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Lost Planet 2 may be produced in Japan by Japanese developers at a Japanese company, but it's rooted in Western design philosophies -- namely, the art of shooting. In a Capcom published developer interview, producer Jun Takeuchi explained the company's marketing strategies in and outside of Japan.

"In foreign countries that account for a large share of sales," Takeuchi said, "we are going to rely on the brand recognition of Lost Planet and emphasize the new features in the game, as well as four player co-op mode." To emphasize the parts of the game that Japanese gamers might be more interested in, Takeuchi suggested, "we're going to focus on pushing the concept of 'enjoying four player co-op mode' instead of the fact that this game is an action shooter." In other words, Capcom's hoping to make Lost Planet 2 sound as much like Monster Hunter as possible.

Additionally, as part of its "Single Content Multiple Usage" multimedia initiative, Takeuchi said that Capcom may extend Lost Planet to manga as a promotional tool in Japan.

We imagine it'll be somewhat strange the first time we watch Resident Evil's Albert Wesker being eaten by Lost Planet 2's giant salamander boss, now named "Gordiant". And watching the helmet-less antagonist desperately struggling to keep his hair just so while battling the third level's boss, "Red Eye," should prove comedic if nothing else. We just couldn't help but put two and two together when looking at the new screens the game's publisher released recently of three new bosses (including the eloquently named "Akrid X"), especially with the knowledge that we can play through the entirety of Lost Planet 2 as Resident Evil's recurring villain still so fresh in our minds.

Sure, finding out that the ginormous monster that we battled in the demo is named "Gordiant" is just about as exciting as meeting Michael Bublé (swoon), but it doesn't have quite the same charm as finally watching Wesker perish. The demo experience has certainly changed for us, though – now we have a name to direct all these profanities at while being repeatedly murdalized.

Source 1 - Capcom Unity
Source 2 - Capcom Unity
Source 3 - Capcom Unity

Wesker and his comically large hand and gun can be yours if you choose to pre-order Lost Planet 2 at GameStop, Capcom announced today. The publisher also tossed some screens our way depicting the Resident Evil antagonist with more believable body proportions -- specifically, a body structure that doesn't look like someone who was sipping Dr. Jekyll's favorite beverage or shooting up with Chris Redfield's "special" juice.

Well, except for this image, which makes us feel kinda weird.

Capcom's recently published financial report for the first half of the current fiscal year contains some fairly gutsy estimates for sales expectations of the developer's upcoming titles -- for instance, the report anticipates selling 300,000 copies of Resident Evil 5 Alternative Edition by March 31, 2010. However, the company expects one game to be its biggest blockbuster by a fairly enormous sales margin: Lost Planet 2, which, according to the report, will sell 3.7 million copies in the second half of FY 2010.

That's a fairly monumental increase compared to the sales statistics for the original Lost Planet, which has sold 2.28 million units life-to-date according to VGChartz. Don't get us wrong -- we've enjoyed what we've seen from the game thus far. However, if Capcom's hoping to approach that target, it may want to consider tossing some Pokémon in there. Perhaps a cameo by Master Chief, too, for good measure.

Read: Capcom Results of Operations and Strategies report (.PDF)

Seems like everyone has to get in on the Elite bundle action these days. Game Watch reports that a new Xbox 360 Elite bundle is headed to Japan, with both Lost Planet: Colonies and Ace Combat 6 baked right in. it also comes packed with the normal Elite goodies -- headset, wireless controller and (incredibly flexible) composite cables. Unfortunately, the bundle fails to meet super Elite status, as it contains only a paltry 120GB hard drive.

Still, at ¥29,980 (~$330), it's not a bad deal. The bundle goes on sale in Japan starting October 29.

If there was ever any doubt in your mind that the enemies in upcoming third person planet finder shooter Lost Planet 2 are on the plus-size of things, the flood of assets coming out of the Tokyo Game Show should assure you of their huge-itude. Though we're only treated to a few scant glimpses in the trailer above, some of the beasts on display in the screens Capcom released are large-building-sized. The kind of big where you get that falling feeling in your stomach just from looking at them. Add to that the whole ongoing war thing and we're pretty glad to not be living on Capcom's now tropical planet.

It's been a while since we last heard about the Lost Planet movie, but G4 managed to get a couple of words about the flick out of Capcom's Jun Takeuchi back at Gamescom. The film likely won't reference Lost Planet 2, according to Takeuchi, who also noted that "as the story line goes, the movie is completely different from the game." Well, as long as they don't turn it into something about a planet that everyone knows intimately, we won't mind (and neither will EA's Alain Tascan).

Takeuchi also confirmed the involvement of Capcom veteran and Mega Man creator, Keiji Inafune. The extent of his role in the production is still unknown, but we'll sleep a bit easier knowing that Inafune is there to help make sure none of that 200 million goes to waste.

Nearly a month after making its way to the Xbox Live Marketplace, the four-player co-op demo for Lost Planet 2 will hit the PlayStation Network next Thursday, September 24. Don't let your indignation over this shameful injustice keep you from checking the demo out -- it's the same gameplay segment we saw (and loved) at E3 earlier this year, plus a couple PS3-exclusive bonus mini-missions. We promise that playing it will be more fun than working on that "Boycott Capcom" petition.

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?

The best screenshots don't just show off a game, they teach you something. For instance, from these new Lost Planet 2 screens that Capcom just dropped at ComiC-Con, we learned that we don't really have any Lost Planet experts on staff.

So you'll have to bear with us if we don't know exactly what it is we're showing you. There's definitely a robot suit or two and ... are those trains in that one? Really hard-ass trains? It's anyone's guess.

GameTrailers has uploaded a pretty sweet video looking at Capcom's upcoming sequel, Lost Planet 2. Looking specifically at the promised co-op, this video shows off some of the teamwork that will be demanded of you and your squadmates while running around E.D.N. III. Check out the video past the break.

Capcom's Japanese site for Lost Planet 2 has been updated with estimated release periods for both the Xbox 360 and newly-announced PlayStation 3 versions. The Xbox 360 version is listed as coming out this winter, but the PlayStation 3 version has an undetermined date. It appears, then, that Lost Planet 2 will be a timed exclusive for the 360, at least in Japan. Unless Capcom's unnanounced PS3 release window turns out the same as the 360 release window.

Unofficial sources (by which we mean gamestop.com) show the same North American release date, February 23, for both versions, but that could be a placeholder. We're currently inquiring with both Capcom and Microsoft to determine the timing of the North American releases.

We're more apt to believe, by the way, that the delay in Japan is due to starting the PS3 version later, and not due to any agreements -- because why on earth would Capcom agree to make something Xbox 360 exclusive in Japan for any period of time?

Update: Capcom has confirmed plans for a simultaneous PS3/360 release of Lost Planet 2. Read all about it here.


[Via Siliconera]

Jack Tretton mentioned in the Sony Keynote that Lost Planet 2 is a title you can expect to see on PS3. Previously, the Capcom-made title was only confirmed for Xbox 360, but like its predecessor, Lost Planet, expect number two to go multi-platform.