You know the industry's come a long way when consoles are no longer the exclusive domain of androgynous, sword-waving jackasses with glowing demon arms. Capcom has sent us a reminder that the Personal Computer version of Devil May Cry 4, the latest (and commercially successful) entry in its slash-and-shoot saga, is due to arrive "THIS SUMMER." Said version will enhance Nero and Dante's adventure by adding "new modes, enhanced graphics options and some additional content."

For those not sold on the joys of launching demons into the air and then shooting them repeatedly, Capcom will offer a demo and performance benchmark before the retail version ships.

Did you feel that Devil May Cry 4 was so busy with its own style that it neglected to actually let you play -- well, so did Yahtzee. This week Zero Punctuation takes on DMC 4, the game which pulled a Metal Gear Solid 2 on us and introduced a character who was kind of like our original hero, but totally not. Don't be upset with Yahtzee's rage DMC fanboys, take solace in the knowledge that your beloved franchise has already shipped 2 million copies.

This week's less NSFW than usual review of Devil May Cry 4 can be found after the break.

Capcom's leather-clad bender Devil May Cry 4 has shipped out an impressive 2 million units since its debut two weeks ago, making it the first game in the opulent franchise to reach the milestone so quickly and the latest feather in the cap for Capcom's now 9 million unit selling series.

This accolade is no doubt helped by the fact that the sequel, unlike those that came before it, was released for two platforms simultaneously, satiating players' thirst for over-the-top action regardless if they wave their banner over the Xbox 360 or PS3. In addition, Capcom continues to note that a PC version, for those inclined to play console-style games while tethered to their monitor and desk chair, will be released in the months ahead.

Want to see what all the fuss is about? We've got five copies of Capcom's recently released satanic tear-jerker Devil May Cry 4, and we'd like nothing more than to offer them to you, dear readers.

• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this post letting us know which console release you want AND explain why Dante, Nero, and Virgil all look identical.
  
• You must be a US resident, 18 years or older. (Which isn't very rock 'n roll, we know ...)
• Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day. If you enter this giveaway more than once a day you'll be automatically disqualified, etc.!
• This entry period ends in five days at 2:59pm ET Saturday 2/23/08.
• For complete rules you can throw up in the air and shoot a lot, click here

This lovely Valentine's card came flew into our mailbox today. Who is it from? See if you can figure it out for yourself (answer after the break). Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Off the Grid reviews Ghoulash
Joystiq impressions: Lego Indiana Jones
Joyswag: Win a Cobalt Black DS with Advance Wars or Prof. Layton
X3F Week in Review: February 8, 2008 - February 14, 2008

News
Try on Patapon: demo comes to PSN today
Dead Rising, Dawn of the Dead similarities spark legal filings
Microsoft acknowledges Xbox 360 shortages in US
Disney announces Pure, plans to "redefine" off-road racing
World in Conflict console delay extends to Fall '08
No classification for Dark Sector in Australia
Xbox 360 failure rate at 16%, warranty provider reports
Nintendo announces North American Smash Bros. Brawl tournaments
'Aliens: Colonial Marines' is title of Gearbox, Sega FPS
Bored with Halo 3? Introducing X3F Community Content
GameTap severs ties with Derek Smart's Galactic Command
In-game messaging for PS3 spotted on official site
EA responds to BioWare/KOTOR MMO rumor
Nokia announces user-generated mini-games for new N-Gage
Sony execs talk backward compatibility, PS3 comeback
PSN Thursday: Demo MLB 08 twofer, Patapon
January NPD: PS3 and PS2 top 360, everyone down for the month
Far Cry movie trailer is predictably terrible
Champions Online = the latest superhero MMO from Cryptic

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: cracked Rock Band DLC reveals future songs
Analyst: Next-next-gen coming in 2010
Xboy: Ziff-Davis survey hints at Microsoft handheld

Culture & Community
A rather 'large' Smash Bros Brawl glitch
Wii hacked for homebrew, with Pong proof of concept
Team Fortress 2 Valentine's Day cards

Capcom's over-the-top action extravaganza, Devil May Cry 4, has debuted at the top of the UK's all-format software sales chart, rudely bumping previous one-er Burnout: Paradise down to fourth place. GamesIndustry.biz reports that 61 percent of the title's sales came from the Xbox 360 version, a fact which is sure to make loyalists and rabid petitioners weep uncontrollably. Of course, it didn't help that the PlayStation 3 version had to deal with price gouging and an installation stigma.

In other satanic sniveling news, Capcom has announced that the Devil May Cry 4 demo has been downloaded over a million times on Xbox Live, making it the first piece of code to do so in 2008. Since appearing on the network January 24th, it's reportedly been averaging over 25,000 downloads a day.

Capcom has announced (via Gamasutra) the results of its fiscal third quarter, showing 51.66 billion yen in net sales (US $484.5 million; a 4.8 percent increase) but net income dropping 17.8 percent to 3.57 billion yen (US $33.5m). Despite the decline and thanks to expected sales of Devil May Cry 4, Capcom raised its expected fiscal year operating profit to 11.5 billion yen (US $107.9m), a 20 percent increase over last year and 15 percent more than previous forecasts.

