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Mega 64 takes on Dead Rising
Once again landing in the gap between video games and reality, the Mega 64 boys find themselves covering a zombie outbreak in a mall. Follow the real Frank West as he takes "FANTASTIC!" photos, protects those with poor pathfinding abilities and deals with annoying security guards. He's covered wars, you know. [Thanks Jay & Braith. More Mega 64 hilarity can be found here.]
Capcom Rumor Round-Up: SFII on PS3, Dead Rising 2 on 360
As the prettiest girl at the gossip ball, Capcom has been making quite a few headlines recently for actions they may or may not be considering. In light of the particularly bogus rumors floating concerning Microsoft buying out Capcom, lets take a look at some of the more substantiated rumors involving your favorite Mega Man sweatshop. For your consideration, three rumors from the February issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (#112). For those who still believe in the aforementioned rumor, you may as well tear down those tin foil barriers around your room as Capcom "looks to be making several interesting games for the PS3's (network) service." The two titles mentioned being a remake of Street Fighter II with brand new sprites and an "updated NES classic."
Real life Dead Rising: "Fantastic!"
The boys at Mega64 are at it again, this time with a real life version of Dead Rising. For those of you unfamiliar with Mega64, we have only one question: how's the view? You know, like, how's the view from underneath the rock that you live under. We keed, we keed. Seriously, Mega64 goes around harassing people performing skits based off their favorite video games. Some of their works include skits based off Resident Evil 4 (one of our favorites), Paperboy, and Katamari Damacy. Check out the above video, and when you're done with that, hit their website for more hilarity. Because watching funny videos is always better than working, right? [Thanks, Braith]
Dead Rising keeps killing, 1 million sold
Capcom's zombified shopping mall game has sold over 1 million copies since its release. Dead Rising has been out in the US since August 8th and has just broken the 1 million mark in worldwide sales. Hacking and slashing has never been so much fun! But after looking at the sales sucess of games like Gears of War ... it just goes to show that selling a million copies is great, but 2.7 million copies is all the better. Good job Dead Rising, because we're looking forward to a sequel with more zombies, a beefier story, some Live co-op, and a dash of multiplayer. Now get to work Capcom, our demands have been made public. [Via Digg]
Dead Rising sequels shambling forth
Having shipped over one million copies of their Romero-inspired zombie massacre sim, Capcom can confidently dub Dead Rising a full-on franchise. Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, Capcom's head of consumer games confirms that further zombie-mashing titles are due to arrive on consoles in the future (feel free to let out a collective gasp). "When you're at the front-end of a hardware cycle, people are willing to take more of an experiment in what games they'll try," says Mark Beaumont. "Bringing out Dead Rising has allowed us to establish a new franchise that we can use for years to come." It's always refreshing to see brand new franchises take off, especially when chainsaws are involved. Controversial save mechanics and shameful SDTV support aside, we fully expect the next Dead Rising to be considerably more pleasant than being torn apart by a snarling, undead force.
Best of the rest: Ross' picks
Lumines Live! (XBLA) On a big screen with surround sound, Q Entertainment's Lumines Live was easily the most-played game in my library (if you stretch the definition of library to digitally distributed titles). Although I railed against how microtransactions were implemented in this title and still think the extent to which they disclosed the dearth of features was misleading, both the Basic and Advanced Pack got more than enough play time, as did the multiplayer. It is the best Xbox Live Arcade title since Geometry Wars.
Get your vote on, Gamespot's game of the year
It's the end of one long gaming year and that could only mean one thing, Gamespot has just announced its nominees for 2006 Game of the Year. Among the ten nominees there are quite a few great 360 games on the list including Dead Rising, Oblivion, Rainbow Six Vegas, Viva Piñata, and our little engine that could Gears of War. It's nice to see that so many high profile games from the 360 made the list and that Oblivion may have some of its stiffest competition yet. Visit their site, vote for who you think deserves the crown, and wait patiently for the winner to be announced. It's a difficult decision so we're totally opting for a write-in and voting for Viva Gears Rising ... that's one great game.
