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Visceral Montreal studio staffing up for Army of Two, Dead Space franchises
A series of job openings in EA Montreal's Visceral Games division point unsurprisingly to ongoing projects associated with the studio's homegrown Army of Two franchise, as well as for Dead Space. Positions for a senior producer, art director and lead environmental artist for Army of Two have been posted on the EA jobs site, in addition to a number of non-franchise-specific roles. Also of note, the studio is looking for a senior development director for the Dead Space franchise, in addition to a lead writer (in English) and senior AI programmer for a "new action adventure IP." The EA Montreal location includes Visceral Games Montreal, EA Mobile, BioWare Montreal and other groups. The now Visceral-branded studio is best known for its pair of Army of Two games, which have sold millions -- fist bump! -- despite mixed critical reception. Additionally, the Montreal studio collaborated with EA's Redwood Shores outfit to develop Dead Space 2. While EA has made no official statement about new iterations of these franchises, we clearly haven't seen the last of them. And you can put your bro on that!
Scott Amos leaves Visceral for Crystal Dynamics, will help develop new IP
Aside from giving Lara a fresh pair of pants (and a full-on reboot), Crystal Dynamics has something else in the works, it appears. According to Gamasutra, Scott Amos, executive producer at Dead Space creator Visceral Games, has joined on with the developer to lead a new team tasked with developing this new IP. Prior to his work with Visceral, Amos also handled The Sims franchise at EA Maxis, developing the series for consoles. Amos will be relocating to Crystal Dynamics' Redwood-based studio, but we've heard he's got to make it all the way through The Angel of Darkness before he can start work. That's something we wouldn't wish on anyone.
Visceral seeking producer for work on 'bold new IP'
Dead Space 2 is finished. So, what's next for Visceral Games? Dead Space 3? Dante's Inferno 2? The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 2: The Returnening? Anything is possible, it seems, as a new job listing on Gamasutra reveals that the studio is hiring for an executive producer to lead a "bold new IP," one that is "heavily backed by EA leadership." (So, anything but Mirror's Edge 2.) Our best guess? It's that Macbeth game Dante's Inferno producer Jonathan Knight has "been thinking about for years." Of course, Knight is no longer with Visceral nor EA, so perhaps he took his idea with him. [Image mock-up incorporates art from a 2007 production of MacBeth staged by the Workshop Theatre Company; source: andycomusic.com]
Dead Space 2 PC patch released, adds more suits and buttons
Oh dear Dead Space 2 PC players, don't be jealous of your console colleagues clad in all that fresh attire. A patch for your particular version of the game has been released, adding the weapon and armor packs that are available as premium DLC for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. These new armaments will simply show up in the in-game store for free; a sweet little bonus, and perhaps a minor act of contrition, considering the "Severed" expansion won't be coming to your native platform. The patch also fixes an error with the limited save function of Hardcore mode and adds support for input binding for up to eight mouse buttons. Wait, eight mouse buttons? What kind of monstrosity are you guys clicking that has eight mouse buttons?
Dead Space 2: Severed DLC lopping off limbs on March 1
We know that, following a week of intense psychotherapy, the shaken nerves and disturbed dreams you developed after playing through Dead Space 2 have started to disperse -- which is why we hate to share this news with you. Visceral Games has announced that the game's two-chapter-long expansion, Severed, will be available on the North American Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store on March 1 for 560 Microsoft Points ($6.99), and will arrive in Europe the following day. Check out a trailer after the jump to see the brand of horrors waiting for the pack's purchasers. Sure, you could heed the advice of your thereputic advisor and pass on the add-on altogether -- but aren't you curious exactly whose and which limbs are going to get titularly dismembered? We certainly hope they don't belong to our dear, dear Dead Space Girl. You hear us, Necromorphs? Not a finger.
The Demise of Dead Space 2's Franco Delille: How Visceral Killed a Man in One Minute
Joystiq interviews Visceral Games and finds out how one gruesome minute of Dead Space 2 was made. In the future, our starship captains won't be as blindly heroic as their television counterparts. Their years of virtual training -- inside holo-capsule games like Dead Space 13: Amputheater -- will impart every single reason to avoid stranded ships and suspect space colonies. Even here, in 2011, Dead Space 2 provides an uncomfortable glimpse at the scary doors, inadequate fluorescent lighting and snarling horrors that await us off-planet. And that's before you die and come back to vicious near-life as a necrotized bag of flesh, running around wildly with scissors for hands. The inhospitable world of Dead Space 2 and the creatures that make a rickety existence within it hardly seem worthy of care or devotion, yet it's all you see in every fuggy, expertly lit scene. There's no better way to see the detail-driven efforts of developer Visceral Games than by narrowing your focus to just one minute of the game, in which you're forced to watch a man shed every semblance of humanity and transform into a grotesque mess of flesh. It's probably not as painful as it looks, I found out, because the poor guy doesn't have a brain.
Video: Why Dead Space Aftermath is like a Kurosawa film
Comparing the Dead Space Aftermath to the works of Akira Kurosawa might seem strange but, believe it or not, this video explains that the animated film borrows from Kurosawa's Rashomon. Specifically, it's told through flashbacks. Also, it totally rips off the space zombie scene.
