The announcement was imminent and today it came. Capcom has announced Dead Rising 2 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. The game is in development at Blue Castle Games, with members of the first game’s development team working alongside them, including Capcom’s global head of research and development, Keiji Inafune.

This time around, players will be stuck in the gambling paradise of Fortune City with a whole new slew of in-game objects to be used as weapons the kill the undead.

Dead Rising 2 takes place several years after the events of the first game. The virus from the first game was not contained and spread throughout the United States and outbreaks continue to strike.

The game’s looking exciting. Hit the gallery for the first screenshots. Hit the jump for the viral video.

THE DEAD WALK AGAIN AS CAPCOM® CONFIRMS DEAD RISINGTM 2

Sequel to 1.5 million-plus seller announced for multiple gaming platforms

Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today confirmed that Dead Rising™ 2 is in development for three different gaming platforms: the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. The sequel to the 1.5 million-plus selling Dead Rising™, Dead Rising 2 will take the franchise to a new level of zombie-killing fun with tens of thousands of zombies, the all new gambling paradise of Fortune City to explore and conquer plus a host of new in-game objects that can all be used as deadly weapons to stave off the zombie assault.

Dead Rising 2 is set several years after the infamous zombie invasion of Willamette. Unfortunately, the zombie virus was not contained at the conclusion of Dead Rising, spreading unchecked throughout the United States and Dead Rising 2 depicts a country where zombie outbreaks continue to strike.

Dead Rising 2 is being developed in partnership with up and coming Canadian developer Blue Castle Games. A number of members from the original Dead Rising team will be working alongside Blue Castle Games throughout the development process, including Capcom’s global head of research and development, Keiji Inafune, who as the game’s Producer will play an active role in the project.

Released in 2006, Dead Rising won praise across the globe for its mix of intense zombie action and dark humor, garnering numerous awards including IGN’s “Most Innovative Design for Xbox 360”, Gamespot’s “Best Action-Adventure Game” for 2006 and “Action Game of the Year” at the 2006 Spike TV Video Game Awards.

Further details concerning the story and gameplay of Dead Rising 2 will be made available shortly.