G4 spoke to a company rep who confirmed that lack of dates for PC versions was no accident. “No plans for PC at this point,” said Capcom. And that was that.

That means no costumes, no new episodes, no new Mercenaries multiplayer, zip. You want that, grab the console version, or wait for Capcom to change their minds, I guess.

Resident Evil 5 Downloadable Content Not Planned For PC Version “At This Point” [G4 via VG247]

Capcom US posted a link to the Japanese site today with the headline “New Super Street Fighter IV Art and… A New Challenger?”, leading us to believe that’s exactly what Nakky is talking about. According to a translation of the post by Azrael from the Shoryuken forums, the post teases big news that will also be appearing in next week’s issue of Japanese video game publication Famitsu, with a promotional video going up on the Capcom site around the same time.

Yes, it’s an announcement of an announcement, but at least we have a nice picture to dissect between now and next week.

ドリームチーム枠！ [Super Street Fighter IV Official Blog via Capcom Unity]

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is coming to Wii next week. It’s an excellent light-gun shooter that retells the events of Resident Evil 2. Thanks to our friends at Capcom, we have five Darkside Chronicles prize packs to give away.

Each pack contains:

* The Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles Wii Zapper Bundle
* The best promo t-shirt we’ve ever seen (pictured)
* A Darkside Chronicles pen
* A Darkside Chronicles medical mask
* A Raccoon City Police Dept wallet

How do you win?

You need to send us a photo of yourself (and a friend, it’s a co-op game after all) proving how well prepared you are for the zombie apocalypse. The most imaginative, creative, inventive and downright funny entries will win.

You’ve got until midnight, Sunday, November 29, to get your entry in. Send it to the usual address with Darkside Chronicles in the subject line. Only one entry per person, please!

Good luck!

[Terms and Conditions]

So instead, I give you these screen shots Capcom provided so you can make the call. What do you say?

Monster Hunter Tri, however, is going for a different audience with its exclusive Wii release. By streamlining the Wii friend code process and adding features other multiplayer games rely on — such as a chat window — Tri is trying to jump start the online ecosystem that’s already built into the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

But how does that impact that actual monster hunting?

What Is It?
Monster Hunter Tri is a multiplayer adventure game where up to four players can team up to hunt down monsters. The game skips over friend codes, instead using a lobby system where you can easily find other players and send friend requests. Additionally, there’s a chat window in-game that can be accessed with a USB keyboard if you don’t feel like pointing and clicking. Currently, Wii Speak is not in the game — but Capcom is “looking into it”.

There’s also a singleplayer mode built into the game, but details on it are scarce.

What We Saw
I played three missions during the University event using both the Wii Remote/Nunchuck configuration and the Classic Controller Pro because they had one handy.

Note: It’s unconfirmed if the Classic Controller Pro will be brought to the US along with Monster Hunter Tri.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out early 2010. I didn’t notice any major show-stopping bugs — but I was sad to see that the Wii was hooked up to computer monitors which have a nasty reputation of making even very good Wii graphics look fugly. So I can’t speak to the graphics which are apparently supposed to be pretty.

What Needs Improvement?
There’s No Lock On: Normally, this doesn’t matter in Monster Hunter because you pan the camera toward a monster, press attack and bam! You’ve hit it. However, Tri introduces underwater combat where the monsters can change depth quickly during a fight. Panning the camera a la ground combat under water takes a little extra work and can be totally disorienting. So, yeah, a lock-on would be preferable.

At Tiddy Bit Fiddly: On the Classic Controller Pro, I had a lot of problems getting the Bowgun to aim right. Not only do you have to have the weapon out and cocked before you can attack — you also have to choose between shooting from the hip or going into sniper mode with a targeting reticule. Given that battles move very quickly and monsters can charge across a field right at you while you’re reloading and re-cocking, it would be nice if the button controls for un-slinging, cocking and aiming your Bowgun were perhaps a little streamlined. Or if there were a Panicked Dodge button that would snap you out of sniper mode at the last second.

Constant Loads: Every time you leave an area of a map — which you will, because the monsters move around — you’ve got to endure a loading screen. It gets tedious.

What Should Stay The Same?
Wow, It’s Multiplayer! I’m not used to more than two people in my multiplayer on the Wii, so I was excited to see four people in the same place, attacking the same thing with no lag — on the Wii! If Monster Hunter Tri can work things out such that people actually buy this game and play it, it’s going to be a lot of fun team up with people and make new friends among strangers the way I would on other consoles.

