Capcom unveiled its earnings statements for Fiscal Year 2007 earlier today, quoting an 11.5 percent increase in its net sales, a 36.6 percent increase in its operating income, a jump in ordinary income by 15.7 percent, and an overall net income boost of 33.4 percent. Capcom's financial year ended on March 31, 2008. All results were compared to those of Fiscal Year 2006, which ended on the same date in 2007.

The reasons for all the increases and grinning Capcom executives? Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, and Devil May Cry 4, which Capcom claimed to have "achieved robust sales particularly in overseas markets." Also lending to the hefty increases were Monster Hunter 2 and Monster Hunter 2G, which made "satisfactory sales in Japan."

Rumors of Blizzard Entertainment (finally) announcing Diablo 3 are almost as common as Duke Nukem Forever development setbacks. The latest comes in the form of a tantalizing tease from PC Gamer in regards to the next issue's cover story, which is due out next month:

"Have you ever had a secret that you're just dying to blurt out, but you can't for another month, and the stress of holding it in makes you want to do the pee-pee dance? That's what the PC Gamer staff is doing right now, because the August issue will be chock-full of exclusives, including a top-secret cover story so huge we had to go to [CENSORED] to get it. Just 30 days more ..."

With many sites speculating so far as to suggest that "CENSORED" could refer to hell, the timing of this latest rumor in relation to upcoming Blizzard events lends credence to the possibility of an announcement. After digging through some admittedly far-fetched pseudo-evidence, BlizzPlanet pointed out that the 30-day mark mentioned by PC Gamer falls in line with Blizzard's 2008 Worldwide Invitational, which takes place at the end of June. Could an unveiling of the anticipated sequel take place?

Shacknews.com contacted a Blizzard Entertainment representative, who unsurprisingly responded that Blizzard's "focus remains on StarCraft II and Wrath of the Lich King. I'm afraid I don't have any new plans to announce at this time."

At this time? As in, right now? Of course you don't - but next month? We'll have to wait and see.

First Strike, the Star Wars modification for Battlefield 2142, has released their newest version today. This new version, numbered 1.2, thankfully keeps with tradition and continues to ignore the awful prequel trilogy. No, First Strike is about the classics, and they are going to keep it that way!

Featuring 7 new maps, 7 new vehicles, some big bugfixes, and persistent stat tracking, this new patch expands the already excellent Star Wars conversion. If you are a Star Wars fan who plays Battlefield 2142, this is a must-have. If you aren't a Star Wars fan, but still play Battlefield 2142, it's worth a looksee anyways, as the gameplay is more fun and engaging than the already quite good Battlefront series. Pick up the new client over on their official site.

About a month ago, the sequel to the amazing indie game Noitu Love was released. Aptly titled Noitu Love 2, the game's quirky charm and much more action-y feel drew me in and made me pick it up for the $20 that was asked of me. Being no slouch in the music department, the game has a multitude of original tunes composed by Konjak alongside the decidely retro gameplay. Konjak has generously released these kickin' tunes to the general public for free if you happen to want them. Whether you've played the game or not, the music is a great addition to any collection, and as it's free, it's even better for your consumption. You can download it through Konjak's developer blog.

[Via TIGSource]

Won IL SUH, Senior Vice President of Neowiz, echoed He's sentiments, saying that "G4BOX is an excellent partner to bring Cross Fire to western gamers."

Look for the military-themed FPS later this fall.

Our sister site GameDaily had a chance to sit down with Epic designer Cliff Bleszinski and decided the best use of the time would be to answer questions from readers. Having gone through various submissions GameDaily's interview covered everything from a 17-year old Cliff getting a personal phone call from Mark Rein sharing ideas for a game he made and sent to what would later be Epic Games, the advancements in the Unreal Engine 3 and why Cliff ditched his Dodge Viper.

Aspiring game makers should take note as the game designer, formally known as CliffyB, outlines a few key approaches to entering the industry successfully. "A great deal of our employees at Epic got started in the mod community and now they're living the dream of making AAA fun titles," Cliff explains.

Epic Games has been known to entice MOD makers by releasing tools to the community and recently announcing the $1,000,000 Intel Make Something Unreal Contest which runs until the end of 2009. Make sure to check out the rest of the interview at GameDaily.

