Tag: Sony

Xbox Reset Is Very Painful But Absolutely Necessary

Xbox Reset Is Very Painful But Absolutely Necessary

carlocarrasco

Welcome back Xbox fans and fellow geeks!

As a long-time Xbox fan and owner of three Xbox game consoles, I can say that this current console generation has been disappointing and the current state of Xbox gaming is a huge letdown.

With the approval of Microsoft’s leadership, Team Xbox acquired a lot of game companies that include the giants Activision-Blizzard-King (ABK) and Bethesda, going right down to the smaller game studios. Those were acquired with the promise of new and exciting games that would make Xbox gaming really great in the form of exclusive games, new content for Game Pass subscribers and more.

Sadly, things turned out really disappointing and now the new Xbox head Asha Sharma has the tremendous challenge of making drastic reforms, downsizing and correcting the cases of mismanagement by the previous leadership. That said, she declared a hard reset of the Xbox business and the changes are being implemented already.

To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the Xbox announcement focused on Asha Sharma’s message to the entire team. Some parts in boldface…

We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave XBOX to new management. I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day, and I wanted to be direct about the scale.

I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX. Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today’s decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.

Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX.

First, we will reset our content portfolio.

Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined. We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio. We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested. As we reset XBOX, we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.

Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3. In France, Arkane’s management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options.

We are also making reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects. These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions.

In addition, Mojang and King will now report directly to me. These two studios have increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players. They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to XBOX.

Second, we will reset our platform.

We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger. Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify.

We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes. And we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend.

Third, we are resetting how we operate.

As XBOX grew our headcount, we became more fragmented. Teams, studios, and functions often operate independently, and it became harder to work towards a shared goal, make the right tradeoffs, and get things done.

For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Helen Chiang has been promoted to this role and will report directly to me. Over nearly two decades at XBOX, Helen has helped build some of our most important businesses, from XBOX Live to leading Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results.

Thank you, Dave McCarthy, who is retiring after 17 years with XBOX. Dave has played a defining role in building the platform that millions of players rely on every day and has been a trusted partner through many of the biggest moments in XBOX’s history. We wish him all the best.

These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one. The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we’ve seen before. This year, we’ll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we’ll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates.

I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect.

To see the full message, click https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/06/resetting-xbox/

Indeed, the Xbox business model deteriorated financially and became much harder to manage. The billions of Dollars spent on Xbox gaming over the past several years did not result in the great gaming experiences for fans and gamers, nor did it compel the Xbox game studios to become productive and disciplined.

First-party games of Xbox in the generation of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have been lackluster in quality and enjoyment overall. I played Starfield a lot on my Xbox Series X via Xbox Game Pass and my enjoyment of it has been limited compared with other games of Bethesda. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was fun at first but it ended up being hollow. As the said Ninja Theory-developed game lacked depth with its gameplay and game design, I never bothered to replay it after finishing it. Obsidian Entertainment, a company that specialized in making role-playing games (RPGs), produced new RPGs under the Xbox umbrella but none of them were great. In fact, Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 ended up as commercial failures.

Going back to Asha Sharma’s message, I can say that letting go of Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions was the right move as the huge amount of money Team Xbox spent of them did not result in great games. Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight was a $100,000,000 production that ended up with sales of way below one million copies. More notably, Compulsion Games has a discriminating woke and hateful community manager who goes by the handle @PikaChulita. Look at the captured evidence below.

The community manager of Compulsion Games openly hates gamers.
Look at the details very closely.

Speaking of wokeness and discrimination, the controversial Matt Hansen has been laid off from Obsidian Entertainment. Hansen was heavily involved in the huge disappointment called Avowed. That being said, Team Xbox should really REMOVE all the untalented woke activists among its many game developers. Those activists – the feminists, the LGBTQ mob, the Islamists, the Black Lives Matter zealots and others – do not care about making great games at all and they have been misusing Microsoft’s money to turn new Xbox games into vehicles of Leftist/woke/socialist propaganda. Xbox should also cut off any ties with the super woke Sweet Baby Inc.

When it comes to the larger entities like Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King and Mojang, the layoffs are painful but it makes sense to shift investment to focus on higher priority projects. Activision should regain focus on ensuring quality and great fun with its continued productions of Call of Duty (COD) games. Bethesda has to deliver new Fallout and The Elder Scrolls games faster and with the highest quality possible.

With the way things are right now, I am not certain if I will pursue the next-generation Xbox console called “Project Helix”. Memory has gotten much more expensive in recent times due to extremely high demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and the memory manufacturers’ deals with AI companies. How much memory could the next-generation Xbox have and could its retail price exceed $1,000 at launch?

Indeed, the future of Xbox gaming is really clouded and I can only hope that the hard reset of the Xbox business under Asha Sharma will create positive changes and results. To say the least, the reforms have started and only time will tell what will happen next.

In ending this blog post, posted below are selected YouTube videos about the state of Xbox for your enlightenment.  

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 144

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 144

carlocarrasco

Welcome back my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching.

Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?

I recommend you check out the following videos I found.

#1 CinePals React To Scary Movie (2000) – In my honest opinion, Scary Movie (2000) is still the best film parody Hollywood has released in the 21st century. The film is loaded with jokes, pop culture references and fine acts by Anna Faris, Marlon Wayans and Shannon Elizabeth to name a few. In relation to the 2026 movie Scary Movie, the original film was featured in new reaction videos from YouTubers and I enjoyed watching CinePals’ reaction video of it. I encourage you to watch it now.

