The minimum and recommended system requirements have also managed to have shuffled their way onto the ‘net:

Minimum system requirements

Recommended system requirements

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is due for release on May 18th on the PC platform.

Keep up to date with Waseem’s work by subscribing to his Facebook page.

“3 tough new Spec Ops missions. Spec Ops continue to hunt for evidence that proves Umbrella’s guilt in the outbreak. The missions take you across the city. First to City Hall and deadly USS sniper squads; then to Umbrella’s secret underground facility and a brutal encounter with the Nemesis; finally through the city sewers and a desperate rescue mission and battle with G-Birkin.”

I’m starting to grow quite attached to this heroic band of zombie killers, here’s to hoping that we’ll be able to accompany them in future DLC packs in the not-too-distant future.

A near-identical pre-order bonus can also be found for the PlayStation 3 version, also, although PS3 gamers will have to wait an additional two months before they’re privy to the demo.

Via ROH

Gold Trophies

Professional: Clear all chapters on the hardest difficulty with an S rank.

Silver Trophies

Archive Collector: Collect all archives.

Forbidden Power: Witness the end of one suffocated by power.

Other Side of the Coin: Capture a glimpse into the changing mind of a comrade.

Tofu Smack Down!: Clear the secret stage.

Bronze Trophies

Angelic Voice: Hear the singing voice of a little girl.

Bye-Bye, Mommy: Recover a mother’s instinct.

Head Shot Freak: Land at least 5 headshots in a row.

Ninja Skills: Slip through the trap without a scratch.

The Little Fugitive: Save the little girl.

The Mad Queen: Take out the queen ant.

What Research Holds In Store: Bring peace to the sad researcher.

Via Biohazard France and Exophase

The ‘Echo Six Expansion Pack 1′ will, according to a recently erected product listing on the PlayStation Store, once again have us assuming control of the plucky band of military folk, and will ‘take you across the city,’ from City Hall to Umbrella’s secret underground facility, with a couple of boss battles thrown in for good measure. No word yet on pricing. The DLC pack will also be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace on the exact same date.

Via DC Douglas’ blog

Amazon pre-orders

Ponying up the dough early and buying through Amazon will net you the ‘High Seas Fortress’ map: a level that’ll have you battling the hordes of C-Virus-infected monsters of the game on the deck of an aircraft carrier, as well as inside its narrow hangars.

Gamestop pre-orders

Pre-order from this particular vendor and you’ll score yourself access to the ‘Catacombs’ map for the Mercenaries mode. Inside the catacombs lies all manner of unpleasant surprises, not least of which being the man-made booby traps.

Best Buy pre-orders

And, finally, pre-ordering via Best Buy will grant you access to the ‘Rail Yard’ map: a multi-story level that will allow you to fight for your life inside the claustrophobic confines of a — mostly — deserted railroad yard.

Resident Evil 6 is due to hit consoles in October 2012.

Resident Evil: Chronicles HD Collection is set for an early 2012 release.

And now, we’re being spoiled even further with a dozen brand new pictures to feast our eyes on.

Expect Resident Evil 6 to see a release in October of this year.

The list of playable characters has also been revealed, with Capcom announcing that gamers will be taking on the roles of three separate pairings of protagonists, with each one headed up by — or related to — a well-known figure from the franchise. According to Capcom, each ‘team’ will have somewhere in the region of 10 hours worth of playtime, equalling up to roughly 30 total hours of time it’ll take for gamers to finish the campaign from beginning to end. Resident Evil 6‘s Game Director, Eiichiro Sasaki, was able to confirm as much when speaking with NowGamer:

“In terms of length, each character’s story is a little bit less than RE5 but when you combine them together you’re getting something that is much longer. While each character’s story stands alone, all of the characters wind up in the same area of the game, in China, so there is a certain level of overlap. They stand on their own but they do overlap in certain areas. You don’t have to play them all, of course.”

‘Team Chris’

‘Team Leon’

‘Team Wesker’

And for the hardcore Resi fans amongst us whom care only for the best of the best, if you happen to reside in Japan or don’t mind importing, then you can always fork out a whopping $1,300 for the ‘Premium Edition’ version of Resident Evil 6, an ultra expensive package which makes even Modern Warfare 2‘s pricey ‘Prestige Edition’ sound affordable. The Premium Edition includes the following bonuses, according to @markmacd: full game, 4 phone-cases, and a replica of Leon S. Kennedy’s leather jacket.

And if it wasn’t already as clear as day beforehand, these new trailers confirm once and for all that Sherry Birkin will indeed be making an appearance in Resident Evil 6. Whether or not she’ll have her very own playable portion of the game is anybody’s guess, but at least we know for certain now that the rumours have been proven true.

Something tells me that no good can come from that C-Virus. Hmm. The trailer also begs the question: is Ada Wong responsible for everything sinister that has occurred since the original Resident Evil? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Tell us what you think in either the comments section below or in our community forums.

Resident Evil 6 is due to infect the Xbox 360 and PS3 in late 2012, and the PC platform, presumably, shortly into 2013.

The new trailer’s a wee bit on the short side, but it puts across across the point nicely: you’ve no choice but to run when being stalked by the ever-handsome Nemesis.

Go ahead and grab the ‘Spec Ops’ DLC pack from either the Xbox Live Arcade or PSN Store.

Expect the Spec Ops DLC pack to storm the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network on April 10th. Capcom is promising more content to come over the coming months — premium content, that is.

