TOKYO - Capcom introduced its new PlayStation title Dino Crisis at a press conference in Tokyo on Friday. The title will make its Japanese premier March 19-21 at the Tokyo Game Show and will be released in Japan in July - and later this fall in the US. A playable version of the game will be shown at this year's E3 - which takes place in Los Angeles on May 13, 14, and 15.

　　At the press conference, the game's producer Shinji Mikami (of Resident Evil fame) and Capcom's outspoken executive Yoshiki Okamoto talked about the game. The basic story goes like this:

　　A young scientific genius, Professor Kirk, is working on an experiment to create the ultimate energy source, the "Principle of Clean Energy." During one of the experiments, Kirk dies in a freak accident. He had gone further than anyone else in this new area of research, and if his study bore fruit, it would have brought forth a new era to a now-polluted Earth.

　　Fast forward three years. A spy whose mission was to search for military secrets discovers some surprising information about Kirk's whereabouts. The scientist that was supposed to be dead from the accident is still living and continuing his research in a military installation on an isolated island. To confirm this, other members of the espionage team head to the military installation. But awaiting them on the island is a hell beyond their imagination.

　　Graphically (and different from Resident Evil) the game is comprised of fully 3D polygonal environments. But when you look at the game, you can't stop thinking of it as an alternate version of Resident Evil. In fact, so far the game plays a lot like Resident Evil. But the horror emphasized in Dino Crisis is a little bit different from that in RE.

　　Aside from gore situation, if RE's horrified element conveyed an eerie atmosphere, DC is a more focuesed on direct fear. This world is filled with huge enemies and energetic dinosaurs. As we saw on video, there were raptors, tyrannosaurs and even pterosaurs to lift you into the sky by grabbing your arms. It not only makes you immobile, the pterosaur can also make you breakfast. The footage we were shown included quite shocking scenes - like showing a dismembered body. While game producer Shinji Mikami said he thinks there's no problem with the game's content, he confessed that everyone will not be happy about it and it might be toned down in some way.

　　Players will deal with RE-style puzzles - like activating/de-activating tracking lasers, dinosaurs that can smash through walls to surprise you at any time, and realistic light sourcing, which adds to the overall mood of the game. To give you an idea of the kind of detail Capcom is going for, two example we were shown: one showed blood trails that drip onto the ground, another was an instance where one's character steps more cautiously when trouble is near.

　　While the unveiling of PS2 is imminent, Okamoto said that still there's some room to be explored on the PlayStation, and that fully polygonal games like Dino Crisis are the answer.

　　The company originally wanted to release the game within this fiscal year (before the end of March), but that didn't happen because of a delay in development.