#2 Xbox Sports Network (XSN) Revisited – When Microsoft entered the competitive video game console industry with the original Xbox in 2001, they really invested a lot of money to make  first-party games as they could not yet form strong business relationships with game companies that had been doing business with PlayStation and Nintendo. Along the way, Team Xbox established its very own lineup of exclusive, first-party sports video games with licenses of professional sports leagues or associations. That was the Xbox Sports Network (XSN or XSN Sports) and it had Xbox-exclusive games of the NBA, NFL, NHL and alternative sports. Sadly, XSN lasted only a few years and you can learn much more by watching the retrospective videos below.

#3 Ranting For Vengeance Exposes Racist And Woke Agenda Behind Matt Reeves’ Batman – If you actually enjoyed Matt Reeves’ The Batman in 2022, did you even notice the wickedness of wokeness behind it all? Matt Reeves is still pushing with the woke agenda on the cinematic Batman which is very unfortunate. To learn more, I urge you to watch the video of Ranting For Vengeance who explains a lot of things in great details. At the same time, be aware that there are lots of woke nuts, modern-day Commies, socialists and reckless social justice warriors (SJWs) who are operating as fake fans obsessed with hijacking established entertainment to turn it all into their own. Ranting For Vengeance has a huge wake-up call for Batman fans, comic readers and superhero fans in general.

#4 Retro Alleyway In Tokyo – I have been to Tokyo in Japan a long time ago. Sadly, I was unable to visit the retro alleyway district where there are lots of small shops and food joints to visit. Such a place keeps on attracting both locals and foreign tourists as there is so much to discover and experience there. Watch and learn from the in-depth video of Nippon TV below.

#5 Einhänder Revisited – Released on PlayStation in the late 1990s, Einhänder was an ambitious 3D polygonal side-scrolling shooter game that created a lot buzz and won the admiration of many as a lot of gamers enjoyed it. Einhänder was arguably a serious attempt by SquareSoft – already famous for role-playing games (RPGs) – to offer gamers something new, engaging and cinematic in the genre of 2D side-scrolling shooters. Behind the scenes, SquareSoft had Tatsuo Fujii as the game director and his experience working on Gradius II and Xexex with Konami was evident in Einhänder’s design. To learn more about the history of the game, watch the video below.

#6 CineBinge And You, Me And The Movies React To Child’s Play 2 – In 1991, my friends and I saw Child’s Play 2 and Child’s Play 3 on home video. Having seen both films, most of us enjoyed Child’s Play 2 over its follow-up. A classmate of mine who saw all three Child’s Play movies pointed to Child’s Play 2 as the very best and the most replayable one. Still, one has to wonder if Child’s Play 2 aged well after more than three decades. To see if the old movie has any impact on YouTubers, watch the reaction videos of CineBinge and You, Me and the Movies below.

#7 Jodi Huisentruit Still Missing – Since late-June of 1995, American television news anchor Jodi Huisentruit has been missing. No matter how much time and effort were invested to solve the case, her disappearance was never solved. In 2001, she was declared legally dead. There were theories about how she disappeared but no breakthroughs happened. The website FindJodi.com is dedicated to solving the mystery and remains active. As such, now is the ideal time to revisit Jodi Huisentruit’s disappearance and learn the crucial details by watching the videos below. Do you personally know someone who went missing without a trace?

#8 Ashleigh Burton Reacts To Steven Spielberg’s Hook – Way back in 1991, Steven Spielberg’s movie Hook was heavily promoted here in the Philippines complete with trailers and print ads. While the film was released in North American theaters during the Christmas season, it opened in Philippine cinemas on February 8, 1992. Hook is a cinematic take on the classic Peter Pan story but with the concept of Peter being a grown man and a father of two children. The film was not universally admired by the movie critics but it still made over $300 million worldwide. Behind it all, Spielberg described himself being a victim of the Peter Pan syndrome and he worked on making Hook with a lot of heart. To find out if Hook has any real emotional impact, watch Ashleigh Burton’s reaction video below.

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 143

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 143

carlocarrasco

Welcome back my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching.

Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?

I recommend you check out the following videos I found.

#1 Ashleigh Burton Reacts To Minority Report – If ever the science fiction concept of pre-crime becomes a reality, would you support it if ever it gets implemented by the national government to fight crime? Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report tackled that concept very well and Tom Cruise was almost perfect as the cinematic law enforcer who became a fugitive. Minority Report remains cerebral and entertaining by today’s standards and it is not surprising that it got featured in many YouTube reaction videos. As such, I urge you all to watch Ashleigh Burton’s reaction video of the 2002 movie.

#2 Close Encounter Of The Third Kind Retrospective Videos – If you are disappointed with Steven Spielberg’s latest science fiction film Disclosure Day, now is a good time to revisit his much older works with similar concepts. His 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind continues to impact viewers and YouTubers which only proves there is something very unique about it. In addition, the movie shows what kind of visionary and storyteller Spielberg was when he was much younger. That said, now is a good time to watch the following retrospective videos – including movie reactions – of the sci-fi film.

#3 Sega Dreamcast – PlayStation 2 “Rivalry” Revisited – When Sega launched the Dreamcast console in the late 1990s, the company went through years of financial losses as well as tarnished reputation with both gamers and their business partners. To be fair, Sega learned from their mistakes with the Saturn console and simplified their business model to avoid the confusion they caused by releasing many add-on devices. The Dreamcast was indeed a high-quality game console and had features that were ahead of its time, although the technologies used were nowhere as advanced as what Sony came up with in the PlayStation 2. To see the so-called rivalry between the two consoles, watch the video below.