Gears named 3rd most important game of '06
Gamasutra recently sent a request to its readers from the game industry, asking them to name the games that created a true "quantum leap" in game design this year. Sandwiched in between critical darlings, Okami and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, was Epic's Gears of War in the number 3 spot on the list. Each game on the list is supplemented with a paragraph or two contributed by Gamasutra readers and industry professionals. The achievements of Gears of War are nicely summarized by Game Developer Magazine's Brandon Sheffield, who notes the amazing graphics (of course) and cover-based gameplay. In particular, we share his sentiments about GOW's co-op: "I'm personally most fond of the game's cooperative play – the most fully-realized truly cooperative action experience in games since the days of 2D beat 'em ups – Double Dragon and their ilk." We were also reminded of 2D co-op games of yore (Contra, in this case). Congratulations, Gears of War. The industry likes you. They really like you! Props also to Dead Rising for receiving an honorable mention. What game provided this year's greatest "quantum leap" in your opinion?
Capcom releases budget Resident Evil & DMC collections
As Capcom prepares to usher in the next-generation, the company has elected to do some last-minute house cleaning, shoeing a pile of its prized current-gen titles out the door. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Resident Evil franchise and the 5th anniversary of the Devil May Cry franchise, Capcom has prepared two budget-priced collections: For GameCube: Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero & Resident Evil 4 ($40, exclusively at EB Games/GameStop) For PlayStation 2: Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2 & Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Special Edition ($30) The two gems of these collections are Resident Evil 4 and the original Devil May Cry. That said, unless you're looking to round out your archives, there are better ways to invest in Capcom product. You tried Okami yet? [Via press releases]
Dead Rising $39.99 at Best Buy
For those who have played Dead Rising on a standard definition television, you aren't completely blind yet -- the headline on top is factual. Dead Rising is on sale this week at Best Buy for $39.99, which is cheaper than buying it used from most retailers. Why the strong price drop? No idea, but we certainly made a call to Best Buy corporate to find out. Sadly, it's Sunday, so we aren't expecting an answer today. The reviews for Dead Rising were kind given its awkward save system and structural issues. Also, insult was added to injury when Capcom squashed any hopes of patching the standard definition tiny-text problem. So, take those $20 you're gonna save and put it toward an HDTV fund -- or a pair of designer glasses. See also: Metareview: Dead Rising Xbox 360 Capcom aware of Dead Rising standard definition woes Dead Rising patch chance lost [Thanks Chris]
Joyswag: Get a call from Otis, win Dead Rising -- four days later
We chose Gabriel's truly terrifying milieu of a zombie infestation, sans zombies, as the winner in the final day of our Dead Rising contest. Everyone knows Phantoms don't exist -- yet, there it is! Gives us the creeps. Of course, don't forget about our other winners: zombie Flanders, vegetarian zombies, and PS3 early adopter zombies, each one terrifying in their own right. Vegetarians! We'd like to thank every single entrant to our little contest (more honorable mentions after the break), and Capcom for hooking us up with some great prizes.
360 rocking in the UK
This week's sales numbers are in for the UK, and the 360 is still topping the charts. The 360 currently has games in four of the top five spots. In order, they are: Lego Star Wars II (#1), Dead Rising (#2), Saints Row (#3), and Test Drive Unlimited (#5). Granted, LSWII is a multiplatform title, but you can bet Microsoft is nothing but pleased with these numbers. Any of our UK readers rocking one of these great 360 games?
Joyswag: Get a call from Otis, win Dead Rising -- three days later
Selecting today's winner was especially tough but, after barricading ourselves inside for hours to make the decision, we've chosen Christian's nightmarish vision of this coming November 17th for day three in our four day Dead Rising giveaway contest! When that fated day rolls around, we'll all wistfully recall these silly contests and our silly, little lives. This is your last chance! You have until midnight tonight EDT to send your entries in .jpg format to joyswag [dot] submissions [at] gmail [dot] com. We'll comb through them (with gloves on, of course) and lift our favorite submission out of the feeding frenzy to admire it, before sharing it with all of you. Read on for some more rules and a sampling of some of yesterday's honorable mentions.
UK prefers zombies to gangstas
It seems that zombies -- not math or music -- are in fact the universal language. Transcending all cultural barriers, Dead Rising, in its first week of release in the UK, has topped the Euro charts, knocking Saints Row off of the coveted top spot. And Britain loves gangstas, too -- though we must admit that the pimped out thugs of Saints Row aren't the suave Layer Cake gangstas that the UK is used to. Still, tiny text and red lights be damned, Dead Rising cannot be ignored. Any UK readers care to comment on their experience with the game thus far?
