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Report: Dante's Inferno not heading to the United Arab Emirates
According to bilingual gaming news site GamesLatest, the store shelves of the United Arab Emirates won't be stocked with fresh copies of Dante's Inferno any time soon. Electronic Arts reportedly published a statement explaining the company "decided not to release Dante's Inferno in the Middle East after an evaluation process which is based on consumer tastes, preferences, platform mix and other factors." It might also have something to do with the territory's hesitance to distribute games dealing with religious matter. As GamesLatest points out, both Darksiders and God of War were banned in the territory for their deity-rich plots. Then again, maybe the UAE Media Council just has something against impossibly gravelly voices. Either way, we've contacted EA to get first-hand confirmation of the report. %Gallery-51250%
Metareview: Dante's Inferno
Dante's Inferno isn't the best damn game out there, but it's not a hellish experience either. The game, which re-imagines ... is loosely based upon ... has some ephemeral connection to the literature, still delivers entertainment, according to reviews. Perhaps the sequel will be a more heavenly experience? Game Daily (80/100): "Rounding out this impressive package are a series of cut scenes (both 2-D animation and 3-D computer generated movies) ... Obviously, critics will obsessively compare Dante's Inferno to other games, or complain about the quick time events, but don't let those nitpicky issues prevent you from experiencing this imaginative and fun adventure. It's one Hell of a good time." IGN (75/100): "Dante's Inferno takes a bold, visually impressive take on a literary classic and adds in an intriguing action focus to create a different kind of action title. Unfortunately, some derivative combat sequences and a shallow combo system prevent the title from becoming a truly great experience." Eurogamer (60/100): "But you can't ignore the fact this is a God of War clone at its core, and many of the ideas here feel tired, familiar and dated. Nor can you ignore the fact that God of War III is nearly here. If it's a toss-up between that game and this one, as it probably will be for PS3 fans, you're best off waiting to see how Kratos' next adventure turns out." 1UP (C+): "The game is filled with lots of good and well-executed ideas, but they all seem to exist independently of one another. It's a popcorn movie that clearly took a good deal of talent to pull together, but comes up short of creating the grand adventure that it seems to be trying for." %Gallery-45836%
European PSN releases for February 4
Hey, look at you, Europe! You finally got your hands on Final Fantasy VIII! Try not to get too jealous about the fact that we've been playing that jam for a couple of months now -- after all, you guys already got Vagrant Story. You jerks. There are tons of other noteworthy items in this week's update, including a demo for Alien Vs. Predator and Battlefield Bad Company 2. You'll also find a few packs of downloadable souls for Dante's Inferno, some of which require real-life money to obtain. Basically, you purchase souls without having to actually play the game. As far as we're concerned, that's straight-up sloth. Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
Hellacious marketing: Dante's Inferno is in the code
It seems the marketing team behind Dante's Inferno hasn't burnt out yet, with several ASCII art campaigns popping up in the source code for several popular websites. All direct to the same Dante's Inferno site. The first image (above) appeared in digg's code, as noted by brentcsutoras, and other sites like IGN, GameSpot and Kotaku also had their source code altered to display Dante-related images. It's one of the cuter, somewhat classier approaches to this title's marketing, and that makes it oddly noteworthy. If you're wondering why there's nothing in our source code (we're checking now just to make sure) ... we don't let anyone touch that. We consider it to be at least third base and you really have to get to know Joystiq before it's prepared to take the relationship to that level.
Visceral begins shift from Dante's Inferno to Dead Space 2
[Pictured: Isaac Clarke in Dead Space 2; adaptation] A week from the launch of Dante's Inferno, no one would expect Visceral Games' Nick Earl to reveal any uncertainty about sales, but Industry Gamers did attempt to elicit a reaction from the senior VP -- by reminding Earl that his studio's new game will share a release date with BioShock 2 (never mind that it's surrounded on either month by other big-name releases). "In life, there's the things you can control and things you can't control," Earl said somewhat poetically. "I can't be too concerned with our competitive slate; our team has put so much time into Dante's Inferno, and I have a lot of faith in it." Perhaps "faith" is a natural result of working with the source material, but more likely Earl can sleep at night because he knows he has the support of a strong marketing budget. As a work of public domain, Dante's Inferno is that rare double-bonus for EA: a recognizable property and free to adapt -- no strings attached. In turn, EA has invested in a resounding "buzz" that targeted game outlets early with memorable stunts and will culminate in an unprecedented Super Bowl spot. "There may have been [a Super Bowl ad] from Atari years ago, but it has not been done in recent memory, and it shows the confidence we have in Dante's Inferno," Earl said of the publisher's first Super Bowl commercial, which will air on Sunday. With Dante's Inferno out of his hands, Earl confirmed that the majority of Visceral's staff is shifting to Dead Space 2 (while a small team continues to work on Dante's DLC). "We're more focused on the action than the horror this time," Earl said of the apparent ACTION-horror sequel. "We're more empowering to the player."
