Resident Evil 5

Games are no stranger to wild crossover events. From Smash Bros to Marvel vs Capcom, we’ve seen some of the industry’s biggest names go head-to-head for years now. But as games become increasingly expensive to produce and market, publishers are always on the lookout for the “sure thing,” something that’ll appeal to a wide audience right out of the gate. What better bet than more crossovers between existing, surefire hits?

Street Fighter x Tekken is just the latest. There will be more mashups coming, and there’s no doubt some of them will mix up series we’ve been dying to see together for years. So, in the wake of SF x T, what once-improbable crossovers could developers be conjuring up next?

Mario and Luigi. Abbott and Costello. Sunny and Cher. All fine double acts, no doubt. But you know the thing each of them were missing? Good old fashioned slaughter to really solidify their partnerships. That’s where the grizzly duos inside come into play. Inspired by our recent playthrough of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, we’ve decide to document some of gaming’s recent, really homicidal pairings. Two murderers are better than one, after all.

Who doesn't love zombies? Well, apart from Jill Valentine, communists and possibly the Wolfman. It's also a well known science type fact that the living dead automatically make any game they appear in amazing. And who are we to dispute scienticians? That's why we've taken some games we'd love to see stuffed full of the undead and, thanks to Photoshop, made our zombie dreams so.

Resi’s batting average on portable formats is frankly shit. So far, we’ve been treated to the horrors of the GBA’s Gaiden and a shoddy iPhone port of the best game in the series.

Thankfully, it looks like the 3DS and Revelations could change all that. Inside, you’ll see the new trailer and find out why we think this moody looking handheld horror might top Resi 5.

We’re always moaning that things aren’t as good as they used to be. Because it's true. Even if that earlier iteration of that thing we liked only happened five minutes ago, we were younger then, and even 300 seconds of nostalgia is a powerful thing. Yeah, it’s just perception, but what the hell else is reality, at the end of the day?

It’s not always just a vain flailing for times gone by though. With game devs, it’s often because talent moves on. Company names remain the same of course, but sometimes it just isn’t the same company any more. We’re seeing it happen with Infinity Ward right now, so we thought we’d check out a few other cases and see how badly those studios suffered the loss of their best and brightest.  

Games are a medium of iteration, not revolution. We just have to accept that. That's why the people who make them are called game developers, not game pioneers or game wizards. Solid design is a case of building upon what went before and improving it with new ideas and new tech. That's what sequels are for. Sometimes though, no-one rememers that.

Either a sequel doesn't change enough, or the changes it makes are misguided enough to detract as much as they add. Those are the sort of games we're talking about here, so read on and point your most accusing fingers as we name and shame.

George Romero (director of Dawn of the Dead and the father of zombie movies) says he'd be interested in making a game. This also coincides with the news that Jun Takeuchi (director of Resident Evil 5) won't be returning for the sixth instalment of the survival horror series.

And this got us thinking: how friggin' awesome would it be if Romero and Capcom teamed up to make Resi 6? The answer? Loads. Like loads and loads. And inside you'll find out why we think the zombie Zen master could help give the series just the shot in the undead arm it needs.

Being the internet connoisseurs that we are, we stumbled upon a highly amusing article that pondered the deadly serious question of what superheroes would do if they were assholes. After we’d successfully boarded the roflcopter, we knocked up our own version starring game heroes abusing their skills. So if you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Solid Snake used his powers of super sneakery for evil, you’ve come to the right place…

More more more! Sequels need more! But not just more of what you already liked, NEW things! New things that are DIFFERENT and look good on the back of the box! Or maybe they don’t.

There's nothing sadder than watching a much-loved old franchise deflate and die. Sometimes a lack of evolution is the problem. Sometimes it's an evolution in the wrong direction. Whatever the cause though, it never needs to happen.

Sometimes a fresh outlook is all that's required to shake an old series up for the better. And following on from the rumour that Heavenly Sword studio Ninja Theory may be taking over the reins on the next Devil May Cry, we've had a think about what our dream match-ups of developer and franchise would be. And we've decided they would be these.