Lost Planet eclipsing PCs in June, sequel possible

Ever since its release in January, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition has been a runaway success. The solidly reviewed Xbox 360 title was the best selling game on all non-PC platforms in January, selling over 408,000 copies in the US alone. By the end of February, that tally had shot up to in excess of 527,000 units, according to the latest Figures from the NPD group. To date, the game has topped the 1 million mark sales-wise worldwide.

Now, it appears that Lost Planet will be pulling another platform into its orbit. According to a press release from graphics-chip-maker Nvidia's Japanese subsidiary, Capcom's sci-fi shooter will blast its way onto the PC. Nvidia says it helped Capcom optimize the game so it can use Microsoft DirectX 10 and reach resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600 pixels. However, DirectX 10 is not required to run the game. Naturally, Nvidia touted its GeForce 8 series of GPUs as being the best graphics chips to run Lost Planet on PCs.

[UPDATE] Last night at its Gamers Day San Francisco, Capcom showed off the PC version Lost Planet to a gathering of the game press. It also announced the game would go on sale in North America fairly soon--this coming June--for the retail price of $39.99. Like the 360 version, it will be rated T for Teen.

Since it was originally touted as an Xbox 360 exclusive, Lost Planet's arrival on the PC has irked platform partisans. Capcom's message to them is simple: Get used to it. At the event, the company unveiled its "Internal Framework," a development system which will allow a single game to be developed for multiple platforms simultaneously from the get-go. "We're definitely going to start taking the tack of putting out titles out on multiple platforms," Jack Symon, Capcom's director of brand marketing, told GameSpot.

When asked about the possibility of Lost Planet coming to the PlayStation 3, Symon was vague. "I do think you are going to see announcements going forward with a multiplatform strategy," he said. He was similarly cagey when queried point-blank about a Lost Planet sequel. "Lost Planet performed incredibly well on the 360, and we're excited to put it out on the PC platform," said Symon, "We're definitely proud to have a new IP, and there will be more on Lost Planet for sure."

Symon also said that, like the 360 version, the PC Lost Planet will get content updates that can be downloaded via the Web. However, he would not comment on any pricing or timing.