Sega's Next-Gen Big-Guns Fire Early

Playable showing for House of the Dead 4 in Tokyo suggests that the fantastic E3 demos - such as Virtua Fighter 5 - could show up sooner than expected.

One of the highlights from E3 for Sega fans was a short video clip that showed concept footage for next-generation versions of some of the company's most loved titles.

At the time, Sega was hesitant to comment on whether any of the games were actually in production, but a location test for the newest House of the Dead game, reported by IGN, suggests that the games might be closer than many thought.

House of the Dead 4 was on location test in Tokyo this past weekend, allowing gamers to give the zombie shooter a test run before the final product hits arcades across the country later in the year. The game builds on the series' core concepts, allowing you to mow down moaning undead baddies with a high-calibre light-gun.

The main advances are aesthetic. Unlike the previous series instalments, House of the Dead 4 runs in high-definition on a widescreen display, and because the game is running on Sega's new, more powerful arcade hardware, the developers has been able to get many more zombies on-screens at once - more than a dozen, in some places.

Sega hasn't confirmed which next-generation consoles House of the Dead 4 will be coming for (presuming it does at all), but it bears noting that the company's other next-gen games, Condemned and Full Auto, are slated for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Perhaps more interesting than the location test is the implicit suggestion that the four franchises showcased at E3 are actually more than just concepts. During its E3 next-gen movie clip, Sega showed off rejuvenated versions of Virtua Fighter, After Burner, Sonic The Hedgehog and House of the Dead.

With the latter now shown to be in development, it seems only a matter of time until Sega confirms that we can expect next-generation instalments in its other popular series.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games