Capcom has stated that the sales figures for the PC version of Devil May Cry 4 have not been outstanding nor very good because game sales for the title have suffered due to severe piracy issues.

Over on the official Capcom forums, Christian Svensson, the VP of Strategic Panning, stated that the Japanese division has not allowed the title to be distributed digitally:

“I’m not sure about how Capcom in general feels but it’s not doing as well as I would like in the US at retail. It’s such a good version and it really deserves better sales. I know it’s getting pirated to hell and back (it was up on torrents literally the day it shipped). I certainly have pushed for digital distribution on the title but Capcom Japan so far has not allowed it.

For the record all Capcom Entertainment developed titles will be distributed extremely widely via digital channels (not just Steam or Direct2Drive, but more than a dozen partners across more than 100 sites/portals for everything we do). I’ve spent the last year building up that channel and I’m continuing to add partners even in advance of Age of Booty, MotoGP, Neopets, Dark Void and Flock shipping.”

Maybe this will help end their pirating woes in the future, but for the time being, Svensson is trying to convince Japanese executives that digital distribution will only help the company in the long run.

“I have a presentation I’m making shortly that I’m hoping will make that approach something we do with all of our PC content, even those developed in Japan, but no promises. It might not happen.”

You can view the thread over on the official Capcom forums by hitting this link.

Thanks: GamesIndustry

Capcom has announced that the Games for Windows version of Devil May Cry 4 shipped yesterday, and should be sitting on gaming shelves as we speak.

Devil May Cry 4 has already shipped over 2 million units world wide since its NA retail release in February, ans while this may boost those figures higher, this latest release differs in that it features new modes, enhanced graphics options and additional content. These new modes inclued Turbo Mode, which will turn-up the action to insane speeds, and Legendary Dark Knight Mode, which will harness processing power and fill the screen with an unbelievable number of enemies for extra difficulty.

Moreover, familiar enemies from the console versions will show-up in new locations in the PC version. The high resolution screen settings allow the cut scenes of the game to run at up to 120 frames per second (up from 30 frames per second in the console version of the game). Slider options are available to manage various visual effects seen throughout the game, and additionally, the game comes with a Benchmark Test Mode which lets users test their Windows PC.

Devil May Cry 4 for PC runs on both DirectX 9 and DirectX 10.

Via: Press Release

If the reviews haven’t dissuaded you from wanting to pick up Haze, you might want to make some room on your PlayStation 3’s hard drive before you leave for the store. A Q&A on the Ubisoft forums last week revealed that Haze can be added to the list of games that have a mandatory install.

Lost Planet and Devil May Cry 4, both of which are Capcom games, had mandatory installs as well, which drew plenty of criticism from gamers. In response, Capcom’s Chris Kramer offered the fairly blunt suggestion you go make a sandwich while the game installs, which is about as good as the advice is going to get.

So what’ll it be; turkey or ham?

via PS3 Fanboy

Everybody who has ever played a video game can attest to the fact that the majority of the female characters in them are usually not horrid beasts whose appearance is so revolting that you want to gouge your eyes out. Usually, if a female character is insulting to our senses it is because they are either a zombie, some sort of enemy we are suppose to detest or they are the overly plump mother figure. The heroines, or the damsels in distress are usually pretty easy on the eyes – for a pixilated figure – and the fandom that surrounds Lara Croft, for example, can attest to this.For years on end, men have had their Dead or Alive chicks, Lara, the Final Fantasy babes, any female in Soul Calibur, and pretty much the whole gambit of scantily clad women in the RPG genre. This has always been okay with me, because I am not a prude and I understand that developers and the demographic that they cater too are mostly male. Men like to look at voluptuous women oozing with sexuality that can handle a broadsword with as much tender loving care as they would a helpless kitten. It is a scientific fact that men are stimulated visually when it comes to the opposite sex – therefore, if a game developer wants to include a female character in a game that wears nothing more than a thong, pasties, thigh-high boots and fishnet stockings – go for it! It does not offend me in the slightest.

I do however, have one request from developers: Why not make your main protagonists just as easy on the eyes as the women? I am not asking you to put them in a codpiece or have them in costumes that make them look like nothing more than a reject from a Village People casting call. I am not even asking for you to make them “really, really, ridiculously good-looking”. I just think it would be wonderful to have nice looking men who are just as easy on the eyes as their pixilated female counterparts. Handsome heroes in video games are few and far between and while Duke Nukem may be a bad ass, his resemblance to Howie Long only disgusts us to be quite honest. Solid Snake may be one of the most awesome heroes of his genre, but he is no Sam Elliot.

Because of the lack of hunky men in video games, I set out to find some that I personally though might fit the “handsome” mold. I shared my findings with some female friends who are also gamers, and they agreed with me on my selections. With more and more women taking up gaming as a hobby, if you are going to include a hot chick, make her counterpart just as hot. I have picked some of the hunkiest gaming heroes that have so far graced our TV/PC screens, and while there are not that many, the ones I have chosen – to me anyway – are the ones who are easiest on the eyes.

Read the full article

When Devil May Cry 4 was announced to be coming to both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (and eventually PC), loyal DMC fans created a petition, whining to Capcom. Apparently Capcom’s “decision to turn [their] back on [their] most faithful gaming company,” was “absolutely demoralizing for not only the gamers, but also Sony itself.” They also proclaimed that they would boycott any and all Capcom games. After selling two million copies, the plan doesn’t seem to have worked.

