In another semi-surprising move today, Capcom announced a new collection of the Resident Evil REmasters coming out in 2016.  I say “semi” because, at least personally, I expected this move 100%.  What I did not expect was it to be announced right now, in Summer 2015, nor did I expect the price to be $20.  I’m not holding that price point as gospel at this point in time, because GameSpot is the only place I see a price point.  They also list the release as “Early 2016” for North America (and 1/22/16 for Europe) whereas IGN lists the date as 1/19/16 for North America.  I’d like to believe both sides on the pair of info they give us, because it’s good news all around, but until I see it from Capcom, it’s all conjecture and semantics.  I also want to point out I can’t find concrete evidence that a physical collection is also coming to PC, but I’m going to assume it will be there in one form or another.

UPDATE:  The Collection is available on XB1 and PS4 only and retails for $39.99.  Well worth that price in my humble opinion.

Having said that, it’s interesting to note that if the unconfirmed release date of Resident Evil 0 is later than the unconfirmed date listed from IGN as 1/19/16, the first place to get Zero would be from this collection.  I already own REmake digitally (obviously) and if this set is really $20, it’s a no-brainer for me to get the physical release.  it’s my preferred method of choice, since I love collecting physical goods and see too many issues lately with digital purchases, but, if having it a day or week or whatever time period ahead of a digital release is on the table, that’s even more incentive.  It may upset digital-only fans, but, it hopefully won’t discourage them too much.  Assuming the price is $20 again digitally, even if you already owned the 1st game like I do, this seems like a great choice overall and if you decide to get digital only, the complaints can’t be too harsh, assuming fans have had a year head start on the collection by that point.  A price reduction for a collection shouldn’t be that big a deal, but what do I know?  I once ate bugs on camera.

If you aren’t familiar with REmake or even Resident Evil as a whole, this is the perfect place to jump in, hang on, and enjoy the crazy and survival-horror themed ride.  The originator of the genre (depending on who you ask) is here in all it’s remade and updated glory.  Considered by many to be the greatest remake of all time and a major fan-favorite just in general in terms of video game history, this game is in this author’s humble opinion, one not to be missed.  If you haven’t gotten on this train or haven’t decided to play the updated game just yet, you’re doing yourself a disservice, if not only because of just plain fun, but if you are a video game historian (yes, they exist and are just as important), this is something you can’t miss.

I could go on and on, rambling incoherently about this series, but I won’t subject you to that.  I just leave you with this:  I am even more excited after today’s duo of news  pieces from Capcom, and that’s saying something, because I was already pretty damn high on RE0 REmaster as it was.  It makes the wait even more difficult, but that light at the end of the tunnel just got even more bright.  I only hope I don’t end up blind staring down there for too long.