play mechanics, those particular topics should really be brought up in a way that addresses the deeper meaning and ideas presented in the game.

Each week I'll do a post outlining the Game Club's assignment. Please, no playing ahead. This could taint your views of what's currently going on in the section we hope to discuss.

Hopefully, this mostly makes sense. Ask your questions here about how this will work and I'll try to answer them.

Director Paul W.S. Anderson recently talked to MTV's Movies blog about the likelihood of another Resident Evil movie. It's still being discussed. Hey, they haven't even got the storyline worked out yet (if they'd actually stuck to anything at all resembling the game, that might not be an issue).

I'm just starting to talk to Sony about it,” Anderson confessed. “I don’t even know if anything will come of it, but there’s a possibility it might happen.”

The last flick ended on a cliffhanger, as MTV recalls, so another film is likely at some point:

“I love the ‘Resident Evil’ franchise and we always try to make the best possible movie we can. If we could find a good ‘Resident Evil 4’ to make, then we would do it,” he said. “But I wouldn’t just do it for the sake of it, that’s for sure.”

Wouldn't do it just for the sake of it, huh? Then salve me by making a Code: Veronica flick, utterly faithful to the game, Ashfords and bug jewels and the whole nine yards. That, I'd go see.

What about you guys? Do you like the RE movies or find them an abomination? What would the "good" Resident Evil film look like?

‘Resident Evil 4’ Likely, Says Director Paul W.S. Anderson [MTV Movies Blog, Via Multiplayer]

BioHazard [Yamaza via Hatimaki]

A couple weeks ago, a friend sent me a A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent me a YouTube link. He described it as “African genocide.” Not knowing what to expect, I clicked on it. What I witnessed for those next 3 minutes, was nerve-wrecking, painful, mind-numbing and heart-racing. It was a trailer for a Video Game called “Resident Evil.”

This specific trailer was an eyeful in the most horrid sense. It wasted no time in capitalizing upon the long history of blatant depictions of Africans as savages and helpless imbeciles. The trailer featured a Caucasian male mutilating African villages, along with Africans. With the not-so ancient history of colonialism and neo-colonialism in Africa, the issue of racial insensitivity and indifference must be brought to the centerfold. This patent-reality must be interrogated excruciatingly to expose the silliness of those who claim the 21st century marked the dawn of a post-racial world.

These are strong words, but the trailer's imagery could also be construed as strong. I personally would be hesitant to accuse anything, least of all a video game, of racism without seeing its full context - in other words, playing the entirety of the game. In the absence of that context, imagery alone doesn't necessarily have a message one way or the other.

At the same time, though, I remember when N'Gai Croal said, "this imagery has a history." I'd be lying if I said I didn't find the trailer unsettling, actually. Which is not necessarily a bad thing in media, if it's used to promote a civil discussion, or to create a realistic environment for a game about African zombies free of ignorance or pique.

For my part, I'd caution all of us against a knee-jerk reaction to Olarunda's revulsion. While it is a complex issue, I surely don't find myself aligned with those who see absolutely no potential for, at the very least, misinterpretation of these images.

And comments like Olarunda's remind us that we should be prepared to receive and respond to the games we play in a thoughtful and intelligent way. I feel we'll need all of our facts, both those that support our position and those that don't, in order once this game is actually released and more pairs of eyes begin to fall on it.

Be civil to one another in discussion, by the way - self-righteousness is not righteousness.

Resident Evil 5: A Travesty On All Counts [Your Black Writers via GamePolitics]

The Crucible trailer also led some to draw the conclusion that it was the unnamed title that Silicon Knights was developing as a follow-up to Too Human. Sega has since denied that the trailer is that particular project, with a rep going on record saying "it’s definitely not the project that Silicon Knights and SEGA are producing." The carefully worded statement doesn't rule out that the game is ultimately Sega's, but it does tell us to expect something "soon."

Sega: Supposedly Leaked Silicon Knights Title Is Not Our Game [MTV Multiplayer]

Have no fear though, I didn't forget you Game Clubbers, in fact I was working behind the scenes to line up some changes to the club to make it a bit easier for more people to participate and to bring in someone who can help kick off what I hope will become each month's new game. (More to come on that soon, I hope)

Today I can announce that we will be bringing Game Club back starting July 1. Our first title? To kick things off on the right foot we're going with Kotaku pick Beyond Good & Evil.

Now don't jump the gun and start playing it now, if you haven't already. The whole idea of Game Club is for it to be a shared experience. Expect more details coming out over the next couple of weeks as I finalize everything, but until then here are the Game Club's rules.

New Resident Evil 5 Interview [Capcom Blog]

Update: We've moved the video to the jump because it was causing issues with our front page.

Nothing is ever final, but we’ve been asked twice if we’ve wanted to bring it Westward and twice we’ve declined.

Yeah, would any American Wii owners actually buy it if Capcom ever did decide to port it? Sure a few would, but...

Capcom USA Declines [Capcom BBS via Go Nintendo]

Biohazard 5 Trailer [The-Horror via NeoGAF Thanks, Paul!]

Enhanced RE5 Trailer [Albotas]

Capcom have released a couple of pieces of art showing off Chris Redfield's locally-based, zombie-dispatching partner for the upcoming Resident Evil 5. Her name? No idea. They're not saying. Her purpose? No idea, Capcom are only hinting that she's a mysterious character whose true identity is unknown. One thing's for sure, though: African heat be damned, she's going to need to think more about upper-body protection, and less about her cleavage, if she's going to make it out of the game alive.

Newsweek's general editor of tech N'Gai Croal later levied a similar but more measured assessment, saying that much of what was shown in the initial trailer "dovetailed with classic racist imagery," leaving him with the impression that "Clearly no one black worked on this game."

We were curious, in light of new media that seems to show a more racially diverse set of enemies and a noticeably less WASP-y new partner for Chris Redfield, if the team had taken that criticism to heart and altered some of their design decisions

Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi told us "No, not really." He said via his translator that cries of racism "didn't have any effect on the game design."

On the subject of Chris Redfield's new sidekick, one who appears to lean toward ethnically ambiguous, Takeuchi said "We wanted Chris to have a partner who was familiar with the environment. She's been in there since pretty much the beginning."

"In terms of the reaction, we're in the business of entertainment," Takeuchi said. "We didn't set out to make a racist game or a political statement. We did feel there was a misunderstanding about the initial trailer."

The Resident Evil 5 producer said they'd sent a team of Capcom staffers to Africa to do research in the area, stressing that they had decided to include Arab and Caucasian peoples based on what they'd seen while on location. We found it odd that there was virtually no non-Black representation in RE5's debut trailer, but Takeuchi was adamant that the current product is in line with their experiences.

Whether the inclusion of a supporting character who isn't of the white guy persuasion and a more ethnically diverse cast of slaughtering victims will in any way address concerns of racism or insensitivity remains to be seen. What we do hope is that, regardless of the changes to this marquee title, the discussion continues about the topics it seems to unintentionally address.