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Just in time for Valentine's Day, Amazon is now offering a special buy two, get one free deal on Xbox 360 Platinum Hits titles. The deal is fairly straightforward: just pop three Platinum Hits games into your cart and the cheapest of the three will be knocked down to the wallet-friendly price of zero dollars. It's really the perfect excuse to pick up some great games you might have missed, especially considering many of them have sequels out this year -- notably Fable II, Halo 3, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, BioShock and Dead Rising. You'd better do it quick though, as the offer is only valid through February 13 and only while supplies last.

[Thanks, Goldenchild]

It isn't like us to dedicate an entire post to a single screenshot, but when it comes to Dead Rising 2 we've already set a precedent. Earlier today, Capcom's Unity blog posted a handful of new images from the zombie-killing simulator, but the screen that really captured our attention was the one shown (gloriously) above.

Combining vastly different items to create our own completely insane arsenal against the zombie collective? Imagine the possibilities: Like some kind of cutting thing, attached to something that spins or something! Clearly our intense excitement has damaged the part of our brain that controls our creativity, but you get the point. Things are going to get killed, real good. More screens are available on the Capcom Unity blog.

Just as expected, today marks the release of two new Games on Demand titles: Dead Rising and Halo Wars. Major Nelson reports each is currently available for download on your Xbox 360, with Capcom's virtual mall full of zombies setting gamers back a paltry $20, while Ensemble Studios' final game is a bit more costly at $30. Each will take up six gigglebytes of room on your HDD upon download.

Shortcut: Halo Wars on Games on Demand [Xbox.com]
Shortcut: Dead Rising on Games on Demand [Xbox.com]

Though we still don't have a release date for Dead Rising 2, we have gotten first word of a film (Keiji Inafune's directorial debut) based on the series. The title directly translates to "Death Disease Contamination Dead Rising," which we think you'll agree is a pretty great name for a movie. Bonus: With only its first trailer, this thing is already making us confused and a little headachey.

As near as we can tell, it's a movie about four Asian people fighting zombies in a warehouse with both conventional armaments and a weaponized wheelchair. Oh and some parts are in first person. ... We know, right? This old chestnut again?! If you can stand the tedium, the trailer's right after the break. [Update: Also from Andriasang: The film will apparently be coming to the web (as you may have guessed from the productions values) this year, though 360 owners will be able to watch it early.]

[Via Andriasang]

Major Nelson recently peeled away the veil separating us from the knowledge of when stuff would be coming out on Xbox Live Marketplace over what remains of the month of January. This new knowledge includes the upcoming Deals of the Week -- on January 18, both of the DLC packs for the original Mass Effect will be marked down to 240 ($3) each and Hasbro Family Game Night: Battleship will get rolled back to 400 ($5); and on January 25, Portal: Still Alive will have its price temporarily reduced to 800 ($10).

The Major also announced two new Games on Demand: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, available now for $20, and Dead Rising, coming January 26 for an undisclosed price. For the rest of January's bounty, including discounted Games on Demand titles, XBLA releases and Avatar items, head past the jump.

Before we've even laid hands on its death-by-giant-cellphone sim, Dead Rising 2, developer Blue Castle Games is thinking about its next project. According to a job listing spotted by VG247, potential applicants will be required to have their finger on the pulse of "open world and FPS games like Prince of Persia, Assassins Creed, Halo, and everything in between."

Right, so look for Blue Castle's Dead Rising 2 follow-up, Royal Wall-Running Secret Killer Space Marine, coming in the fall of 2011.

There are some things we all know about Frank West. He's covered wars (y'know), enjoys the potent effects of a well-blended smoothie and, with a mean 5 o'clock shadow, looks a great deal like Niko Belic. But, what you may not know is that despite lacking an entire mall's worth of weaponry, the dude is still a pretty solid fighter.

Even though we've already put together some words detailing the man's moves in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, it's always nice to actually see that thing we talked about in motion. So, head past the break for a gameplay video of Capcom's Seth Killian demonstrating West's moves for GameSpot.

[Via Capcom-Unity]

Terror. Is. Reality. Don't believe us? Check out the new trailer, which we just witnessed (and caught on camera) at Capcom's Dead Rising 2 event in Tokyo. You don't want to miss Keiji Inafune's posh yellow jacket as he introduces the clip.

The event is a junket unlike any other at Tokyo Game Show this year. Capcom (with the help of Microsoft) took over a restaurant/bar in Ebisu, promising free food and drinks to all attendees -- with the promise of a two-of-a-kind yellow jacket at stake for the person who wins tonight's Dead Rising 2 mutliplayer tournament.

Yeah, multiplayer. Long hinted at, we finally had a chance to play the game's competitive multiplayer mode. It certainly wasn't what we were expecting. You take control of one of four participants in a zombie-ridden game show called "Terror Is Reality." Players will compete in four different minigames, each of which takes a different spin on Dead Rising's zombie-smashing gameplay.

