ResidentEvil5 posts (Subscribe to this feed)

As promised yesterday, GameTrailers recently dropped their debut preview for Resident Evil 5. For those yet to run an anticipatory pointer over that quivering play button, the trailer heralds the return of the third-person view present in the franchise's last installment, features familiar parasites who recently and irrevocably wrecked the shop of a small European village, and introduces the game's obligatory female accomplice -- though the new femme fatale appears to be able to hold her own a bit better than the president's daughter. Controversial imagery or no, our excitement for Capcom's newest head-buster is thick enough to drizzle over pancakes, and as infectious as that rascally T-Virus.

It's nothing to get too excited about honestly. First of all, the entire video is in Japanese, which makes sense considering it was taken from a Capcom 25th anniversary DVD found in the latest Famitsu. That said, we do get to take a look at Chris Redfield taking out the latest batch of not-zombies in Resident Evil 5. Honestly, it's probably a good thing that most of the footage was taken off-screen, as the sheer size of Chris Redfield's muscles might be overpowering in high definition. Seriously, it looks like he's smuggling T-bones in the back of his shirt (thick T-bones). Check out the new footage after the break.

An author on left-leaning AlterNet.org not only jumps on the controversy of Resident Evil 5's alleged racism, but calls it a "racist video game series." The article is such a mess that you really have to enjoy it for its absurdity. The piece starts by saying those who go to see the "blockbuster Resident Evil: Extinction" in the theaters may want to play the game, but those who do "will likely enter a world little-known beyond the expensive and expansive universe of gaming, a world increasingly populated with very dangerous depictions of nonwhites."

The author only covers RE4 and RE5 in declaring the series racist. For RE4 he says its Spaniards have "stereotypical Mexican accents" and that RE5 "could be a training video for a white supremacist race war or another U.S. military adventure in one of the increasing numbers of deserts on the planet." Beyond the Resident Evil series there is a rehash of the Haitian controversy from GTA: Vice City -- although the author is way off in his timeline calling GTA: VC "this year's most popular video game."

There's a lot more "racist" issues brought up, but the article really stands as great piece to highlight how even when you introduce diversity to gaming, it's not just the extreme exclusionists who get upset and don't understand why there are women, gays, non-whites in games, but the extreme inclusionists too. Although in the inclusionist's case they want a rosy picture painted of the non-majority group; however, that's boring for narrative, unrealistic and in the end racism really depends on context. There are more moderate views on race issues in video games and that really shouldn't be forgotten. The AlterNet article is just so weird in its "one step forward, two steps back" presentation, we can't help but share.

[Via GamePolitics]

Finally, after a long E3-related hiatus, PSP Fanboy Theatre is back with an all new edition. Every weekend, PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com.

Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to the VIDEO folder. These high resolution 480x272 videos require firmware 3.30 or above. (Note: OE custom firmware will also play these videos.)

New for PSP: Get selected videos delivered automatically to your PSP via our new RSS feed.


The following videos are featured after the break: Bladestorm (PS3, 360), Call of Duty 4 (PS3, 360), Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3, 360), Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP), High Velocity Bowling (PSN)

An African women's blog has taken offense to the new Resident Evil 5 trailer depicting a "white man in what appears to be Africa killing Black people." The blog post goes on to say that the black people "are supposed to be zombies" and that it's "the white man's job" to destroy them and save humanity. There are some other issues the writer has, but she ties it all up by saying "this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young ... fearing, hating, and destroying Black people."

OK, where to begin? As for the "marketed to children" thing, it's going to be an M rated game, kids shouldn't be playing it. It is rather interesting to note that more than a few people, including The Village Voice, have noticed the setting of the new RE5 and found it a little jarring. Although that could simply be because the average video game may only have one random black character (typically a hero or anti-hero), so more than two on the screen at any one time is revolutionary. The African issue aside, the Japanese developed Resident Evil series has been killing white people for its entire run so far -- how did white people not catch on to this and get upset? Because it's not white killing, it's zombie killing. You're killing them because they want to eat or infect you, not because of their skin color. But now we have black zombie-like people getting killed in RE5 and gay aliens in Halo 3 ... what is this industry coming to? The sins of diversity.

Keiji Inafune is a brilliant mastermind. Not only did he create MegaMan, but he's mulling over the possibility of making a next-gen Onimusha title, reviving the amazing MegaMan Legends franchise, and goes on to talk a bit about the changes made in Resident Evil 5. While every single one of those games deserves their own time in the sun, we're going to squash them together in bullet list form and let you decide who to dote over.

• Inafune wants to make MegaMan Legends 3 awfully bad -- moreso than Onimusha and perhaps RE5, but since management won't give him funding, he has to wait until he climbs the ladder a little more.
• If an Onimusha sequel is created, Inafune wants to go back to actor-based characters instead of the fictional characters from Dawn of Dreams.
• In the same vein, Inafune wants to make an Onimusha with a female lead character, but he's told it would not sell, so it has been denied him these many years! We are sad at hearing this.
• As for Resident Evil 5, light is the new source of fear instead of dark. Inafune and gang (including a good number of people from the defunct Clover studios) want to find ways to utilize light to scare people. How realistically it can be used, etc. It seems like it could work. It's hard to see in a house if you've been out in the blazing desert sun for a few hours. Who knows what lurks within!
  

We hope Inafune gets more sway in Capcom's happenings, because we want to see some amazing games that we know developers are willing to work on. The above three are probably the ones we're looking forward to the most from Capcom, partially because we don't fully believe they'll be happening anytime soon. It's sad, but true. Which of these three would you love to have fall into your hands tomorrow morning?

