Thanks to Kotaku for linking to info about Resident Evil 4’s development cycle. This is just some message on some board for the moment, so until it’s confirmed in Edge, take it with a grain of salt. Some interesting details from the post:

• Resident Evil 4 as we know it is actually the fourth version of the game. The first version ran on PS2 and was turned into Devil May Cry. The second version is the one from which we saw a early footage of a couple of years ago (with Leon and the shadow monster), and it was scrapped for not being “revolutionary enough.” The third version had Leon taking Umbrella down, and was full of classic zombies, but this version was “a total failure.” The fourth version is the version we know and love.
• They spent 1 to 1.5 months modeling each character in the game.
• The instant knife-draw move was added based on user feedback. At one point the game allowed players to strafe, but the move was removed because it made the game too easy.

Check out the full post for details.