Resident Evil 5

Even in times of an economic shitstorm, it's good to know that people still recognize good video games and will still purchase them. IGN is reporting today that Resident Evil 5 has sold over 1.5 million copies across all platforms after one month. This is a one month sales record for the Resident Evil series.

It's great to see people picking up on this game, for two reasons. First, it gives me more people to play online with, as was evidenced by the long queue of games to join last night when I tried out Versus Mode. Second, it's nice to see video game developers rewarded for taking a chance. Capcom took what is, in my view, a huge leap of faith by eschewing all elements of survival horror for what I call a deliberately paced action setting. In my mind, it paid off in spades, because I still haven't found a game I'd rather play on my 360 (though Rock Band is sneaking back into the mix since I can play tons of Pearl Jam now). This elevates my hope that the next Resident Evil game will play similarly. My only other wish for RE6 (or whatever it may be called) is that we play as the same cast of characters (Chris and Sheva).

Speaking of Versus Mode, I'd recommend it. Yes, there's the whole debate about whether the content was on the disc or not, and like I said before, I really don't care. I downloaded it last night (for a whopping $5.00) and rocked out the rest of the night blowing the shit out of people I didn't know online. I loved it. In fact, I'm going to do more of it tonight.