PS3 Tech

PS3 Tech theme by Christopher Lord

Download: PS3Tech.p3t

PS3 Tech Theme
(1 background)

P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon

This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!

Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip

Instructions:

Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.

The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.

The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].

For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.

Dragonball Z versionD 02

Dragonball Z versionD 02 theme by Deemy

Download: DragonballZverD02.p3t

Dragonball Z versionD 02 Theme
(15 backgrounds)

P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon

This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!

Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip

Instructions:

Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.

The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.

The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].

For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.

Dragonball versionD

Dragonball versionD theme by Deemy

Download: DragonballversionD.p3t

Dragonball versionD Theme
(7 backgrounds)

P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon

This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!

Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip

Instructions:

Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.

The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.

The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].

For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.

Yes, We Can!

Yes, We Can! theme by DriveForSix

Download: YesWeCan.p3t

Yes, We Can! Theme
(6 backgrounds)

P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon

This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!

Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip

Instructions:

Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.

The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.

The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].

For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton theme by Hamilton Fanatic

Download: LewisHamilton.p3t

Lewis Hamilton Theme
(16 backgrounds)

Lewis Hamilton
Born
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton[1]

(1985-01-07) 7 January 1985 (age 39)[2]
OccupationsRacing driver
FamilyNicolas Hamilton (half-brother)
Formula One World Championship career
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
2024 teamMercedes[3]
Car number44[note 1]
Entries343 (343 starts)
Championships7 (2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Wins103
Podiums198
Career points4724.5
Pole positions104
Fastest laps67
First entry2007 Australian Grand Prix
First win2007 Canadian Grand Prix
Last win2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Last entry2024 Austrian Grand Prix
2023 position3rd (234 pts)
Signature
Websitelewishamilton.com
Previous series
2006
200405
200203
2003
2002
2001
GP2 Series
Formula 3 Euro Series
Formula Renault UK
British Formula 3
Formula Renault Eurocup
British Formula Renault Championship
Championship titles
2006
2005
2003
GP2 Series
Formula 3 Euro Series
Formula Renault UK
Awards
2022
2020
2014, 2018, 2020–21
2008
2007–08, 2014–15, 2017–20
2006–07
2003
FIA Action of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
FIA Personality of the Year
Breakthrough of the Year
International Racing Driver Award
AS Rookie of the Year
Autosport British Club Driver of the Year

Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE HonFREng (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver competing in Formula One, driving for Mercedes. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Michael Schumacher), and holds the records for most wins (103), pole positions (104), and podium finishes (198), among others.

Born and raised in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Hamilton joined the McLaren Young Driver Programme in 1998. This led to a Formula One drive with McLaren from 2007 to 2012, making him the first black driver to race in the series. In his debut season, Hamilton set numerous records as he finished runner-up to Kimi Räikkönen by one point. The following season, he won his maiden title in dramatic fashion—making a crucial overtake on the last lap of the last race of the season—to become the then-youngest ever Formula One World Champion. After six years with McLaren, Hamilton signed with Mercedes in 2013.

Changes to the regulations for 2014 mandating the use of turbo-hybrid engines saw the start of a highly successful period for Hamilton, during which he won six further drivers' titles. Consecutive titles came in 2014 and 2015 during an intense rivalry with teammate Nico Rosberg. Following Rosberg's retirement in 2016, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel became Hamilton's closest rival in two championship battles, in which he twice overturned mid-season point deficits to claim consecutive titles again in 2017 and 2018. His third and fourth consecutive titles followed in 2019 and 2020 to equal Schumacher's record of seven drivers' titles. Hamilton surpassed 100 race wins and pole positions in 2021. He will join Ferrari for the 2025 season.

Hamilton has been credited with furthering Formula One's global following by appealing to a broader audience outside the sport, in part due to his high-profile lifestyle, environmental and social activism, and exploits in music and fashion. He has also become a prominent advocate in support of activism to combat racism and push for increased diversity in motorsport. Hamilton was listed in the 2020 issue of Time as one of the 100 most influential people globally, and was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours.

