Resident Evil Online 2 Announced

Thanks much to forums member ZombieEater for this information:

Capcom has released new details on its latest online action adventure game Biohazard Outbreak File 2 (Resident Evil Outbreak File 2). The story takes place in other parts of the Racoon city, where the 8 characters from the first game continue their journey to escape.

The first scenario takes place around a zoo, zombies appear during an Elephant show, and the zoo is now deserted. The elephant and other animals were infected by the deadly virus and rampaging in the zoo.

Biohazard Outbreak File 2 is scheduled for a Fall 2004 release in Japan, the game will correspond to the PS2 Network Adapter and Broadband Unit.

I’ve added Resident Evil Outbreak 2 to the database, along with the screens I’ve been able to find. More information is available at Polygon Magazine and The MagicBox.

Siren Sequel?

IGN is reporting that the Siren team is hiring production staff to work on a sequel to their hit horror game.

Siren (known as Forbidden Siren in the US and Europe) is scheduled for release in North America on April 20th.

No Fear

I am in Japan this week. Walking around the local supermarket/random supplies store, I came across a PS2 game I did not recognize called The Fear. I did a little digging and apparently this game is a 0 Story (remember all those live-action movie games? those guys.) horror game. It comes on 4 DVDs (!!), so it costs about $70, but I’ll pick it up if I can find it used. The game was published by Enix in 2001.

Here are some links about the game:

What do you guys think?

GDC Impressions

I just got back from the 2004 Game Developer’s Conference. The conference went well, though I was less excited with it as I have been in previous years. I was able to attend a few very good game design talks and one or two interesting technical talks (I am a programmer by trade).

At the expo, Sony had Resident Evil Outbreak and Siren running. Both games were very difficult to see thanks to the angle of the lights on the LCD displays, but I played a bit of them anyway. My initial impression of Siren is good: the mission-based structure is a new addition to this genre, the controls seem solid, and sightjacking is freaking awesome. I also became aware that I need to play this in my home and not next to a bunch of people standing around Taiko no Tetsujin, as the repetitive thumping of the drum controller put a damper on Siren’s dark mood.

My biggest surprise with RE: Outbreak was the control scheme. Perhaps I just didn’t notice last time I played the game a year ago, but the controls at GDC were camera-centric! Being as used to the RE classic “Tank Control” model as I am, I had a very difficult time moving the characters around. I checked the options screen for alternate control setups, but the only customizations available seemed to be the button mappings. Perhaps a classic control option will be available when the game ships in the US on April 1st. In related Outbreak news, it looks like the game will be shipping without online support in Europe this September. Disappointing for our European friends indeed.