#4 Japanese Businesses Growing Their Own Food – Economic challenges in Japan are compelling businesses their to grow their own food supplies. For some time now, Japan’s rice supply has been in a crisis and that alone affects a whole lot of food joints, stores and other enterprises involved. The supply chain of vegetables, fresh meat and fish and key ingredients is also getting strained. As such, many Japanese companies have gotten involved in agriculture and fisheries. Ultimately, the video of Nippon TV below will show you what has been happening and what is Japan doing to ensure food security.

#5 Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage Comics Revisited – What is there to say about the Maximum Carnage comic book storyline Marvel Comics published in 1993? It was a 14-part storyline that was published temporarily in the four monthly Spider-Man series and in two issues of the quarterly Spider-Man Unlimited series. It was released at a time when Venom and Carnage were wildly popular and it was also an opportunity for Marvel to get the Spider-Man fans and collectors engaged when Image Comics and Valiant Comics was challenging them. For a comedic look back at Maximum Carnage, watch the video below.

#6 Ranting For Vengeance Talks About Resident Evil Veronica And Slams Woke Nuts Online – There definitely is something wrong with people who have turned woke. For some reason, they want to claim the Resident Evil game franchise as their own and they have been posting their distorted opinions about it for some time now. As Capcom formally announced Resident Evil Veronica (the remake of 2000’s Resident Evil – Code Veronica), the woke (including the gay pride zealots) are once again attaching themselves to anything Resident Evil. In his recent video, Ranting for Vengeance shared his impression about Resident Evil Veronica before slamming the woke. Watch the video below and pay attention to the details.

#7 Obscure JRPGs Revisited – Have you ever enjoyed a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) that many gamers other there did not play? As seen over the past few decades, there are lots of JRPGs released on consoles and computers that did not sell massively and had been forgotten. Many of them were only released in Japan. Those are the obscure JRPGs and in recent times, retro gamers and RPG enthusiasts had to literally search hard and dig deep to play them. Last December, Gaming Broductions posted a video focused on obscure JRPGs, and there are a lot featured and explained in detail. That said, go watch their video below.

#9 You, Me And The Movies React To Resident Evil: Damnation – Can’t get enough of Resident Evil? While live-action Resident Evil movies featured Milla Jovovich and had stories that were not faithful to the games, Capcom in Japan proceeded to produce their very own computer-generated RE movies to delight the fans while conveniently expanding the lore. Following the release of Resident Evil: Degeneration, the Japanese came up with Resident Evil: Damnation which featured again Leon Kennedy and had the popular Ada Wong included in the cast. That said, you have to see You, Me and the Movies’ reaction video of RE: Damnation and see how it impacted them.

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

Upcoming Game Vivarium Deserves Your Attention

Upcoming Game Vivarium Deserves Your Attention

carlocarrasco

Welcome back Xbox fans, anime fans and fellow geeks!

The recent Xbox Games Showcase generated a lot of buzz and already Xbox enthusiasts are delighted to see Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution as confirmed Xbox console-exclusives, the other first-party games with release dates (or release windows) and other upcoming video games from different publishers.

Under the new Team Xbox leadership, the return to exclusive games has been received positively and it is expected to intensify as the next-generation of consoles approaches. At this stage, the current generation of Xbox Series X|S is ending and the new Xbox leadership made it clear they are in for the long-term of gaming.

Going back to the upcoming games announced by different publishers, the game Vivarium (developed by Studio Meadowflower and published by Serenity Forge) caught my attention. For your curiosity, watch the official reveal trailer below.

Scheduled for release on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox on PC, Steam, the Epic Games store and Xbox Game Pass (XGP) sometime in 2027, Vivarium is a life-sim adventure inspired by classic hand-drawn anime TV shows and films. As seen in the above trailer, it features a cozy slice-of-life game design, has a dynamic system and there are local residents (non-playable characters) players can interact with as they explore the world. In terms of visuals and art style, Vivarium looks like a Studio Ghibli production.

Gamers will play as Jenny, an 11-year-old girl who has a lot to discover and learn in Vivarium’s world. The local neighborhood has lots of characters that each has branching and dynamic storylines. Days in the game are synced to the player’s real-world calendar, allowing for daily new discoveries while unraveling its mysterious narrative. Confirmed in-game activities include cooking, tending to the garden, collecting items, crafting items, repairing equipment and decorating the home to name some.

Jenny (right) with her friend. This game offers gamers opportunities to make friends.
Taking care of the plants.
Does this look like a game or an anime sequence to you?

At of this writing, Vivarium looks like it has something fresh to offer to Xbox gamers, especially those who like animation, the cozy in-game settings, life simulations and in-depth interactions with NPCs. Hopefully a final release date in 2027 will be announced.

Watch out for updates in the near future.

For more information about Vivarium, click https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/vivarium/9P93GJZMZNZJ

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 142

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 142

carlocarrasco

Welcome back my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching.

Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?

I recommend you check out the following videos I found.

#1 Retrospective Videos Of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Back in 2000, I was fortunate enough to have seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in the local cinema here in the Philippines. Directed by Ang Lee, the film was a dramatic martial arts film set in ancient China. Apart from having established Asian actors Michelle Yeoh, Pei-Pei Cheng and Chow-Yun Fat, the movie’s huge success made Zhang Zhiyi an instant star as she carried a very important role. Its importance in the history of global movies was realized when it earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. To this day, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a highly admired film and it is not surprising to see it being featured in many YouTube videos. What I posted below are for your enjoyment and enlightenment. Observe how the film impacts YouTubers in their reaction videos.

