Capcom has revealed that sales of its zombie shooter Resident Evil 5 now stand at 4.97 million worldwide, according to a Reuters report.

Capcom CFO Kazuhiko Abe noted in a speech at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in Tokyo that the game sold over 4.4 million units in March alone. Resident Evil 5 was released on March 5 in Japan, with the game hitting North America and Europe on March 13.

Sales of as many as 570,000 units in April brought the game near the 5 million mark, with May sales likely pushing it easily over the impressive milestone.

The company now expects sales of the game to total over one million copies in its new fiscal year, which would bring the total to around 5.4 million sales by the end of March 2010.

Developer Capcom today released an updated list of its best-selling franchises, in addition to the standard list of million-selling individual titles.

The shows an expected bump in the Resident Evil franchise due to the recent release of Resident Evil 5, with the series of 56 titles--all platforms and versions being counted--now totaling over 40 million copies sold worldwide as of March 31. The fifth sequel is now the company's third best-selling title, at 4.4 million copies sold.

Street Fighter IV sales have now reached 2.5 million, pushing past Devil May Cry 4 to land the eight slot. The lists can be browsed below:

Total franchise unit sales as of March 31, 2009*

1. Resident Evil Series (56 titles - 40 million)
2. Mega Man Series (124 titles - 28 million)
3. Street Fighter Series (62 titles - 27 million)... Read more

With Resident Evil 5 officially on its way to the PC "later in the year," publisher Capcom has provided some new details about the features that will be found in the port.

As with the July-due PC editions of Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando, Resident Evil 5 PC will support DirectX 9 and 10 along with "ultra-high resolutions." Furthermore, all three games can be played with either a gamepad or mouse and keyboard.

While higher resolutions are standard fare for a console-to-PC port, it's still good to have confirmation, considering Capcom was rather quiet on the specifics last week. At the time, the only PC-specific feature mentioned for RE5 was GeForce 3D Vision support.

"Laugh at console player's lowly 1080p as you crank your monitor up," wrote Capcom communications director Chris Kramer. "[There is] mouse and keyboard support for all three titles, but for God's sake, go buy a gamepad with analog sticks."

Surprising no one, developer Capcom today confirmed that the oft-rumored PC version of Resident Evil 5 will arrive "later in the year," with the PC editions of Street Fighter IV and Bionic Commando due in July. All three will be sold via retail and digital distribution.

"All three games will be optimized for the PC platform and will have new PC-specific features added to the already great games," wrote Capcom. Both Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV hit PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 earlier this year, with the console edition of GRIN's swinging action game Bionic Commando slated to hit on May 19.

Details on the "new PC-specific features" for each game follow below... Read more

Offering a glimpse into the fascinating world of game sales, research group NPD has released its take on the software and hardware sales in the US over 3/1/09 to 4/4/09.

New releases dominated the software chart, with Resident Evil 5 surpassing 1.5 million units thanks to a dual-platform debut, and Halo Wars racking up an impressive 639K.

Meanwhile, Nintendo continued its dominance of hardware sales charts.

The month's ten best-selling consoles games were:

1. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, 360) - 938,000 units
2. Pokemon Platinum Version (Game Freak, DS) - 805,000 units
3. Halo Wars (Ensemble, 360) - 639,000 units
4. Resident Evil 5 (Capcom, PS3) - 585,000 units
5. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 541,000 units
6. MLB 09: The Show (Sony, PS3) - 305,000 units
7. Killzone 2 (Guerrilla Games, PS3) - 296,000 units... Read more

Capcom has announced today that the Versus multiplayer mode downloadable content for Resident Evil 5 will arrive on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 tommorow, April 7.

Versus adds online 1v1 and 2v2 play in two new modes. Slayer's Rule is a simple and harmless point-based jaunt where teams compete to slaughter hapless subhuman Majinis. In Survivor's Rule, players hunt the most dangerous quarry of all--each other.

Versus will cost 400 Microsoft Points ($5 on PS3), a price Capcom defended as reflective of the costs and effort involved after fans reacted angrily to the announcement.

Continuing Capcom's tradition of announcing shipment figures in the wake of a major release, the company revealed today that its most recent zombie-killing effort, Resident Evil 5, has shipped over 4 million copies worldwide.

The publisher added that this is "the biggest launch of any title in the series." In all, the series has shipped over 40 million copies since it premiered in 1996, and the Resident Evil 5 demo has been downloaded over 4 million times on Xbox 360 and PS3.

The anticipated action game hit PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last week in Europe and North America, following a Japanese release earlier in the month, with a downloadable Versus add-on coming soon for $5. For more on RE5, check out our review.

Following backlash from fans, Capcom has defended its decision to put a price on two upcoming competitive multiplayer modes for the just-released Resident Evil 5.

The modes, Slayer's Rule and Survivor's Rule, will enable four-player Versus multiplayer in the game for $4.99, or 400 Microsoft Points.

Because the DLC will be released within the next few weeks, and appears to not include any content beyond the modes themselves, fans have argued that the pack should be free--as in the case of the free patch enabling online functionality to the existing Mercenaries mode.

"Although Versus mode makes use of the assets that exist in the game, the functionality is not currently in the game and is above and beyond the initial scope of Resident Evil 5," said Capcom to CVG.

"We have never included a Versus mode in Resident Evil before, and as well as the costs of development of the feature, there's also additional bandwidth costs associated with it," the company added.

I had a hunch that Capcom was heavily influenced by Gears of War when developing Resident Evil 5. But sometime during the fifth chapter, when the zombies with AK-47s forced me to take cover behind conveniently placed barricades, it became less of a hunch and more of a verifiable fact.

