I bet you were pretty excited about Resident Evil 5 being Move-compatible upon Move’s launch later this year. I guess, if that’s the case, you were pretty excited when Resident Evil 5 was announced and later launched. Maybe so excited that you bought it day one and played the ever-living-Hell out of the game that you didn’t even once consider getting the Gold Edition because you thought that they would just release everything via DLC. Which they did.

But did you know that the regular version of Resident Evil 5 and the Gold Edition are different? At the surface and in gameplay, you’d never be able to tell, but your regular version will not be Move-compatible.

Wait, what?

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There you have it, folks. At the Sony segment of the GDC, Sony has officially given “Arc” a name – The PlayStation Move.

Seems kind of like an obvious name for a motion controller, but I suppose it also succinctly explains its purpose.

The PlayStation Move will come bundled with a PlayStation Eye, a game and the controller itself for under $100.

In addition, PS3 games LittleBigPlanet and Resident Evil 5 have been confirmed to support Move functionality.  A new title, Sports Champion, will feature several sports-related mini-games for use with the PlayStation Move.

Very much looking forward to Microsoft’s motion controller, too!  Everyone stay tuned for Microsoft’s This Camera Tracks Your Movements!

So what’s worth picking up on the PlayStation Store this week, hmm? Well, there’s the demo for Just Cause 2, for one.

If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, there is also a plethora of DLC for numerous titles, and Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgement for those looking for a bit of an strategy RPG fix.

PlayStation Store via PS3

Downloadable Games

• Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgement (£9.99/€12.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All locales

Demos (free)

• Just Cause 2 Demo Rating: PEGI 18

Availability: Not available in Germany

• Moto 09/10 Demo Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All locales

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Resident Evil 5 is a strange creature. It has all the flash and graphics of a next-gen game, yet the gameplay itself feels as if it’s years old.

This isn’t that warm nostalgia feeling you get from playing an old game again after many years. It’s that feeling where you played that type of game years ago and realise that, while it was fun at the time, those conventions have evolved into better, more intuitive play and controls since.

That’s the feeling I get from RE5.

While this conflict of evolution is present within the game, Capcom tailored the experience towards that conflict. They understood that moving is clumsy, so the infected can only run till they are 30 feet from you. At which point they slow to a shuffle. This tailoring helps alleviate what would have been a killer to playing the game. While they help most of the issues, a few still go unchecked.

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I never thought I’d praise a newspaper on these (cyber)pages, but there is always a first, I suppose. Joining some other publications, millions of gamers and pretty much anyone who has common sense, the New York Times have stated that Resident Evil 5 is not racist.

“Let’s get this out of the way: Resident Evil 5 is not a racist game.

For at least a year some black journalists have been wringing their hands about whether the game, the latest in the seminal survival-horror series, inflames racist stereotypes because it is set in Africa. The answer is no…”

Then:

“So Resident Evil 5 exposes the perhaps uncomfortable truth that blacks and Arabs can become zombies too, just like anyone else. Blacks and Arabs do not have a secret anti-zombie gene. And just like all the thousands of white, Asian and Hispanic zombies that have been dispatched in innumerable other games before them, the African zombies must also be destroyed, or at least neutralized.”

I know that this seems like a ‘duh’ moment to you, but I felt the need to chronicle what seems to be a breakthrough: a newspaper is talking sense about games. There you go, now you see why this is newsworthy.

Capcom has told Joystiq that Wii-owners across the globe shouldn’t be bummed that RE5 didn’t make it to their console.

“It was made for the Xbox 360 and PS3,” said Capcom’s Matt Dahlgren, speaking at a press event in Toronto.

“That being said, Nintendo Wii fans will be very happy very soon.”

There was nothing specific mentioned, but Shinji Mikami has previously mentioned he wanted to make a completely new Resident Evil game for the Nintendo Wii.

RE5 launches next week in the west.

Capcom has just announced release dates for its line-up in the first half of 2009.

It looks like it’s going to be a good start to the year for Capcom and gamers alike with titles like Street Fighter IV only weeks away, and Resident Evil 5 and next-gen Bionic Commando coming shortly behind.