The new extended Resident Evil 5 trailer is available on the PlayStation Store (and here). The brief teaser we saw at E3 is expanded upon, showing off some of the more incredible environments and terrifying "non?" zombies to be featured in this next-gen sequel. And yes, it's all in real time.

Watch the trailer, enjoy the new screenshots, and don't forget to visit the PlayStation Store to download the trailer in full HD glory. [Update: This video is of the Xbox 360 version. A PS3 version is definitely in the works.]

We thought that the Resident Evil 5 trailer shown at E3 was pretty incredible, but that's before we saw this new extended version. It makes that old trailer look positively grody by comparison. What's so great about the new trailer? How about Chris Redfield talking? How about some actual gameplay footage? How about 27% more eye bleeding? Yeah, we thought that would get you going.

If you want to experience the horror in your own living room, the extended video is available on Xbox Live Marketplace and on PSN.

A new full-length trailer for Resident Evil 5 has popped up on Xbox Live Marketplace. The trailer is an extended version of the one Microsoft showed at E3. In the new trailer, Chris Redfield, longtime veteran of the RE series, tells of his struggles policing what appears to be an African village. More importantly, we finally get a glimpse at Resident Evil 5's gameplay. Fans of RE4 can relax, because the series is definitely maintaining the 3rd person, over-the-shoulder perspective. What has changed, though, is the sheer number of enemies that are standing on the business end of Redfield's gun. At points in the trailer, there appear to be literally dozens of enemies. What's more, they appear to be very quick, even more so than the Ganados of RE4. Finally, the trailer closes with a glimpse of a female character, suspended in a liquid filled tank of some sort. Who she is is anyone's guess (Jill Valentine? A grown up Ashley Graham?) -- our Resident Evil lore is a little rusty. Graphically, the game looks amazing, especially the facial models. But enough talk! Watch it already.

This story about Shane Kim, VP of Microsoft Game Studios, has to be prefaced by saying this is one of those moments where you totally want to take the guy out for a drink afterward and, in your best Jeff Bell ghetto voice, say, "Tough break, my brotha'. You'll show 'em next time."

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Kim – who should honestly know much better – was evidently unaware that Resident Evil 5 was announced for the Xbox 360 two years ago. Peep part of the cringe-inducing (though not nearly Jamie Kennedy bad) exchange after the break.

Speaking to Game Informer, head of Microsoft Game Studios, Shane Kim, has a lot to say about the current state of the Xbox. The main focuses of the interview are Microsoft's 2008 lineup, the 360's performance in Japan, and the Games for Windows brand. Of particular interest is the discussion on games likely to be released in 2008. Microsoft's E3 keynote focused only on 2007. Addressing the question of 2008 and games like Alan Wake, Too Human, and Fable 2, Kim notes that these titles are not "way out in the future" and that Microsoft would not be talking about them if they were. Kim also tantalizingly applied this reasoning to Peter Jackson's Halo project.

Another of the more bizarre moments of the interview occurred during the discussion on Microsoft's performance in Japan. According to Kim, Resident Evil 5 for the Xbox 360 was supposed to be "the big announcement." We're a little puzzled by this -- as was Game Informer -- considering the game was announced for PS3 and 360 just over two years ago. Read the full interview after the jump.

It's not like we're surprised. Anyone even remotely familiar with the Resident Evil franchise could have picked Chris Redfield's dashing looks from afar, but it's still nice to get confirmation from Jun Takeuchi, the game's producer. But Chris isn't working for the Special Tactics And Rescue Squad this time. He's working for BSAA -- we can't even think of a good phrase to match that one. We can't blame him, he's been out of work for 10 years, apparently. Ever since the end of the Mansion Incident.

Jun tempts us with questions, asking us what happened to Chris over the last ten years, if he's fighting for good or evil, what kind of creatures is he up against? We don't know, Jun! We honestly don't know! He was sparse in mentioning game details, but he assures us there are some gameplay mechanics in the works he can't talk about yet. Light and darkness will play a major role -- if you enter a dark room from outside, it'll take a little while to adjust and vice-versa. C'mon, Chris, wear an eyepatch. That's what they're for, after all.

You may have noticed that the non-zombie gentleman in that hot, hot Resident Evil 5 trailer bore a striking resemblance to Chris Redfield, star of Resident Evil and Code Veronica. That's easily explained by the fact that it totally is Chris Redfield. Famitsu got the scoop from producer Jun Takeuchi, who said that RE 5 will take place 10 years after the first in the series, and will follow Chris as he investigates a situation for a group called BSAA.

Chris will face off against some non-zombies in action that Takeuchi said was similar to RE 4 with some new features, including forcing players to allow their eyes to adjust to different light levels when they enter and leave buildings. As demonstrated in the picture above, squinting is the new waggle.

Last night, Capcom announced that the Resident Evil franchise would be headed to the Xbox 360 and showed off their latest trailer for Resident Evil 5. The trailer (embedded above) is not the complete version as the extended version hasn't been shown yet, but will be released for download off the XBLM on July 26th. What more is there to say other than this is Resident Evil 5, in daylight, in Africa, and is a game that gets us very excited.

We know it's just a series of quick cuts from what appears to be an African village, but our zombie-shooting fingers were literally itching while we watched this new Resident Evil 5 trailer ... and we're not even sure any of those people were zombies. Which either shows that we're really excited for this game and the trailer did its job, or that Jack Thompson was right all along.

We're pretty sure it's the first one.