Early life and education[edit]

Hamilton celebrating with his father and then-manager Anthony Hamilton after the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix[6]

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.[2] His father, Anthony Hamilton, is of Grenadian descent, while his mother, Carmen Larbalestier, is British, from Birmingham,[7] making him mixed-race;[8][9] Hamilton's parents separated when he was two, after which he lived with his mother and older half-sisters, Samantha and Nicola, until he was twelve.[10] Hamilton then lived with his father, stepmother Linda, and his half-brother Nicolas, who is also a professional racing driver.[11][12] Hamilton was raised a Catholic.[13]

Hamilton's father bought him a radio-controlled car when he was five.[14] Hamilton finished second in the national BRCA championship the following year against adult competition.[15] Being the only black child racing at his club, Hamilton was subjected to racist abuse.[14][16] Hamilton's father bought him a go-kart for Christmas when he was six and promised to support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school.[17] To support his son, Hamilton's father took redundancy from his position as an IT manager and became a contractor, sometimes working up to four jobs at a time including employment as a double glazing salesman, dishwasher, and putting up signs for estate agents,[18] while still attending his son's races.[19] Hamilton's father later set up his own IT company.[20] He continued to be Hamilton's manager until early 2010.[21][22]

Hamilton was educated at The John Henry Newman School, a voluntary aided Catholic secondary school in Stevenage.[23] Hamilton has said that at the age of five he took up karate to defend himself as a result of bullying at school.[24] He was also excluded from school for a period when he was mistakenly identified as having attacked a fellow student who was treated in hospital for his injuries.[25] In addition to racing, he played association football for his school team with eventual England international, Ashley Young.[20] Hamilton, an Arsenal fan, said that if Formula One had not worked for him, he would have been a footballer or a cricketer, having played both for his school teams.[26] In February 2001, he began studies at Cambridge Arts and Sciences (CATS), a private sixth-form college in Cambridge.[27]

Junior racing career[edit]

Karting[edit]

Hamilton began karting in 1993 and quickly began winning races and cadet class championships.[28][29] Two years later, he became the youngest driver to win the British cadet karting championship at the age of ten. That year, Hamilton approached McLaren Formula One team boss Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards for an autograph and said: "Hi. I'm Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars."[18] Dennis wrote in Hamilton's autograph book: "Phone me in nine years, we'll sort something out then."[30]

When Hamilton was 12, Ladbrokes took a bet, at 40/1 odds, that Hamilton would win a Formula One race before the age of 23; another predicted, at 150/1 odds, that he would win the World Drivers' Championship before he was 25.[31] In 1998, Dennis called Hamilton following his second Super One series and British championship wins,[15] to offer Hamilton a role in the McLaren driver development programme.[8] The contract included an option of a future Formula One seat, which would make Hamilton the youngest driver to secure a contract that later resulted in a Formula One drive.[28]

He's a quality driver, very strong and only 16. If he keeps this up I'm sure he will reach F1. It's something special to see a kid of his age out on the circuit. He's clearly got the right racing mentality.

Michael Schumacher, speaking about Hamilton in 2001[32]

Hamilton continued his progress in the Intercontinental A (1999), Formula A (2000) and Formula Super A (2001) ranks, and became European Champion in 2000 with maximum points. In Formula A and Formula Super A, racing for TeamMBM.com, his teammate was Nico Rosberg, who would later drive for the Williams and Mercedes teams in Formula One; they would later team up again for Mercedes from 2013 to 2016. Following his karting successes, the British Racing Drivers' Club made him a "Rising Star" Member in 2000.[33] In 2001, Michael Schumacher made a one-off return to karts and competed against Hamilton along with other future Formula One drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Rosberg. Hamilton ended the final in seventh, four places behind Schumacher. Although the two saw little of each other on the track, Schumacher praised the young Briton.[34]

