Resident Evil 5 release date announced

Resident Evil 5 has been given an official European and US release date of Friday 13th March 2009, on both PS3 and Xbox 360, Capcom confirmed during Microsoft's E3 press conference.

Following a five-minute presentation of the game's co-operative mode, producer Jun Takeuchi climaxed with a date broadly in line with industry expectations. No slippage here, sir.

Meanwhile, Japanese gamers will be getting the game a day earlier, for reasons that elude us. Maybe they're just a little more superstitious than the rest of us.

Capcom also showed off the game's "online co-op" mode, which sees Chris Redfield team up with female character Sheva to take down zombies and solve puzzles. Examples in the E3 demo were a rooftop boost to leap a big gap and Sheva blowing the lock off a door Chris was stuck behind.

Check out our in-depth hands-on with the single-player and co-op Resident Evil 5 for more and be sure to hit Eurogamer TV for a Chris and Sheva gameplay video and another separate Chris Redfield gameplay video.