Capcom is still worried about all of this Swine Flu business, apparently, as MTV Multiplayer revealed that the company will not bring Dead Rising 2 to upcoming PAX (or Games Con, either). Instead, Chris Kramer, senior director of communications, revealed that the next glimpse of the game will be at the Tokyo Game Show, in late September.

We tracked down Kramer ourselves and asked him what the deal was. He said he couldn't provide us with anything other than to expect something on the game around TGS. We further inquired why the title would be missing PAX, but Kramer remained tight-lipped. We have a feeling the game is skipping the show because Capcom is still worried about all of this Swine Flu business, and not because Dead Rising 2 is a bad game or anything. Duct-taping chainsaws to dirtbikes and killing zombies with them sounds like the opposite of bad to us.

Though we're not going to be seeing Dead Rising 2 at E3 this week due to Swine Flu concerns, Capcom has apparently released a brand new trailer just before the show to keep the game fresh in our rotted, bloodthirsty minds.

To be Frank, the newest trailer paints a sincerely more serious picture of Dead Rising 2, replete with zombies eating dudes' necks and a whole mess of slow zombie shambling. Unfortunately, as the game is sitting out this week's events, you're just going to have to make due with the newest video, just after the break.

No, we can't believe we just wrote that headline either. And according to scattered reports (and a variety of phone calls we made this afternoon), it's the unfortunate truth: Some Japanese developers and producers are canceling their trips to E3 2009 due to Swine Flu worries. Capcom's Keiji Inafune and his game, Dead Rising 2, will both be missing. (This isn't the first time Inafune is canceling a trip.) Develop is also reporting that Square Enix and Koei will be canceling some employees' flights, with the Kingdom Hearts team and "an unspecified number of [Koei's] Japanese employees" taking the hit.

We asked Tecmo if there would be a change in its lineup at E3, to which a company rep assured, "No. Our content is still scheduled to be there and everything on the show floor, if not by the staff that's scheduled to fly in from Japan, it'll be demonstrated by our own staff from the US office." Tecmo also said producers for its upcoming lineup are still scheduled to appear alongside their titles. "As of today, we've been told our producers will still be in attendance." Konami declined comment as of press time and the ESA (E3's governing body and financial supporter) has yet to respond to our inquiries. As it stands, it looks like we'll be waiting 'til PAX 2009 or even the Tokyo Game Show to get our hands on Dead Rising 2.

Hey, remember when a representative from Dead Rising 2's middleware developer, mental mill, mentioned during a GDC presentation that Dead Rising 2 would have "multiplayer sessions," and then another mental mill representative said the first representative misspoke, and meant to say "multiplatform?" Good. Keep that hilariously convoluted exchange locked away in your mind for a minute.

Capcom development head Keiji Inafune recently confirmed to Eurogamer that Dead Rising 2 will have some form of online multiplayer component. No specifics about the multiplayer offerings have been revealed, though it's nice to finally have a clear answer on the existence of this long obfuscated feature.

[Via Shacknews]

Nothing says love like a chainsaw on a stick. Unless it's two chainsaws on a stick, which is just one of several implements Dead Rising 2 protagonist (and loving father!) Chuck Greene uses to cut a swath through Fortune City's pesky zombie infestation. A new video showing off Greene's hatred of the walking dead has made its way onto the sprawling internet -- we're certainly not above sharing the love after the break.

[Via CVG]

In an effort to reach out to its fans in the Western European version of CAPTIVATE08's setting, Capcom announced details (via Capcom-Unity) this week about its "totally not a gamer's day" event, unironically titled CAPTIVATE09. Taking place in Monte Carlo, Monaco, the company says it's announcing "new games" at the event (emphasis on the "s" at the end there) -- an especially interesting statement to make considering Capcom's Chris Kramer said this week on the Giant Bombcast, "We are announcing at least two titles at E3." How many games are in development at Capcom right now that we don't know about?!