UK Dead Rising fans chop til they drop
Capcom is luring UK gamers to the chopping mall with a Dead Rising web-game called "Chop Til You Drop." Mince 100 zombies for the chance to win one of 5 t-shirts or, better yet, 200 for a shot at a Sony HDTV. Unfortunately, the rest of the world isn't eligible to win, although you can still waste an hour of office time mindlessly hurling tiny meat cleavers at the living dead. Capcom should throw a quick promo title on XBLA and take this mini-madness global.
Disc Read Error Rising
Dead Rising is DOA on my 360. I loaded the menu ok, but when I tried to start the game, it smacked me with a disc read error, despite being a pristine new copy. The usual "clear the cache' tricks didn't help. But, as suspected, when I removed the hard drive, things worked fine. It turns out plenty of other deadly pissed off customers have a reason to stumble back to the mall with receipt in hand: http://forums.xbox.com/6234648/ShowPost.aspx http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/...000689731/p/14 http://boards.ign.com/dead_rising/b8413/125103317/p1/ http://www.capcom.com/BBS/showthread.php?threadid=11141 http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=28765 Some of these poor folks have already paid $130 to repair their 360 over what is almost certainly an issue with the game itself. When I called Microsoft Support, they told me that there are "multiple known issues" with Dead Rising and that MS is working with Capcom on a fix. Various rumors blame the fact that DR is supposedly the first game to utilize all three cores, but who knows? A couple days ago we were celebrating Capcom's success, and now I'm forced to conclude that Dead Rising is broken for a significant number of gamers. Needless to say, my enthusiasm for this title is temporarly zombified. Hey Capcom, where's our patch?
Dead Rising ships 500k units in 2 weeks
Dead Rising is flying off the shelves faster than the game's mall walking corpses can crawl out of the grave, with half a million units shipped making it the fastest selling next-gen title from a Japanese publisher. Capcom attributes the game's success to "improved marketing and business operations in North America." Right, plus eviscerating mass quantities of shuffling zombies is just really fun. The rotting flesh stench of success already has analysts speculating that would-be PS3 exclusives like Devil May Cry 4 and Monster Hunter will show up on the 360. And the dead still have yet to rise in Europe and Japan. Nothing like a genuine hit to inspire confidence in our console. I think we can count on a Dead Rising 2.
Frank West: Drab or Fab?
Ken managed to ruffle more than a few feathers when he noticed that not one 360 character made the Top 20 Gayest Video Game Characters (not Cybil!) over at GayGamer.net. Well, it looks like the 360 could finally get it's due, as everyone's favorite zombie killing photojournalist, Frank West, has been nominated for the Top Ten Hottest Video Game Guys. We're sure he's flattered, fellas.
Mega-Man slaughters the living dead
Here's video of the full Mega-Man suit put to use in Dead Rising. You have to beat the game and kill 60,000 zombies to get it. Pretty satisfying unlockable. I don't recall ever getting the opportunity to rip Dr. Wily's small intestines out. [Thanks Andrew]
Capcom to end PS3 exclusives?
Thanks to Dead Rising's healthy sales, Capcom may very well be considering moving some of its PS3 exclusives to Microsoft's curvy white box. According to Japanese firm NikkoCitiGroup, Capcom's use of a PC-based development program would make it a snap to port titles to both platforms. We've read a few rumors about companies dropping exclusivity lately, but Capcom would certainly be a feather in Microsoft's cap -- one that would undoubtedly encourage others to follow suit. One of the reasons for Dead Rising's success is apparently the demo that was available shortly before the games launch. NikkoCitiGroup believes that demos like this will prove invaluable in driving sales of future titles. If you don't believe them, consider this: 300,000 users worldwide have downloaded the Dead Rising demo, and 320,000 copies of the game were shipped in its first week of release -- with 450,000 expected to have shipped by last Friday. That's a pretty nice conversion rate. Given those numbers, and likely similar conversions of Lost Planet, Capcom could stand to make a fair chunk of change by bringing us some Devil May Cry 4. This is only speculation at this point, but a fanboy can dream, can't he? [Via Joystiq. Thanks, Lorul2]
