Capcom has a long and, ahem, proud history of selling slight variations or even full remakes of the same blasted Anti-Zombie games to their customers.

For example, ‘Resident Evil’ was remade numerous times; as a director’s cut, as a complete remake for the Gamecube, itself later ported to the Wii, and ports with varying amounts of new content for the Sega Saturn, the PC and the DS.

So one person could easily have purchased Resident Evil SEVEN times.

This is in addition to the manner in which the games themselves often feature dual-track storylines where two characters move through the same spaces and levels in different sequences, a major feature, for example, of ‘Resident Evil 2′.

Therefore it hardly comes as a surprise that the same approach is being taken to Dead Rising 2 with, yes, a new version starring Frank West from the first Dead Rising, along with some new areas to explore and new methods to assault the innocent Differently Animated:

Dead Rising® 2: Off the Record sees Frank West – photojournalist and original hero of the Dead Rising® Willamette incident – take center stage as players experience a reimagining of the Fortune City outbreak. Forget what you know about Dead Rising® 2, “Frank West is back in the game!”

The new “Off the Record” storyline means an all new Dead Rising 2 experience. Frank will face off against more twisted enemies, build more outrageous combo weapons, follow his own unique mission structure and explore brand new areas of Fortune City to get his biggest scoop yet. Join Frank as he indulges in the insanity of “Uranus Zone,” Fortune City’s very own theme park. Full of deadly rides and crazy attractions, the sci-fi themed Uranus Zone is a true zombie-killing paradise.

Frank’s come-back means the return of his trusty camera, with players able to earn Prestige Points (PP) for specific photo opportunities that are graded against criteria such as horror, drama, erotica and brutality.

In addition to the new scenario and gameplay enhancements, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record offers a suite of technical updates including load time optimizations, improved network performance and a host of system upgrades to deliver a more satisfying Dead Rising experience.

So you get to take pictures of your ‘hilarious’ exploits, there’s a theme park to play around in, and oh yeah, they fixed a ton of bugs in the game you may have already purchased.

That sensation you’re noticing is Capcom’s hand going through your pockets for spare change. Get used to it.

Don’t just take my word for it though; here’s Joystiq on the subject:

Set in a “what-if” scenario, Off the Record puts Frank West in Fortune City in Chuck’s place, with new missions, new enemies, new weapons and “a brand new Fortune City attraction to explore.” The update also features “enhancements to elements such as the save system and the co-op experience.”

But mostly, it’s an “enhancement” to the amount of money Capcom can get out of Dead Rising 2. Between this and the XBLA games, this is the fourth game to bear the title Dead Rising 2. It’ll be out on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in the fall.

All this is bad enough, but take a look at how *awful* they’ve made this low-rent remake on the Differently Animated:

Hideous. Simply hideous.

Once again, Capcom finds new depths to sink to in their never-ending quest to insult the Zombie Community.

Tags: Videogames, What's Up with Japan?

This entry was posted by John Sears on Friday, June 17th, 2011 at 10:07 am and is filed under Zombie Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.