Capcom Vancouver, the studio primarily responsible for the development of Capcom's Dead Rising series as well as Puzzle Fighter on mobile, has been shut down.

In a statement provided to Kotaku, the publisher said that the decision to close Capcom Vancouver had been made following a review of the titles currently in development at the studio. It has now "decided to cancel the development projects at this studio" and will "concentrate development of major titles in Japan."

As a result of the closure, 158 jobs will be lost at Capcom Vancouver. However, a skeleton staff will remain in place until January next year in order to "finalise closure operations and logistics".

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Developer Capcom Vancouver believes it has now quashed the cynicism surrounding Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, the Dead Rising 2 spin-off that re-imagines the game from Frank West's perspective.

When Off the Record was announced in April many fans complained that it was a cynical cash-in, with some even suggesting it should have been downloadable content for Dead Rising 2.

Two months later, Capcom Vancouver believes those complaints have been addressed with key announcements made at E3.

"We always knew with E3 after Captivate we had to show more," executive producer Jason Leigh told Eurogamer.

"And the two things I guess could be perceived as negative that came out of Captivate were, how different is it, and what's the price? Those two things didn't really get answered at that show.

"Here, what we've done in showing the Theme Park and this giant new environment and this new gameplay we've added, that answers the first question.

"And now we can finally reveal the price, which is $39.99 for North America."

Off the Record's Theme Park area is bigger than any in Dead Rising 2. The game features new weapons, new combo weapons and new bosses, yet to be revealed.

Then there's the new playable character – photojournalist Frank West.

"There's a ton of added value here," Leigh continued. "We have the new environment, weapons, combo weapons, new clothing, food items, vehicles, new bosses and the new story.

"It's a much bigger game than Dead Rising 2 was.

"Either for return players coming back, they'll get a very different experience, or for people who have never played a Dead Rising game, or perhaps have only played the first one, they're getting a full-fledged product for a budget price. That's awesome."

Eurogamer caught a glimpse of Off the Record at Capcom's Captivate event in April.

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Capcom management abandoned interest in new IP to force development of sequels, former Capcom head of development Keiji Inafune has alleged.

Studio bosses keen to cut costs opted for a policy of systemic sequelisation, Inafune claimed in an address at a Kyoto university (translated by Andriasang).

New titles - including Inafune's Dead Rising and Lost Planet - were initially rejected.

Within Capcom, the official line was an output consisting of 70 to 80 per cent sequels. But Inafune said the promised 20 per cent of budget to work on new franchises never materialised.

In practice any new idea pitched would be denied.

How did Inafune get around this? The Mega Man co-creator continued work on Lost Planet and Dead Rising despite management rejecting prototypes.

By spending over budget by as much as 400 per cent, Inafune hoped bosses would be forced to greenlight projects to recoup losses. The gamble paid off - Dead Rising and its sequel have sold millions of units.

If he had failed, Inafune suspected he would have been "fired for war crimes".

Inafune quit Capcom suddenly last October after seeing Dead Rising 2 launch. He had devoted more than 23 years to the company.

The money-year is up for Capcom and the numbers are in. They're positive - very.

Sales were up 46 per cent on the year prior, amounting to a 258 per cent profit-leap to 7.8 billion yen (£59 million / $96 million).

PSP game Monster Hunter Freedom 3 "played the lead role in improving Capcom's business performance" with an enormous 4.6 million copies shipped in Japan alone. Capcom called it the "fastest selling" game in "PSP history".

PS3 and Xbox 360 newcomers Dead Rising 2 and Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds both sold more than 2 million copies (DR 2.2 million, MVC3 2 million).

Super Street Fighter IV (released at the beginning of Capcom's financial year) battled its way to a modest 1.6 million sales.

Lost Planet 2 managed 1.5 million sales.

"The result was a history-making milestone of five million-seller titles in total," said Capcom.

But where are the numbers for Super Street Fighter IV 3DS? They're nowhere to be seen on the money report.

In April, Capcom announced that more than 1 million copies of the new handheld game had been shipped around the world. Perhaps they didn't all sell. Super Street Fighter IV 3DS was released on 26th February in Japan, 25th March in Europe and 27th March in the US.

Capcom's financial year ended on 31st March 2011.

The veteran developer and publisher expects a less impressive take for the year ahead. Does that mean there's no Monster Hunter on the horizon for NGP launch?