Formula Renault and Formula Three[edit]

Hamilton began his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series, finishing fifth in the standings.[15] This led to a full 2002 Formula Renault UK campaign with Manor Motorsport in which he finished fifth overall.[35] He remained with Manor for another year, winning the championship ahead of Alex Lloyd.[36] Having clinched the championship, Hamilton missed the last two races of the season to make his debut in the season finale of the British Formula 3 Championship.[37] In his first race he was forced out with a puncture,[38] and in the second he crashed out and was taken to hospital after a collision with teammate Tor Graves.[39]

Asked in 2002 about the prospect of becoming one of the youngest ever Formula One drivers, Hamilton replied that his goal was "not to be the youngest in Formula One" but rather "to be experienced and then show what I can do in Formula One".[40] He made his debut with Manor in the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series, ending the year fifth in the championship.[41] He also won the Bahrain F3 Superprix,[42] and twice raced in the Macau F3 Grand Prix.[43][44] Williams had come close to signing Hamilton but did not because BMW, their engine supplier at the time, would not fund him.[45] Hamilton eventually re-signed with McLaren. According to then McLaren executive and future CEO Martin Whitmarsh, who was responsible for guiding Hamilton through the team's young driver programme, he and Anthony Hamilton had a "huge row" at the end of the season, with his father pushing for him to move up to GP2 for 2005, while Whitmarsh felt that he should remain in Formula 3 for a second season, culminating in Whitmarsh tearing up Hamilton's contract; however, Hamilton called Whitmarsh six weeks later and re-signed with the team.[18]

Hamilton first tested for McLaren in late 2004 at Silverstone.[46] Hamilton moved to the reigning Euro Series champions ASM for the 2005 season and dominated the championship, winning 15 of the 20 rounds.[15] He also won the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort.[47] After the season British magazine Autosport featured him in their "Top 50 Drivers of 2005" issue, ranking Hamilton 24th.[15]

GP2[edit]

Hamilton moved to ASM's sister GP2 team, ART Grand Prix, for the 2006 season.[48] Hamilton won the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet Jr. and Alexandre Prémat.[49] He secured a dominant win at the Nürburgring, despite a penalty for speeding in the pit lane.[50] At his home race at Silverstone, Hamilton overtook two rivals at Becketts, a series of high-speed bends where overtaking is rare.[51] In Istanbul he recovered from a spin that left him in eighteenth place to take second.[52] Hamilton won the title in unusual circumstances, inheriting the final point he needed after Giorgio Pantano was stripped of fastest lap in the Monza feature race.[53]

Hamilton's success in the GP2 championship coincided with a vacancy at McLaren following the departure of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR and Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari.[54][55] After months of speculation on whether Hamilton, Pedro de la Rosa or Gary Paffett would be paired with defending champion Fernando Alonso for 2007, Hamilton was confirmed as the team's second driver.[56] He was told of McLaren's decision at the end of September, but the news was not made public for almost two months, for fear that it would be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher's retirement announcement.[57]

Formula One career[edit]

McLaren (2007–2012)[edit]

A silver Formula One car driving around a corner.
Hamilton took his first Formula One win at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix in only his sixth Grand Prix.

Hamilton's first season in Formula One saw him partner two-time and defending World Champion Fernando Alonso at McLaren, a team that used works Mercedes engines and was 40% owned by the German manufacturer at the time.[58] Hamilton is the first and as of 2024 the only black driver to race in the series.[59][60][61] After finishing on the podium in his debut,[62] Hamilton went on to set several records as he finished runner-up in the 2007 World Drivers' Championship to Kimi Räikkönen by one point,[63] including those for the most consecutive podium finishes from debut (9), the joint most wins in a debut season (4) and the most points in a debut season (109).[64] Throughout the season, Hamilton and Alonso were involved in a number of incidents which resulted in tensions between both drivers and the team, culminating in Alonso and McLaren terminating their contract by mutual consent in November. Following a successful first season at McLaren, Hamilton signed a multi-million-pound contract to stay with the team until 2012.[65]

A group of people dressed in orange celebrate, with Hamilton in the middle wearing a baseball cap.

