Rising Star Games, who is the European publisher for No More Heroes, has changed the release date for the game. For those you waiting on Suda ’51’s latest title, you will only have to wait one more week though which is not bad considering how often release dates are changed by months at a time. So, come March 14th you will have No More Heroes sitting on your retail shelves.

Although not released with great fanfare in Japan which has only seen 40,000 copies sold since its launched on December 6th, over here in American 100,000 copies have been sold since its January 23rd release. The game has received generally positive reviews from the gaming community which for a Wii title is not too shabby. 1UP gave the game a 7.5 review score, and the average score for the game is 8.1.

For more information on No More Heroes, check out our previous posts and 1UP’s GDC 08 coverage of Masafumi Takada the composer for the game who has also created music for gaming gems such as: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, RE: Umbrella Chronicles, and Killer 7.

Thanks for the new release date info: CVG

It’s Wednesday again; the day I look forward to a new episode of Yahtzee Crowshaw’s razor wit in Zero Punctuation. This week, Croshaw takes on the rail shooter Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. If you’ve seen his review of Silent Hill: Origins, you may have an inkling as to what to expect. This update of the classic rail shooter forcibly reminds us that “the good old days” weren’t always so good.

via The Escapist

There’s always a need for more Resident Evil statues. Fortunately, Play-Asia has us covered with a new series called Virtual Legends Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles Pre-Painted 1/6 Scale Statues. The series features six characters including Tyrant, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, “G” William Birkin, Albert Wesker and Nemesis.

Each character is limited to a number of 1500, so these are going to be a rare find in the near future. They are not actually being released until February, but pre-ordering is an option on the site. Prices on the statues range from $149.90 to $199.90 plus shipping. Some package deals are available when ordering multiple statues. My birthday is coming up in February, so if anyone plans to send me a gift, I’d love to have one of these.

Each piece will come in an exclusive box-packaging, hand-numbered and with incredible details.

Official Resident Evil – The Umbrella Chronicles Statue

Licensed by Capcom

Hand painted & incredible detailed 1/6 poly resin statue

Height: approx. 26cm

Limited availability – only 1500pcs worldwide

Via Play-Asia

National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) has released its 12th annual video game report card, a resource designed to help parents decide which games are appropriate for their children.

The ten video games NIMF Flags this year are:

• Assassin’s Creed
• Call of Duty 4
• Conan
• The Darkness
•  Jericho
• Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
• Manhunt 2
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
• Stranglehold
• Time Shift

NIMF has taken an alarmist attitude claiming  the video game industry, retailers and parents themselves have become lax about game ratings. It claims half of children ages 8 – 12 have played M-rated video games.

“There’s an endless stream of new games that will never be suitable for children,” said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, who joined institute officials and other lawmakers at a news conference.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing some steps backwards,” said institute president David Walsh.

The industry’s Entertainment Software Rating Board defends the current ratings system while criticizing the NIMF report.

“At a time of year when parents are looking for helpful guidance about video games, this year’s report card does little more than sow unwarranted doubt about effective tools like ESRB ratings,” said ESRB president Patricia Vance.

I get the distinct impression from reading the report that the NIMF believes all video games should be suitable for children.  At least the games they flagged are actually relevant to this year unlike Detroit Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s hopelessly outdated list.

via CNN

Sorry, excited gamers, but don’t rush out to buy the Resident Evil: Extinction Blu-ray expecting to get playable demos of Resident Evil 5 and Devil May Cry 4. Yes, Sony Pictures did say there would be “demos” of both games on the disc, and they weren’t wrong. Except, lest we forget, demo is short for the word demonstration. In other words, there are videos showing the games off, not playable demos.

On the Capcom Unity Blog, a post was made that stated, “[T]he disc actually has hi-def trailers for both of those games, not actual playable code. Sorry for the confusion! The disc is still going to be pretty rad…”

At least if you’ve got a Wii and want a Resident Evil fix, Umbrella Chronicles is a fun time.