#2 EOM Reacts’ Minority Report Video – If you love Tom Cruise and if you want his best collaboration with Steven Spielberg, you cannot go wrong with Minority Report. By today’s standards, Minority Report is still very engaging to watch and it also has Spielberg’s clever approach on storytelling as elements of science fiction, suspense and film noir were blended nicely on-screen. That said, you must see how the movie impacts EOM Reacts’ in his reaction video posted below. Go watch it!

#3 The Resident Evil Trilogy On PlayStation Revisited – When I was very young, I was fortunate enough to play Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis on the PlayStation. The survival horror genre Capcom started with the first RE game really grew not only in popularity and commercial sales, but also in clever game design that included cinema-like storytelling strongly focused on the zombie apocalypse. By the end of 1999, the RE trilogy on PlayStation positively impacted video gaming as a whole and the characters Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield became wildly popular with gamers. Considering how old the first three Resident Evil games are, do you think they have aged well and are they playable enough for gamers who born after those games were released? Watch and learn from the retrospective video below.

#4 Ranting For Vengeance Slams Insomniac’s Wolverine Video Game – Anyone who closely followed the life and times of the iconic Wolverine in comics should be concerned about how he is presented in the upcoming Insomniac-developed Marvel’s Wolverine video game. This early, there are clearly signs of wokeness in the said video game and those are signs that show that Insomniac does not give a damn about the literary legacy of Wolverine. You can learn more by watching Ranting for Vengeance’s video and each time he slammed Marvel’s Wolverine, he backs it up with facts and details. Watch his video now!

#5 You, Me and the Movies React To Showdown In Little Tokyo – I was a teenager when Showdown In Little Tokyo was released in local cinemas here in the Philippines way back in 1991. I never saw it on the big screen back then but I do remember the aggressive pre-release promotions that include previews and an in-depth behind-the-scenes making on TV. The local buzz in 1991 was this…the film was entertaining and the team-up between Dolph Lundgren and the late Brandon Lee (son of Bruce Lee) was well-received. Considering how old the action movie is, one has to wonder if it has aged well. You can find out by watching the reaction video by You, Me and the Movies now.

#6 Tokyo-style Pizza Attracts Many – Have you ever heard of the Tokyo-style pizza? One food joint in Japan started it and already it has attracted a lot of foreigners as customers. Pizza has its Italian origins but in Tokyo, the ways to customize it, cook it and make it truly distinct from the rest of the world have been realized. Watch and learn from the Nippon TV video below.

#7 Japan’s Military – Under the leadership of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, Japan has emerged as a military powerhouse and it will soon export military hardware to nations that need them. Japan is still operating with its pacifist constitution but that will not stop it from becoming a valuable partner to nations that need their military expertise and technologies. The Self-Defense Force (SDF) of Japan is highly trained and very efficient with military operations as seen in the Nippon TV video below. Watch and learn.

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

Watch Out For Resident Evil Veronica

Watch Out For Resident Evil Veronica

carlocarrasco

Welcome back Xbox fans, Resident Evil fans and fellow geeks!

This past weekend, Capcom unveiled Resident Evil Veronica which is a modern remake of Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. Already a lot of gamers and Resident Evil fans are talking about the remake which will be released on the Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X/S some time in 2027.

For your excitement and curiosity, watch the official reveal trailer below.

Given Capcom’s record of making ambitious remakes of past Resident Evil games, Resident Evil Veronica has long been rumored to have been in development. Among the RE fans, Resident Evil – Code Veronica was memorable and yet it had certain elements that made it divisive (example: the annoying voice acting for Steve Burnside). As such, many viewed Code Veronica as the one game that really has to be remade and Capcom has only one chance to make a better and more definitive Code Veronica.

Originally released on the Sega Dreamcast way back in 2000, Resident Evil – Code Veronica was not just a follow-up to the popular Resident Evil 2…it was also a technological marvel as it had fully polygonal environments, more detailed polygonal characters and more immersive cinematic cutscenes. It was truly a next-generation RE experience for many gamers and I myself wanted a Dreamcast just to play it. The game also had Claire Redfield and her brother Chris as the playable major characters and both of them are still fan-favorites.

Going back to the trailer above, it is clear Capcom is making Resident Evil Veronica a darker, grittier and more horrific tale than the original game. The shots of Rockfort Island look very creepy, even nightmarish. While Claire Redfield has been revealed, Chris Redfield, Alfred Ashford, Steve Burnside and Alexa Ashford have not. Still, fans already pointed out that the masked man who grabbed Claire is Hunk (often identified with Resident Evil 2). Zombies were shown in a glimpse but the other monsters from the original game have yet to be shown. 

Claire Redfield is back and she has gone to Europe to search for her brother Cris.
This facility on Rockfort Island looks terrifying and very difficult to escape from.
Remember the guns that Steve Burnside used in a key part of the story in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica?
A key location remade to be creepy and claustrophobic. Are you ready to discover more about the Ashford family?

Capcom describes Resident Evil Veronica as follows:

Resident Evil Veronica is a remake of 2000’s Resident Evil Code: Veronica. This new title preserves the essence of the original game, while introducing modernized gameplay, a reimagined storyline, and vividly detailed graphics.

In 2027, madness and intrigue, love and hate all combine to create a chilling new entry in survival horror.

3 months have passed since the biological disaster in Raccoon City. Claire Redfield, having survived along with Leon S. Kennedy and Sherry Birkin, travels to France in search of her brother, Chris Redfield.

However, what awaits her is not a reunion with her brother, but the Umbrella special forces unit responsible for the incident. They capture Claire and transport her to a mysterious island.

Now Claire must make a desperate attempt to escape the remote Rockfort Island, which due to another biological disaster, has transformed into a living hellscape of survival horror.

