Devil May Cry 4 Goes MultiformatDevil May Cry 4 Goes Multiformat

Another prominent Japanese PlayStation 3 exclusive has been announced for the Xbox 360, with Capcom’s much anticipated Devil May Cry 4 becoming a multiformat title on both consoles and on the PC. According to a Capcom press release, each version of the game will be released simultaneously, although no further release date details have been released – with the game not expected to be ready until later in 2007 at the earliest. The game was last seen in public, in playable form, at the Tokyo Game Show at the end of last year, with Capcom now indicating that, “each version of the game will be maximized to take advantage of the systems’ strengths”. “Capcom is committed to making its titles available to as wide an audience as possible, and has been building its technology base to meet that goal,” said Mark Beaumont, executive vice president, officer and head of Capcom consumer software publishing in the Americas and Europe. “This announcement means that PS3, Xbox 360 and PC owners worldwide will be able to experience the latest installment of one of Capcom’s pillar franchises.” The game is the latest in a string of titles either previously announced as PlayStation 3 exclusives or assumed to be so because of previous associations with the PlayStation brand. These have included titles such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Virtua Fighter 5, and Assassin’s Creed. The news also follows rumors, originating from employees of rental house Blockbuster photographing entries in the company’s computer system, that suggest a new Katamari Damacy game and Ace Combat 6 (as well as Warhammer: Mark of Chaos) from Namco Bandai are to be released only for the Xbox 360. These rumors have already proven partially true with preview screenshots of Ace Combat 6 on the Xbox 360 already appearing in Japanese magazines. The PlayStation 3 is by no means the only victim of lost exclusives though, with former Xbox-only titles such as Ninja Gaiden, Top Spin and Splinter Cell now established as multiformat titles. The latest moves follow wide industry trends of third party publishers straying away from format exclusives, in the wake of the rising cost of next generation game development.