Devil May Cry PC port outsourced, due after console versions

Want to run Devil May Cry at 60 frames per second on PC? You'll have to wait until after the console versions are released.

Capcom US producer Alex Jones told Eurogamer at the Tokyo Game Show today that the company is working hard to get the PC version ready to launch as soon after the console versions as possible. DmC launches on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 15th January 2013.

"I can't give you a day and date," he said. "What I can say we're endeavouring to get it out as shortly after the main game as possible so there's as little a gap between those two as we can reasonably get.

So what's the hold up? Jones confirmed to us that Ninja Theory is not making the PC version of Devil May Cry, and this means there are "logistical things involved".

The PC job has been outsourced to Polish QA, porting and localisation specialist QLOC, which has worked on the PC versions of a number of Capcom games, including Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition and Street Fighter x Tekken.

"Because it's being developed out of house by a different developer from Ninja Theory there are logistical things involved," Jones said. "But the plan is to get it out shortly after the ship date for the console version."

Unsure of QLOC? Capcom executives have been impressed by its previous work on Capcom titles, and Jones described it as "a pretty tight outfit".

Jones was unable to discuss PC-specific features but some fans hope to take advantage of more powerful hardware and crank up the frame rate. On console DmC runs at 30fps, in contrast to previous games in the series.

Yesterday Capcom released a new DmC trailer, below, that left some fans wondering whether Dante's posh, Fedora-wearing brother Virgil was a playable character. Jones confirmed this is not the case.

"I want to be definitive," he said. "He's not playable in the game. I don't want to be coy about that and have people think they're getting one thing when they're getting another."

Jones was more forthcoming on the role of Sparda, mentioned in the trailer. "The whole backdrop of Sparda is he's hired Virgil and Dante, so he's present in that regard. The history of his end is a big motivating part of the story. He's not an explicitly walking and talking character in the game."

Ninja Theory's DmC operates in a kind of parallel DmC universe, so is in many regards separate to the Capcom-made games in the series. "It's its own chronology," Jones said. "So what we've known of Sparda in the past doesn't necessarily hold. It maybe holds substantially. Maybe not. We're not allowed to talk about it right now. But you shouldn't assume it'll be a literal transference of what he was in this one. But it'll heavily leverage it."

The new trailer showcased a new weapon, too, the Gauntlets, which DmC fans will remember. This demon-aligned weapon is one of the heavier and slower in the game, and can be used to counter rushing enemies out of dash attacks.

In DmC certain moves or combinations or equipped weapons have higher impact effects on certain other enemies. Some enemies are vulnerable to a specific combo from a certain weapon. Other enemies are vulnerable to a certain weapon type, no matter the combo. And some are vulnerable to only one weapon until you do a certain thing that destroys a shield or some other protective device they have. The Gauntlets have a similar function, Jones explained, "where they will be the Kryptonite weapon to a couple of the enemies' either attacks or the enemies themselves".