Other items of note are new looks at Spyborgs (the "actually a game" game for Wii) and Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles. If you're one of the lucky few already chosen from the Capcommunity (see what we did there?) to attend, make sure to bring your jewel-encrusted Wiimote and blood-spattered Tricell messenger bag, so you don't look out of place. And send us tips!

Just like every other year, GDC in 2009 brought with it a bevy of new information (and the ubiquitous Pat Benatar rumor). And unfortunately, during the rush to post information, it's easy for publishing outlets (including ourselves) to mishear something, misconstrue a piece of information and/or not have time to follow up with the information source. So when Jeff Haynes of IGN heard Laura Scholl of middleware developer mental mill on a Dead Rising 2 panel speaking about "6000 characters onscreen during multiplayer sessions," he reported on the piece of information just as he heard it.

Unfortunately for Mr. Haynes though, Laura Scholl apparently misspoke. We contacted mental mill this morning for comment on the quote -- a quote that would ostensibly confirm an unnannounced mode for Dead Rising 2, mind you -- and Loretta Stevens told us that she was present at the panel when Ms. Scholl misspoke, saying, "She meant multiplatform." And so we went one step further and contacted Chris Kramer at Capcom to find out what he had to say about all of this: "Here's how it is: I believe what one person says about this project, Inafune-san. I don't know anything about this middleware provider."

When we asked him straight up if the game will have multiplayer or not, he had this to say, "We have not announced much about the game at this point," remaining clandestine on the subject altogether. So while Dead Rising 2 may contain some form of multiplayer, as of right now, it's officially not confirmed.

UPDATE: Laura Scholl has contacted us with further clarification of her statement, writing, "In my 'Making of Dead Rising 2' presentation at GDC this past Friday, while I was describing how Blue Castle is using mental mill technology in character development, I mistakenly referred to the game as multiplayer instead of multiplatform. I apologize for the confusion. The game is indeed multiplatform, and Blue Castle has done an amazing job creating incredibly photorealistic characters – from their skin tone to their clothing – in heavily populated and complex levels throughout the game. Gamers are going to be thrilled with how the game feels, looks and plays."

During a GDC presentation about the bolstered graphics engine powering Dead Rising 2, Izmeth Siddeek, the game's character art lead, made a fairly startling proclomation: "Dead Rising 2 deals with the rendering of the greatest number of characters ever seen in a video game," he said. In other words, the massive amounts of on-screen zombies featured in the original Dead Rising will apparently increase by a huge margin in the sequel.

The enlarged zombie processing power can be attributed to developer Blue Castle's implementation of new visual technology called Mental Mill, which is capable of rendering large groups of characters without sacrificing graphical quality. Mental Mill product manager Laura Scholl claimed the new software will allow over 6,000 zombies to appear on-screen, providing undead multitudes that will be easy on the eyes, but rough on our formerly uneaten brains.

Capcom has plenty of big titles in the coming months (Dark Void and Bionic Commando, to name a couple), but it looks like its fiscal year stands to get even more packed. On Major Nelson's most recent podcast, Capcom spokesman Chris Kramer mentioned "big titles for next year, Lost Planet 2 and Dead Rising 2," to the Xbox Live programming boss.

Kramer told us he was talking about the next fiscal year, which begins on April 1, 2009 and goes to March 31, 2010. Whenever they arrive we're sure it won't be soon enough, but, in the interim, if you've really got a zombie bloodlust, we're certain you can find other channels for it.

[Via D-Pad]

The latest edition of the Bionic Commando podcast includes a Q&A session with Dead Rising creator Keiji Inafune. Strangely, he seems unwilling to divulge many new details about Dead Rising 2, but talks in length about collaborating with a Western developer. The sequel has been farmed out to Canadian-based Blue Castle Games, but Inafune is eager to state that developers from the original game are working very closely with the DR2 team, with conference calls occurring every week.