BloodSpillXXT – Tabula Rasa

BloodSpillXXT – Tabula Rasa theme by BloodSpillXXT

Download: BloodSpillXXTTabulaRasa.p3t

BloodSpillXXT - Tabula Rasa Theme
(10 backgrounds)

P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon

This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!

Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip

Instructions:

Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.

The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.

The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].

For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.

Flames

Flames theme by Man2Vir

Download: Flames.p3t

Flames Theme
(1 background, HD only)

Redirect to:

Metal Gear Solid 4 Rex

Metal Gear Solid 4 Rex theme by rayofdoom

Download: MGS4Rex.p3t

Metal Gear Solid 4 Rex Theme
(7 backgrounds HD, 4 SD)

P3T Unpacker v0.12
Copyright (c) 2007. Anoop Menon

This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!

Download for Windows: p3textractor.zip

Instructions:

Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.

The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.

The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].

For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following:
p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.

Resident Evil 5 #2

Resident Evil 5 theme by Paddy

Download: ResidentEvil5_2.p3t

Resident Evil 5 Theme 2
(3 backgrounds)

Resident Evil 5
Main characters Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar and the text "Resident Evil 5" in the foreground with a sketch of the African continent in the background
Cover art of the game, featuring Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar
Developer(s)Capcom[a]
Publisher(s)Capcom
Director(s)
  • Yasuhiro Anpo
  • Kenichi Ueda
Producer(s)
Designer(s)Jiro Taoka
Programmer(s)Soji Seta
Writer(s)
  • Haruo Murata
  • Yoshiaki Hirabayashi
  • Kenichi Ueda
Composer(s)Kota Suzuki
SeriesResident Evil
EngineMT Framework
Platform(s)
Release
March 5, 2009
  • PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
    • JP: March 5, 2009
    • AU: March 12, 2009
    • NA: March 13, 2009
    • EU: March 13, 2009[1][2]
    Gold Edition
    • JP: February 18, 2010 (PS3)
    • NA: March 9, 2010
    • AU: March 11, 2010
    • EU: March 12, 2010
    Windows
    • JP: September 17, 2009
    • AU: September 17, 2009
    • NA: September 18, 2009
    • EU: September 18, 2009
    Gold Edition
    • WW: March 26, 2015[3]
    Shield Android TV
    • WW: May 19, 2016
    PlayStation 4, Xbox One
    • WW: June 28, 2016
    Nintendo Switch
    • WW: October 29, 2019
Genre(s)Third-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Resident Evil 5[b] is a 2009 third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. It is a major installment in the Resident Evil series, and was announced in 2005—the same year its predecessor Resident Evil 4 was released. Resident Evil 5 was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in March 2009 and for Windows in September 2009. It was re-released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June 2016. The plot involves an investigation of a terrorist threat by Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance agents Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar in Kijuju, a fictional region of West Africa. Chris learns that he must confront his past in the form of an old enemy, Albert Wesker, and his former partner, Jill Valentine.

The gameplay of Resident Evil 5 is similar to that of the previous installment, though it is the first in the series designed for two-player cooperative gameplay. It has also been considered the first game in the main series to depart from the survival horror genre, with critics saying it bore more resemblance to an action game. Motion capture was used for the cutscenes, and it was the first video game to use a virtual camera system. Several staff members from the original Resident Evil worked on Resident Evil 5. The Windows version was developed by Mercenary Technology.

Resident Evil 5 received a positive reception, despite some criticism for its control scheme. The game received some complaints of racism, though an investigation by the British Board of Film Classification found the complaints were unsubstantiated.[4] As of December 2023, when including the original, special and remastered versions, the game had sold 13.4 million units.[5] It is the best-selling game of the Resident Evil franchise when not including remakes,[c] and the original version remained the best-selling individual Capcom release until March 2018, when it was outsold by Monster Hunter: World. A sequel, Resident Evil 6, was released in 2012.

