Resident Evil 5 Gets New Episodes, Costumes This Spring

In just under a year after the game first launched, Capcom is delivering even more head-shooting, roundhouse-kicking zombie fun to fans of Resident Evil 5 by releasing two new episodes and separate costume packs.

The first episode was teased in the middle of RE5 and given more light in a recent TGS trailer - longtime fans of the series will get to jump back in time to Raccoon City, as Chris and Jill hunt for biohazardous baddie Albert Wesker in the original Spencer Mansion. This episode, "Lost In Nightmares," will be available February 17-18 as DLC on consoles along with the first costume pack. The second episode, of which no details are currently available, will be available a few weeks later starting March 3-4.

If you're like me and can enjoy a whole new experience just by having your character in a different outfit, the costume packs alone will mean quite a bit of added replay value, and apparently they're only going to put you out $2 for each pack. The episodes themselves also seem rather reasonably priced at $5 apiece. When one considers that RE5 itself was made up of only six chapters, it does seem to be a winning proposition, even if the new episodes don't end up quite as long as a full chapter.

Gamers who are getting into next-gen Resident Evil for the first time, or those who've already given up their copy to a friend, zombie, or second-hand retailer, will still have an opportunity to jump back in the game. Capcom has also announced a disc-based version of the original game plus all the bonus content listed here, bearing the moniker of Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, which should see a retail release on March 9 for a beefy $50.

While some of the new content was announced in conjunction with Sony's Glowing-Ball-On-A-Stick motion device, and a playable build of the RE5 has been shown off using it fairly effectively as a pointer, no word has been offered by Capcom as to whether Gold Edition will coincide with the motion controls or whether they'll be patched in later.