Despite all of that (which I have no trouble painting as quite possibly the dumbest fanboy act I’ve ever seen), Capcom has brazenly gone forward with their plan to further demoralize gamers and Sony by announcing that DMC4 will be hitting PCs this summer.

In an act that I wish more PC developers would do, Capcom will be releasing a demo ahead of time so that gamers can try out the game and see how well it runs with an included benchmark mode. There will also be additional content and improved graphics, including DX10 support.

Among the new modes are Turbo mode and Legendary Dark Knight mode, which will speed up the action and add more enemies, respectively. Other changes such as different enemy layouts should help mix things up for those who may have already played through the game on consoles.

The game will carry the Games for Windows branding. Click here to read my impressions of the PlayStation 3 version of the game, or here to get the Zero Punctuation take..

There were plenty of people who were up in arms over Devil May Cry 4 and Lost Planet (just to name two) having a mandatory install on PlayStation 3. After all, the same game is on Xbox 360 without any sort of installation, so why should an install – which does improve loading times – be required?

MTV Multiplayer has been seeking an answer to that question, and needless to say, publishers and developers haven’t been particularly forthcoming. However, there is the inherent technical challenge (I won’t call it a problem, as it’s simply something new that is being taken on) with Blu-ray that developers need to find a way around. As Multiplayer puts it, installations are simply a way around this problem.

The issue arises from differences in the reading techniques of DVD and Blu-ray. By nature, the outer and inner parts of a disc move at different speeds while a disc is spinning, regardless of format (CD, DVD, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, etc.). While DVD drives can read data at those differing speeds, Blu-ray reads at one speed. Combine that with the extremely large size of Blu-ray discs, and simply dumping existing DVD data onto a Blu-ray disc will inevitably result in longer load times.

Personally, I would much prefer the option to install. I’m all for decreasing load times, but actually requiring gamers to install seems more like laziness than a necessity.

Devil May Cry 4
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Price: $59.99
Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Category: Action
ESRB Rating: M for Mature (Blood, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence)
Release Date: February 5, 2008

The last time I thoroughly enjoyed Devil May Cry was when the first game was released in 2001. There were few things that could compare to the game’s trifecta of graphics, controls, and action. Both subsequent follow-ups, DMC2 and DMC3: Dante’s Awakening, while important to the backstory, didn’t do much to push the series forward. DMC2 felt like a rehash, and DMC3 was far too hard for its own good. Devil May Cry 4 is the series’ first shot on the current generation of platforms and it both succeeds and fails in many regards.

Read the full article

Devil May Cry 4 is the fastest selling title ever to grace the franchise, and to prove it, Capcom sent us a press release stating that it has shipped over 2 million units worldwide thus far. That is pretty impressive considering the fact that the game is only 15 days old at best and this number only includes the PS3 and Xbox 360 version because the PC version has not been released yet.

Immersing gamers in a gothic supernatural world, where Nero clashes with series mainstay Dante, in DMC4 players will be able to unleash stylish attacks and combos using a combination of the “Devil Bringer” right arm and the “Exceed” system, both of which are new gameplay mechanics for the series. From what I have heard from people who have played it, DMC4 has expansive environments, more enemies to defeat than ever before, and some of the most difficult bosses ever conceived in the series all wrapped up in a very pretty package.

For more information on DMC4, check out our previous posts.

In news bound to make the crybabies whine once again, another Capcom game for PlayStation 3 is going to start off with a 5GB install. According to dbTechno, the install shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes and will result in “lightning fast load-times.”

Devil May Cry 4 drew plenty of criticism for mandating an install before you could play the game, but ultimately I think those that actually played the game were much less upset than those shouting from the sidelines. I personally don’t think this is a big deal, but if this is going to become a regular feature(?) of Capcom games, early adopters with a 20GB hard drive might find that their HD space is coming at a premium.

One has to wonder, though – why are the installs mandatory and not optional? If someone wants to save their HD space and sit through long load times mid-game, let them.

via PS3 Fanboy

There’s been plenty of complaints over the past few days as word was spread that you’re required to install roughly 5GB of data on your hard drive the first time you boot up Devil May Cry 4 on PlayStation 3. Chris Kramer has posted on the Capcom US blog confirming that you do indeed need to install the files, but that it’s a one time thing that will yield “near-Super Nintendo speed load times.” And, as Kramer points out, anyone who has ever purchased a PC game before has been through this, and at least DMC4 offers a retelling of the story from the first three games.

Kramer facetiously suggests that while you wait for the game to load, if you’re not in the mood for backstory, go make a sandwich.

If you don’t want to watch the “Previously, on Devil May Cry…” portion of the install process, go make a sandwich and grab a soda, then come on back. You’re going to be spending some serious time with this game, and we don’t want you going hungry. Low blood sugar will make you dizzy and you’ll need to be focused like an Alan Parsons Project to defeat the enemies in this game.

Wah! The game takes 20 minutes to install the first time. Wah! Have you ever played a PC game? At least we aren’t making you shuffle multiple discs into a ROM drive, or continuously click “Yes!” on a series of endless Windows dialog boxes. Installing on a console may seem like a weird idea, but there’s a real benefit. Unreal Tournament also has an option to install files onto your PS3; I’ve done it and it makes a great game even better.

Honestly people, don’t complain about the need to install. Quick loads are absolutely heavenly, and it’s not like the files will be permanently ripped to your hard drive until the end of time.