Resident Evil 4, Fully 3D

This classic horror series is getting a new installment, finally.  According to the website Gamers.com:

"The game will take place in Umbrella's main facilities in France and star Resident Evil 2's Leon Kennedy."

The story goes something like this: after the outbreak in Raccoon City, Leon decides to get to the bottom of this whole conspiracy by heading to it's source in Europe.  Leon himself is now infected by the virus and must fight the elements outside and the plague within to get to the bottom of this mystery.  Chris Redfield, one of the protagonists from the first installment of the series, was originally slated to fit this role instead of Leon Kennedy, but for some reason, the order was changed.

Capcom Entertainment has also announced that they are switching directors for the game from Shinji Mikami to RE3's Hiroshi Shibata and that the game will exclusively appear on GameCube as the game's producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, said during the pre-E3 show in May of this year.

According to website IGN.com:

"...the technical wizards at Capcom did the unthinkable and actually improved nearly every horrific detail of its first RE GameCube title. Where the first offered static cameras and 2D backgrounds, this entirely original Resident Evil 4 title is now fully 3D."

"Real-time lighting effects appear just as beautifully realistic as before, except now we see shadows wrapping around characters and objects in every direction as the camera pans and zooms through the environments. Character models are even more detailed than ever before, with breathtaking details such as hair and skin rendered deceptively well. The 3D environments show off awesome reflective surfaces, such as a mirror at the head of a dimly lit hallway that reflects our hero's flashlight in all directions as he sneaks toward the evil that awaits."

The game was set to release in the first quarter of 2004, but now claims the ambiguous release date of "200X," so we will have to wait and see.

Unfortunately, at the time I was writing this article, I could not confirm any information with Capcom Entertainment's website, as it appeared to be unavailable at the time.

More on this game as it develops.

Sources: Gamers.com, IGN.com, Capcom Entertainment