Swimming Is Fun: Once you get the hang of the quick-swim button and the dive button, moving around underwater feels pretty pleasant. I kind of wonder how the lancer doesn’t drown under the weight of her weapon, though…

Final Thoughts
Two things will probably make or break this game: Wii Speak and pay-to-play subscriptions. In Japan, they don’t have the former, but they do have the latter — and a long history of loving Monster Hunter. Here, we’re sad because there are only like two games that use Wii Speak and I really don’t think we’d stand for a subscription Wii game no matter how awesome it might be. Also, we’re not as fond of or familiar with Monster Hunter — but with any luck and a little attention to these two make-or-breaks, Capcom could be changing that.

Capcom’s third-person shooter isn’t out until January, but Pitt seems to think it has potential at the box office. Plan B Entertainment now holds the rights to a theatrical version of the game under its Creative Partnership with Reliance BIG Entertainment. Said theatrical version would likely follow the story of game protagonist Will, who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle and wales up in the mysterious Void, where an ancient alien race plots to take over civilisation. According to the Capcom press release, the movie version is being developed with Brad Pitt himself in mind for the starring role.

“As a game, Dark Void was developed with a wide-screen mentality — a world full of adventure presented in cinematic scope and scale,” said Germaine Gioia, senior vice president, licensing, Capcom Entertainment. “Plan B recognised the potential of our newest property and are as excited about bringing Dark Void to life in cinemas as Capcom is to bring the interactive experience to home theatres.”

Sounds great! I’ve been waiting a long time for a sequel to The Rocketeer.

Last month Capcom asked players how they wanted the extra content in the Japanese Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition delivered to Western players, and the fan base voted overwhelmingly for a DLC release. Well, Capcom is giving them that DLC release, along with a retail version with the main game plus all of the downloadable content. What did we vote for again?

The downloadable content includes two new episodes, a selection of new outfits and a Mercenaries Reunion multiplayer mode, complete with eight new playable characters. Players who’d rather not download all of that will be able to pay $US49.99 to get it all on a single PlayStation 3 Blu-ray disc, or one Xbox 360 DVD with a voucher to download all of that anyway.

Announcing Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition [Capcom Unity]

I’d imagine such low-res textures will look worse the bigger your screen. And, in case you missed it, that grey border isn’t just ugly; it scrolls as well, which won’t be distracting at all.

Not only were there an obscene amount of chalkboards, pennants and people in school kid uniforms — there was an actual lecture from Monster Hunter Tri Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, complete with pointing stick and warnings about getting kicked out of class for sleeping.

The only thing about the event that didn’t smack of school was the theme drink list — hence the A- instead of a perfect score. I must’ve been to a hundred pep rallies between being student body president in high school and president of the anime club in university — and not once did any of my institutions of higher learning shell out for drinks.

You can check out the cocktail list below. Here’s the swag report (all of which will be up for grabs at Ümloud!):
1 Ginormous sweatshirt I will never wear
1 Fancy-looking notebook
1 Monster Hunter “Field Guide”
1 Set of pins, featuring cutesy character Cha Cha
1 Backpack of significant sturdiness

But that’s just hearsay from an overzealous witness violating spousal privilege*. Here’s the real testimony regarding Ace Attorney’s transition to WiiWare.

*Yes, I would totally marry that game if such a thing were possible.

What Is It?
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was a crazy-popular adventure crime-solving game for the DS in 2005 where players gather evidence to present at trial to convict criminals. Now it’s being ported to the Wii via WiiWare in all its investigative glory.

What We Saw
I played through a segment late in the trial where the murderer in on the stand spouting lies for Phoenix to rip apart.

How Far Along Is It?
It’s a straight port with no fancy extras or overhauled graphics, so consider the game done. Ace Attorney hits the United States in January with Justice for All and Trials & Tribulations following in March and May respectively. The bonus fourth episode will also drop in May for an as-yet unspecified low price.

What Needs Improvement?
Annoying Background: Observe the screen and note that little grey border with the Phoenix Wright logo on it. Now imagine that background is actually moving gradually to the upper left hand corner of the screen throughout gameplay. Yeah, kind of distracting, isn’t it?

What Should Stay The Same?
OBJECTION!!! The most amazing thing that’s been done to Phoenix Wright on WiiWare is adding motion controls — or rather, motion control, because there’s only one. It comes when you want to throw an objection out during witness testimony. Now, you could just open up your evidence file and press A to select evidence and then A again to present — or you could press to select and then fling your hand outward a la Phoenix himself to trigger OBJECTION! Which do you think is cooler?

Final Thoughts
Capcom is really supportive of WiiWare between this and Mega Man 9. As long as they don’t jack up prices or chop up individual Phoenix Wright games into tiny episodes (which is almost the same thing as jacking up prices), I support the decision to port awesome DS games to WiiWare.

This preview is adjourned. *Thumps gavel*