We’re looking for a few good men (and/or women!) to give us some feedback on Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for the PC. If you’re an experienced PC FPS player living in the San Francisco Bay Area, and are available to come into the Capcom offices for an afternoon (this is during working hours), send us your information. We’re partnering with Intel to host this limited focus test, and those who are chosen to come in will be very handsomely rewarded with prizing from both Intel and Capcom!

Here’s what we need to know from you:
—Name
—Age (you must be over 18 with valid ID to participate)
—What are the system specs of the machine you play on?
—Which titles have you played in the last 6 months?
—Approximately how many hours per week do you spend playing?
—Phone number at which you may be reached during business hours
—Email address

Send your application to: contest@capcom.com

Openings are very limited, and participant selection is at the sole discretion of Capcom Entertainment Inc. Hope to see you soon.

Just got some interesting behind-the-scenes information on Lost Planet networking for XBOX Live, straight from the development team. Some interesting stuff and news you can use to optimize your XBL Lost Planet experience. Click HERE!

Today at 12:45pm PDT, CNN’s Matt West will be doing a piece on PC gaming which will feature loads of goodness on our very own Lost Planet PC! If you’re unable to catch it live, you can see a repeat of the segment at 4:45pm PDT. After that, you can catch it through On Demand.

Be sure not to miss it!

On August 31 (Friday), we will be conducting an extensive network update on Lost Planet (Xbox 360)!

With this update, players will be able to select from 3 different connection types when they create a mission.

By allowing the player to select the most suitable connection type for their environment, the game’s connectivity could be improved for the players who used to have problems.

There are 3 connection types. Choose the one that matches you best!

[Default]
This is the standard setting regardless of upload speed.

[Pattern A]
This is more suitable when your upload speed is fast.
Try this if your connection is unstable with Default.

[Pattern B]
This is more suitable when your upload speed is slow and your connection is not stable with Default.
Try this if your connection is unstable with Default.

More discussion and some additional details can be found here!

Another new patch for Lost Planet: Extreme Condition PC has just been released. A bug where after the game is launched, if the user enters “PC settings” from the title menu before starting the game, and saves changes to PC settings, the user’s save data will be lost (it will be overwritten by the initial state of the game) has been fixed and the patch should now be live, and a restart of Steam may be required to start the update.

Yesterday’s big PC patch caused an “User Authentication Error”, displaying the ability to play Lost Planet. However, after some diligent work by our engineers, a new patch just released about 30 minutes ago fixes all the major issues our big patched caused yesterday. Among those:

1. Users should no longer encounter the “User Authentication Error” upon login.
2. All players should now be able to create and join multiplayer games.
3. Customized player names return! Lost Planet should no longer be displaying users’ Windows login name as their player name.

However, there is still an outstanding issue with levels and unlocks that were previously achieved but are now reset. This is being looked into, but there is currently no ETA.

Lost Planet PC fans, mark down August 16th on your calendar! A new set of DirectX 10 enhancements for Lost Planet PC will be released as an automatic downloadable patch on August 16th. The will contain specialized DirectX 10 Geometry Shaders designed to take greater advantage of DirectX 10 capabilities to improve overall visual quality, including depth of field effects, motion blur and fur shading.

Check out our Flickr archive to see some comparision screenshots of new effects.

In addition, to answer one of the biggest requests from our Lost Planet PC players, a basic chatting system has been added for the PC version which includes four default message options that can be used to communicate with others in the lobby, in-game and result screen. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.

Finally, PC Map Pack #2 will also be available as with the patch, wtih the multiplayer maps from the Xbox 360 Map Packs #2 and #3, which contained the following four maps: “Battleground,” an abandoned town scattered with rubble from ruined buildings, featuring indoor/outdoor areas with multi-level vantage points; “Lost Technology,” a throw-back to the good ol days of pixelated 8-bit gaming, “Ruins,” ancient temples set amidst a lush jungle; and “Ice Drop,” a frigid glacier with lots of peaks, nooks and crannies.

Xbox 360 fans, we haven’t forgotten about you. The “Lost Technology,” “Ruins,” and “Ice Drop” maps in PC Map Pack #2 are currently available as Map Pack #3 in the Xbox 360 version of Lost Planet. In conjunction with the PC update on August 16th, all these maps will also be made available for free download on Xbox Live Marketplace.

Alas, a new patch addressing connectivity for players of the Xbox 360 version will be available in the next few weeks.

See Brian’s latest LP blog post for more details.

Lost Planet fans, circle July 20th on your calendar.

A host of new features for Lost Planet PC will be released as an automatic downloadable patch from Steam on July 20th as a whopping 400MB update. The new features include new playable characters “Frank West” of Dead Rising fame, “Joe” a character from the Lost Planet storyline and one of Capcoms most beloved characters, “Mega Man.” The download will also feature several new view modes including a “Resident Evil 4” style view and a new “Wide” view option. Multiplayer mode has been updated and now includes a list of connected players for easy reference. A movie mode has also been added to the game which enables players to watch all the in-game story line cut scenes back to back.

In addition, PC Map Pack #1 will be available for free download on the same day and includes the following maps: “Radar Field,” a close quarters facility which is under construction and has a giant radar that provides a peak vantage point; “Island 902,” a sprawling Pacific-themed battlefield with several islands connected by bridges as well as vast underwater areas; “Hive Complex,” an abandoned mine with twisting tunnels and bridges set on a war-blasted mountain side; and “Trial Point,” a modern day office complex featuring a photorealistic backdrop of a busy city center.

For our Xbox 360 community of Lost Planet fans, the four maps in PC Map Pack #1 are currently available as Map Pack #1 and #2 in the Xbox 360 version of Lost Planet. However, in conjunction with the PC update on July 20th, all these maps will also be made available for free download on Xbox Live Marketplace. In addition, Xbox 360 players can expect a new patch addressing connectivity which will be available around the end of this month.

Make sure you click on the links for more screenshots, and remember, this is only the beginning. More updates are planned as well in the coming months, so stay tuned!

A new patch should be live on Steam now for Lost Planet PC users. This patch enables Lost Planet single-player to be played in offline mode, no longer requiring an Internet connection just to play single player.

Don’t worry, more patches and fixes are on the way as well.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition PC goes live today on Steam at 3pm PDT. Experience the multiplayer mayhem that made Lost Planet a platinum seller on the Xbox 360, on your PC! Some of us here at Capcom will be online and in-game once the game goes live today, so come join us.

And, dude! It has mechs. ‘Nuff said.

Now go on. Shoo! Get Lost!