Announced back in 2007, Dead Space is 15-20 hour survival horror title from EA's Redwood Shores. "You can only run and gun it to a certain extent," says dev Alex Charlow. Players are Issac, who's equipped with mining tools as he inspects the innards of a space ship that's been overrun by alien creatures that's comprised of the flesh of the ship's dead crew. The goal is *not* simply to blast the aliens, but to strategically dismember them. "These aren't humans, you can't just shoot them in the head," says Charlow. Instead, players need to shoot off, say, different tentacles of the creatures. But be careful as they can play dead! Game drops this October.

Dead Space Producer Chuck Beaver Talks Survival Horror In Halo's Era

Halo and Gears seem to have rung in new gold standards in game mechanics, and the general trend since they hit the scene has shifted to favor action-intensive, fast-paced shooters. How has this affected the survival horror genre?

Here at E3, we chatted with Dead Space senior producer Chuck Beaver and asked him about creating fear in such an action-heavy, fast-paced environment. Many of the standard-setters for survival horror — think Silent Hill and the earlier Resident Evil games — used atmosphere, environment and careful pacing to terrify players. But Beaver's got some very specific tactics planned for Dead Space:

"Saw" Director Cuts Latest Dead Space Trailer

This trailer is so well-done, it almost makes me overcome my fear of this game — which I don't know if it's actual fear of the environment I'd be in, or just fear of the fact a video game made me shit my pants. Then again, I freaked myself out reading the Wikipedia entry for The Amityville Horror. I probably should stick to, like, Imagine: Babyz or something.

Joystiq noticed that James Wan, the director of the "Saw" series of horror flicks, was credited on GameTrailers as the director of this clip. Interestingly, he's not mentioned at all in the credits. But it does give us a definitive date for the game's release: Oct. 21. So you'll have 10 full days before Halloween to get all sorts of scary cosplay ideas.

Saw Director Takes a Stab at Dead Space with 'Loved Ones' Trailer[Joystiq]

EA's E3 Line Up - We're Going To Need A Bigger Website

Don't expect me to sum up Electronic Arts' E3 2008 presence in a couple of paragraphs. It's far too huge for just a quick rundown, so I'll just give you the pertinent points. The line up includes soemwhere around 38 games, including four games for the iPhone, three for the iPod, and four mobile games - including the upcoming Wolfenstein RPG.

They got a demo room filled with top-notch titles like Dead Space, Warhammer Online, Mirror's Edge, Mercenaries 2, and Madden 09, as well as the EA Software Showcase booth, which will be showing off even more games - The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Crysis Warhead, and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 to name a few. Throw in partner games like Rock Band 2 at the MTV booth and Valve's Left 4 Dead and you've got a whole lot of real estate for the gaming press to cover in a very short time. Hit the jump for the full monty, including listings of which games are up for coveted E3 awards.

Less Music In Dead Space, Please

Occasionally at big gaming press events a games reporter is asked what they think about the games they saw. I feel weird about giving feedback, but some people's jobs depend on it - I think.

I used to be all nice and kind of shake the question off. Nowadays I'll blurt something out. Just to be chatty. Friendly. Etc.

So I saw the sixth level of Dead Space, EA's Halloween-dated third-person horror game for the 360 and PS3. I've been impressed with it so far. Horror in space is a good theme, not exactly overdone in games. The game looks great - I love the way the pop-up level map floats in the air in front of the character, in full 3D.

Ah, but this was my verbal feedback to the Dead Space team…

"Strategic Dismemberment" in Dead Space

"Strategic dismemberment?" Counterproductive headshots? And bodyshots? I'm ready to call Dead Space the No. 1 and No. 2 game of its genre* — because it looks like it'll both piss me off and scare the shit out of me. It also looks like you get to relearn all you know about third-person shooting just for one title.

(*Note to EA, that's not a testimonial. Don't lift it out of context pls. Kthx.)

New Dead Space Trailer Advises Strategic Dismemberment [PS3Fanboy, video hosted by IGN]

Dead Space: Hands-On Impressions

EA Redwood Shores was on hand at last week's EA Label gathering to show off a bit of Dead Space, the deep-space thriller that, until last week, left me feeling rather cold... and not in a good way.

Leading up to last week's event all of the stuff I saw about the game made me feel like it was another shooter, albeit one set in space, but one that didn't seem to offer anything new or interesting to the formula of scary shooters.

But after spending ten minutes or so watching a demonstration and then a few minutes controlling a hapless space engineer, I've got a taste for the game.

Dead Space: Glimpses of Outer Space Carnage

Dead Space Devs Talk Story

Dead Space "Animated Comic"

30 Days Of Night Artist Keen On Game

30 Days Of Night artist Ben Templesmith does damn fine work - fine enough to land him a gig penciling the comic book prequel to EA's Dead Space, as well as doing some design work for the game itself. In a recent interview at Comics 101, Seth "4:10" Robison asked Templesmith how he'd react if EA approached him for a 30 Days Of Night game.

I wouldn't say yes. I'd literally scream it. I'd just ask them to be authentic and make it work while being as respectful to the comic story and visuals. So no sudden space vampires as big as a truck, etc...or any uber-boss like that. EA certainly would have the chops to make a beautiful game version of it. They do gore and blood damn well.

More On Dead Space's Tie-In Cartoon

Speaking with Variety about their recent deal to produce an animated film based on EA's upcoming Dead Space, Starz Media's Scott Greenberg has explained how they'll be going about making a story out of a game that's not even out yet. Step 1, they're making it a prequel, and the game will pick up exactly from where the cartoon leaves off. Step 2? Consult the game's creators on the rich history of their game universe:

Variety: How did you come up with the story for the film? How much were they involved with it?

SG: They have a very detailed bible. It's basically "'Alien' meets 'Doom' in space.

"We are really excited to be working with Film Roman to create an animated feature that will tell the portion of the Dead Space saga between the comic and game," said Glen Schofield, Executive Producer for Dead Space. "With the video game, comic book and now animated movie, Dead Space has become a true multimedia brand.

EA Sponsors SCI-FI-LONDON

Electronic Arts today said they will be the official games sponsor for this year's SCI-FI-LONDON, "the UK's only dedicated science fiction and fantastic film festival."

EA will have a bevy of titles on hand as part of their sponsorship including Mass Effect, Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath, Spore and BOOM BLOX. They will also be showing a sneak preview of Dead Space, their upcoming space horror game.

The event runs from April 30 through May 4 at the Apollo West End theater in London. Hit the jump for the full release.

Dead Space Gives Us Pause

I figured the news that EA's space-horror game Dead Space not having a pause feature was far too stupid to be true. In an interview recently posted over at MTV Multiplayer, Dead Space's executive producer Glen Schofield explains that there will indeed be a pause screen - just not one that lets you pause the action to sort through your inventory.

"I was saying is you don't pause to grab your ammo. You better ammo up before you begin your fight. Because you can't really be safe. [The combat] is happening live and in real time. The reason for me is that adds tension, because people are saying, 'S—, I've got to get more ammo. I've got to get more health.' That's what you want in a survival horror game. We're not going to make that incredibly difficult. You may have to back away from the fight. We're just trying to make you think out a little bit more."

EA's 'Dead Space': Original, 'M-Plus' And... Actually Pause-able After All?? [MTV Multiplayer]

Dead Space Gets Obvious October Release Date