nero posts (Subscribe to this feed)

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

In a video interview with IGN, Devil May Cry 4 producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi gives the 411 on protagonist Nero (not to be confused with the also playable Dante). "His specialties are a big revolver called the Blue Rose, and a big sword called the Red Queen." Hey, that's cool, gamers are totally comfortable with alternative lifestyles. Then Kobayashi drops the bombshell: the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are going to be the same.

"Our plan is to make them pretty much identical," says the auburn-tressed developer. This is where armchair analysts point out that the PS3 costs $200 more than 360; shouldn't Sony's system blow the competition out of the photorealistic water? Kobayashi concedes, "You may be able to use some of the functionality in the PS3 as like a switch." We trust that makes more sense in the original Japanese than in IGN's shoddy on-the-fly English translation. Any bilingual readers care to take a crack at a better interpretation?

This has had a day or two to circulate, but with the website countdown ending at midnight tonight (and we'll be reporting on it by 12:30am, of course) it's still something to pass the time discussing. As a few readers noted, something was up with the silhouette of Dante on the official website. Indeed there was -- turns out, that's not Dante at all. That's Nero. Name sounds familiar, doesn't it? Check your DMC documents to see if you can connect the name to the story (because honestly, we forgot where we heard the name and don't intend on playing through all three games today). Dante will still be around, but perceived as an enemy who kills Nero's allies. The Dante we see is post-DMC1 but pre-DMC2 (game chronology therefore runs 3, 1, 4, 2).

Nero himself can do most of the Dante-juggling we've grown to love. He also has a handy, well, hand, that can pull distant enemies in or throw close enemies away. Some of the combat elements of DMC3 have been tweaked for this installment, but it's more or less under wraps until the Tokyo Game Show, where we can play a stage as Nero. There will also be a special announcement. Possibly that Dante is an unlockable character with a (possibly) independant story. That'd be cool, but it's doubtful. We can hope, though! Check us out after midnight tonight for our take on the open official website. Oh, and if that's not enough fun, check out some new DMC4 scans.

[Thanks to Andrew Yoon for the scan link!]