Resident Evil Veronica is set for release on game consoles and PC in 2027. Capcom has yet to show actual gameplay.

If you are a newcomer here who wants to discover what Resident Evil – Code Veronica was all about, I encourage you to watch the two retrospective videos below.

Are you gamers feeling excited for Resident Evil Veronica? Do you feel confident that Capcom will deliver a great remake like 2019’s Resident Evil 2? Have you ever played Resident Evil – Code: Veronica?

For more information about Resident Evil Veronica, click  https://www.residentevil.com/veronica/en-asia/

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

A Look Back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #4 (1998)

A Look Back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #4 (1998)

carlocarrasco

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back, 1990s arts and culture enthusiasts, video game enthusiasts and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the late-1990s to examine another issue of the magazine-sized comic book series titled Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine.

Having read the first three issues of the RE comic book magazine series, I can say that the quality has been mixed. While issue #2 had pretty bad Resident Evil 2 illustrated adaptation, issue #3 had a short story that functioned as a sequel to Resident Evil (1996) in the form of a polished fan fiction. There were other short stories that turned out serviceable to intriguing and surprisingly entertaining to read. How much creative freedom WildStorm had in its publishing deal with Capcom remains unclear.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #4, published by WildStorm/Image Comics in 1998 with short stories written by Ted Adams, Marc Mostman and Kris Oprisko, and drawn by Rafael Kayanan, Ryan Odagawa and Norman Felchie.

The cover.

Early stories

Night Stalkers – In a sleepy town in the southwestern part of America, two men suddenly got abducted by humanoid bats (referred to as “zombie bats” by the publisher) and were brought to a secret facility of Umbrella. The scientists of Umbrella have the technology to control the bats and they have already abducted many people who became helpless subjects of a transmutation process. Back in the sleepy town, the community is panicking and the son of the sheriff was rescued from a group of humanoid bats. In response to the town’s call for help, the United States government sends agent Leon Kennedy to solve their problem.

Special Delivery – Two helicopter operators working for Umbrella are tasked to lift special containers of their company’s bio-weapons. Their goal is to drop specific containers at different sites within and outside of Raccoon City. One by one, the monsters of Umbrella are dropped in some very unsuspecting laps from above.

Zombies Aboard – Inside the airplane, Chris Redfield, his sister Claire and Barry Burton realize the there is nobody left to pilot the aircraft. Using the flight training he had with S.T.A.R.S., Chris takes control of the airplane.

Quality

When Umbrella’s helicopter drops its biological weapons, chaos happens.

This early, I can say that I was entertained by this Resident Evil comic book.

The first short story Night Stalkers is WildStorm’s next attempt of making a sequel to Resident Evil following Leon Kennedy on his mission to take on Umbrella and the town it affected. There are no zombies but Umbrella’s scientists and the project leader are using man-sized bats to spread the G-virus and their methods clearly caused human rights violations on the victims. This short story, which was well written and had a good structure, is actually prophetic because it portrayed Leon Kennedy as an agent of the US government and this comic book was released many years before Resident Evil 4 (2005) came out. For context, Leon Kennedy in RE4 worked for the US government and his mission was to rescue the American President’s daughter. In the short story and in the said video game, both versions of Leon Kennedy showed him being very proficient with action and he has no fear going up against multiple enemies. One has to wonder if RE creator and RE4 game director Shinji Mikami ever read Night Stalkers for inspiration. Night Stalkers is entertaining.

The brave and dynamic Leon Kennedy springs into action against Umbrella.

The second short story Special Delivery is a really intriguing look at the personnel who operated the helicopter to transport Umbrella’s monsters. This is in reference to what happened in Resident Evil 2 as Mr. X got dropped down. There are no established characters here but that’s not a problem because the story made a lot of sense and fit in nicely with the Resident Evil universe. It also shows how unethical, cold-hearted and evil Umbrella really is not only towards its business rivals but also against humanity. This one is surprisingly entertaining.

The final short story Zombies Aboard follows Chris, Jill and Barry Burton on their high-risk mission to find Umbrella in Europe and stop them from causing danger on the world. This is the continuation of Dead Air in issue #3 and it was a serious attempt by WildStorm creators to function as a sequel to the RE games of the time. With regards to its quality, the short story was structured with action and horror in mind. While the three established RE characters search for Umbrella, the story lacked depth as there is way too little detective elements in it. Instead, you will see the S.T.A.R.S. members firing or stabbing or slashing zombies they encountered from England to Germany (the story never showed the authorities reacting to the collateral damage caused by the three), and it is at the very end of the tale when the suspense and horror came in. This short story is clearly less engaging compared to its predecessor. At least the art work is good and the artist did not hold back on the violence.

Conclusion

Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Barry Burton search for Umbrella in Europe.

With the three stories featured, Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #4 (1998) is just as entertaining as issue #3. For me, the only letdown was the final short story. The highlight was actually the first short story as it turned out to be very prophetic as to how Leon Kennedy would eventually turn out in video games – the brave and dynamic action hero millions of fans and gamers today enjoy.

Overall, Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #4 (1998) is recommended.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. If you want to support my website, please consider making a donation. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at  @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco/.

A Look Back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #3 (1998)

A Look Back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #3 (1998)

carlocarrasco

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back, 1990s arts and culture enthusiasts, video game enthusiasts and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the late-1990s to examine another issue of the magazine-sized comic book series titled Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine.

By the time WildStorm Productions released the 3rd issue in 1998, many millions of gamers around the world played Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation. The Resident Evil fanbase expanded dramatically and many of them completed the game’s multiple scenarios. At the same time, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield became popular characters in gaming.

