CAPCOM® REVEALS NEW DETAILS ON UPCOMING TITLES AT ANNUAL CAPTIVATE MEDIA SHOWCASE IN ROME

Capcom Announces Lost Planet® 3, New October 2 Release Date for Resident Evil® 6, and PlayStation®3 System Cross-Platform Play for the PlayStation®Vita System Version of Street Fighter® X Tekken®
Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today confirmed new information and details on its previously announced game line-up for 2012 stemming from its annual media showcase event, Captivate, which took place in Rome last week. At the event, Capcom officially announced Lost Planet® 3 is in full development and scheduled for release on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360 ® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and Windows PC in early 2013. In addition, it was announced that the Xbox 360 and PS3™ versions of Resident Evil® 6 will now be released globally on October 2, 2012, with the Windows PC version to follow. Finally, Capcom is pleased to confirm that its forthcoming PlayStation®Vita system title, Street Fighter® X Tekken®, will feature Cross-Platform Play with the PS3™.

The extreme and unpredictable conditions that characterized the Lost Planet® series return, harsher than ever before in Lost Planet 3. Players take on the role of Jim, a utility rig pilot who has left Earth to take on a hazardous but lucrative contract on E.D.N. III. Delivering a diverse range of gameplay, including third-person on-foot battles and intense first-person utility rig action, players will need to brave the uncharted terrain, hostile climate and threat of indigenous Akrid creatures. With a number of multiplayer modes and a compelling single player experience, Lost Planet 3 will delve deeper into the Lost Planet universe, uncovering hidden truths when it releases in early 2013.

Captivate represented the first opportunity for media to see the highly anticipated Resident Evil 6 in action, with the game's development team showcasing one of Leon S. Kennedy's missions. Full of tension, the action has Leon and partner Helena Harper searching for an escape route from the Ivy University campus, the site of the most recent bioterrorist outbreak and the zombies that now stalk its hallways and grounds.

Announced and showcased during Captivate was the Cross-Platform Play for the PS Vita system version of Street Fighter X Tekken which allows owners of the PS Vita system version to compete against owners of the PS3™ version anywhere in the world, via Wi-Fi or 3G. Other features confirmed for the PS Vita system version of Street Fighter X Tekken were the introduction of touch controls, local and Wi-Fi multiplayer plus Near functionality alongside all the content from the home console version.

For the first time since its announcement, Captivate attendees were able to play DmC Devil May Cry® and experience the fast-paced, stylish combat that is the signature of the series. In addition, the game's development team, including members from Capcom Japan and Ninja Theory, presented a brand new level of the game. In this area, set at a carnival near the pier where he lives, Dante faces off with a Hunter Demon that has tracked down the Son of Sparda.

Steel Battalion™ Heavy Armor,acollaboration between Capcom and From Software and an Xbox 360 exclusive,introduced a brand new online four player Cooperative Multiplayer Mode available on the Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network when the title releases on June 19 in North America and from June 22 across Europe. Attending media were invited to work together, using the innovative mix of Kinect™ for Xbox 360 and regular controller play, and defeat the enemy's Vertical Tanks.

Attendees were also able to experience new content for the forthcoming open world action-RPG title, Dragon's Dogma™ and a debut hands on with the recently announced PlayStation®Move enabled Resident Evil®: Chronicles HD Collection.

Nintendo DS Game Review: Spirit Camera The Cursed Memoir

Following in the footsteps of Resident Evil Revelations, a new survival horror game has made its way to the Nintendo 3DS. A spinoff of the Fatal Frame series, Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir sticks to familiar territory for the franchise - in other words, ghosts, exorcisms and ancient rituals. It follows the story of a young girl named Maya who lost her memory. She's somehow gotten herself trapped in the mysterious Diary of Faces (the 16 page AR manual that comes included with the game), and it is up to you to solve the mystery of the Woman in Black and save both of you from a terrible fate.

The highlight of the game is its innovative use of the 3DS tech. in addition to its AR capabilities, Spirit Camera lets you use the system's gyroscope technology to spin the 3DS around and view the game's spirits in reality. Looking around to find and talk to Maya constitutes the bulk of the experience, as the chilling narrative is largely told by the young chick, as well as by viewing the Diary of Faces with the camera Obscura (your 3DS camera, in other words) and its different lenses. The atmosphere is the best thing the game has going for it, with superb voicework for Maya and haunting sound effects scattered throughout to keep players ill at ease. The story isn't ground-breaking, and can be a tad predictable, but it serves its purpose well.

With such brilliant concepts, Spirit Camera has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, things fall apart when it comes to actual gameplay. The cool concept simply fails to find any satisfying gameplay application, as the premier atmosphere the makers created is barely used. The whole campaign takes only about two or three hours to complete, and there just isn't much for the player to do during the majority of it.

in fact, most of the game comes down to just listening to Maya and observing things that are happening, with a handful of ghost fights in between. The fights themselves don't take rather long and tend to get repetitive. All you do is spin around with your 3DS looking for the violent spirit, then take a picture at just the right moment to inflict damage. it is fun, but lacks enough variety (or frequency) to really matter.


The experience is minutely extended by a few camera and AR-based mini-games (letting you do things like fight ghosts that are "haunting" your friends or take pictures to see what spirits are hiding in them). For the most part these additions feel tacked on, lacking any real depth or appreciable quality. As a result, Spirit Camera feels more like a downloadable title than a full release. it is a shame that such an awesome idea was squandered by such a shallow gameplay experience.

One last hurdle - Spirit Camera is a bit inconvenient to play. you has to be in a well-lit area with ample room to move around and a full range of motion, either sitting in a swivel chair or standing so you can spin around promptly and freely. You also ideally need a tally nearby to lay the Diary of Faces on. In other words, you won't be playing this one in a car, on the couch, or even in a dark room (too bad, because that last one would have helped up the fright factor significantly). it's an unfortunate consequence of the game's reliance on AR and gyroscope technology, but one that makes it harder to play than it should be.

CLOSING COMMENTS
When the 3DS first launched, the included AR games were easily the software highlight, and since then we've been eager to see the concept returned to and expanded upon. Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir had the opportunity to do just that. Unfortunately, while the game has brilliant atmosphere and plenty of potential, the three hour campaign lacks any real depth and is rather inconvenient to play. It’s too bad, because with a longer campaign and more content, Spirit Camera could have been a revolutionary experience. As is, it fails to go much farther than Face Raiders did - and that was free.