Plot[edit]

In 2009,[6] five years after the events of Resident Evil 4, Chris Redfield, now an agent of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), is dispatched to Kijuju in West Africa. He and his new partner Sheva Alomar are tasked with apprehending Ricardo Irving before he can sell a bio-organic weapon (BOW) on the black market. When they arrive, they discover that the locals have been infected by the parasites Las Plagas (those infected are called "Majini") and the BSAA Alpha Team have been killed. Chris and Sheva are rescued by BSAA's Delta Team, which includes Sheva's mentor Captain Josh Stone. In Stone's data Chris sees a photograph of Jill Valentine, his old partner, who has been presumed dead after a confrontation with Albert Wesker. Chris, Sheva and Delta Team close in on Irving, but he escapes with the aid of a hooded figure. Irving leaves behind documents that lead Chris and Sheva to marshy oilfields, where Irving's deal is to occur, but they discover that the documents are a diversion. When Chris and Sheva try to regroup with Delta Team, they find the team slaughtered by a BOW; Sheva cannot find Stone among the dead. Determined to learn if Jill is still alive, Chris does not report to headquarters.[7]

Continuing through the marsh, they find Stone and track down Irving's boat with his help. Irving injects himself with a variant of the Las Plagas parasite and mutates into a huge octopus-like beast. Chris and Sheva defeat him, and his dying words lead them to a nearby cave. The cave is the source of a flower used to create viruses previously used by the Umbrella Corporation, as well as a new strain named Uroboros. Chris and Sheva find evidence that Tricell, the company funding the BSAA, took over a former Umbrella underground laboratory and continued Umbrella's research. In the facility, they discover thousands of capsules holding human test subjects. Chris finds Jill's capsule, but it is empty. When they leave, they discover that Tricell CEO Excella Gionne has been plotting with Wesker to launch missiles with the Uroboros virus across the globe; it is eventually revealed that Wesker hopes to take a chosen few from the chaos of infection and rule them, creating a new breed of humanity. Chris and Sheva pursue Gionne but are stopped by Wesker and the hooded figure, who is revealed to be a brainwashed Jill. Gionne and Wesker escape to a Tricell oil tanker; Chris and Sheva fight Jill, subduing her and removing the mind-control device before she urges Chris to follow Wesker.[7]

Chris and Sheva board the tanker and encounter Gionne, who escapes after dropping a case of syringes; Sheva keeps several. When Chris and Sheva reach the main deck, Wesker announces over the ship's intercom that he has betrayed Gionne and infected her with Uroboros. She mutates into a giant monster, which Chris and Sheva defeat. Jill radios in, telling Chris and Sheva that Wesker must take precise, regular doses of a serum to maintain his strength and speed; a larger or smaller dose would poison him. Sheva realizes that Gionne's syringes are doses of the drug. Chris and Sheva follow Wesker to a bomber loaded with missiles containing the Uroboros virus, injecting him with the syringes Gionne dropped. Wesker tries to escape on the bomber; Chris and Sheva disable it, making him crash-land in a volcano. Furious‚ Wesker exposes himself to Uroboros and chases Chris and Sheva through the volcano. They fight him, and the weakened Wesker falls into the lava before Chris and Sheva are rescued by a helicopter, which is piloted by Jill and Stone. As a dying Wesker attempts to drag the helicopter into the volcano, Chris and Sheva fire rocket-propelled grenades at Wesker, killing him.[8] In the game's final cutscene, Chris wonders if the world is worth fighting for. Looking at Sheva and Jill, he decides to live in a world without fear.[7]

Gameplay[edit]

Still from the game with Chris Redfield (back to the player) and Sheva Alomar (facing the player)
The first player controls Chris Redfield, while a second player can control Sheva Alomar. Players are controlled from an over-the-shoulder perspective.

