Capcom turns to Western developer for Lost Planet 3

Capcom has announced Lost Planet 3, a new entry for its third-person shooter, which is under development for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows at California-based Spark Unlimited. This will be the first Lost Planet game built outside of Capcom and by a Western studio, though Spark Unlimited is collaborating with the Japanese publisher for the project. It's also the first to use Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 instead of Capcom's own MT Framework engine, according to Forbes. Capcom has worked with a number of Western developers to help create new games for its major franchises lately, as was the case with Slant Six Games for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, and Blue Castle for Dead Rising 2. Its move to try something different with the Lost Planet series comes after the last internally developed title, Lost Planet 2 (pictured), was a substantial disappointment for the company sales-wise, despite shipping 1.5 million copies worldwide. Founded in 2002, Spark Unlimited is an employee-owned, independent developer best known for releasing Xbox 360/PS3/Windows first-person shooters like Legendary and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. Spark Unlimited expects to ship Lost Planet 3 in early 2013.