• Flock! (XBLA/PSN) – February
• Street Fighter IV (360/PS3) – February 20
• Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop (Wii) – February 27
• Neopets Puzzle Adventure (Wii/DS/PC) – February 27
• Resident Evil 5 (360/PS3) – March 13
• MotoGP (Wii) – March
• Bionic Commando (XBLA/PSN) – March

SCEJ is pumping up the very commercial Japanese Christmas season with a new promotional disc which is to e included with every new PS3 owner in Japan upon purchasing their new system. The disc will contain demos and promotional trailers for both released and upcoming PS3 titles.

Buyers will have a choice between a red and white disc, with the red disc containing family friendly content and the white disc containing mature content. While majority of the demos can already be found on the PS Store, there is one of note, the Resident Evil 5 demo with offline and co-op play.

Previously it was announced another article it was going to be released on December 5th 2008 for Xbox Live Gold Members, now however it now seems PS3 users will be getting on the action as early as December 18th 2008.

The demo discs will only be available to get in stores and only while supplies last, here is a list of the disc content.

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Gamers who opt to buy Resident Evil 5 on the PlayStation 3 in March will receive a nice bonus as a extra feature on the game disc. Thanks to the massive space on Blu-ray discs, Capcom is adding a making of Resident Evil 5 documentary, produced from Hollywood staff.

The bonus content is currently secured for Japanese versions of RE5, but there is still no word on whether it will be placed on Western games.

Considering that the PS3 version content is on the game disc itself, and not as a bonus extra, there’s seems a much higher chance Capcom will include it for North America and European releases.

Resident Creator Shinji Mikami and ex-Capcom employee has revealed that he won’t be playing Resident Evil 5. Speaking in an interview with The Official PlayStation Magazine, Mikami said that playing the new game would “just cause [him] stress” 

“I probably won’t play it. I won’t like it, because it’s not going to be the game I would have made,” he said. “It’ll just cause me stress if I play it. I think it could be fun for gamers to play it, but not for someone who has developed Resident Evil games.

“If I see anything in Resident Evil 5 that isn’t done well, I’ll be angry!” 

Speaking about the similarities from the 4th game, Mikami says “that’s fine, isn’t it? I think Resident Evil 5 doesn’t need to change the series, but Resident Evil 6 will have to reinvent the series with another full model change or else it won’t be able to keep on going.”

Mikami is currently working on a joint project with Suda 51 and Electronic Arts, as well as a currently unannounced game for Sega.

Resident Evil 5 will be coming to Japan earlier then the western release date of March 12th 2009; instead, it will be arriving a week early on March 5th 2009, and they are also receive a Limited Edition Set to boot!

The Resident Evil 5 limited edition will include:

• • A 2GB USB drive modelled after the Tricell vaccine seen in Resident Evil 5
  • A 32 page hardcover art book
  • A BSAA Carrying Pack as worn by Chris Redfield

It does contain a nice collection of items but it also comes with a hefty price-tag of ¥12,800 ($134). This edition will also only be available to buy from the e-Capcom store, which will start taking pre-orders on December 4th.

North America and Europe can look forward to Resident Evil 5 on March 13th 2009.

According to the latest issue of Famitsu, Capcom is planning to release a demo of Resident Evil 5 on the Xbox Live Marketplace on December 5th.

The demo will include two stages that will include a mixture of single-player and co-op modes.

As Famitsu is a Japanese magazine, the demo is currently only confirmed for Japan, but hopefully later news will confirm this demo for the rest of the world , as well the possibility of a PS3 demo being released at the same time.

Capcom has just released, it’s 2009 first quarter release schedule for the UK, and amongst its gems is a release date for the new Bionic Commando, and even better… Street Fighter IV!

It’s gonna be an expensive fortnight for most of us UK gamers, it seems.

Capcom’s full 2009 Q1 schedule is after the cut.

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Microsoft has listed the games it will be showing at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan this week. It includes the Square Enix RPG’s The Last Remnant and Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

TGS will be seeing the first playable appearance of The Last Hope, which still has a release date for this year in Japan.

As well as RPGs, Microsoft will be demonstrating Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Fable II and a host of third-party games at its TGS booth

Full list after the cut.

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Today, Capcom fired out a “fact sheet”  for Resident Evil 5, Nothing too major, but it does state a simultaneous release globally on both consoles.

So, here it is.

WARNING: May contain spoilers

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