Resident Evil 5 ditches the typewriter

The classic save system iconic to Resident Evil games, the typewriter, will not be used in the newest installment of the series. The newest issue of EGM features an interview with Jun Takeuchi, the producer of Resident Evil 5, where he reveals that the method of saving will be a more modern checkpoint and chapter arrangement.

I'm not sure exactly how to feel about this. In early Resident Evil titles, a good part of the fear for me was derived from the knowledge that I not only had a limited number of saves at my disposal, but that I would have to actively hunt them down. With the fourth game, the need for ribbons was eliminated, but the typewriter remained a shining beacon of hope, a reassurance that the game might just let me complete it.

With the typewriter gone, some of that confidence is lost, which would add to realism and possibly ratchet up the tension a bit. It could also mean that there will be no free will in the matter at all, and the location from where you continue after death is completely subject to whatever cruel whims the game may have.

Are you going to miss the typewriters or do you think that they're an outmoded concept far past their usefulness? 

[Via 1Up]