Resident Evil 6 Launch Party
On a warm Friday night in Hollywood, California, Ginger “GNB Cosplay” Burton walked towards Lure nightclub cosplaying as Rebecca Chambers from Resident Evil Zero. The line for the club wrapped around the block with most of the attendees in line since four in the afternoon. Ginger arrived a little after seven-thirty that night, but was not surprised by the line; Nas was headlining after all.
No, the people in line weren’t there to see Nas perform live, or to go clubbing on a Friday night, well some were, but most were there for the Resident Evil 6 video game launch party. Capcom has been re-making and adding to the Resident Evil franchise since the ‘90s and the PSone was called Playstation.
If you have been under a rock and haven’t played up to now, then let me give you a quick overview. The game centers on a few key characters: Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield. They are out to accomplish two things: survive, and stop the Umbrella corporation from continuing their research with the T-virus, G-virus, Las Plagas… basically anything that turns the general public into a zombie. This game has added a few new playable characters including Sheri Burken, someone we met as a child back in Resident Evil 2, and Piers Nivans, Chris’s partner. Like the other games in the franchise, you must fight zombies, solve puzzles, help your partner, and most importantly make it out alive. What we can tell from playing the demo is that you don’t have a knife to shake off zombies, instead you use hand-to-hand combat to throw zombies off of roof-tops, kick them or, the most effective way to stop the undead: stomp its head into the ground.
During the evening festivities, Capcom, IGN, and Xbox sponsored demos of the new game by having multiple game stations available for the attendees. The demos were playable by two players simultaneously and with multiple missions. The rest of the club was outfitted with zombie models that attendees were able to take photos with, zombie go-go dancers, and even an airbrush make-up artist that could make you into a flesh-eating zombie.
As mentioned earlier, the night of zombie fun also included Rap artist Nas to perform about halfway into the night. He performed a mix of his old-school records as well as his new music, which was great for everyone overall because some people only came for Nas, but others came for the Resident Evil release, but each enjoyed the music of the evening from both the live entertainment and the DJ.
The night wasn’t over-run with cosplayers surprisingly. I actually expected more than what I saw, but some people just wanted to game and meet with other gamers and fans of the franchise. I, as well as many other fans were lucky enough to meet with the game’s producers Yoshiaki Hirabayashi and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, whom came all the way from Japan for the launch of the new game. They were very excited that so many people came out for the game they worked on and was excited to know what everyone thought. They truly were enjoyable to talk to and were even kind enough to talk to us [fans] during the evening, they even danced with us on the dance floor and encouraged us to play against them in the game. A few of the voice actors made an appearance to enjoy the release, and they couldn’t have been more nicer to their fans! All and all the evening was definitely worth attending. Whether it was for the release of Resident Evil 6 or just to enjoy a pre-Halloween type event, it was a major success.
Oh and I do recommend playing the game. With smarter zombies, being able to aim, shoot, and move simultaneously, and a whole new story line, it is definitely worth a try! And the Call of Duty-like mission for Chris Redfield? Loads of fun!
~Ginger “GNB Cosplay” Burton for Chocolate Covered Cosplay
Photos by Ginger Burton and Thee SycoTik
