Famitsu sort of already spilled the beans on a Dead Rising-based Wii game, but Capcom got to fill us in this morning on the game's new title: Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, which we'd like to make fun of, but we find surprisingly precious. Capcom also related that you could expect the game on shelves this winter.

1UP has some details on the pseudo-port from Famitsu, largely centered on the efforts to make the game more casually appealing. For starters, there's no more timer, you just complete missions and move on. There have also been tweaks to the camera and controls based on Resident Evil 4. And yes, you can expect some motion controls -- in exactly the ways you'd expect -- which you can read about here.

One way to re-sell last year's game again is to add a scantily clad babe (and by "babe" we mean "hunk") to the cast of playable characters. Capcom has done just that, importing Dead Rising star Frank West sans clothes (talk about extreme conditioning!) into the repackaged and budget priced Lost Planet: Colonies Edition. But why stop there? We can't be the only ones curious to see (strictly on a scientific level, of course) how Mega Man's unarmed body reacts to the cold.

Head into our gallery to check out all 17 new screens featuring a mysterious (and clothed) female character, plus hot and potentially gooey "Akrid Hunt" action:

With titles like Dead Rising and Lost Planet, it seems that Capcom has developed a taste for western cuisine, at least in how it applies to game development. This observation was echoed by Capcom exec Christian Svensson, who in a recent interview noted belief that the Osaka, Japan-based company could look to add an established Western dev to its portfolio in the near future. Confessed Svensson, "I would be sort of surprised if we didn't acquire a western studio in the next two years."

But Capcom knows that it has the pick of the litter, and it isn't about to let just anyone into its ivory tower. "We're not going to acquire anyone that we haven't done a game with," noted Svensson. The exec also stressed that chemistry would play a "critical" role in any future match, leaving just 28 other dimensions of happier, healthier relationships to be sorted out.

Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq, a column on legal issues as they relate to video games:

We're here today to discuss the greatest threat to the world as we know it: Zombies. Or, rather, how that particular threat has become the topic of a lawsuit over who controls said brain-eating, reanimated corpses. Before I start commenting on the suit, I have to put forth this bit of a disclaimer: I'm not privy to the court documents, and my commentary is purely speculative. That being said, there are a lot of problems with this suit from a theoretical standpoint.

The suit cites, specifically, both trademark and copyright claims. I have my doubts about either claim being successful, but I'll begin with the trademark issue. For those not familiar, intellectual property law has three major areas that involve Federal registration in the US: patent, trademark, and copyright. In short, patents protect ideas, trademarks protects brands, and copyrights protect expressions. The trademark claim, then, likely involved some issue of dilution or confusion between George A. Romero's 'Dead' movie series (specifically Dawn of the Dead) marks and the 'Dead Rising' mark. Without some pretty substantial evidence, I don't think MKR group has much of a case based on this claim.

We heard the rumblings of this coming earlier this month, but now it seems like it's official: MKR Group, which owns the rights to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, has sued Capcom for similarities between the zombie flick and Capcom's Dead Rising, both of which feature zombies in a shopping mall. In part, the suit states, "In both, the recreational activities of the zombies and absurdly grotesque 'kill scenes' provide unexpected comedic relief."

Personally, we think this whole thing is a little silly. Zombies in a shopping mall are like polar bears on South Pacific islands or cheetahs in Ludwig's den. It's their natural habitat, what do you want them to do, make an unrealistic zombie game?

Capcom is looking to protect its right to kill hordes of zombies in a shopping center. In a legal complaint filed this week (PDF file via The Hollywood Reporter Esq.), the game publisher asserts that "humans battling zombies in a shopping mall" is a "wholly unprotectible idea" under today's copyright laws.

The reason for Capcom's fair use claim reportedly comes from a draft complaint sent to the company (as well as Microsoft and Best Buy) by The MKR Group, who claim intellectual ownership of both Dawn of the Dead films. Capcom's filing notes that the company unsuccessfully tried to discuss the matter and that the game features a disclaimer that reads, "This game was not developed, approved or licensed by the owners or creators of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead."

It's time to conduct a very (ahem) scientific poll.

Camelot's upcoming Wii golf title We Love Golf will feature Capcom-flavored alternate costumes for its male and female golfers, allowing players to tee off as Chun Li, Apollo Justice, Jill Valentine, or Arthur from Ghouls 'n Ghosts. The fun doesn't stop there, however, as Capcom is allowing fans to vote on the final two Capcom characters to be included in the North American and European versions of the game.

By heading over to the official Capcom blog, players will be able to vote for one female character, and one male character. Female character choices consist of Cammy (Street Fighter), Morrigan (Darkstalkers), Rouge (Power Stone), Roll Caskett (Mega Man Legends), and Ashley Graham (Resident Evil 4).

The male options are Frank West (Dead Rising), Balrog (Street Fighter), Guy (Final Fight), Ken (Street Fighter), Dhalsim (Street Fighter), and Captain Commando (former Capcom mascot and protagonist of the arcade game of the same name). At the moment, Ken and Morrigan are both leading their respective polls. Of course, we wonder why Capcom can't simply include all the characters in the game, but we'll take what we can get.

[Via Wii Fanboy]

The latest issue of EGM is imparting some spicy rumors upon us. Perhaps most shocking is word that Capcom may be passing the buck on Dead Rising 2, leaving the sequel in the hopefully-capable hands of a North American developer.

The rumor doesn't state which studio would be working on the Dead Rising followup, although it does suggest that the developer is based in Los Angeles -- ruling out our guess of Texas-based Gearbox Studios, who only recently announced a "really big" project in pre-production.

Of course, they wouldn't call it a rumor if it were necessarily true. We'd like to see Capcom remain involved with the Dead Rising franchise, but if it does in fact pass on to a western studio we can only hope it falls into the right hands.