Microsoft announces new titles coming to Games on Demand

October 9th, 2009 1 Comment   Posted in DLC, Microsoft, Xbox 360

grandtheftauto4

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Games on Demand service went live not too long ago and launched with a decent amount of games in the library. Today, Microsoft has announced 6 new games that are set to hit the service in the coming weeks including Grand Theft Auto IV, Army of Two and Dead Space.

The full list of games and their release dates are below

October 13

  • Grand Theft Auto IV

October 20

  • Midnight Club: Los Angeles
  • Army of Two
  • Sonic Unleashed

October 27

  • Dead Space
  • DiRT

We’ll keep you updated on pricing.

Visceral Studio employees flock to Activision

July 22nd, 2009 No Comments   Posted in Business, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360


Here’s something that is sure to piss EA off — It seems that Activision is starting up a new games that will be based in San Francisco. Apparantly unable to find unemployed talent, Activision did the next best thing and grabbed a few from EA.

Both Glen Schofield, General Manager, and Michael Condrey, COO, from Visceral Games will be making the jump to Activision’s new studio. You’ll recoginze Visceral Studios as being the guys behind Dead Space and Dante’s Inferno.

What is to come from Activision’s new studio? Your guess is as good as mine but it better be good!

via Destructoid

New Dead Space: Extraction trailer at E3

June 3rd, 2009 3 Comments   Posted in E3, FPS, Wii

Dead Space: Extraction is sure to be one of the hottest games this year released for Nintendo’s Wii. Luckily, Visceral Games and EA took the stage at E3 to show off the above trailer showcasing said game.

Unfortunately, it’s under a minute long but it does show off the beautiful visuals of Dead Space: Extraction that are sure to push the Wii’s graphical capabilities.

However, it does show some gameplay which, from the brief looks of it, looks to be pretty damn fun. Dead Space: Extraction will be out for the Nintendo Wii on September 29th of this year.

EA Redwood Shores changes name to Visceral Games

May 5th, 2009 1 Comment   Posted in Business, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360

It was recently announced that the EA division responsible for Dead Space, and the upcoming Wii title Dead Space: Extraction would be dropping the EA moniker and branching off to form Visceral Games.

Now, EA will still own the studio but everything they do from here on out will be branded with the Visceral Games logo, pictured above.

You can check out Visceral’s introductory statement along with check up on their progress here.

Dead Space Review–No One Can Hear Your Screams of Joy

February 24th, 2009 1 Comment   Posted in Action, Adventure, Console, FPS, Microsoft, Reviews, Shooter, Xbox 360

Well, I finally got around to trying Dead Space for the Xbox 360, and I’ll say this much–that sucker was a surprise out of nowhere.  Best part was, the further in I got, the more I liked it.

I confess to personal bias; check out the plot on this beauty.  Basically, you’re part of a team of agents sent to recover a derelict ship in the middle of deep space.  No sooner do you get there and find the ship abandoned then your OWN ship suffers a catastrophic failure.  Now, your only hope for survival is to get the derelict working again so that you can call for backup and get out of there.  Of course, it’s never that easy–it’s what’s causing all the problems on the derelict that’s the REAL problem.  Specifically, a whole slew of giant monsters.  Now you’ve got to fight your way to getting the derelict back on her feet and getting you and the team out of there.

If the plot doesn’t sound at least slightly familiar to you, you haven’t been watching enough science fiction because you’re not recognizing the plot of one of my personal favorite titles, Event Horizon.  Sure, maybe you just needed it pointed out, but looking at the two, man, there are a LOT of similarities between the two.  The concepts are essentially the same.

The similarities alone are enough to give it at least a provisional win in my book, but this isn’t where the fun stops–oh no, not by a long shot.  Another sweet shot of joy in this package is the targeting system.  Now, most games, your initial instinct is to shoot for the head, or failing that, go for center of mass for the best chance to hit, right?  Yeah, of course that’s right.  But in Dead Space, your target of choice on the various monsters you’ll run into?  The limbs.  Talk about counterintuitive–I don’t think I’ve purposely taken a leg shot since, well, Fallout 3.  Meanwhile, walking around this ship of the damned has left me taking more leg shots than a Maxim photographer.  Who saw that coming?

Plus, there’s a good variety of guns in here to provide a great plenty of bang-bang, and some varied gameplay modes where you negotiate around barricades, handle a gun turret, and solve various puzzles to help get the derelict back on a paying basis.

It’s that variety, coupled with the well-realized plotline and abundance of action, that gives Dead Space an incredible fun factor.  Of course, it’s not without its problems–some of the puzzles aren’t exactly intuitive, and it would’ve been welcome to know about the importance of having air refills beforehand.  Nothing sucks worse in Dead Space than solving a puzzle and having all your hard work negated because you suffocated on the way back to a pressurized atmosphere.

But these aren’t exactly big flaws—a little advance preparation and a walkthrough on hand will take care of them, and you’ll be free to enjoy the sweet plotline joy.  There’s plenty to like about Dead Space, and the sci-fi bliss therein will only make things better.

Dead Space Wii trailer hits web

February 18th, 2009 2 Comments   Posted in Shooter, Wii

We just learned earlier today that EA would be releasing a prequel to their popular survival-horror, Dead Space for the Wii entitled Dead Space Extraction.

Well it seems EA wasn’t satisfied with just an announcement and decided to throw in a trailer, shown above, for the game.

Dead Space Extraction is currently under development by EA Redwood Shores and is slated for a Fall 2009 release.

Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge Sell Million Each

February 4th, 2009 No Comments   Posted in Action, Business, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

In today’s first bit of unsurprising news, EA CFO Eric Brown disclosed at the company’s conference call that Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge have sold over one million copies each in 2008.

The figure includes all versions of the games released last year. Both titles were released on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, though the PC version of Mirror’s Edge hit earlier this year. Thus, the PC sales of the game were not reflected in the total 2008 sales.

Brown did not talk about the planned sequels for either game.

Alien Dismemberment Coming To Wii

February 4th, 2009 No Comments   Posted in Adventure, News, Shooter, Wii

Of all the game genres out there the Wii has always had the most exciting potential for shooting games. The pointer capabilities of the controller make it very easy to mimic the addictive light-gun style action of arcade titles, so it’s no surprise that shooters are being created and ported to the Wii quite often. The success of the Resident Evil IV port guaranteed that.

EA in the face of some staggering losses has announced that they’re bringing scifi survival horror game Dead Space to the Wii. There aren’t any details yet beyond the fact that IGN reports the game will “make full use of the Wii remote”. EA’s CEO John Riccitiello has said that the company is going to be shifting its focus in light of the Wii’s incredible success: “Wii is the market leader — they’re getting half of our emphasis in terms of title count.” The Wii version will undoubtedly have to scale back on the graphics

Dead Space now on Steam

January 9th, 2009 1 Comment   Posted in Action, Adventure, News, PC

ds
EA’s popular survival horror game Dead Space is now available on Steam for $49.99, while Europeans are, getting screwed by Valve as usual their price is 45 Euros, which translates to 60 dollars.

Currently there is no demo available on Steam, but it should arrive shortly.

Dead Space comic available free online

January 3rd, 2009 1 Comment   Posted in Action, FPS, News, Xbox 360

deads
The first issue of the Dead Space comic is available online, free to read. The comic, written and illustrated by Anthony Johnson and Ben Templesmith, is a prequel to the movie Dead Space: Downfall, which itself is a prequel to the game Dead Space. It’s published by Image Comics, which has so far published six issues of the Dead Space book. You can check out the first one here.

Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge Getting Sequels Despite EA Not Faring Well

December 11th, 2008 No Comments   Posted in Action, Business, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

With the depressing economy plodding along, many thought Electronic Arts would surely cancel sequels to commercially unsatisfying titles such as Mirrors Edge, which had disappointing sales at retail. However, it appears Dead Space and Mirrors Edge are sure bets for sequels despite the company considering axing some games.

“Dead Space looks like a long-term big winner for us,” EA CEO John Riccitiello said in a conference call. “Mirror’s Edge is one that was very strongly reviewed. That one’s gonna go forward–we’ll be looking at some issues around the design to make sure strong IP is married with strong business.”

He added, referring to Mirrors Edge, that what happens with new IP is the first edition doesnt generate the units that subsequent editions could generate. Riccitiello also talked about Warhammer Online, noting that the MMO will continue to perform very, very well.

Dead Space Demo Tomorrow

November 24th, 2008 No Comments   Posted in Action, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

dead-space.jpg

Missed out on the initial Dead Space craze? Always wanted to feel scared and lonely aboard a scary spaceship? Didn’t want to spend money for it?

To satiate your hunger, a free downloadable demo of the game will hit Xbox Live and PlayStation Store tomorrow, as announced by publisher Electronic Arts.

“Before you carve your turkey this Thanksgiving practice on some Necromorphs with the Dead Space Dismemberment Demo,” noted EA.

The sci-fi horror shooter was released last month on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. No mention was made of a PC demo.

Dead, Army of Two, Bad Company Getting Sequels

October 23rd, 2008 1 Comment   Posted in Action, Business, FPS, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

dead space
The old money-grubbing EA is still in the heart of the seemingly-reformed publisher, as company head honcho Frank Gibeau revealed that they plan on pushing out sequels for their big sellers this year. That includes Dead Space, Army of Two and Battlefield: Bad Company, along with a confirmed trilogy for Mirror’s Edge.

The aforementioned games already have “sequel ideas planned,” noted Gibeau. He also expressed that EA is looking to expand into game-inspired films, books and television shows.

All the games mentioned above have sold well since release – though Mirror’s Edge isn’t due out until next month. In fact, Army of Two has been one of the year’s best-selling Xbox 360 titles so far.

Dead Space PC Controls Suck

October 20th, 2008 48 Comments   Posted in Action, PC

26960_normal
Confirming the PC gamer’s worst fears, WhatIfGaming has a post about the controls of the PC version of Dead Space, after playing around with a prerelease version of the sci-fi horror game.

The site notes that the controls are not as smooth as the console versions – which are already out – and that “from what we can tell it doesn’t seem like a patch can fix most of the issues.” They further note that “inventory stack access becomes frustrating when fighting with monsters and aiming for on-the-fly changes.”

Reviews for the PC version are yet to appear, so it is not yet known just how badly gamers will respond to the controls.

Dead Space Now Available

October 14th, 2008 No Comments   Posted in Action, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

dead-space-pics-20080519112056330_640w Well, guess what? All that waiting has paid off, and now Dead Space is making its way to its designated space on store shelves nationwide.

The game’s PS3 and Xbox 360 editions are now available, with the Windows edition set for release next week on October 20. It is expected in European stores October 24 for both PC and consoles.

If you haven’t been hyped enough for the creepy survival horror and the chilling atmosphere they’ve created for the game – along with zero G gameplay – then you must have been living under a rock.


Tags: ,