JBoc924We’re just one day away from the commencement of E3 2011. Tomorrow the festivities kick off with Microsoft and Sony’s press conferences. Then the showfloor opens on Tuesday. We’ll be bringing you previews, interviews and video footage from the showfloor. But now that we’re so close to this year’s spectacle, what Resident Evil announcements can we expect? Granted, we’ve already received a lot of revelations of forthcoming Resident Evil projects, but what else may Capcom be hiding under their umbrella?
This year we have a lot of Resident Evil games getting strong showings ,especially when compared to years past. There’s Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D and Resident Evil: Revelations on the Nintendo front and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Resident Evil 4 HD and Resident Evil: Code Veronica HD on the Sony/Microsoft front. Yes, the latter two games are just up-resed ports of past games but still, they count.
But now it’s time to get into some grounded speculation regarding unannounced Resident Evil projects that may be revealed at E3 this week. Let’s start off with a project that has been kept in the dark from fans for a couple of years: Resident Evil Portable.
I recently wrote an article in which I shared my personal thoughts on the whereabouts of Resident Evil Portable. So, having already done that, I won’t be going too in-depth once more here, but you can click here to check out said article. I strongly believe that ‘Portable’ is in fact still alive and kicking and is now in development for Sony’s upcoming NGP, or Vita.
The NGP has been reported as being one very powerful handheld, capable of giving players full-blown console experiences on the go. With such talk, it’s easy to see how Capcom’s premiere survival horror franchise can adapt itself to said console, an adaptation which wouldn’t need to make that many sacrifices from the series’ console outings. And back when it was first revealed, ‘Portable’ was said to be developed with the PSP’s, most specifically the Go’s, online capabilities in mind. So, why cancel such a project altogether when you can just shift its development towards Sony’s new handheld? We don’t have that long left to find out and it should be interesting to see what has become of this project (if it hasn’t been canned, that is).
Now on to the game many people have been waiting for, especially since it’s been a good amount of time since Resident Evil 5 hit.
Yes, Resident Evil 6. Some people may think that there’s already too much Resident Evil content coming, but, really, we can never have enough Resident Evil content especially when each title caters to a certain spectrum of the franchise’s fanbase. Mercs 3D and Operation Raccoon City will vastly appeal to the Resident Evil fans who enjoyed 5’s action-packed co-op oriented campaign while Revelations and the two re-mastered PS2 titles will please those who long for the series’ horror outings. So, with only one of those “horror-centric” games being new, it’s time to balance things out and announce Resident Evil 6.
While the game may not be releasing anytime soon, perhaps not until late next year, just the announcement of Resident Evil 6, with perhaps a short teaser, would be enough to get fans talking and speculating for months to come. And plus, taking the series 15th anniversary into considerarion, it would be the icing on the cake for the franchise to bring forth a small look at what lies ahead in the next numbered entry. But how will the game actually play? Action? Horror? A mix of both? We really can’t say at this point, but rest assured Capcom has taken to heart the many complaints and requests fans have been hitting them with after the release of Resident Evil 5. Oh, and I’m betting money on either Leon or Claire (maybe even both) taking on the lead role in this sequel.
What do you guys think? Would you want to see Resident Evil 6 announced and the fate of Resident Evil Portable finally spelled out?
