Ahead of E3, EA announced earlier today that Dead Space Extraction for the Wii will ship to retailers on September 29 in North America and on October 2 in Europe. If it’s anything like the original Dead Space then I’ll be waiting in line to get Extraction for the Wii.

Developed at EA’s award-winning Visceral Games studio, Dead Space Extraction tells the story of a handful of space colonists desperately struggling to escape from a horrific infection on the Aegis VII mining colony deep in the furthest regions of space. The game introduces Lexine, an important new heroine, to the Dead Space universe. Players will play as the crew who falls victim to a mysterious contagion aboard the ship, with it quickly becoming clear that protecting Lexine will be their only hope for survival.

Are these really necessary? Flaming skins for your Line Gun? There are a few worthwhile upgrades, but still.

The first round of DLC for EA’s Dead Space arrives for the Xbox on November 13 and the 20th for the PlayStation 3.

Astronaut Pack: Download the Astronaut Suit and Weapon Skin Pack, featuring an amazing Astronaut Suit and new skins for the Plasma Cutter, Pulse Rifle, and Ripper!
$3.00 / 240 MS points

Big Gun Pack: Download the Steam Punk Force Gun, the ultimate in Necromorph-killing destruction.
$1.00 / 80 MS points

Military Pack: Download the Military Weapon Pack for a new look and enhanced power for all 7 Dead Space weapons.
$4.00 / 320 MS points

Pedestrian Pack: Download the Pedestrian Weapon Skin Pack, featuring a fresh new look for the Contact Beam, Plasma Cutter, and Ripper.
$1.50 / 120 MS points

Scorpion Pack: Download the Scorpion Pack featuring an upgraded Level 5 Suit and powered up Plasma Cutter, Line Gun, and Force Gun, all decorated in an awesome red Scorpion Skin.
$4.00 / 320 MS points

Scorpion Weapon Pack: Download the Scorpion Weapon Pack featuring a faster death-dealing Plasma Cutter, Line Gun, and Force Gun in awesome red skins.
$2.25 / 180 MS points

Speed Kills Pack: Download the Speed Kills Weapon Pack! Includes faster-firing Force Gun, Line Gun, and Plasma Cutter.
$2.25 / 180 MS points

Tank Pack: Download the Tank Pack featuring an upgraded Level 5 Suit and powered up Flamethrower, Force Gun, and Line Gun, all covered in Unitology script.
$4.00 / 320 MS points

PLAYSTATION®3 Exclusive Packs:

Obsidian Weapon Skin Pack: Download the exclusive Obsidian Weapon Skin Pack now, available only for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Includes weapon skins in jet-black PLAYSTATION 3 colors for the Line Gun, Plasma Cutter, and Pulse Rifle.
$1.50

Obsidian Pack: Download the exclusive Obsidian Suit and Weapon Skin Pack now, available only for the PLAYSTATION®3! Includes an upgraded Level 5 suit, and weapon skins for the Line Gun, Plasma Cutter, and Pulse Rifle, all in jet-black PLAYSTATION®3 colors.
$3.00

Xbox 360®-Exclusive Packs:

Elite Weapon Skin Pack: Download the exclusive Elite Weapon Skin Pack now, available only for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system! Includes weapon skins in Xbox 360 colors for the Line Gun, Plasma Cutter, and Pulse Rifle.
120 MS points

Elite Pack: Download the exclusive Elite Suit and Weapon Skin Pack now, available only for the Xbox 360! Includes an upgraded Level 5 suit, and weapon skins for the Line Gun, Plasma Cutter, and Pulse Rifle in Xbox 360 colors.
240 MS points

I don’t find it to repetitive at all, actually. I’m quite pleased.
I don’t find it to repetitive at all, actually. I’m quite pleased.

The new 13-inch MacBook wasn’t designed specifically for gaming but with the somewhat impressive NVIDIA 9400M at the graphics core, it should suffice for occasional gaming. The Obsessable chaps installed Warhammer Online through a 32GB Windows XP partition and came to the conclusion that the notebook does a fine job even with a modern, graphic intensive game. Still, with the screen real estate limited to 13.3-inches, you aren’t going to play through Dead Space; unless you hook up the new 23-inch Cinema Display…

My first hands-on with this action/horror shooter from EA Redwood Shores was at E3 where Devin and I were both dumbfounded by what we saw. I couldn’t stop talking about it for hours and Devin eventually told me to STFU. It was dark, gruesome and I had to have it, which is why I attempted to ‘accidentally’ walk away with a build during E3. The graphics and gameplay alone had me sold but it was the soundtrack that put me over the edge. And EA was the last place I expected to find a shooter worth playing in an already saturated market.

The game is set hundreds of years in the future where we’ve ravaged the Earth of all its natural resources and now we’re scouring the far reaches of space to pillage other planets for their resources. For whatever reason the USG Ishimura has cut off all communications with the governing body that manages the pillaging of planets and a small maintenance crew is sent out to figure out what happened. This is where you takeover as Isaac Clarke and begin your lonely mission to find out what happened to the crew and try to find a way off the ship since yours is unfortunately blown to smithereens while trying to keep the rest of your crew alive. As you progress through each section of the Ishimura you’re tasked with little missions to fix what you can and along the way you find clues (usually audio clips) left by crewmembers that give insight as to what happened. Most are cryptic and I eventually stopped listening to them. You’ll find out why in just a bit. The storyline is entertaining, but it’s not something I focused on too much.