Dante's Inferno: The Book based on The Game based on The Poem based on the Theology
In the introduction to the EA Games-approved, Del Rey Books-published edition of the classic epic poem Inferno, Visceral Games Executive Producer Jonathan Knight asks a question about the video game Dante's Inferno that many people think they already know the answer to: "Is Dante Alighieri Laughing, or Rolling, in His Grave?" Plenty of game journalists, commentators, and fans who have seen the game's promotions and advertising would probably answer, "Of course he is!" but Knight lays out a reasoned and well-argued case that Visceral's new game follows in a long and esteemed tradition of interpreting Italian literature's most famous work. It may or may not change your mind, but Knight's position is definitely worth consideration.
Report: CBS rejects Dante's inferno ad over tagline
According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS required some editing to EA's Super Bowl ad for Dante's Inferno before it would expose America's fragile hive mind to it. No, it's not because of all the demons and the brimstone and stuff, but rather due to the game's widely-used tag line "Go to Hell." As you can seen in the clip after the jump, it's replaced by "Hell Awaits." The change is likely because of worries about offending conservative viewers, but we're secretly hoping that Doritos is launching a new super spicy chip during the big game and it just didn't want Dante copying its line. [Via Eurogamer]
Dante's Inferno Trials of St. Lucia DLC confirmed
We hate to ruin the surprise for you, but when you tear into your copy of Dante's Inferno you'll also be getting a sneak peek at what's next for the game. A packed-in trailer reveals the Trials of St. Lucia DLC with its player-created trials, online co-op in said trials and and a new playable character, the titular (pun-intended) St. Lucia. A Kotaku reader grabbed a shaky-cam version of the promo, which you can see right after the break. It's a little early for us to be thinking about all that, what with the game still a week from hitting shelves. But it's nice to know that if we do have to go to hell, we'll have some company by April.
New Games This Month: February 2010
It may be the shortest month in terms of days, but February is no slouch when it comes to new releases. We've got plenty of heavy hitters including BioShock 2, Heavy Rain and Dante's Inferno. You know, we heard it a lot when games kept getting delayed out of fall of 2009, but we think the reality is finally dawning on us just now: There will never again not be new games. We're not sure we can handle it, frankly. %Gallery-84385%
Visceral Games prepping DLC for Dante's Inferno
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Dante's Inferno executive producer Jonathan Knight responded curiously to a query about the possibility of upcoming adaptations of the other two installments in the Divine Comedy, Purgatorio and Paradiso. According to the Times, "Knight said his team was focused on the release of Dante's Inferno as well as on additional downloadable content for that game," though he later confessed "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about that." We think Visceral's missing out on a great chance to kill two birds with one stone -- why not make Purgatorio and Paradiso DLC packs for Inferno? For instance, a few months after the game comes out, release a patch that makes the game's load times last for 49 days. Boom. Purgatorio in the bag. Update: As awesome as that sounds, it's more likely he was talking about the "Dark Forest" prequel DLC that will come bundled with the Limited Edition version of the game on PS3. We're still going to hold out hope, though!
Your obligatory violent gameplay video of the day is Dante's Inferno
There is no shortage of button-mashing action titles coming in 2010, and Dante's Inferno is right around the corner. Promising buckets of blood, brooding and boobs, the team at Visceral Games hope to capture the overlapping fans of both literary masterpieces and punching monsters in the face. It's like an obvious Venn diagram of awesome. Well, until someone finally turns Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret into a collectible card game.
Report: EA buys Super Bowl ad time for Dante's Inferno
Because the Dante's Inferno marketing department obviously knows what it's doing, IndustryGamers reports that EA bought up some ad time during next month's Super Bowl, presumably in the hopes that some of the people watching will care enough to pick up the game when it's releases two days later. We have to wonder how many of these sports-watching people -- who are ostensibly not as interested in 14th century epic poetry -- will care about a guy with a self-inflicted sewing nightmare on his chest waging war through Hell. So, here's ample warning. When your parents inevitably drag you over to your uncle's house to watch the San Bernardino Flim-Flams take on the Texarkana Whatsits, and your little cousin -- you know, the one way too into Dashboard Confessional with the closet full of long-sleeve shirts with thumb holes cut out -- sees the ad and goes bananas, know that Joystiq gave you the heads up. We love you like that.
