Resident Evil 6 - Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield

[Update: Check out the official Resident Evil 6 trailer!]

With Resident Evil: Revelations coming to the 3DS for handheld gamers and Operation Raccoon City coming to the consoles and PC to expand the franchise into other genres, we knew a true sequel to Resident Evil 5 would be on the way to cater to the diehard fans of the survival-horror elements of the series.

Yesterday a viral video teased an imminent announcement for what we all expect is Resident Evil 6. As it turns out, that's exactly what is it and we're only an hour away from the official unveiling from Capcom.

From a secretive Resident Evil 6 trailer rumored to have been showcased at the Tokyo Game Show in September, to a voice actor revealing his work on the game and information on where RE6 takes place coming from an actress, it was only a matter of time before Capcom made it official and that time is today.

The viral video and the site it links to (http://www.nohopeleft.com/) point towards the announcement occurring at 2PM PST. Also today is the "Resident Evil Experience” event which takes place in San Francisco, where fans will get a chance to play Revelations and Operation Raccoon City. It's expected that there would be one major announcement and it's for Resident Evil 6.

IGN has the game's logo and release date (November 20th of this year) from sources inside the Japanese development team, the same talent who worked on Resident Evil 4 & 5 - RE6 will seek a balance between the two, offering both action and horror elements.

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Now for the juicy bits! IGN has also learned that both Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield will be playable in the game. They each will have a partner in the game (still unknown who) much like RE5 and Revelations. Kennedy and Redfield have their own separate stories that intertwine in the game's main plot. Ada Wong will also be a playable character in later portion of the game.

Expect co-op play!

Interestingly, Resident Evil 6 will also introduce an entirely new character to the series and that character, along with Kennedy and Redfield can all be selected from the get-go, letting players essentially choose which campaign they want to start with.

With this announcement, the Resident Evil franchise has three games and another movie all coming out in 2012. Expect more details and official word soon - keep updated by following me on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Resident Evil 6 releases for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 20, 2012.

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Sources: IGN (1, 2), VentureBeat