It is an interesting quirk of video game history that one of the greatest ever horror titles debuted on the Nintendo GameCube, a toylike console better known for the cutest titles in the Zelda series and Animal Crossing. But in 2002, Capcom revealed five exclusives to boost the beleaguered platform – and among them was Resident Evil 4, technically the 13th title in the franchise, which on its release three years later would be considered its zenith. It was an exciting new lease of life for the survival horror genre. Not that you'd guess all this from the game's extraordinarily pedestrian setup. Six years after the fall of the Umbrella Corporation smouldering cop Leon Kennedy has been dispatched on a mission to retrieve the US president's kidnapped daughter, who has been spotted in a tiny village in rural Spain.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday is more than a month away (Thanksgiving falls on November 28 this year -- I looked it up so you don't have to). So while we wait for all of the best-of-the-year discounts the shopping event usually entails, there are still a few worthy sales out there on the tech we've reviewed and recommend. For example, the space gray M2 MacBook Air (our pick for the best budget Apple laptop) is down to 700 with an on-page coupon. For those ready to make (very tasty) ice cream at home, the Ninja Creami has a coupon code for 40 off. There are plenty of Anker batteries and accessories on sale too, plus we found discounts on a few choice video games to round out the savings.

Some of these have been crowd-pleasing surprises, the kind of thing that sets social media ablaze during a reveal in a Nintendo Direct. Others come bearing a near overwhelming amount of fan expectation. Series like Resident Evil and even Pokémon have consistently cycled through remaking their classic catalog. Now the question isn't so much "Will we get this as a remake?", but rather "What will the remake of this be like? And how will it compare to the game I already know?"

When the demo for the remake of Resident Evil 4 dropped in March, one presiding concern stood above all others: Would Leon say "Where's everyone going? The line comes early in the game, right after our coiffured all-American hero has seen his police escort burned alive. Leon is about to be butchered by pitchfork and chainsaw-wielding Spanish farmers, but then a tolling bell suddenly psychically summons them away. The line is amazingly stupid, and if he doesn't say it, I thought after seeing news of the demo, I'm joining the mob outside the Capcom offices. The culture industry loves a remake; it also loves a reboot, a remaster, a sequel, a prequel, a multiverse, and a cinematic universe.

You know a game is important when even the release of a short playable demo is the most exciting, talked about event of the week. I am of course referring to the Resident Evil 4 remake, a 20-minute slice of which was made available for free on PlayStation, Xbox and PC last Thursday. The response has been ecstatic, both from newcomers and veterans of the original 2005 version. Fans are already discovering hidden modes and weapons and even modding it. Expectations for the full release are high.

Shinji Mikami, who directed the original "Resident Evil" and "Resident Evil 4," the two most influential games in the series, recently announced his departure from Tango Gameworks, the studio he founded after leaving Capcom. His influence looms large over the current remake, but Hirabayashi said Mikami hasn't had any input into the remake. Mikami directed the first game's remake for the GameCube, which set the bar for transformative video game remakes back in 2002. But this time around, Mikami just meets up with the team for drinks in a friendly capacity.

Standout titles include Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X. It was also the year Xbox made its debut, while the Sega Dreamcast bowed out. But while all that was going on Nintendo was still going strong, releasing the Game Boy Advance in March of that year and a new home system in September. The GameCube was quite a console, an adorable box with a great wireless controller and fun add-ons like the Game Boy Player. Unfortunately, the system was plagued by a thin library, especially compared to the PlayStation's combined roster of PS1 and PS2 games.

The perfect Resident Evil game doesn't exist. The series, among the most consequential in gaming, has shifted its focus so often, a "Resident Evil fan" could be many things. One player's definition of a perfect Resident Evil game is another's mark of where the series went astray. Like the Zelda or Mario series, Resident Evil is due some credit for innovating and becoming an industry leader, even if it eventually began to borrow from its action-adventure peers. Still, there are plenty of ideas that persist through each game.

On Friday, Capcom released "Resident Evil Village," the eighth flagship title as the franchise celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The original Resident Evil launched in March 1996 for the first PlayStation video game console, then eventually released on other platforms including PCs and the Sega Saturn. The franchise helped pioneer the genre "survival horror," where players encounter powerful zombies and other supernatural creatures, using limited resources and their wits to escape. It has also branched out to the big screen, generating several films starring Milla Jovovich. In Village, players assume the role of Ethan Winters, the main character from 2017's "Resident Evil 7: Biohazard."

The launch of the PlayStation 5 is still running on schedule despite the coronavirus outbreak, according to Sony. The company said that it has seen significant changes to the way it works – but that development is still continuing as expected. Sony said earlier this year that the console was planned for the holiday period at the end of this year, along with the Xbox Series X. And though the outbreak has led to "some challenges", it is still progressing as scheduled, the company said. Sony gave the update in a new results release, which also indicated a rise in the number of people buying and downloading games during lockdowns.