Grave Gamer News & Views — dead space 3

Dead Space 3 Demo Hitting Consoles Next Month

Taking into consideration most people are lounging around their homes amongst confidants and family alike, bellies stretched by a lethal combination of rum doused eggnog and honey glazed ham (because fuck you if it’s not honey glazed), video game news is on the thin this week.

But, alas, a blip on the radar comes courtesy of Visceral Games’ third bout of sci-fi horror in Dead Space 3, which will be seeing a playable public demo next month, available for download from both PSN and XBLA on January 22nd.  Dead Space 3 will be the first installment in the franchise to feature multiplayer within its story campaign, a choice that has sparked derision and vitriol among ardent survival horror fans that believe the best gaming scares are had alone in the dark.  It hasn’t been confirmed if co-op will be an option offered in the demo, but rest assured, it’d be stupid as hell if it wasn’t [Ayuh, the demo allows you to play as Mr. Clarke in single-player or his necromorph-stomping bro, John Carver, in co-op. - Ed).

If you’re anxious to throw engineer-turned-male-Ripley-surrogate Isaac Clarke into harm’s way a little earlier than most, EA is doling out a limited amount of codes which will allow Xbox 360 users to download the demo as soon as January 15th (with the offer set to expire the day prior).  Check back here for rum doused, honey glazed impressions once the demo drops.

17 Minutes in the Void with Dead Space 3

If you have a fraction of an hour to spare and don’t mind the horrifically macabre, you absolutely have to check out this gameplay footage from next year’s Dead Space 3.  Hosted by the game’s Creative Director and Senior Audio Artist, we’re given a backseat view of famed space engineer Isaac Clarke’s latest trek through the bowels of hell.

Focusing on the...

Dead Space 3 (PC/PS3/X360 - February 5th)

EA and Visceral want you to wholeheartedly believe the classic Dead Space formula that has attracted horror junkies to the franchise is still well and true.  But that’s not quite the entire picture.  Moving away from traditional alone-in-the-dark design, you’ll find a large dose of third-person shooter mechanics injected into the controls.

We’re talking a dedicated dodge ability, a new cover system that activates when it’s “appropriate for the given situation,” and – most notably – the addition of a co-op partner to help thin both tension and enemy ranks.  There’s enough damning evidence here for any tried n’ true survival horror veteran to want to close the book on Dead Space 3, writing it off as another casualty in the tug o’ war between action and horror in gaming.

But can’t there be compromise between the two genres?  Underneath the “upped action” red flags and claims from EA that people found the first two games “too scary,” I’m hearing a real investment from Visceral in increasing Dead Space’s playability in order to take focus off of the controls and place it on the horrific shit happening to you.  And if you feel co-op diminishes scare factor at all, the developer has promised going solo will be catered to in the campaign, shifting the gameplay and story organically rather than punishing you for your solidarity by implementing a suicidally stupid AI partner.

Maybe horror and action have no place together in a game meant to keep you on your toes for eight to ten hours…But hopefully, as I’m sure Visceral is betting, we won’t think that after February.

Talk about an overwhelming day of news, folks.  Germany’s Gamescom has kicked off and the gaming industry is doling out screenshots, footage, and announcements galore.  And when I say “galore,” I actually mean “too goddamn much to keep up with, please poke my eyes out so that I don’t short out my brain."  We…we may have different definitions of "galore.”

But like a rising phoenix shooting towards the sky or, more similarly, a great white shark leaping from the ocean so as to tell a seagull just how the fuck he feels about gravity…The Roundup has risen once more.

The Red Herb Roundup - 7/22/12

Sweet Zeus, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these.  If you’re unfamiliar with why I’m listing vidja game happenings the week over, it’s because these be the stories that caught my eye but failed to pull my hands towards the keyboard.  The Roundup was supposed to be a safety net to catch my lazy bones and get me a-finger tappin’ but its temporary decommission proved my lethargy had reached new, possibly dangerous levels.

But today, friends, to fuck with that noise.  Knowing that you guys are just out there eating gaming news without a single side of sarcasm is…it just…it basically gives me thought-hemorrhoids.  And with that, welcome back to the Roundup:

• Resident Evil: Damnation, an original CG movie that fits snugly into the games’ canon, is releasing on Blu-Ray and not-Blu-Ray on September 25th.  Unlike the RE films you may be accustomed to, Damnation probably won’t feature brief Jovovich nudity (but don’t rule it out).
• A valiant and anonymous soul working at NASA has decided to laser engrave an image of Portal 2’s Wheatley on this panel which will be launched into space and sent to live its days on the International Space Station.  As Wheatley puts it, he’ll be “In spaaaaaaace!"  Someone please remind me why NASA’s budget was cut.
• After six long years in tumultuous development, rumblings strongly suggest Final Fantasy Versus XIII has been shit-canned by Square Enix.  Sources say Square isn’t keen on outwardly admitting they sunk Versus XIII in order to protect their stock.  This having been the only FF to get me excited about the franchise in about, oh say, six years, I’ve scheduled at least one proper afternoon to scream my guts out.
• However, Square has promised September 1st will house some sort of presentation celebrating the series’ 25th anniversary.  Specifically, they have an announcement pertaining to the Fabula Nova Crystallis segment of games in which anything branded with the number XIII belongs to.  Best case scenario, Versus XIII has been pushed to next-gen consoles; worst case, a tired coroner out there has to explain to my loved ones how a person is able to scream his organs out of his body.
• EA’s marketing department admitted co-op was introduced into Dead Space 3 because their research found that consumers thought the first two games were too scary.  Rightfully so, of course, but if that’s your major complaint, are you sure horror games are for you, pal?  Personally, I like my survival horror scare factor right in between "Loud, persistent man-sobbing” and “I’ve filled my pants.”
• Capcom Vancouver, the dev behind Dead Rising 2 and all pertaining to it, has laid off 7% of its staff, amounting to 20 employees total.  Interestingly enough, it doesn’t sound as if Capcom is simply tightening its belt, claiming the firings came about from “periodic assessment."  The studio’s even scouting for new talent, leaving us to wonder what sort of project they’re switching up their staff in preparation for.  Dead Rising 3, anyone?
• The Elder Scrolls Online might make it console-side after all.  Zenimax isn’t actively flogging team members in order to crank one out, but if truly worthy, the next generation of systems may be able to contain the MMO’s beastliness.  We’ll just file this one under "Shit That Probably Won’t Happen” right next to a Diablo III port to spare us from future heartbreak.
• Battlefield 4’s existence was accidentally outed by EA in a listing that promotes the fact you’ll get your hands on a beta with purchase of Medal of Honor: Warfighter’s Limited Edition.  How soon will BF4 come out?  Given that the beta is planned to launch in the Fall of 2013, I’d say chances of “soon” are FUBAR.