Inafune talks Resi Evil 5

Legendary Capcom producer Keiji Inafune has announced that we're in for a long wait as far as the next instalment in the Resident Evil series goes - since development hasn't even properly kicked off yet.

Inafune told Famitsu magazine that they're still busy sorting out the graphics engine and trying out new concepts, cos they want to make sure that Resi 5 - which is in development for PS3 and Xbox 360 - introduces plenty of new twists to the series. This means a healthy amount of development time is in order - and a release date way in the future.

However, the good news is that Xbox 360 title Dead Rising is nearly finished - they're just giving it one last polish. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, also for 360, is coming along nicely, and both games are due out by the end of the year.

Famitsu also talked to Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka, who said that Square-Enix's new MMORPG is about to go into full scale production. Don't expect to see it on shop shelves for at least 18 months or so, though.

SEGA bigwig Hiroyuki Miyazaki told the magazine that the publisher is planning to announce a bundle of games at this year's E3 which are specially aimed at US and European audiences. Apparently Chromehounds is shaping up very well, and is likely to get a release before Blue Dragon. There's also a possibility that Virtua Fighter 5 and House of the Dead 4 could appear on 360, according to Miyazaki, seeing as how they're proving so popular in the arcades.

And finally, AQ Interactive VP Naohiko Hoshino confirmed that the company is co-operating with Final Fantasy legend Hironobu Sakaguchi on a new RPG called Cry On. Other forthcoming AQ projects include Bullet Witch and Vampire's Rain, which are set to become long running franchises - you might even see them appearing in arcades and on mobiles. Hoshino added that the company is considering developing at least two more Xbox 360 titles, depending on how popular the console becomes in Japan.