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]

The decision comes after a poll the company held, with users overwhelmingly voting in favour of picking up the game as DLC when it’s released next year, rather than opting for a boxed copy.

Interestingly, instead of simply leaving it at “well, the people have spoken”, Capcom’s Chris Kramer has specifically urged on the company’s blog for customers to hold off “thinking about selling RE5 back or handing it off to a friend” in the meantime, which makes it sound like the decision had a lot more to do with saying “f—k you, GameStop used game sales” than bowing to the will of the great unwashed.

Capcom offered the following as one of its strategies for the second half of its fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2010.

Use digital distribution to maximize opportunities to sell software
-Sell game software by using network downloads in order to give users more options.
-”Marvel vs. Capcom 2″, “Fate / unlimited codes” (overseas), and others
-Constantly offer upgrades and earn profits by using PSN and XLA [sic] to distribute additional content.
-Constantly sell “Resident Evil 5″, “Street Fighter IV” and other additional content

Paid downloads for Street Fighter IV from earlier this year included $US4 packs containing five alternate costumes for the game’s fighters. (Check out a full list and reader reaction.)

Resident Evil 5’s prominent paid download was its $US5 competitive multiplayer mode add-on. While some gamers complained that the modes should have been included in the base $US60, Capcom countered by explaining that the additional content was budgeted and developed separately.

Capcom was unable to provide Kotaku with sales figures for any of that content.

Capcom’s next releases on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are Dark Void, Lost Planet 2, Super Street Fighter IV, and Resident Evil: Alternative Edition. No concrete DLC plans have been issued yet for any of those games.

“Here’s where we’re at,” says Chris Kramer:

In Japan, Alternative Edition will be released as a new physical package, with all that entails: new box art, new manual, new shiny disc, another plastic box to add to a tottering stack of console games. This makes absolutely perfect sense for the Japanese gaming market, where the uptake of digital content is a bit behind the western markets. However, based on the success of the RE5 “Versus” downloadable content, as well as digital-only titles like Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Marvel VS Capcom 2, we know that the demand for DLC in the west is huge. More and more, gamers in North America and Europe want content immediately and are less inclined to be tied to boxes and packages.

They’re flat serious about putting this up to a poll on the Capcom-Unity site, although it should be said, nothing implies the final tally is binding. But if it matters to you, make your voice heard. You’ll need to have a Capcom-Unity account, or register one to make your vote count.

“We’re gonna let the poll run for a few weeks, then present the team with the results and our recommendations,” Kramer says, “Once we get it all sorted, we’ll report back with an official announcement.”

Resident Evil 5 Alternative Edition: How do YOU Want the New Content? Tell Us! [Capcom-Unity]

Both will be out early next year, and expect both to be on the pricey side.

1/6 scale Resident Evil 5 figures get the retro treatment [Tomopop]

With Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition, Capcom is bringing RE5 to the PS3 with new content and PS3 Wand controls. The game is also coming to the Xbox 360 as a “director’s cut” — minus said PS3 wand controls.

Starring Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, the new mission is another 2 hours of content and takes place three years before the main plot line of Resident Evil 5.

The updated version of RE5 will be released next spring in Japan.

“Honestly”, RE5 and Lost Planet 2 producer Jun Takeuchi told Kotaku, “the producer for Resident Evil 6 hasn’t been decided yet”. Takeuchi has previously expressed interested in a fresh take on the RE series. With Resident Evil 5, he spearheaded the implementation of a dual control scheme that allows players to play with more traditional RE controls or newer, tweaked ones.

“I think, while Resident Evil 4 is a great game, its appeal was limited somewhat to maniac players,” Takeuchi said. “With RE5, I wanted to bring the series to a larger audience. I think its important to do the same for the next RE.”

Part of Capcom’s plan to bring the franchise to a larger audience includes the Wii Resident Evil titles. Since Resident Evil 5 is coming to the PS3 with wand motion controllers, it would make sense for Capcom to bring the title over to the Nintendo Wii.

Wii ports might be possible, but according to Takeuchi, “With the difference between hardware specs for the Wii and the PS3, porting might be hard. We currently have no plans.”

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan’s TGS presser revealed that the “Resident Evil 5: Director’s Cut” will employ the Sony motion controller now under development. Here is video of that announcement and the controller being used with the game.

The gameplay begins at 2:50 (unless you speak Japanese, skip to that part, it’s all presentation dialogue up to that) and lasts to the six-minute mark. It looks smooth enough, but the demonstrator also is holding a regular PS3 controller. Can’t tell if that’s because this is a prototype, or if that’s how this game will be operated when it releases in the spring of 2010.

[TGS 09] PS3 ??????????? ???????5 [EyeToy] [YouTube via VG247]

The game will be out in Spring 2010, and it’s far from the only existing PS3 title to take advantage of the new peripheral. During SCEJ’s TGS press conference, Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida revealed that the controller will also work with exsting games like LittleBigPlanet, EyePet, Flower, Pain, High Velocity Bowling “and more”.

Whether, like Res 5, you’d need to buy new versions of the game to use the motion controller or just install an update wasn’t elaborated. We’ll update if we hear more.

[image credit]