Earlier this year, Capcom announced its biggest project ever, Dragon's Dogma, for release in 2012. Development of the game is lead by the producer and director of Devil May Cry 4.

Dragon's Dogma is an open world fantasy game about a hero who is given quests by a mysterious dragon. A special grab ability allows your hero to latch on to and climb huge monsters.

Wesley Yin-Poole took a much closer look at Capcom's exciting new game.

Video: Capcom's New Hope: Dragon's Dogma.

Dead Rising star Frank West is finally coming to the PlayStation 3 after five years of Xbox 360 exclusivity – and Off the Record developer Capcom Vancouver predicts Sony fans will welcome him with open arms.

Dead Rising launched exclusively on the Xbox 360 in 2006. Dead Rising 2 launched across multiple platforms, but features motocross champion Chuck Greene instead. Downloadable add-on Case West launched, like prequel Case Zero, exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade.

All of which means Off the Record, which re-imagines Dead Rising 2 with fan favourite Frank West in the starring role, provides PlayStation 3 owners with their first opportunity to play as the quick witted photojournalist.

"It's fantastic," Capcom Vancouver co-founder Jason Leigh said of the move at Capcom's Captivate event last week. "If you're a Sony fan and you've got a PlayStation 3 and not a 360, you haven't had an opportunity at this point to play as Frank West.

"Perhaps you bought Dead Rising 2 and you've played the game as Chuck Greene, but that experience is very, very different. This isn't just a character swap and we're done. This is a very different story and a very different experience.

It's really exciting for PS3 fans and they're going to get an awesome game. I can't wait to see what the reaction is from those fans around the character and the story. They will really embrace Frank."

In September last year Capcom denied it was "alienating" PS3-owning Dead Rising fans following the announcement of Xbox Live-exclusive downloadable game Dead Rising 2: Case West.

Following Case West's Tokyo Game Show reveal PS3 gamers complained that they were being denied the beginning and end of the upcoming zombie kill-em-up.

"I think Inafune [Keiji, then head of global R&D] said that we're sorry that it seems like you're getting a little bit less of the Dead Rising 2 universe, but you'll still be able to enjoy the full game," insisted co-producer Shinsaku Ohara in an interview with Eurogamer.

"You'll just miss a little bit of extra. We haven't completely alienated PS3 gamers because Dead Rising 2 is a standalone boxed product."

Inafune had previously explained the Xbox 360 exclusivity of Dead Rising 2's downloadable games. "Dead Rising was our very first Xbox 360 title and Microsoft supported the title all the way," Ohara said.

"At the beginning we didn't know that this new IP would be a success, but the fans on the console really assisted in making it into one. So it's like a present, something that we gave back to the original Dead Rising fans."

While PS3 owners now have the opportunity to play as Frank West, he is a different beast than he was in the first game – and even Case West.

"Frank after the Willamette incident in Dead Rising became famous," Leigh explained to Eurogamer. "He managed to break the story, so he had a successful book and a talk show. He let the fame go to his head and let himself go and gained a little bit of weight.

"Here we are several years later and he's coming to Fortune City, and he's trying to resurrect his career. He's trying to get on TV, make a name for himself again. You're going to see how that plays out in the story."

Eurogamer's Dead Rising 2: Off the Record preview is live now.

Video: First Dead Rising 2: Off The Record trailer.

Capcom will release a "fan's version" of zombie kill-em-up Dead Rising 2 this autumn as a full retail disc release.

Off the Record replaces motocross champion Chuck Greene with Frank West, the photojournalist star of the first Dead Rising.

It presents a what if? scenario that re-imagines the Fortune City outbreak as if West experienced it.

In doing so Off the Record marks the first time Sony fans will experience Frank West – the first game and the second game's downloadable prequel and sequel, Case Zero and Case West, were Xbox 360 exclusives.

Developer Capcom Vancouver, previously known as Blue Castle Games before Capcom bought it, told press at Captivate last week that the game was more than a re-skin.

The re-imagining features a new story, tougher enemies, new combo weapons, quicker load times, a mysterious new mode, and co-op play with West as the lead character and Greene as the supporting character.

And, of course, West's camera returns.

West shows up in Fortune City as a washed up celebrity hoping to rekindle his career with a guest appearance on the Terror is Reality game show.

Eurogamer saw a live demonstration of the game's first 15 minutes Capcom's Captivate event last week and returned with an Dead Rising 2: Off the Record preview. Debut trailer and screenshots are below.