Strong-selling titles for Capcom include Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles in North America and Monster Hunter 2 in Japan. Zack & Wiki unit sales were noted as growing "steadily" (and given the title's critical praise, it's about time). The publisher's "stagnant" arcade and coin-op divisions and uncertainties in the Japanese and world economies were cited as reasons for its profit drop. Devil May Cry 4 is expected to hit 1.9 million in unit sales by March 31.

Borrowing a bit of that white-haired bravado, Capcom has unapologetically responded to the so-called crybabies for whom Devil May Cry 4's 21 min, 40 sec PlayStation 3 pre-game installation (timed by CVG) stretches out like an eternity of wasted opportunity and nonfulfillment. "Wah! Have you ever played a PC game? At least we aren't making you shuffle multiple discs into a ROM drive, or continuously click 'Yes!' on a series of endless Windows dialog boxes," Capcom's Chris Kramer fires back at any griefer who will listen.

Once the DMC4 installation is complete (a one-time process – unless you delete the 5GB of data), Capcom claims players will experience "near-Super Nintendo speed load times," which CVG clarifies as "one or two seconds shy of those in the [Xbox] 360 [version of the game]." Whether you feel this perk justifies the initial wait-to-play (which is alleviated by a screenshot recap of the series) or not, Capcom doesn't much care. Pre-game installation is a reality for a growing number of PS3 games. It's not a bullet-point any publisher wants to list on a press release or print on a retail box, but it's a 'next-gen feature' we all need to get used to.

This week marks the North American release of Devil May Cry 4 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. To celebrate, the crew at PS3 Fanboy have written a retrospective on the series as a whole. It's a good refresher for those who haven't touched the series in a long time (or ever). It also makes for a great read while PS3 owners wade through the required installation. (About 30 minutes in length, according to PS Fanboy editor Andrew Yoon.)

Concluding the retrospective is a review of Devil May Cry 4. You can browse the retrospective via the links below and enjoy our rather extensive gallery.

• Devil May Cry
• Devil May Cry 2
• Devil May Cry 3
• Review: Devil May Cry 4

If you're not too busy playing Satan's Sudoku, you may want to lend some of your time to Beelzebub's bawling buddy, Devil May Cry 4. Though rumor had it arriving a tad later, the folks at Capcom have confirmed that a demo of the extravagant actioner is due to arrive on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network this Thursday, January 24th.

Demo May Cry will acquaint players with newcomer Nero, the franchise's third silver-haired, sword-wielding weirdo with a penchant for killing demons in spectacular fashion (that coat is snazzy!). Players will battle through several different locales and a boss encounter before being reminded of the full game's release on February 5th.

The above image used to be part of a widget available for download at deceiverdeceived.com and betrayerbetrayed.com, two official Capcom websites for Devil May Cry 4. In the picture for the widget, the date January 31 was given for the release of a demo for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (via IGN).

Downloading the widget, however, revealed no such line, and it has since been stricken from the widget image. No word from Capcom about the line. Devil May Cry 4 is due out January 31 in Japan, and the following week in North America and Europe.

[Via X3F]

Devil May Cry 4 is only a month away from release and we were itching to sit down for a few hours and try out the final build. From what we've seen, the game has been polished so much we could almost see our faces in it. It's clear that DMC4 has benefited from being pushed back to early '08, if only because it now has the Q1 stage all to itself.

The gameplay hasn't changed much since Devil May Cry 1, but fans of the series should see no problems with that. Having said that, numerous new features have been added, with Nero's crazy arm (used for grabbing, throwing and slamming, natch) reminding us of Evil Dead 2. That can only be a good thing, right? Its ability to cling onto nearby floating objects in order to reach higher places is ripped straight from Onimusha 3, though the timing based jump puzzles seen here make things a little different.

One such puzzle requires you to hop across a spike-filled room by grabbing jump points that can disappear and reappear at random. Grab at the wrong time and the spikes will damage you, causing you to plummet into a room full of marionettes (those being the things trying to kill you most of the time) below. Did we fall? Maybe. Maybe we fell three times. So what if we did?

The German version of GamePro (via NeoGAF) has published its review of Devil May Cry 4 and revealed some interesting features for the PlayStation 3 - namely, achievements. Similar to the Xbox Live counterpart, you'll be able to perform certain actions and earn recognition, which can then be seen by your friends.

From what we gather, this is only for DMC4, however, and not a console-wide feature, so don't expect to start bragging about your PSN gamerscore anytime soon. The idea of PS3 achievements, rumored once to be called entitlements, were denied by Sony leading up to the console's launch.

The review also confirmed Sixaxis functionality in the form of tilting to adjust the camera, and noted a 5GB required installation before you can play the game. The 1UP podcast this week also confirmed this, saying it took 25 minutes to complete the installation process, so don't expect to play the game as soon as you get home from the store.

[Update: Upgraded emphasis on 5GB installation]

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

We've been impressed by the footage we've seen of Capcom's newest demon slaughtering simulator, Devil May Cry 4. It has all the elements we've come to expect from the DMC series: acrobatics, dismemberment, and extreme cases of early-onset leukotrichia. However, after paying attention to the jaw-droppingly beautiful opening cinematic for the game, we are left with one major question: What is Nero listening to on those headphones? Sure, high octane techno-rock is a pretty safe bet, but we guess it's possible that our crimson clad protagonist can't juggle baddies unless he listens to ABBA. Guess we'll find out when the game hits U.S. store shelves in February '08.