Capcom have announced in a blog post that their upcoming HD update of Resident Evil Remake will support Cross-buy functionality on PlayStation platforms.
Cross-buy means that buying the game for either the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 will automatically entitle you to an extra copy of the game for the other platform. So for example if you currently own a PlayStation 3 and are saving up for a PlayStation 4, you can buy REmake HD for your PS3 and will automatically have the PS4 version ready to play once you splurge on its next-gen counterpart.
Of course, this deal has a bit of a catch, in that it is only available in North America to those to pre-order the game through the PlayStation network. This also comes with a bonus exclusive theme.
The PlayStation versions of the game will also support pre-loading, so players will be able to install the game into their consoles prior to launch and will be able to start playing the instant it is released.
REmake HD is also coming to the PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, but currently no pre-order bonus has been announced for those platforms just yet.
The original REmake, an update of the original Resident Evil with modern graphics and additional content, was a Gamecube exclusive when it was released in 2002. It apparently did not do well financially, prompting Capcom to reinvent the Resident Evil formula with more combat-focused elements. This culminated in the released of 2005’s Resident Evil 4.
After several subsequent Resident Evil games that followed this approach, the gaming community gradually began to tire of the series’s over-reliance on quick time events, cut scenes and action-oriented gameplay, along with its general abandonment of the survival horror genre. This was especially apparent in 2012’s Resident Evil 6, which more resembled a Michael Bay movie than a survival horror game.
This new High Definition update of REmake appears to be the first in several more games Capcom has in the pipeline to restore Resident Evil to its survival horror roots. In addition to REmake HD, which releases on all platforms on January 20 for $20/£16, Capcom also has Resident Evil Revelations 2 on the way for a February 5 release.
More notably, however, are murmurs of a Resident Evil 7 in the works. No official announcement has been made just yet, but former Capcom marketing boss Michael Pattison said in August last year that “there was a cry out for us to focus our attention on survival horror, rather than be too many things to all people. You’ll find where we go next will likely be more targeted at our core fanbase.”