The 2nd issue I reviewed had a very bad adaptation of Resident Evil 2’s story. What prevented the comic book from ending up as a complete disaster were the two other short stories which were surprisingly entertaining to read. Still, I wonder if Shinji Mikami and the game developers ever saw the abysmal Resident Evil 2 adaptation in the 2nd issue.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #3, published by WildStorm/Image Comics in 1998 with short stories written by Ted Adams and Kris Oprisko, and drawn by Ryan Odagawa, Carlos D’Anda and Lee Bermejo.

The cover with art by Jim Lee.

Early stories

Wolf Hunt – At Raccoon City College, a few students talk about someone who got killed at school and her body was all torn up. They aware that the authorities are keeping the story out of the papers to avoid causing a panic. In the evening, of the students got harmed by a ferocious monster. The next day at S.T.A.R.S. headquarters, Albert Wesker, Jill Valentine and Barry Burton discuss the killings that happened at the city college. They were asked by the local police to investigate what happened. Jill takes the assignment of going undercover as a student.

Danger Island – A man and a woman arrive at Isla Bonale in Caribbean for a vacation. The island is so exclusive, they only let ten couples on it at a time. After having a romantic night of dinner and dancing, they decide to go snorkeling and rent a boat. Just as they start snorkeling, a plane crashes on the island.

Dead Air – Following the events of Resident Evil (1996) and Resident Evil 2, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Barry Burton start traveling to Europe with the goal of ending Umbrella’s current progress on a new variation of the T-virus even though they have to go undercover. They have the support of a top-secret international agency which already has someone in place to help them. Meanwhile, Umbrella has a spy watching on the three.

Quality

Imagine being surrounded by the deadly Lickers of Umbrella on an island wearing only swimwear and having no useful pieces of equipment to protect yourself with.

Similar to issue #2, this comic book has three short stories and some extras.

The short story Wolf Hunt, which took place before the events of the original Resident Evil game of 1996, has the odd concept of having werewolves existing within the RE universe. Werewolves are often super natural and such monsters don’t align with the sci-fi and biological aspects of the Resident Evil games. In fairness, the creative team had this interesting concept of having Jill Valentine going undercover as a student in the city college to find answers and solve the problem. I should state that the artwork by Ryan Odagawa is good overall although his take on Jill Valentine is cartoonish. This story is pretty short and lacked a solid conclusion. It’s really a glorified piece of fan fiction that should interest fans of the 1996 game.

Danger Island, the 2nd short story, is easily the gem of this comic book. This is a completely original tale that has brand-new lead characters – the couple Stan and Leslie – and an island as the setting. Without spoiling the plot, this is a suspense story with a moderate pace, some dynamic visuals and a good implementation of elements from the lore of Resident Evil. The creative team behind this tale emphasized that as long as Umbrella and is biological experiments exist, danger and death will creep up on people regardless of location. A notable monster species from Resident Evil 2 is included here and the effects the G-virus has on creatures on the island are cleverly presented complete with nice artwork by Lee Bermejo.

Through the couple, readers will feel the danger, desperation and anxiety as the story went on. How the story ended is a must-see and I am confident it will encourage you to revisit Resident Evil 2.  

The final tale Dead Air is a daring attempt by WildStorm’s creators to make a sequel to the first two games. As mentioned above, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Barry Burton are together on a high-risk mission to find and stop Umbrella in Europe. The main setting is inside a commercial flight where a zombie outbreak happens. Without their weapons, Chris, Jill and Barry are compelled to use alternative items and ways to overcome the zombies.

While this tale is packed with action and the violence is uncompromised, something is off with the way Jill Valentine is portrayed. She is more violent with action and even expressed sarcasm. This tale is pretty short as the comic book made it clear that the continuation will happen in the next issue. Considering what was told in Resident Evil: Code Veronica (released in 2000 with Chris and Claire Redfield included), Dead Air is clearly a non-canon Resident Evil tale and it is at best a polished piece of fan fiction by WildStorm.  

When it comes to the extras, you will find the Readers Art gallery and The Resident Evil Files (featuring Chris Redfield and his sister Claire). The most notable extra stuff here, however, is another interview with Resident Evil creator/producer Shinji Mikami and you will even see a few pictures of not just him but also Hideki Kamiya (the game director of Resident Evil 2 who went on to produce lots of highly entertaining games through the decades) and members of the team behind the RE games of the time. Enjoy the pages of the interview below.

The members of the development team of Resident Evil games of the time.
Very notable details shared by Shinji Mikami.
Shinji Mikami with Hideki Kamiya. Mikami directed the original Resident Evil game of 1996 while Kamiya directed Resident Evil 2. The two are still prolific makers of video games today.
Shinji Mikami played Space Invaders when he was young.

Conclusion

Remember Jill Valentine’s extra costume in the original game of 1996?

Considering the qualities of the three short stories and the extra stuff, Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #3 (1998) is easily a huge improvement over issue #2. The quality and creativity of the short stories are better, the interview with Shinji Mikami was worth reading and the comic book itself is more entertaining. That said, I am convinced to move on to the next Resident Evil comic book.

Overall, Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #3 (1998) is recommended.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. If you want to support my website, please consider making a donation. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at  @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco/.

A Look Back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #2 (1998)

A Look Back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #2 (1998)

carlocarrasco

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back, 1990s arts and culture enthusiasts, video game enthusiasts and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the late-1990s to examine another issue of the magazine-sized comic book series titled Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine.

The launch issue of Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine was surprisingly entertaining. That’s not to say it was excellent as it had some flaws here and there. It succeeded with creative stuff by WildStorm to give readers and RE fans a wider lore of Resident Evil by reconnecting them with the first video game and slowly connecting them to Resident Evil 2. The interview with RE creator and producer Shinji Mikami (still a prolific video games industry producer) was indeed a good bonus.