Resident Evil 5 is a third-person shooter with an over-the-shoulder perspective.[9] Players can use several weapons including handguns, shotguns, automatic rifles, sniper rifles, and grenade launchers, as well as melee attacks. Players can make quick 180-degree turns to evade enemies.[10] The game involves boss battles, many of which contain quick time events.[11]

As in its predecessor Resident Evil 4, players can upgrade weapons with money and treasure collected in-game and heal themselves with herbs, but cannot run and shoot at the same time.[11] New features include infected enemies with guns and grenades,[10] the ability to upgrade weapons at any time from the inventory screen without having to find a merchant, and the equipping of weapons and items in real-time during gameplay.[11] Each player can store nine items. Unlike the previous games, the item size is irrelevant; a herb or a grenade launcher each occupy one space, and four items may be assigned to the D-pad.[9] The game features puzzles, though fewer than previous titles.[12][13]

Resident Evil 5 is the first game in the Resident Evil series designed for two-player cooperative gameplay.[14] The player controls Chris, a former member of the fictional Special Tactics and Rescue Service (STARS) and member of the BSAA, and a second player can control Sheva, who is introduced in this game. If a person plays alone, Sheva is controlled by the game's artificial intelligence (AI). When the game has been completed once, there is an option to make Sheva the primary character.[11] Two-player mode is available online or split screen with a second player using the same console. A second player joining a split screen game in progress will make the game reload the last checkpoint (the point at which the game was last saved); the second player joining an online game will have to wait until the first player reaches the next checkpoint, or restarts the previous one, to play.[9] In split-screen mode, one player's viewpoint is presented in the top half of the screen, and the other in the bottom half, but each viewpoint is presented in widescreen format, rather than using the full width of the screen, resulting in unused space to the left and right of the two windows.[10] If one player has critical health, only their partner can resuscitate them, and they will die if their partner cannot reach them. At certain points, players are deliberately separated. Players can trade items during gameplay, although weapons cannot be traded with online players.[9] The game's storyline is linear, and interaction with other characters is mostly limited to cutscenes.[12][13]

A version of the Mercenaries minigame, which debuted in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, is included in Resident Evil 5.[15] This minigame places the player in an enclosed environment with a time limit. Customized weapons cannot be used and players must search for weapons, ammunition, and time bonuses while fighting a barrage of enemies,[11] to score as many points as possible within the time limit.[16] The minigame multiplayer mode was initially offline only; a release-day patch needed to be downloaded to access the online multiplayer modes.[17] Mercenaries is unlocked when the game's story mode has been completed.[16]

Development[edit]

A portrait shot of a middle-aged Asian man with short, messy black hair, glasses and a zip-up sweatshirt
Producer Jun Takeuchi (pictured in 2010) supervised the game's development.

Resident Evil 5 was developed by Capcom and produced by Jun Takeuchi, who directed Onimusha: Warlords and produced Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. Keiji Inafune, promotional producer for Resident Evil 2 and executive producer of the PlayStation 2 version of Resident Evil 4, supervised the project. Production began in 2005 and at its peak, over 100 people were working on the project.[18] In February 2007, some members of Capcom's Clover Studio began working on Resident Evil 5 while others were working on Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, which debuted for the Wii.[19][20] Yasuhiro Anpo, who worked as a programmer on the original Resident Evil, directed Resident Evil 5.[21] He was one of several staff members who worked on the original game to be involved in Resident Evil 5's development.[22] The game's scenario was written by Haruo Murata and Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, based on a story idea by concept director Kenichi Ueda.[23] Takeuchi announced that the game would retain the gameplay model introduced in Resident Evil 4, with "thematic tastes" from both Resident Evil 4 and the original Resident Evil.[24]