There's nothing we like more than driving down the road, clocking well over the speed limit blaring tunes from the 1940's and thankfully Bethesda is allowing us to continue our odd obsession. Today the Bethesda Blog tipped gamers to a GameStop pre-order exclusive for Fallout 3. Pre-ordering the anticipated title will net players a five-track CD soundtrack and a Brotherhood of Steel poster.

Mixing tunes from the 40's as well as original tracks from the game's composer Inon Zur, the CD is a nice incentive to pre-order a game that's already on our radar. Wondering what you're in for? You can sample some of the music from the official Fallout 3 site.

The back panel of the CD sleeve can be found after the jump with a listing of available tracks. Bethesda Softworks' anticipated Fallout 3 is due for release this fall.

Breathe a sigh of relief PC multiplayer fans because your moment have truth has come to pass. The standalone multiplayer version of Postal 2: Share the Pain has been released for free. Downloading the 597mb package nets you 14 maps, 25 playable characters, 11 weapons and 4 game types.

What possessed developer Running With Scissors to release the multiplayer freeware? Could it be the Boll-directed Postal film that is lighting up a record-setting 18 theaters? Or is it to celebrate the franchise's 10th Anniversary of mediocrity? Either way, all your urination-joke fueled fun is available now!

Download the Postal 2: Share the Pain from Big Download today!

A few days ago it looked like the planned movie version of Postal was going to appear in just four theaters for its May 23 opening date. Now a new press release from Postal developers Running With Scissors seems to indicate a slightly bigger opening for the Uwe Boll-directed dark satire. According to the official Postal web site the movie will actually be in 14 theaters on May 23.

The web site indicates theaters like the famous Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas along with locations in Denver, Santa Monica, Chicago and others will screen the movie on the opening weekend. A San Fransisco theater will screen the movie on May 30. Of course if you aren't located near one of the listed theaters don't fret; the movie is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray on August 26.

Blizzard recently had members of the press attend a special event to learn more about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King but now the expansion's official web site has also been updated with more info about what people can expect when the expansion is released.

The new info covers the recently revealed Death Knight class along with some new wallpapers and an overall preview of some new gameplay features that will be included in Wrath of the Lich King. It looks like there will be some changes in the quests (including vehicles) along with some changes for raids and dungeons as well. While Blizzard's parent company Vivendi has recently revealed that Wrath of the Lich King is set for release sometime in the second half of 2008, Blizzard itself has yet to reveal a release date.

We've reported on it before, but it bears repeating: Mount & Blade is an excellent little cavalry/siege simulation on its way to indie stardom. The last time we'd mentioned it, it had just hit version 0.950, well on its way towards release. Now the game has been updated again, resting the version number at the nice round 0.952.

Included in this update are a slew of new features, completely reworked dialog, and various balance and bug fixes for your gaming pleasure. If you picked up 0.950, you'll only need to download the patch to experience all the new goodies. If this is your first time seeing Mount & Blade, though, you'll need the full install. It acts as basically a demo for the retail version of the game, which will be released for $40 upon completion through Paradox Interactive's GamersGate (Paradox is better know for their excellent Hearts of Iron and Europa Universalis series).

[Via Blue's News]

It's finally here. After what seems like years of waiting the first chapter in the planned episodic RPG-adventure game series Penny Arcade Adventures is finally available for download and purchase. The first episode, titled On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, is available in PC, Mac and even Linux flavors (there's also a version for Xbox 360 owners to download via Xbox Live Arcade if you swing that way).

Big Download has all three demos of the Hothead Games developed title for you to download which gives you a taste of the full "M"-rated title. While the game has all of the comic book style art of the Penny Arcade web comic strip it's definately not for the kids as "Tycho" and "Gabe" are involved in a mysterious detective agency who deal with H.P. Lovecraft style horrors. The full game can be purchased at the Greenhouse web site for $19.95.

Download the PC demo of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One at Big Download now.

Download the Mac demo of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One at Big Download now.

Download the Linux demo of Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One at Big Download now.

The folks at S2 Games released their multiplayer FPS-RTS hybrid game Savage 2 several months ago ago and now they are pulling out all of the stops to get new players to purchase the full game. The official Savage 2 message board has revealed that beginning at noon EST on Friday May 23 everyone will have access to the full game. The free play will last until 11:59 pm EST on Monday, May 26.

In addition, if you play well enough you will be able to win some cash this weekend. S2 Games will set up a new experience ladder during the free play weekend and the top five players with the most experience during that time will win money with the top prize being $250. You can get the full game right here at Big Download beforehand and play it for five hours free before the free play weekend begins.