As many of us know, Resident Evil 2 was a huge critical and commercial hit in 1998. By the time WildStorm continued publishing another issue of the official comic book magazine, enthusiasm for Resident Evil was intensified and many new gamers who enjoy RE2 on PlayStation became fans.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #2, published by WildStorm/Image Comics in 1998 with short stories written by Ted Adams and Kris Oprisko, and drawn by  Carlos D’Anda and Lee Bermejo.

The cover.

Early stories

A New Chapter of Evil (Resident Evil 2 adaptation) – Inside a police car moving along the street in the middle of a zombie-fested Raccoon City, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield tried to figure out what has been happening around them. Leon notices an over-speeding truck is about to hit them from behind. The two managed to get out of the car before it got hit by the truck. From a distance, Leon tells Claire to make her way to the Raccoon City police station where they can meet again.     

Mutant Menagerie – After getting left behind by the armed men who shot him, chief researcher William Birkin clutches an overlooked vial of the G-virus and injects himself with it. He soon mutates into a large, deformed monster capable of killing anyone easily. Propelled by sheer willpower to save his life’s work, Birkin simply thinks about infecting many. The next day at the zoo of Raccoon City, a monstrous roar catches the attention of a security guard who rushes outside only to find his two colleagues dead and their bodies torn apart.

Lock Down – Barry Burton, who has been experiencing recurring nightmares since the disastrous mission at the Spencer mansion, visits a facility to seek the help of a psychiatrist. As he approaches the office of the psychiatrist, he noticed someone looking strange.

Quality

Barry Burton suddenly encounters a Tyrant!

In this 2nd issue, the WildStorm team prepared three short stories with the first one serving as the illustrated adaptation of Resident Evil 2’s story (specifically with Leon on Scenario A and Claire on Scenario B).

The RE2 adaptation titled A New Chapter of Evil is very sloppy and so poorly done. The assigned writer and artist forcibly crammed the entire Resident Evil 2 story into a limited number of pages. The result is a very rushed approach on storytelling and the noticeable lack of care on the presentation. Having played RE2 a number of times myself, I can easily say that the order of scenes from the game were sloppily chained together in illustrated format to unbelievably occur next to each other without any proper spacing. That also means leaving no space for the reader to slow down to be able to absorb the details and to understand what has been going on.

Since there were not enough pages allocated, the visual presentation also suffered. Each battle with a monster happened too fast and not enough panels could be made to emphasize clearly what happened. The same thing also happened in key scenes of the story.

In the scene in which Claire Redfield encountered the office of the corrupt chief of police (with the dead body of a blonde woman on his desk), the creative team showed the two having a really short talk quickly followed by Claire meeting Sherry for the first time (without even showing Claire moving out of the chief’s office) followed by showing them descending on a motorized lift and quickly encountering the chief (who somehow teleported ahead of them).

The cramming of scenes, dialogue and bad visualization happened all throughout this Resident Evil 2 adaptation. One has to wonder why WildStorm decided not to use the entire 2nd issue for the adaptation. This literary adaptation of RE2 is absolutely bad and it is clearly an embarrassing piece of work of WildStorm’s publishing.

The short story Mutant Menagerie is an attempt to connect to the lord of RE2 by having the mutated William Birkin as the monster with the zoo as the environment. The protagonist is the zoo security guard Patrick Brady who is unsurprisingly in a major disadvantage. Creatively, this tale provides readers an interesting look at what would happen had the G-virus infected the animals in the zoo which added a new element of danger in the zombie crisis within the Resident Evil universe. The story has some Rambo-vibes when it came to the protagonist taking extreme measures to deal with the infected zoo animals.

While Mutant Menagerie is clearly non-canon as the presence of Birkin in the zoo made no sense at all in relation to what was shown in Resident Evil 2 (Birkin’s presence was limited to the NEST facility underneath Raccoon City), this short story became more relevant as the Raccoon City Zoo officially appeared in Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2 (released SIX YEARS after this comic book). This short story is an intriguing and satisfying piece of fan fiction.

The third tale Lock Down is a serious attempt to give RE fans a look at what happened to Barry Burton after the events of the 1996 game. This one has some Die Hard vibes as you will see Burton as a desperate action hero who happens to be present during a very unfortunate series of events. You will also see how he strives hard to solve problems without Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers to assist him. Artist Lee Bermejo did not compromise with the graphic violence and gore, and his approach on visual dynamism was nicely executed. His visualization of Burton is pretty good too.  

While the series of unfortunate events here makes the tale believable, there is something weird as the narrative went on. The building itself has secrets of its own and scenes such as Barry Burton suddenly encountering a Tyrant felt like a nightmare from nowhere. It is implied that the laboratory, the postal center, the smelly sub-basement and the penthouse could have all been established by Umbrella within the city. This short story is actually entertaining and surprising.

Conclusion

Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy in the Resident Evil 2 adaptation.

The main feature story of Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #2 (1998) – the official adaptation of Resident Evil 2’s story – is clearly the failure and is an obvious waste of time. What prevented this comic book magazine from becoming a total disaster were the short stories Mutant Menagerie and Lock Down which were entertaining and surprising to read. That said, it is mind-boggling that WildStorm did not use this entire issue to properly tell the Resident Evil 2 story and give the creative team enough space to ensure a quality adaptation. I wonder how Capcom and the Resident Evil 2 developers reacted to this issue’s RE2 adaptation.

Overall, Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #2 (1998) is serviceable.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. If you want to support my website, please consider making a donation. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at  @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco/.