• The return of Ada Wong.
• Leon’s gameplay segments in Resident Evil 6 is to have the player engaging in a much more familiar survival horror atmosphere, with the return of “item boxes” allowing the gamer to deposit goods for safekeeping.
• Chris’s campaign — allegedly the longest and most substantial of the playable characters — will feature gameplay very much reminiscent of Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 6, and have the steroid-addled behemoth being the one to visit Lanshiang, Serbia and New York City.
• Jill Valentine is now Jill Redfield, and no longer a field agent, but instead still working with the BSAA as a bioweapons advisor in the New York City.
• Helena Harper will in some way be tied to events that have occurred in past Resident Evil titles.

As nice as all that sounds, though, it’s almost certainly all false, despite how trustworthy the faceless informant might have initially come across. “Laureen” claims that her information was discovered after “she” had managed to procure an issue of next month’s Game Informer remarkably early, Resident Evil 6 is going to feature the following

Game Informer’s Andy McNamara, however, has since all but confirmed the falsehood behind the supposedly leaked magazine content, in a recent tweet.

Feel free to carry on the discussion either in the comments section or in our community forum.

In celebration of the North American launch, though, Capcom has seen fit to provide us with a taste of what’s to come, in the form of a brand new trailer:

What are your thoughts on Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City? Do let us know either by leaving a comment below or by sharing your opinion in the forum.

On a battle field that can only exist within the terrifying Resident Evil universe, players will need to fight off the opposing team members from the Umbrella Security Service (U.S.S.) as well as zombies and B.O.W.’s to succeed in their mission. In a storyline that takes place between Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, fans of the series are sure to be pleased when they re-visit the moment Jill Valentine encounters the Nemesis.

Jill Valentine? Nemesis? Resident Evil 3? Suddenly, it feels like 1999 all over again. Brace yourself for boob tubes and miniskirts galore as the Spec Ops DLC pack hits the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store in April.

The Umbrella Chronicles HD boasts eight playable characters, with the lineup including fan favourites such as Rebecca Chambers, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. The Darkside Chronicles HD chapter will have gamers playing out the story of Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield trying to escape the nightmares of Raccoon City, while finally revealing the truth behind Leon and Krauser’s infamous feud.

Roll on June, I say. Capcom haven’t yet revealed an official pricing point for the Resident Evil: Chronicles HD Collection yet, however.

Expect Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City to encroach upon our homes next week on consoles, and mid-May for PC gamers.

For the sake of flexibility and to allow our members the opportunity to opt for something more akin to their talents, we welcomed everybody to submit their finest drawings, poems, captions, and even share with us their reasons, goals and visions as to why they might make the perfect mayor of an ailing Raccoon City. Since its birthing, the contest has seen a plethora of Resident Evil fans from around the world flocking to take part. However many weeks later and some 48 hours worth of deliberation, we’ve painstakingly reviewed all submissions and decided on our favourites.

Best Caption

Stipulation: must be a caption for the image included in this post.

Winner: Capcomplicated

Best Raccoon City Mayor Candidacy Speech

Winner: Glamour

“Before the outbreak….

Hello citizens of Raccoon City! I, Glamour Valentino Versace, am running for mayor of our beautiful city and would very much appreciate your support and vote. As mayor, I will enhance our already strong ties with the friendly pharmaceutical giant, the Umbrella Corporation, by offering new locations for the company to expand its research and development within Raccoon City, creating jobs and boosting the economy for our citizens. In exchange, Umbrella will build more hospitals, schools, and even playgrounds for our city; so it’s a win-win! I will also work with Police Chief Brian Irons to lower crime rates and keep our streets safe (Irons is a nice guy–he even looks after my daughter when I am away on business!), and at all costs, I will maintain the clean and healthy environment we’ve all come to love. So on election day, vote for a man you can trust and not that incumbent, Michael Warren. Do we really need more of the same after eleven years?

Yours Truly,
Galmour Valentino Versace”

Best Poem

Stipulation: must contain at least one instance of the words “Raccoon City.”

Winner: KennedyKiller

“Oh S–t, Not Again: A Resident Evil Poem
We walk along these city streets,
Moaning, scraping, looking for fresh meat…
We’ve done this before
In THREE other games
And I can’t believe they’re remaking it again…
Oh well, what can I say,
Gaming is a little different today…
We are reversed, we play as Umbrella,
The good ol’ days before Plagas and Excella…
Only now, now we make heroes cry,
Leon in the back “I hope I don’t die!”
Tyrants on the loose, our team shows no fear,
We’ll kill ‘em with style and win “Game of the Year”
While VeCtoR and Glamour are running for mayor,
We entertain a heart pounding player…
We’re giving them all familiar vibes,
With an old location and a self destruct time,
While Umbrella hurries, for it has things to hide..
Pre-Order this game, the destruction so pretty,
Can YOU survive, Operation: Racoon City…”

Best Drawing

Stipulation: drawing must feature Leon S. Kennedy and the Tyrant T-103 having a bit of a cuddle.

Winner: sbr999

Congratulations to you four — you’ve all earned yourselves a courtesy copy of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City for the platform of your choosing! We want to also say thank you to everybody for taking part in this, our first big competition. Expect more contests to roll out soon!

A special thank you to Capcom’s UK PR Manager, Adam Merrett, for helping to make all this happen.

For the remainder of the week, you can grab Resident Evil 4 at a terrifyingly affordable 30% off, or 50% off if you’re currently rocking a PlayStation Plus subscription.

Via Joystiq

I think it looks swell, anyway.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is due out on consoles in just under two weeks. PC gamers will have to wait until May, unfortunately.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is due out towards the end of the month.

Update: It sounds like it will be a “timed exclusive” extra for the Xbox 360 crowd and will be made available to both the PC and PS3 gamers shortly into the game’s release.

Why it’s taken so long for the digital, PAL versions of the games to reach the PlayStation Network, we’re not entirely sure, but we’re grateful to have two more opportunities to revisit Raccoon City.