Getting gifts and embarrassing ourselves while under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol are reasons enough to count down until the new year, but Capcom has given us another reason to continue to mark through days on the kitchen calender, announcing plans to release a free playable demo of Devil May Cry 4 over both the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store in early 2008.

It's unclear exactly what will be included in the demo, with Capcom saying only that the download will serve to introduce the game's new hero, Nero, and feature levels "chosen to showcase Devil May Cry 4's varied locales and allow gamers to familiarize themselves with Nero's unique abilities." The demo will also include in-game instructions on how to use DMC4's Exceed sword charge system and various superhuman abilities, made possible by Nero's "Devil Bringer" powers, and will be capped off with a fight against a surly boss named Berial. We hope the boss has insurance, because players have been waiting a long time revisit Devil May Cry, and we imagine Berial is going to buried many times before the game's February 5, 2008 release.

Capcom's latest financial report, which also revealed the less-than-spectacular Lost Planet and Dead Rising sales in Japan, has a curious absence from their lineup for the upcoming financial year: Resident Evil 5.

Unless the publisher is planning on making a surprise announcement, it is unlikely we'll see the sequel until next fiscal year beginning April 2008. We have contacted Capcom for an official statement.

The report listed Devil May Cry 4 and both Resident Evil Wii titles (RE4 and Umbrella Chronicles) as upcoming major release, with DMC4 expected to sell 1.8 million units worldwide.

[Via EuroGamer, PS3 Fanboy]

Some of you wept over Devil May Cry 4's multplatform ambitions, but we welcome the fall of another console-specific franchise. (Well, some of us remember a simpler day.) We've picked this action game's trailer for tonight's video.

We tried the game late last year, but rational analysis aside, we're sold on all of Dante's different grunt and attack sounds. Can we get a remix? See the video after the break.

At least "as far as current plans go." So says Capcom's senior director of strategic planning and research, Christian Svensson, posting on the official Capcom forums in the midst of a Devil May Cry outcry. When asked by fans whether the company's new mulitplatform strategy would extend to their pair of successful Xbox 360 titles, Svensson explains that "Dead Rising and Lost Planet are not slated to appear on Wii or PS3," noting that the reasons for the continued exclusivity "are quite convoluted" and are bound by a slew of suspicious non-disclosure agreements.

He goes on to say that Capcom's current approach -- which sees Resident Evil 5 and Devil May Cry 4 coming to both PS3 and Xbox 360 -- is for future titles and isn't meant to be applied in a "retroactive" manner. Of course, this comes just days after Svensson used the forum to respond to sulking petitioners and their disdain for Devil May Cry gracing multiple platforms.

"We are certainly moved that people are so passionate about our products that they would go to such extremes," he said in a seperate thread. "At the same time we feel that allowing more people access to our content pleases far more people than it displeases (after all, we're not denying DMC4 to anyone that was already going to get it). It really is the best decision for the company and for consumers."

Apparently, Dead Rising and Lost Planet simply missed the multiplatform boat.

[Thanks, mocoworm]

The internet is not a safe place to be, especially when it comes to the gaming industry. Earth-shattering announcements are made, megatons are dropped and the entire gaming community explodes and reconstitutes itself so often that the rest of the internet views it as a sort of radioactive leper who's constantly chasing after a pair of misplaced thumbs. Perhaps that's why, every now and then, we're good for a laugh.

Take this online petition, for instance. Whether it's made in jest or not doesn't really change the fact that it's absolutely hysterical. It seems a group of Devil May Cry fans are extremely upset about the game going to the Xbox 360 and PC in addition to the PS3 -- so much so that they're going to boycott Capcom and not buy either version. As the internets are fond of saying, "Oh noes!"

"We (The people that have signed this petition) feel very left out in your decision to make Devil May Cry 4 a Multi-Platform title and hereby agree to boycott your sale of Capcom affiliated games," it reads. "This is due to your decision to turn your back on your most faithful gaming company. For years we have enjoyed games, we have reaped the benefits of your committment to Sony. We find it absolutely demoralizing for not only the gamers, but also Sony itself. We want you to know that will not, and should not stand for your actions, and therefore withold our option of buying your product."

Oh dear, Capcom. Not only have you gone and left people out by making your game available to more gamers (not to be confused with fans, apparently), but you've demoralized a huge corporation! Absolutely fiendish.

[Via NeoGAF, of course]

Don't let the new coat of polish fool you, just go by the title. Devil May Cry 4 is the fourth title in the relatively young series and, as a result, feels neither new nor exciting. You perform your combos, kill the baddies, collect some orbs, and repeat. The good news is that it's playable here at TGS, as opposed to the real time footage we feared.

While the environments are nicely detailed and the architecture appropriately atmospheric, the characters leave something to be desired. Dante Nero felt particularly clumsy in this build, going from a standstill to a full sprint with almost no transitional animation, a far cry form the series trademark fluidity. The enemies were also repetitive and uninspired and, perhaps due to the controller's lack of rumble, pounding on them lacked the visceral oomph the series is known for. The experience felt particularly detached.

The game did look good but, interestingly, after a brief system crash (hey, this is beta software after all), the Sony television display (the same one with the "Full 1080" sticker on the front) revealed this particular PS3 demo was running at a not-true and not-full 720p. Regardless of its technical pedigree, Devil May Cry 4 does illustrate that even pre-release PS3 games are graphically impressive, with none of those load times we've been worried about. Expect DMC4 to look even better when it gets released this Spring. As for the gameplay, if you've played the first three, we imagine you'll know exactly what you're getting into.

Apologies for the notably poor image ... Sony was not allowing any photographs of the games played at their booth, but we managed to snap this blurry mess before getting our pasty mitts slapped. Fortunately, they allowed Game Videos to get some video, which we've embedded after the break.

Considering there is a countdown about to run out at the official Web site, we expected to get more information on the PlayStation 3's standout title Devil May Cry 4 relatively soon. But, thanks to the power of the Internet and Japanese magazines, we can get the goods just a wee bit earlier. According to a rough translation of Famitsu, this is what you're gonna get with DMC 4:

• The game takes place after DMC 1, but before DMC 2.
• You play as a new lead character by the name of Nero.
• Nero has devilish right arm. He can draw enemies toward himself and then throw them.
• The combo system has as base the one from DMC3 and they are revising/reworking details according to the fans' comment-remarks.
• Nero's sword has a bar. The sword has some kind of a driving force in it. It's a new way/element to enjoy the sword handling.
• At the Tokyo Game Show there will be real-time footage.

You can view the magazine scans of the article and photos here:

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It's nice to know there will be "real-time footage" at TGS, but how about some real-time gameplay on the show floor? That'd certainly be a nice way to extend the olive branch to disheartened Sony fans -- especially when you break the news to your Japanese base about getting the short end of the stick come launch day.

[Thanks, Gerard Flannory]