Rumor: Resident Evil Wii Announcement Thursday? Code Veronica?

Mystery and intrigue are the order of the day for Resident Evil fans who stand by the Wii today. A number of hints are pointing to an announcement happening at the Resident Evil 5 launch event this Thursday, one which may “please” fans of the series’ Code Veronica title.

But first, to clarify about the launch event: It will be occurring on the eve of the release of Resident Evil 5, on Thursday, March 12th, at Union Square in San Francisco. It kicks off at 8pm, and ends at midnight, when those gathered will go on to purchase a copy of the title for their very own.

From Snow’s Capcom*Unity blog:

…in-between we’ll have plenty going on to keep you busy. For starters, there will be a whole tent dedicated to the game where tons of kiosks will be set up and players will get a chance to get their hands on the game before grabbing it at midnight. You’ll also have the chance to win prizes and giveaways, meet the development team including co-producers, Takeuchi-san and Kawata-san and hang out with the motion capture/voice actors that played Chris, Sheva and Josh. To top it all off there will be new game announcements, stage shows, and Resident Evil activities all through out the night.

“Sure,” you’re thinking. “They probably have tons of games they could be announcing, like MegaMan Legends 3 or Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Duck Tales 3. Who says it’s going to be anything Resident Evil related?”

Well, funny you should ask that. Canadian video game website GameFocus sat down with Capcom Product Manager Matt Dahlgren to talk turkey — or rather, zombie — as they discussed the impending release of Resident Evil 5. Then, somewhere along the way, the question pops up, “is there a chance for Resident Evil 5 getting a port or a RE5 game on the Wii?”

To put it simply, his answer is no. You’ve probably heard the reasons why before.

But then he adds, “With that said though we really cherish our fans on the Wii and Capcom supports the Wii and definitely wants to make sure that we are not alienating our fans of the Resident Evil franchise that own Wii’s so I would say to those users that they should pay attention to the near future and there should be some announcements coming their way in the near future that they should be pleased with.”

Further in, GameFocus tells Dahlgren “One of the staff here loves Code Veronica (Fale) and was wondering if we would see a XBLA or PSN release of this game.”

To that, he replies “Nothing is planned for the game regarding a remake on PSN/XBLA, but what I can say is if you are a fan of Code Veronica you should pay attention in the next couple of weeks there is some news you should be very pleased with. Tell him to pay attention on the 12th (March).”

From there, all I can say is “do the math.” Of course, the Code Veronica tidbit and the “future announcement” could potentially be two different things. Additionally, what if this doesn’t mean a remake/port of Code Veronica, but a new game starring Claire Redfield? That could be pretty cool.

All of this, plus the Producer of Resident Evil 5 expressing interest in doing a Wii title all adds up to something interesting… at least, for the moment.

In any case, Thursday is only a few short, painful days away. We should have our answers then.