While previous Resident Evil games are mainly set at night, the events of Resident Evil 5 occur almost entirely during the day. The decision for this was a combination of the game being set in Africa and advances in hardware improvements which allowed increasingly detailed graphics.[25] On the subject of changes to Jill and Chris's appearance, production director Yasuhiro Anpo explained that designers tried "to preserve their image and imagined how they would have changed over the passage of time". Their new designs retained the character's signature colors; green for Chris and blue for Jill. Sheva was redesigned several times during production, though all versions tried to emphasize a combination of "feminine attraction and the strength of a fighting woman".[26] The Majini were designed to be more violent than the "Ganado" enemies in Resident Evil 4.[27]

The decision for cooperative gameplay was made part-way through development, for a new experience in a Resident Evil game.[14] Despite initial concern that a second player would dampen the game's tension and horror, it was later realized that this could actually increase such factors where one player had to be rescued.[28] The decision to retain wide-screen proportions in two-player mode was made to avoid having the first player's screen directly on top of the second, which might be distracting, and the restriction on simultaneously moving and shooting was retained to increase player tension by not allowing them to maneuver freely. Takeuchi cited the film Black Hawk Down as an influence on the setting of Resident Evil 5 and his experience working on Lost Planet: Extreme Condition as an influence on its development.[14] When questioned as to why the game was not being released on the Wii, which was the most popular gaming console at that time, Takeuchi responded that although that may have been a good decision "from a business perspective", the Wii was not the best choice in terms of power and visual quality, concluding that he was happy with the console choices they had made.[29]

Resident Evil 5 runs on version 1.4 of Capcom's MT Framework engine[30] and scenes were recorded by motion capture. It was the first video game to use a virtual camera system,[31] which allowed the developers to see character movements in real time as the motion-capture actors recorded.[32] Actors Reuben Langdon, Karen Dyer and Ken Lally portrayed Chris Redfield, Sheva Alomar and Albert Wesker respectively.[33][34][35] Dyer also voiced Sheva,[36] while Chris's voice was performed by Roger Craig Smith.[37] Dyer's background training in circus skills helped her win the role of Sheva, as Capcom were searching for someone who could handle the physical skills her motion capture required. She performed her own stunts, and worked in production on the game for over a year, sometimes working 14 hours a day.[36] All of the human character motions were based on motion capture, while the non-human characters in the game were animated by hand.[38]

Kota Suzuki was the game's principal composer and additional music was contributed by Hideki Okugawa, Akihiko Narita and Seiko Kobuchi.[23] The electronic score includes 15 minutes of orchestral music, recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage of 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles with the 103-piece Hollywood Studio Symphony. Other orchestral music and arrangements were by Wataru Hokoyama, who conducted the orchestra.[39] Capcom recorded in Los Angeles because they wanted a Hollywood-style soundtrack to increase the game's cinematic value and global interest. Resident Evil 5's soundtrack features an original theme song, titled "Pray",[40] which was composed by Suzuki and sung by Oulimata Niang.[41]

Marketing and release[edit]

Capcom announced Resident Evil 5 on July 20, 2005,[42] and the company showed a brief trailer for the game at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in July 2007.[43] The full E3 trailer became available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store that same month.[44][45] A new trailer debuted on Spike TV's GameTrailers TV in May 2008, and on the GameTrailers website.[46] A playable game demo was released in Japan on December 5, 2008, for the Xbox 360,[2] in North America and Europe for the Xbox 360 on January 26, 2009, and on February 2 for the PlayStation 3.[47] Worldwide downloads of the demo exceeded four million for the two consoles; over 1.8 million were downloaded between January 26 and January 29.[48]

In January 2009, D+PAD Magazine reported that Resident Evil 5 would be released with limited-edition Xbox 360 box art; pictures of the limited-edition box claimed that it would allow two to sixteen players to play offline via System Link.[49] Although Capcom said that their "box art isn't lying", the company did not provide details.[50] Capcom soon issued another statement that the box-art information was incorrect, and System Link could support only two players.[49] Microsoft released a limited-edition, red Xbox 360 Elite console which was sold with the game. The package included an exclusive Resident Evil theme for the Xbox 360 Dashboard[51] and a download voucher for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix from Xbox Live.[52]