Everyone's favorite wartime photojournalist and Dead Rising protagonist Frank West was just confirmed to be a contender in Capcom's upcoming inter-franchise brawler, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. This news comes two weeks after a number of the game's assets, which indicated the appearance of West, Mega Man series regular Zero, and a bunch of anime characters we absolutely do not recognize, were leaked.

You can check out a video demo of West's brawling expertise after the jump. Know where he learned to fight that well? Probably from his recent encounter with the unyielding zombocalypse. (What did you think we were going to say? "Because he's covered wars?" That just doesn't make any sense. Think before you speak, silly goose.)

Excuse us if we dedicate this entire post to one, single screenshot. A picture -- of gigantic metal death spikes protruding from Chuck's helmet in Dead Rising 2 -- is worth a thousand words, after all. Also, that bodysuit is pretty snazzy. Go on, take it all in ...

See what we mean? Totally worth a post.

Shoryuken forum user mumu recently went snooping around the Japanese site for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and uncovered some interesting items. Within the source code of the character section of the site, mumu found lines of code hinting towards the remaining secret characters:

• 'images/oncharactor_btn_zero.jpg'
• 'images/oncharactor_btn_frank.jpg'
• 'images/oncharactor_btn_yatter02.jpg'
• 'images/oncharactor_btn_joe.jpg'
• 'images/oncharactor_btn_tekkabla.jpg'

So, aside from yesterday's Tekkaman Blade, mumu postulates that Dead Rising's Frank West and Zero from the Mega Man series are also going to be in the game and, on the Tatsunoko side, we'll get Yatterman #2 from Yatterman and Joe Asakura from Gatchaman. If you'll excuse us, we'll be crying in the corner, objecting once again to the lack of Phoenix Wright.

[Via Siliconera]

Capcom's Triple Pack of awesomeness will not make it to the shores (nor stores) of Europe. Eurogamer was given the sad news by a Capcom representative, who said, "We're not doing it here." Although he could have been referring to the latest dance craze sweeping the continent, everyone's quite sure he was referring to the zombie-, demon- and bug-fighting bundle.

The Platinum Hits Triple Pack releases September 8 in North America and features Dead Rising, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Colonies Edition and Devil May Cry 4.

If your gaming time has been sorely missing some Capcom TLC, then know the company is set to offer up a few of its older titles in one Xbox 360 package. Starting September 8, gamers can snatch up Capcom's Platinum Hits Triple Pack, which is pretty much just that: A package containing Dead Rising; Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Colonies Edition; and Devil May Cry 4.

It's all well and good to try and introduce gamers to some of your almost-classics, but we think Capcom seriously missed a chance to get some Bionic Commandos out there into the world. Yes, we get it's a Platinum Hits bundle, but what could you possibly be doing with all those discs, Capcom? Building a fort in the break room?

Capcom's Head of Research & Development Management Group and Online Business (breath) Keiji Inafune is all about the Western game market. In an internal interview on Capcom's website published earlier today, Inafune makes a variety of comments regarding Capcom's changing attitude with regards to the Western market. "I think I can only get away with saying this now, but I really thought that using the Xbox was the only way to break into overseas markets, and I took that hypothesis all the way," Inafune says in the piece, citing Lost Planet and Dead Rising as two prime examples of games targeted at Western audiences that were successful.

Speaking to the state of the video game industry and Capcom's relevance within it, he continues, "Up until now, we made games in Japan, and it was merely coincidental that those games sold overseas. But overseas game makers in regions like North America and Europe have gained strength, and it has become clear that this is the direction the game industry is going." We've heard statements like this before from MadWorld creator Atsushi Inaba, but never from such an influential and powerful figurehead within the Japanese development community. Considering the online multiplayer focus of the company's cadre of games both released and on the horizon, we think Capcom is putting its money where its mouth is.

Update: The reviews haven't exactly been pouring in for Dead Rising: Chop 'Till You Drop. We've added one more, but this can't be a good sign for the game.

It's been a rocky road to release for Capcom's Wii port, Dead Rising: Chop 'Till You Drop, and now that it is finally out, has all of the hate been warranted? Well, we can't answer that question, but we can offer you the next best thing: some reviews. Find the few scores available so far below and for those of you who have spent some time with it, be sure to drop your own two cents into our commenting fountain. We'll update the post as new reviews roll in.

• IGN (69/100): "A lot of corners have been cut to get this game on the Wii and the result is not the impressive next-gen experience it was on the 360. Rather, it's a breezy weekend diversion with some fun gameplay and subpar graphics."
• GameTrailers (69/100): "A more flexible save system is also a step in the right direction. Yet, the repetitive mission objectives and moronic AI ensure that the enjoyment you glean from it will be directly proportional to how much you enjoy using new weapons to kill zombies."
• Official Nintendo Magazine (68/100): "A real let-down. There are some great ideas in here but they're just not executed very well. Stick to Resident Evil 4."
• CVG (50/100): "Another example of a game that greatly underperforms on a perfectly capable console."