Your enemies throughout this space odyssey consist of various Necromorphs that get progressively harder to kill and just scare the shit out of you. The main feature of this game that piqued my interest at E3 was the dismemberment aspect and it lived up to all the hype. You have to dismember these creatures or they will come after you with their scythe-like limbs (hits to the body and head don’t do much, so go after the limbs) and your ammo situation can be limited at times, so you have to get creative. More on this later. I especially liked the curb stomping ala Gears of War that was thrown in and I spent a few minutes stomping dead enemies just to see the rest of their limbs dissipate.
About halfway through the game the Necromorphs are able to regenerate so you’re SOL if you get stuck in a room with a few too many beasties. However, with the click of the left joystick you’re presented with an illuminated path that shows you where you need to go. Kind of like the illuminated path that might show up on a plane if the power goes out. This was extremely helpful, but it’s a crutch that I fell back on many times simply because I could. To be honest without it I would have spent hours and hours just wandering around for no reason. It’s a blessing and a curse, but you do end up backtracking to unlock certain areas of the ship and it can get confusing at times. (This is also why I stopped listening to the audio logs)

Let’s talk about the weapons in Dead Space now. There isn’t any one weapon that’s worth zeroing in on, but my usual rotation consisted of a rifle, line gun, plasma cutter and flamethrower. Each having its own secondary function that I unleashed one too many times in elevator shafts inflicting damage that ultimately lead to my demise prematurely. But my favorite weapons were the line gun and plasma cutters. Each of these weapons can be upgraded via workbenches scattered throughout the ship and I typically focused on upgrading the capacity of each weapon whereas as a smarter player would have focused on improving the overall damage inflicted, but said player must also be savvy with the stasis utility. Remember the low ammo situations where you have to get creative that I mentioned earlier? Well, this is where a more veteran shooter would slow down their enemies via stasis and dismember the Necromorphs with a few pistol whips rather than unloading clips upon clips of bullets. Certain Necromorphs are unaffected by certain weapons so it’s a crapshoot when you encounter new enemies.

I’ve grown quite accustomed to the third-person shooter genre, but DS manages to revitalize the genre, which I feel is getting stagnant, whether we like it or not. The HUD system is like nothing else and I hope to see other developers clone or improve upon this system. You no longer need to pause mid-game or dart your eyes to the corners of your screen to see your vitals. Isaac’s life meter is exactly where you’re looking 90 percent of the time and stopping to look at how much ammo each weapon has or where you are on the map is a risk because the game keeps going even if you’ve decided to take a tiny break.

The zero gravity sections of the game were challenging and frustrating at the same time. It kept things fresh and trying to maneuver yourself while being chased by aliens had me sweating bullets at times. I can sort of imagine what it would be liked based on the zero gravity flight I took the other month and I’m pretty sure I’d be dead within seconds if I ever find myself in a real life space odyssey.

So, should you buy this game? You’re going to need something to keep yourself occupied before Gears of War 2 comes out. Heh. Honestly, I enjoyed Dead Space and it lived up to my expectations. If Bioshock creeped you out then you better wear a diaper when you load this game into your console. Pick it up today for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Originally scheduled to ship on October 21st, the award-winning action/adventure game, Dead Space will ship for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 on October 14, 2008 giving players a full 17 days before Halloween to step out into space for the fright of their lives. The development team at EA Redwood Shores is getting into the Halloween spirit early this year so fans can celebrate with Dead Space without cutting into their trick or treat time.

The Dead Space experience is all about surviving in its sci-fi world through strategic dismemberment, so experience the horror before the Necromorphs dismember you. After all, you are never truly safe in Dead Space. When an immense mining ship, the USG Ishimura, comes into contact with a mysterious alien artifact in a remote star system, its communications with Earth are mysteriously cut off. Engineer Isaac Clarke is sent to repair the Ishimura’s communications array, but he arrives to find a living nightmare—the ship is a floating bloodbath, the crew unspeakably mutilated and infected by an ancient alien scourge. Clarke’s repair mission becomes one of survival as he fights not just to save himself, but to return the artifact to the planet … at any cost.

The PC version of the game will be shipping on October 20, 2008.

EA’s New Survival Horror IP Moves in early
London, UK– August 29, 2008– Electronic Arts today announced that its new sci-fi survival horror game Dead Space™ will now be coming to stores on October 24th for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system, and October 31st for PC.

The decision to bring it to fans earlier was due to completing the game early. Having spent months of polishing, it will soon be ready to scare gamers across the UK.

Gamers can check out the newest trailers and get all the latest dev team news at the Dead Space website www.deadspacegame.com

That space survival horror (wha?) game by EA, Deadspace, will have its own comic book series starting next month. Personally, I know little about the game (other than what’s on Wikipedia) and even less about comic books writ large. The guys behind the comic, Ben Templesmith and Antony Johnston, are famous in the comic book world (again, thank you, Wikipedia), with Templesmith being the artiste behind such works as Fell and 30 Days of Night and Johnston writing Wasteland.

This media cross-polinization leads me to believe a few things. One, EA sees the game as being popular with the comic book crowd, which, to my knowledge (with friends into that whole scene), is a very picky bunch; they’re hardcore gamers likely to own obscure games like Rez and Mario Paint. Two, EA is confident enough of the game’s universe and story that it licensed it out to be turned into a comic book. That’s a positive signal about the game’s quality. Plus, survival horror, when executed well, is pretty great, probably my favorite genre after fighting games. I was a Tekken 3 addict, pretty much.

Deadspace [EA]