Resident Evil 5 was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March 2009, alongside a dedicated Game Space on PlayStation Home. The space, Resident Evil 5 "Studio Lot" (Biohazard 5 "Film Studio" in Japan), had as its theme the in-game location of Kijuju. Its lounge offered Resident Evil 5-related items for sale, events and full game-launching support. Some areas of the space were available only to owners of Resident Evil 5.[53] A Windows version was released in September 2009. This version, using Nvidia's 3D Vision technology through DirectX 10, includes more costumes and a new mode in the Mercenaries minigame.[54][55] Resident Evil 5 was re-released on Shield Android TV in May 2016,[56] and was re-released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One the following month, with a physical disc copy following in America that July.[57] It was also released for Nintendo Switch on October 29, 2019.[58]

Additional content[edit]

Shortly before the release of Resident Evil 5, Capcom announced that a competitive multiplayer mode called Versus would be available for download in several weeks.[59] Versus became available for download in Europe and North America on April 7, 2009, through the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store.[60] Versus has two online game types: "Slayers", a point-based game challenging players to kill Majini, and "Survivors", where players hunt each other while dodging and attacking Majini. Both modes can be played by two-player teams.[60] The Windows version of Resident Evil 5 originally did not support downloadable content (DLC).[61]

During Sony's press conference at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show Capcom announced that a special edition of the game, Biohazard 5: Alternative Edition, would be released in Japan for the PlayStation 3 in the spring of 2010.[62] This edition supports the PlayStation Move accessory and includes a new scenario, "Lost in Nightmares", where Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine infiltrate one of Umbrella Corporation co-founder Oswell E. Spencer's estates in 2006.[63] Another special edition of the game, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America and Europe. Gold Edition includes "Lost in Nightmares" and another campaign-expansion episode, "Desperate Escape", where players control Josh Stone and Jill Valentine as they assist Chris and Sheva.[64] The edition also includes the previously released Versus mode, four new costumes and an alternate Mercenaries mode with eight new playable characters, new items and maps. Like Alternative Edition, Gold Edition supports the PlayStation Move accessory with a patch released on September 14, 2010.[65] The Xbox 360 version of Gold Edition came in a DVD with a token allowing free download of all DLC, while the PlayStation 3 version had all of the new content on a single Blu-ray disc.[65] On November 5, 2012, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition was placed on the PlayStation Network as a free download for PlayStation Plus users during that month.[66]

As part of the game's conversion to Steamworks, Gold Edition was released for Microsoft Windows on March 26, 2015. Owners of the game from Steam or as a boxed retail Games for Windows – Live can acquire a free Steamworks copy of the base game and purchase the new Gold Edition content.[67] The Steamworks version did not allow the use of Nvidia's 3D Vision technology or fan modifications, though Capcom later confirmed a way to work around these issues.[68] In 2023, an update was released for the Windows version that removed Games for Windows – Live, thus restoring the split screen co-op feature to the game.[69]

Reception[edit]

Resident Evil 5 received generally favourable reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[72][70][71] Reviewers praised the game's visuals and content. Corey Cohen of Official Xbox Magazine complimented the game's fast pace, and called the graphics gorgeous.[81] It was praised by Joe Juba and Matt Miller of Game Informer, who said that it had the best graphics of any game to date and that the music and voice acting helped bring the characters to life,[79] and Brian Crecente of Kotaku said it was one of the most visually stunning games he had ever played.[82] Adam Sessler of X-Play said the game's graphics were exceptional,[10] and Edge praised the gameplay as exhilarating and frantic.[77] For IGN, Ryan Geddes wrote that the game had a surprisingly high replay value,[11] and GameZone's Louis Bedigian said the game was "worth playing through twice in one weekend".[83]

While still giving favorable reviews of the game, several reviewers considered it t