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Did you play zombie kill-em-up Dead Rising 2? If so, Capcom wants to know what you thought of it.

The Japanese company has created an online survey for gamers to fill in and thus help provide feedback on the Blue Castle-created game.

"After the successful launch of Dead Rising 2, I wanted to go back and analyse what went right and what may have gone wrong with the game using feedback from community," begins the survey. "If you have played the game at all, please take the time to answer a few questions below! Your feedback is valuable!"

Questions include: Did you complete the game? What is your favourite part about Dead Rising 2? What is your LEAST favourite part about Dead Rising 2? If you could change one thing about Dead Rising 2, what would it be? Did you enjoy Chuck Greene as the protagonist? Did you purchase Case Zero or Case West?

Following the launch of Dead Rising 2, which has gone on to sell 2.2 million copies, Capcom announced the acquisition of Canadian developer Blue Castle and renamed it to Capcom Game Studio Vancouver.

Downloadable game Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is one of the best-selling XBLA titles ever, selling over 600,000.

There's a strong chance of a Dead Rising 3, then.

Dead Rising 2, a game about killing lots and lots of zombies in inventive ways, was released in September 2010. Simon Parkin reviewed Dead Rising 2 for Eurogamer, awarding it a healthy 8/10.

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Controversial Xbox Live Arcade exclusive Dead Rising 2: Case West will release next month, Capcom's announced.

The downloadable game sees photojournalist Frank West return to Fortune City to investigate Phenotrans and find proof of its involvement with the zombie outbreaks.

Epilogue Case West is set immediately after the events of Dead Rising 2, and sees Frank team up with Chuck Greene in co-op action.

The duo set out on a brand new case set in the Phenotrans Facility on the outskirts of Fortune City.

There are new challenges, new enemies and new weapons. New Combo weapons are also possible, such as the Zap & Shine and the Reaper.

The incredibly annoying task of rescuing human survivors will also feature. Yay.

As already revealed, Frank can take photographs. Expect cameo appearances from characters from the original Dead Rising.

If you play Case West on your lonesome, you'll control Chuck, with the AI handling Frank – he's invulnerable in this mode.

At the Tokyo Game Show 2010 Capcom denied it was "alienating" PS3-owning Dead Rising fans with Case West, despite it being an Xbox Live Arcade esxclusive.

Following Case West's Tokyo Game Show reveal PS3 gamers complained that they were being denied the beginning and end of the upcoming zombie kill-em-up.

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This year's break-out success on Xbox Live Arcade was Dead Rising 2: Case Zero - the downloadable prologue to Dead Rising 2.

Capcom revealed that as of the end of October, the game's total sales were over 600,000.

"Crazy! Thanks to everyone for making it a big success!" wrote Capcom's jgonzo on his blog.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero sales are so high that it's the fifth best selling XBLA game according to leaderboard activity, recorded by GamerBytes (via GameSetWatch)

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero added over 100,000 sales to its already impressive tally throughout October.

Before that, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero made headlines as the fastest-selling XBLA game ever.

In fact, so bowled over by Case Zero's success has Capcom been, that the publisher seems to be considering DLC as an alternative to traditional advertising.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero fills the gap between DR1 and DR2. It also introduces new hero Chuck Greene. What did we think? Christian Donlan awarded Dead Rising 2: Case Zero 8/10.

Video: The first 15 minutes of Case Zero.

Capcom's corpse-littered action game Dead Rising 2 has shipped two million units around the world, the publisher has announced.

Coincidentally, Capcom's purchase of developer Blue Castle Games has been blessed by the Canadian government. And from here on out, the studio will be known as Capcom Game Studio Vancouver.

Blue Castle bucks the trend of Capcom partnerships with Western developers producing flops. In January this year a defiant Capcom said it wouldn't create new IP outside of Japan again, stomp.

The Dead Rising series has now accounted for over four million sales.

There's a strong chance of a Dead Rising 3, then. In fact, Keiji Inafune - Capcom inventor and maker of Dead Rising 2 - wants this new zombie IP to replace Resident Evil as the publisher's main series.

Dead Rising 2, a game about killing lots and lots of zombies in inventive ways, was released in September. Capcom also found success with an Xbox Live Arcade prequel to Dead Rising 2.

Simon "poetry" Parkin reviewed Dead Rising 2 for Eurogamer.

Video: The first 15 minutes of Dead Rising 2.