Capcom has given Resident Evil fans and Wii owners something to smile about today – Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, a Wii exclusive, is now available. Ready to start shooting zombies and find out exactly what was going on with the ominous Umbrella Corporation? Of course you are, and this highly anticipated game should give fans waiting on RE5 something to chew on until it comes out. Hopefully, it will not totally suck like Resident Evil: Outbreak did – remember when Capcom announced that “anything goes in this nightmare” when the game came out? Well, it was indeed a nightmare – to play that is, and being a huge fan of the series and Capcom, I am giving them the benefit of the doubt that REtUC will be fun despite the FPS/rail-shooter aspects of the game. Anyway, I have posted a trailer below to give you a taste of what to expect if you decide to go out and get the game today. Enjoy.

Halloween is here, and what better way to celebrate than by paying homage to some of the most notorious ghouls and monsters to grace our PCs and consoles? Without such cannon fodder as spiders, vampires and zombies we would be condemned to just shooting our fellow man, which although fun, would get old after a while. In compiling this list, I came across some notables worthy of an honorable mention, but who have yet to become mainstream enough to cross over into different genres, and instead continue to be pigeon holed within their niche. While this list is in no way a complete list of video game baddies, it is instead a list of some of the most common miscreants to get within our pistol sites or in the vicinity of our broadsword.

These distractions on our way to victory in our gaming universe are also not listed in order of importance or occurrence rate – because face it – one is just as annoying and evil as the other. Unfortunately, these monsters never get the glory that their bosses do, because they are nothing more than expendable minions set upon our paths to deplete our life force so that the main antagonist may continue with more important matters – World Domination. In truth, they become nothing more than something for you to enjoy chopping to bits or a vessel for extra health, magic, or cash, the poor, misguided fools. So without further ado, let me introduce you to the stars of this post.

Read the full article

Capcom has announced thatResident Evil 4 Wii Edition has shipped over one million units worldwide. Garnering dozens of awards and nominations for its amazing game play and incredible re-invention of the “survival-horror” genre, RE4 has become one of the most acclaimed games to grace the console. The Wii version contains the same storyline along with the cultists, mutants and mind-controlled villagers, other versions had but this version also contains the added content that was included in the PS2 version. It is Capcom’s on-going plan to aggressively pursue the continued creation of unique and inspired creations for the Wii, including such titles as Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, which is set to go on sale on November 13th.

Since the release of the first Resident Evil game in 1996, the series has shipped over 33 million units (as of October 30, 2007) and is valued as one of Capcom’s strongest and most original intellectual properties. RE4 Wii Edition retains the intensity of the original Resident Evil 4 while bringing players a totally new play experience through the use of the Wii Remote. In this way, by retaining the interest of the core fanbase and expanding outward toward new casual players through the Wii platform, Capcom has broken the 1 million units milestone, and successfully captured the attention of a new set of users. Long live Resident Evil!

You know, RE fans have the fifth installment to look forward to as well, and all this news does is make my trigger finger itch when thinking about it.

Via: Press Release

There’s a new trailer up for the upcoming Wii title, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. This video shows off the different weapons, which are pretty standard even for a light gun-style game: submachine gun, shotgun, grenade launcher. Although, you will also be able to toss grenades from the look of it. One thing I can’t understand in this trailer though is why no one playing the game seems to able to aim. I mean, haven’t they ever heard of a headshot?

After announcing the return of Street Fighter with a fourth installment its recent Gamer’s Day in London, Capcom is on a roll with a handful of new IP titles and ports of existing software.One of the new titles announced was Dark Void, an action title developed by Airtight Games, but like the Street Fighter IV announcement, extra details such as which platform or release dates were not forthcoming.

Capcom announced also that with their shift towards becoming more multiplatform, the critically acclaimed PS2 title Okami will be coming to the Wii, and the Xbox 360 hit Lost Planet will arrive on the PS3 early next year.

Also revealed was Talisman for XBL Arcade and PSN, based on the popular Games Workshop board game, which joins Rocketmen, Commando 3 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix on Capcom’s list of forthcoming downloadable games.

Gamer’s Day attendees were also privy to demonstrations of Bionic Commando, and got to get hands-on with Devil May Cry 4, Zack and Wiki, and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. and The DS exclusive Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice and Capcom’s first-ever sports title We Love Golf, were also available for a hands on experience.

I have posted the Gamer’s Day trailers for RE: The Umbrella Chronicles and, Zak and Wiki, and DMC4 here.

Thanks: GamesIndustry.biz for the news, and Capcom for the trailers!