Dante's Inferno special edition printing provides 'unique insight' into game's creation
These are dire times for ye olde book industry. Dire indeed. A special printing of Dante's Inferno -- like, the book -- hopes to capitalize on "the hottest game around." Due January 19 in book stores, this new edition from Del Rey (of the Random House empire) features an introduction by executive producer Jonathan Knight and 16 pages of colorful artwork from "the action adventure blockbuster that's rocking the video-game world." There's a 14th-century epic poem squeezed in there, too. Perhaps best used as a bargaining chip for kids desperate to convince their parents that they should be allowed to play a game based on a literary classic, however "mature" it might be, this damned tie-in is unlikely to ascend to the heavenly gates of the bestsellers list. Still, if Visceral Games' clone adaptation inspires even a single player to check out the original poem, then that would be a beautiful thing. Hell, it would be divine! %Gallery-82898%
Dante's Inferno 'Fraud' trailer makes you fight for your life
We're ... we're just not sure we understand the reasoning behind Dante's Inferno's eighth circle, Fraud, depicted in the trailer above. See, Visceral Games has brought the concept of the circle's 10 Malebolges to life in the game in form of 10 arenas, where Dante must battle all the enemies he's fought in previous levels in succession. While doing so, he must navigate dark corridors where, according to art director Ash Huang, "you really can't see where you're going." Well, that actually sounds pretty faithful to the source material. It also sounds immeasurably frustrating. Check out the trailer above to find out where politicians go, and make sure you tune in for the final Dante's trailer in February to catch a glimpse of Mr. Beel Z. Bubb himself.
'The Inferno' for iPhone shows how to adapt Dante's Inferno
No doubt inspired by both the development of a Dante's Inferno game and that game's wholesale appropriation of another game's play style, iPhone developer Xpressed has done a little appropriation of its own by releasing The Inferno before EA's big multiplatform title hits stores. Instead of being a more offensive God of War, The Inferno is a top-down maze action game, in which Dante collects innocent souls to open exits out of trap-filled rooms. And despite the layout of Hell not really resembling that in the book, this game is quite a bit more faithful than Visceral's: rather than being a psychotic, musclebound mass murderer, Dante is a meek explorer being led through Hell by Virgil. Oh, and it costs a dollar. Check out some gameplay footage after the break! [Via Touch Arcade]
Dante's Inferno demo now available on XBLM
Because nothing goes with the egg nog and sugar cookies as well as baby murder, right? As expected, the demo for Dante's Inferno has descended into the seventh level of the Xbox Live marketplace, which means that you Xbox Live Gold members can hack and slash your way past all of the buzz and see if the gameplay floats your ferry right across the River Styx. The demo is 1GB in size, and while we didn't see it available on the console itself (though it should be there soon), you can follow this link on over to the Xbox website and queue up the download from there. Just don't come crying to us when Grandma's shocked after walking in and seeing what you're doing on the "gamebox." Make sure you know where the smelling salts are.
Dante's Inferno producer hopes for sequel, despite challenges
Would it be possible to use Dante Alighieri's spinning corpse in oil derricks, as as a sort of fleshy drill, or perhaps to power a large centrifuge? That might be a real opportunity if Dante's Inferno executive producer Jonathan Knight gets to make a follow-up to his forthcoming adaptation, a hope he elaborated on for G4. There's a hitch though: While Knight knows that EA will want a sequel to the game if it performs well, he's not sure that the follow up in The Divine Comedy, Purgatorio, will lend itself as well to a game. ... So Visceral can turn one of the great literary works into a game about a scythe-wielding maniac fighting nipple-born monsters, but making a game about the seven-layer Mount of Purgatory that ends in Earthly Paradise is beyond it? Really?
Europe getting Dante's Inferno 'Death Edition,' includes playable Isaac Clarke
In an inspiring attempt to try and take even more gratuitous liberties with the works of Dante Alighieri, Visceral Games has announced a Europe-only special edition bundle of its upcoming Hell-based action title, Dante's Inferno. The "Death Edition" bundle comes with a copy of the poem, some making-of documentaries, and an art book. However, its greatest bonus is a new skin for the game's scythe-wielding protagonist: The slot-helmeted outfit of Dead Space's hero, Isaac Clarke. Check out the full costume after the jump. Now that we think of it, there's something pretty similar to this cross-promotion in the text of Dante's epic poem: "I saw multitudes to every side of me; their howls were loud while, wheeling weights, they used their chests to push. They struck against each other; at that point, this space miner came in and killed them with this big scythe. Needless to say, it was pretty [expletive deleted] radical." Source: Console Planet (Google Translate)
Dante's Inferno creators explain 'Violence' in latest dev diary
You might be wondering exactly how Visceral Games managed to get a level themed after "Violence" into Dante's Inferno -- a game where the lead character spends roughly 100% of his time killing anything near him. We were wondering too, and so it was really nice of Visceral Games and EA to release the above dev diary for the "month of violence" that the game's marketing campaign is currently embracing to promote the game's level based on the seventh circle of Hell. The real question now: what can we expect EA's marketing team during this month's theme? We're not sure just yet, but given its recent track record, we're hoping no one goes to our Editor-in-Chief's house to give him a lesson or two in violence. %Gallery-45836%
