"Capcom is planning to release Gyakuten Saiban 5 (Ace Attorney 5) in the West. We'll have more news soon," Capcom confirmed to Kotaku today. They then confirmed that "West" refers to Europe and North America.
Capcom has not yet announced an official release date.
Capcom's annual financial report has been released, and it contains some interesting information concerning how the company will make games going forward.
In the report, Capcom president and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto said:
"We launch sales of popular series titles held by the Company approximately every 2.5 years. This is because the development of a single major title usually requires 3-4 years; in the event that there are few hits, it will be difficult to create a series title every year and earnings will be adversely impacted.
"For this reason, it is important either to maintain a large number of popular titles or shorten the sales cycle to ensure stable earnings. Among the multitude of major titles held by Capcom - such as Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Lost Planet, Dead Rising and many others - we will promote shortening of the sales cycle in pursuit of further earnings stabilisation and growth."
Tsujimoto went onto to describe how this increased productivity will be achieved. Firstly, Capcom will limit development teams to 100 members, with "multiple sequel titles [being] developed at the same time". The Japanese publisher will additionally strengthen its in-house development, increasing its staff by 100 graduates each year. It will also attempt to increase the number of titles released in a single year, "using a hybrid development model whereby the core portions of the project aredeveloped in-house by Capcom and the process-work is outsourced to outside development companies".
While he didn't have much to say about the next generation of home consoles, Tsujimoto did say that Capcom will be allocating around "20 per cent of development investment " into creating new products, including a "new popular next generation franchise".
So we'll get more Capcom games each year, and there will be less time between sequels for its more popular titles.
Are these announcements something to be happy about or do they inspire a creeping fear that quality standards could slip? Capcom seems to be making the right noises, reassuring fans that's its strengthening in the areas it needs to in order to execute this new strategy. But let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Daniel is IGN's UK Staff Writer. His development cycle was roughly nine months. Follow him on IGN and Twitter.
With Dawnguard in Bethesda's rearview mirror, attention has shifted to the next downloadable content pack for Skyrim, and today we finally have hard information on what that will be. It's called Hearthfire and features a focus on personal dwellings and families. Of course, players already have access to housing in Skyrim, but this DLC ratchets that up about 16 notches.
According to the video, Hearthfire will be arriving on September 4th on Xbox Live, but no word on a release date for the other platforms.
It appears Nuketown is coming to Black Ops II's Zombies mode. Treyarch and Activision have been teasing Call of Duty: Black Ops II information for the past few days on Facebook, and fans are starting to see the payoff. A concept image of the "Welcome to Nuketown" sign features "ZOMBIES" painted in blood.
IGN recently spent some serious hands-on time with Black Ops II's impressive multiplayer, but details surrounding the Zombies mode have been scarce since its announcement.
Nuketown is currently only available a bonus for pre-purchasing Call of Duty: Black Ops II. We've reached out to Activision to clarify whether or not this is included in that bonus, or a separate map included in the box.
Black Ops II launches on November 13.
Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor for IGN's Xbox 360 team. He’s also quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN.
In less than a month, Nintendo will finally reveal more information about its forthcoming console, Wii U - hopefully including that long-awaited release date and price. Today the company sent out invitations to select media outlets, confirming that a Wii U preview event will take place in New York on Thursday, September 13 from 10:00am to 4:00pm EDT.
The presentation will be led by Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, and will apparently shed light on "how the Wii U will change the future of gaming and entertainment." Since it's getting pretty late in the year for the console that was promised a global launch by the end of 2012, we can only assume official launch information will also be divulged at that time.
When can you get your hands on the GamePad? We'll know soon enough.
Although we can't say for sure, it's a good bet that Wii U will hit store shelves this November, considering Nintendo's past two console releases (the GameCube and Wii) arrived in North America on November 18 and November 19 respectively. Rumors and purported leaks seem to support this theory, though recent speculation of manufacturing problems has suggested the launch might actually miss Black Sunday and arrive in December instead.
Hopefully we'll know for sure following this September event - until then, keep it here on IGN for all the latest Wii U happenings.
Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her wild adventures on her IGN blog and Twitter. Game on!