Resident Evil 5 is truly a strange beast; a Zonkey of a game. Consider the following observations:

• It's the first numbered Resident Evil game to feature cooperative play.
• It may be the first Resident Evil game that doesn't include a full stage set at night.
• It features zombies that shoot AK-47s.

Of course, these oddities seem like minor elements at first. In fact, Resident Evil 5 mimics the broad strokes of Resident Evil 4 well. It has a similar sense of pace, beginning with the "surprise" of a zombie infestation, and steadily... Read more

Calling Resident Evil 5--due on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America and Europe tomorrow-- a "soon-to-be-blockbuster," developer Capcom has announced that paid downloadable content will soon deliver new multiplayer modes to the action game.

Due in "a few weeks," the "Versus" DLC will run $4.99 on PlayStation 3, and 400 Microsoft Points ($5) for Xbox 360 owners. Here's the skinny on what it packs:

Versus allows up to four players to match wits in online battles across two very different game types. Slayer's Rule is a point-based game... Read more

While North America and Europe don't get Resident Evil 5 for another day and a half, developer Capcom has inadvertently revealed that the zombie-killing action game will soon get more multiplayer modes, presumably as downloadable content.

Slayers, Survivors, Team Slayers, Team Survivors and Versus modes are all listed among the game's numerous PlayStation 3 trophies, as noticed by Joystiq.

Out of the box, Resident Evil 5 supports two-person online and offline cooperative play through the main story. The unlockable Mercenaries mode is also playable online, but requires Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players to download an automatic update first.

The latest entry in Capcom's viral video campaign for Resident Evil 5 reinforces that whole "fear you can't forget" marketing slogan, as protagonist Chris continues to suffer from flashbacks and suicidal thoughts in the wake of his little expedition through Kijuju.

The zombie-splattering action game hits PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this Friday.

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As Resident Evil 5 (PS3, 360) is officially out in Japan, and hitting North America and Europe on March 13, Capcom today formally unveiled the Mercenaries mini-game. Unlocked after completing the main game, Mercenaries sees players tackling timed challenges in "modified levels" as they face off against harder enemies and such.

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Click through for the other video, starring Chris' female partner Sheva... Read more

A new red flavor of Xbox 360 was today announced by Microsoft, set to accompany Capcom's upcoming horror sequel Resident Evil 5 in a limited edition bundle.

The bundle, available for the March 13 release of Resident Evil 5, will include a red Xbox 360 Elite with a 120 GB hard drive, along with Resident Evil 5 and several extras for $399--the exact same price as the vanilla Xbox 360 Elite model.

The full bundle contains the following:

• Xbox 360 Elite Console with Exclusive Red Finish
• Matching red wireless controller
• 120GB hard drive
• Resident Evil 5
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
• Exclusive Resident Evil Premium Theme
• Xbox 360 black wired headset
• HDTV-ready component HD AV, HDMI and Ethernet cables

With the March 13 release of Resident Evil 5 approaching, Capcom is starting to unveil a bit more about the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game. The latest trailer here details an awful lot about the story and situations therein, even going so far as tease a big reveal.

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I'm finding it hard to talk about Resident Evil 5, in the same way that one would have a hard time talking about the kid that dropped out of school. I had such hopes.

My love for Resident Evil 4 is no secret. It was a rare late-in-the-series sequel that redefined the franchise without reshaping it, keeping the concept intact while upping the action and atmosphere. It was fundamentally well-designed, with brilliant mechanics and stages, and an unusual amount of memorable gaming sequences.

Going into the anticipated "next-gen" sequel, I didn't expect, or even necessarily want, Capcom to attempt to top its most recent masterpiece. Instead, I figured I'd be happy with similar gameplay, the addition of co-op, and a few surprises.

Unfortunately, the real surprise was my disappointment. ... Read more

You would think hitting the water would protect you from peril in Resident Evil 5 (PS3, X360), but as you can see in this new set of screenshots, that is not true. Resident Evil 5 hits PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 13. A two stage demo is currently available from the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.

The Xbox 360 demo for Resident Evil 5 was downloaded 1.8 million times in the week following its January 26 release in Europe and North America, setting a new record. In fact, Microsoft says the demo surpassed 1.3 million downloads in its first three days.

And while Microsoft merely referred to Resident Evil 5 as being "among the top demo launches on the service," the previous known record holder, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, took eight days for its demo to reach a million Xbox Live downloads.

During those initial three days, the free zombie-shooting demo was restricted to Xbox Live Gold members. After January 29, it was made available to all Xbox Live members, with the PlayStation 3 demo available today via the PlayStation Store.

The strong North American and European performance follows that of the earlier Japanese demo, which was downloaded by 53% of Xbox Live Gold members in Japan.

Developed by Capcom, Resident Evil 5 hits PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 13.

In a break from the PlayStation Store's traditional Thursday updates, a downloadable demo for Capcom's Resident Evil 5 is now available to PlayStation 3 owners.

As with the Xbox 360 demo that hit last week, the download offers a two-stage glimpse of the zombie-killing action game, complete with online and offline cooperative play.

The full version of Resident Evil 5 hits PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 13.

Back when live-action cutscenes were all the rage, the original Resident Evil featured some of the most amusing efforts, along with some incredibly cheesy voice acting.

Though later games, including Resident Evil 5, embraced CG cutscenes, Capcom's Kijuju-centric viral marketing campaign for the upcoming sequel pays homage to those old times, while still offering a brief glimpse of zombie-riffic gameplay.

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Resident Evil 5 hits PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 13. A downloadable demo is now available for Xbox 360 users, with the PlayStation 3 demo due next week. In case you missed the previous viral marketing video, we've embedded it below... Read more