A Look Back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #1 (1998)

A Look Back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #1 (1998)

carlocarrasco

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back, 1990s arts and culture enthusiasts, video game enthusiasts and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the late-1990s to examine the launch issue of the magazine-sized comic book series titled Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine.

To put things in perspective, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Resident Evil video games and multimedia entertainment franchise . The original Resident Evil (Japanese title: Biohazard) video game released in 1996 was arguably a major turning point in console gaming as it was an adulterated game that blended horror, action, monsters and the cinematic experience. Initially released on PlayStation, the game got released on Windows PC and the Sega Saturn, and eventually sold millions of copies worldwide while establishing a solid fanbase. Arguably, RE sparked the revival of the zombie genre in pop culture during the 1990s and contributed to new zombie-related multimedia productions in the 2000s.

Even before the release of Resident Evil 2, the number of Resident Evil fans grew and so did demand for more related stuff. Marvel Comics published a free one-shot Resident Evil comic book while Resident Evil: The Book was released in Japan.

When Resident Evil 2 was released in 1998, it became an even bigger blockbuster and resulted in even more new RE fans as gamers enjoyed playing it so much. The massive commercial success of RE2 led Capcom to approving several new Resident Evil game projects for development. Still within 1998, the licensed RE multimedia projects were released in the form of two novels and a new comic book series with a magazine format.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #1, published by WildStorm/Image Comics in 1998 with short stories written by Ted Adams and Kris Oprisko, and drawn by  Ryan Odagawa, Carlos D’Anda and Lee Bermejo.

The cover drawn by Jim Lee.

Early stories

S.T.A.R.S. Files – Inside an office, Albert Wesker gets briefed about his next assignment in Raccoon City which has been experiencing a series of mysterious murders. The superior tells Wesker to field a S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) team to find out what is going on.

Who Are These Guys? – A scientist writes a letter to Ada Wong and reveals key details about the research of the T-Virus, including what his team has been doing and what he observed.

Dangerous Secrets – Inside the high-tech debriefing room of the S.T.A.R.S. headquarters, Chris Redfield begins a review of what happened during their mission at the mansion and what took place before they even got involved. Present are Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers and Barry Burton.

Raccoon City – R.I.P. – A very sick and physically deteriorating man watches the news on TV at home. As the moments passed by, he begins to lose control of himself as his deteriorates. He suddenly goes out of his house and walks down the street aimlessly.

Quality

Ada Wong, the scientist and the journalist who secretly spied in a scene that happened before Resident Evil 2 started.

As already revealed on the cover of this magazine-style comic book, this is a collection of four short stories designed to provide readers insight on the lore of Resident Evil, additional portrayals of the established RE characters of the time – Chris Redfield, Barry Burton, Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers, Albert Wesker, Leon Kennedy and a few supporting characters seen in the games – and, more notably, illustrated development of events that connect the first two games with each other in ways that the games themselves could not. To be clear, Resident Evil took place in July 1998 while its sequel took place in September 1998.

Without spoiling the stories, I can say that S.T.A.R.S. Files was a warm-up in the form of introducing the characters of the first RE game. Who Are These Guys? was a creepy telling of what happened behind the scenes with regards to the unethical scientific experiments that caused zombies and monsters at the mansion to happen. It has a violent ending which made one of the most popular Resident Evil characters look like a murderer (note: I’m surprised it was not controversial). Dangerous Secrets was a creative recap of what happened at the mansion (which follows the game ending involving the rescue of Jill Valentine) and S.T.A.R.S. had such futuristic office equipment to work with (it has a strong sci-fi flavor). Raccoon City – R.I.P. was the build-up of developments leading to the start of Resident Evil 2.

Clearly, the quality of the writing and artworks varied from one story to another. The writing of Who Are These Guys? really stood out nicely due to its creepy vibe and the fine way of telling the story of the scientist who wrote to Ada Wong. Dangerous Secrets also stood out with its dramatization of Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers and Barry Burton who have to move on knowing that a lot of lives were lost and lots of dirty secrets were uncovered. When it comes to the art style used on established RE characters, the zombies and monsters, fans looking for a more realistic take will end up disappointed (example: a few shots of Jill Valentine had a cartoony aesthetic). At the same time, Jim Lee’s only art of Resident Evil was the cover.

Readers looking for spectacle and moments of zombie horror will find something to enjoy here. I can confirm that the creative teams did not hold back on the violence and gore.

WildStorm did not just settle with doing their own literary take on the Resident Evil lore. They even went further by publishing an interview with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami knowing that the fans will enjoy discovering details and revelations through the production side of the video games.

Page 1 of the interview with Mikami.
Page 2.

Going back to the first RE game of 1996, be aware that certain details in this comic book could end up lacking or feel irrelevant given the fact that this was published years before the Resident Evil remake on Nintendo GameCube was released.

Conclusion

Chris Redfield leads the post-mission review.

Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #1 (1998) succeeded in what it was meant to do. It gave readers added insight to the characters and the events – including those that happened off-screen – of the 1996 video game while literally warming them up for Resident Evil 2’s illustrated events. To really enjoy this comic book magazine, it is clear that one has to play BOTH video games to gain at least a basic understanding of what happened and who is who. As it was released at a time when Resident Evil 2 was available and selling a lot of copies, this comic book adaptation turned out to be a helpful read that fans and newcomers can enjoy. It is also a reminder that the late 1990s was an exciting time to be a Resident Evil fan.

Overall, Resident Evil: The Official Comic Book Magazine #1 (1998) is recommended.

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. If you want to support my website, please consider making a donation. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at  @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco/.