On Wednesday, PlayStation Lifestyle posted up a rumor that Microsoft was supposedly gunning for a timed Xbox 360 exclusive, to be paid for in cash money and announced at E3. Following an understandable uproar on the part of PlayStation fans, Capcom has set the record straight via their official message forums.

In fact, said record-straightening was done by Christian Svensson, Capcom's VP of strategic planning and business development, who wrote: "The assertion is false. RE5 is a multiplatform release that fits with our oft-stated crossplatform strategy." In the same thread, Svensson confirms "for the avoidance of doubt" that the game will be a simultaneous release on both platforms. Thanks for being so quick with the extinguisher on this one, Sven.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi tells Kotaku that calls of racial insensitivity haven't affected the game's design. Takeuchi tells the site that the team didn't "set out" to make a racist or political statement and he feels there was a misunderstanding about the initial trailer.

Takeuchi says there are Arab and Caucasian targets for Chris Redfield's bullets in RE5 and insists they were always going to be included in the game -- despite the initial trailer showing a less ethnically diverse group of zombies. We'll have to take a "wait and see" approach on whether Japanese developers will continue to fuel the fires of black/white racial tensions across the ocean.

[Via GameDaily]

Interested to see all the eye candy that came from Capcom's Captivate 08 event? From jet packs, zombies and bionic arms to Neopets and banjo-playing fish-cyborgs, check out all the new screenshots below (also after the break):

Sadly for everyone attending, Resident Evil 5 wasn't able to be played by commoners at Capcom's Captivate 08 event, but we were some of the first on the globe to see a playable version, so we're not complaining.

After showing a new trailer for the game, Jun Takeuchi began walking us through one of the early stages, the African village you've likely become familiar with in recent months. We're told that it's four times larger than Resident Evil 4's starting town, and we can believe it. You can see almost to the edge of the town -- it's sprawling, decrepit and totally imposing. We were impressed that the team has managed to create an environment that's frightening, even without the dark creepiness of earlier games in the series.

Like all thinking people, we're anxiously awaiting the release of Resident Evil 5, if only to learn more of the back story of coat-opening shop guy. Though we don't know when we'll finally get our hands on it, after last week's Captivate 08, we at least know that things are progressing.

"Right now, in the development process we're about 60 percent of the way through," producer Jun Takeuchi said through a translator. "We're figuring that the total play time in the game will be over 20 hours. As you can probably see from the trailer there's a lot of different content and materials in the game for you to enjoy." How's that 60 percent looking? Look for our impressions later in the day.

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.

Whether you're in it for the pugilistic spectacle or gratuitous undead hostility, we think there are a few good reasons to catch this Friday's episode of GameTrailers TV on Spike. Not only will we see the character creation mode in EA's cartoonish boxing game, Facebreaker, we'll actually get to see show host Geoff Keighley and EA's Peter Moore break each other's faces. In the game.

If you prefer your violence to be dispensed with the pull of a finger (and not the swing of a fist), the episode will also feature new gameplay footage of Capcom's controversial Resident Evil 5. Add a trailer for world-warping shooter Fracture and in-game footage of Golden Axe: Beast Rider, and you have yourself a decent bit of entertainment. You'll find a trailer for the episode, which airs on Friday, May 30th, at 1AM ET/PT, after the break.

ShackNews reports that a Resident Evil 5 preview, originally posted by GamesRadar, stated the game would feature online co-op throughout the campaign and that a cover system had been added to the franchise. Sadly, we can't report on this information directly from GamesRadar because the article has been removed. We blame the Umbrella Corporation. We always blame the Umbrella Corporation.

The preview allegedly revealed that there would be also be a dodge mechanic (using the right analog stick), a mercenary mini-game and a challenge mode. In the co-op campaign, players would be able to drop in and out at any time, with the AI taking over when there's no pesky human with yummy brains to control the second character. RE5 is expected sometime before the next decade and follows the possibly racist Chris Redfield as he indiscriminately kills all of zombie-kind between him and his goal.

Usually, an early glimpse of gameplay from a high-profile title stirs gentle butterflies of excitement. But after perusing Capcom's newly translated Resident Evil 5 video interview this morning, more than a few of us were feeling uneasy; not fluttering, but squirming, like worms in our guts. It's the same feeling some of us had when we watched RE5's first trailer (and again when it was extended). It's the same feeling that burst into a heated discussion about racism, about how RE5's imagery relates to historical and contemporary issues of race -- even if these African villagers are more "zombie" than human, like the Spaniards in RE4. Newsweek's N'Gai Croal argues, "It's not as simple as saying, 'Oh, they shot Spanish zombies in Resident Evil 4, and now black zombies and that's why people are getting upset.' The imagery is not the same. It doesn't carry the same history, it doesn't carry the same weight. I don't know how to explain it more clearly than that."

MTV Multiplayer has published some important commentary on the first RE5 trailer by Croal, whose first reaction was simply: "Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game." Croal is not proposing censorship, but a need for context and an understanding that the imagery in RE5 is not just a palette swap. "This is why it is important to whoever works in the American office of a company like Capcom to be able to show this is the history, this is where this comes from, this is where we need to be more sensitive. I'm not sure they've done that yet."

If we were making a game as hotly anticipated as Resident Evil 5, we'd hope our publisher wouldn't say anything about it until it was done. We'd just pull up in our sleek Lamborghini (which all game designers drive) throw a disc into their mail slot and go cash a check. We're too afraid of ending up like producer Jun Takeuchi who has to be pulled away from making what we can only assume is a triumph of interactive entertainment to tell us newbs how work is going. It's like we're leaning over his shoulder as he toils, our Philly cheesesteak dripping grease onto his documents.

You've seen a bit of this before, but now it's in English. So, what'd we learn from the translation? Well, apparently the graphics system is all up and running and the team is now focusing on the "game system and balance." Oh, and the game is definitely set in Africa. Plus, if you're a complete geek, there's a discussion of light that's as fascinating as anything you're likely to hear today.

Resident Evil 5 has been off our radars for a while, but some brief gameplay footage has floated our way, courtesy of a Capcom 25th Anniversary DVD packaged with the latest issue of Famitsu. The gameplay is shown amidst shots of character models, and an interview with producer Jun Takeuchi.

What can we glean from this footage? The protagonist Chris Redfield is still seen in the same setting as the last (somewhat controversial) trailer, walking amongst irritable villagers who are still hard to distinguish from the series' trademark zombies. Redfield also has ridiculously huge muscles, making us wonder if we'll get to do a bit more wrassling this time around (probably not, though).

Check out the brief, off-screen footage after the break.

[Thanks, Mark]

Microsoft Games chief Don Mattrick has confirmed (or, in some cases, reaffirmed) via a memo a handful of exclusive titles to arrive on Xbox 360 in 2008. The list of assuredly not canceled titles include Halo Wars, Too Human, Fable 2, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell: Conviction and "several exciting yet-to-be-announced titles."

Following the list of 2008 exclusives, Mattrick continues to say that "Xbox 360 will be home to the next versions of great franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil ... Madden and FIFA." We're not sure if he meant to imply Resident Evil 5 is due out this year, but it's certainly a suspicious line. Other than this year, no schedule was given as to the release of these titles, although we now get a sense of what Microsoft feels will keep gamers happy in this post-Halo 3 world.