"[Blue Castle Games] really understood the Japanese flavor that made Dead Rising so unique," says Inafune. "They showed me that they are serious about making a game that keeps that Capcom 'spice' intact, and so far it's going very well." He hopes to make Dead Rising 2 an improvement over the original, as the game will be developed from a global perspective. This level of collaboration between East and West, he says, is unprecedented for Capcom. Perhaps the Resident Evil team should look into trying something similar for its next title?

In terms of actual gameplay details, there's little to glean from the podcast. Inafune does mention that the new character will be much more interesting than Frank West, but doesn't want to give away too much right now. Blue Castle feels that keeping the time management aspect of the original game in the sequel is important, but is planning a much larger variety of mission objectives. Have a listen yourself for more Dead Rising 2 tidbits.

That "Dead Rising 2" video from last week, that kinda looked like it could have been Dead Rising 2? It was totally Dead Rising 2. Capcom has officially announced the title not just for Xbox 360, but for PS3 and PC as well! The sequel occurs years after the events of the first game -- with the zombie virus now spread throughout the United States. The action will take place in the "gambling paradise of Fortune City". The main character is apparently no longer Frank West, but some guy in a jacket instead. Of course, Fortune City is filled with new junk with which to smash zombies, including, most importantly, that hamster ball/Atlasphere thing from the video!

As rumored, the game is being developed by Canada's Blue Castle Games. According to the press release, "A number of members from the original Dead Rising team will be working alongside Blue Castle Games throughout the development process," including producer Keiji Inafune.

A video is making the rounds on the internet supposedly confirming the existence of Dead Rising 2. The video makes reference to the events of the first game, also noting that a drug has been created to halt the spread of the zombie disease. We're guessing said drug wasn't too effective, as the video then moves on to showcase a casino / hotel environment filled with zombies. The video also mentions a discovery of some sort by Isabella Keyes, a lead character from the first game. Finally, was that a giant hamster ball?

Is this the first official confirmation of Dead Rising 2? We've contacted both the YouTube user who uploaded the video and Capcom for comment. In the meantime, let's not forget that Keiji Inafune himself stated the game was in the works during a (supposedly mistranslated) interview with Famitsu just last week. Watch the video after the break.

Recent rumors about the development, at last, of the Dead Rising sequel have turned our thoughts toward the future of such a game on the Wii. Now that we're getting Dead Rising, albeit in our own retooled version, do you think it's likely we'll see the sequel in some form? If so, will the Wii release coincide with other releases, or will it come later?

[Via GayGamer]

Eurogamer is reporting that Dead Rising 2 is currently in development, but not by franchise holder Capcom. Instead, Canadian developer Blue Castle (The Bigs and MLB Front Office Manager) is developing the sequel to our favorite zombie mall game.

According to Eurogamer's source, who we're told is close to the Blue Castle development team, Dead Rising 2 is in development and that Blue Castle "has obviously seen the rumors and it's been hard to keep quiet, but they can't wait to show off the game." Information that does gel with rumors we've been hearing regarding a Western development team taking over the Dead Rising franchise. But with no official word coming from Capcom and no release specifics or leaked media, we'll file this in file folder "R". That's "R" for rumor.

According to an alleged source close to the developer, Canada-based Blue Castle Games is secretly (or not so secretly, if there's any truth to this) constructing the sequel to Capcom's mall zombie slaughterfest, Dead Rising. Speaking to the folks at Eurogamer -- they've covered console wars, you know -- the source claims that the Western team "can't wait to show off the game."

Blue Castle, more known for its work on ball-and-stick game The Bigs, currently lists an "unannounced Action title" on its website, designating it as an "amazing" project for multiple platforms. We have, of course, requested comment from both the developer and Capcom. Given how talkative companies usually are about unannounced and potentially nonexistent games, we fully expect to have a release date, screenshots and the inevitable cliffhanger ending before the afternoon's out.