Play with Dead Space 2 devs this weekend, earn special in-game suit
The gore buffs of Visceral Games will play a few multiplayer rounds of Dead Space 2 this Saturday. Two sessions are scheduled for both PSN and Xbox Live, one beginning at 11:00am PST and another at 3:00pm. To make things more interesting, the developers will wear special "viral" suits. Any player that manages to kill a developer will unlock that suit and from that point, the suit will start spreading. In other words, anyone who kills another player who unlocked the suit will also unlock it. Those who plan to attend are asked to RSVP on the Dead Space Facebook page. Xbox.com has also listed the gamertags Visceral will be using. Those wishing to play on Xbox should send friend requests to the listed tags. Find them after the break.
Visceral Games hears disabled gamer, adding customizable controls to Dead Space 2
Spooky cathedrals, fun technology and lots of slimy necromorphs to dismember at will -- is there anything else you could possibly want in Dead Space 2? Well, Gareth Garratt, a gamer living with cerebral palsy, would like to see customizable controls implemented in the game. Garratt is trying to play the horror sequel on PC, partly by pushing a mouse with his chin, and is unhappy that he can't assign the "walk forward" command to a mouse button. Plenty of games allow for customizable controls, he says, so why can't Dead Space 2? Over 20,000 fellow players agree, and they've signed an online Internet petition asking video game publishers to make sure that all games offer customization for their controls. Here's the good news: Dead Space 2 dev Visceral Games has already heard them loud and clear. Executive Producer Steve Papoutsis tells Joystiq that a patch for the PC version of the game enabling full control remapping is on the way, and that "a number of folks on our team are so passionate about getting this fix done that they are currently working hard" on it. Papoutsis says the patch will fix a few other issues with the PC version, and that a release date will be announced "when the patch is fully tested." You can read his remarks in full after the break.
Dead Space 2: Severed screenshots are Lexine-less
Don't get your hopes up, dear readers -- though EA recently uploaded a handful of screens for Dead Space 2's upcoming DLC expansion, Severed, none feature the scream-faced protagonist, Lexine Murdoch. They only show Gabe Weller, who is not known for his outrageous facial expressions.
Get Dead Space 2 dead cheap today [Update: PS3 version back in stock]
Looking for a discount on spacefaring scares? Amazon is offering Dead Space 2 on Xbox 360 today for $39.99 (the PS3 version has already sold out is back for now!), and $39.95 on PC, allowing you to get a sensible cost-per-unit on "holy craps." The retailer is also offering the Collector's Edition for $59.95 -- what you'd normally pay for the standard edition. PS3 copies of this edition are still available, and include a free Move-compatible Dead Space Extraction (as all first-run PS3 copies do), boosting the pants-wetting/money ratio even further. This deal will expire at the end of the day or until Amazon runs out of copies, so if you're interested get it now or face the terrifying proposition that you'd have to pay more. That's the bad kind of scare.
Dead Space 2 creative director denies satirizing Scientology
Unitology, the kind-of-creepy religion that appears in Dead Space and its sequel, is based on a science fiction story, has lots of money collected from members moving up through ranks and ends in "-tology" -- ring any bells? Yes, a lot of players are making comparisons to the real life Church of Scientology, which was incorporated by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and has gained a lot of press as a church for rich celebrities. But any comparisons are strictly coincidental, says Dead Space 2's creative director Wright Bagwell. Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, Bagwell says that the in-game church was "never really intended to be a jab at any particular religion." Instead, it's about "people's illogical thinking about things they don't understand." Even in our own world, technology has gotten incredibly complex in the last 30 years, and while much of humanity's superstition and myth was disproven by the Scientific Revolution, Bagwell says that science has brought the people in Dead Space 2 back around to ritual and faith. "In this complex, futuristic world, people are looking for ways to simplify their lives and put their faith in something that they don't have to think too much about." That, and the Church of Scientology is notoriously litigious.
Dead Space 2 devs reflect on improved 'smoke and mirrors'
Looking for something to remind you that the blood-curdling horror of Dead Space 2 isn't real? Might we suggest this behind-the-scenes video, in which the developers expose all the game's visual tricks? See -- just smoke and mirrors, that's all ...
Dead Space 2 outselling first game '2-to-1,' EA says
Despite an overwhelmingly positive critical reception, the first Dead Space was a launch dud when it hit retail in mid-October of 2008. Reporting on its life-to-date sales through that November, Gamasutra described it, along with fellow EA newcomer Mirror's Edge, as having "failed miserably" -- NPD data showed that Dead Space was below 500K unit sales more than a month after launch. The following February, EA would quietly confirm that the game had become a million-seller by the end of 2008. Fast-forward two Februaries later and EA is bringing back up that bleak launch, but this time in new light: "Dead Space 2 launched last week [...] outscoring the original Dead Space and outselling it two-to-one," the publisher trumpeted in its latest list of business highlights (without revealing specific figures). Putting the Dead Space 2 commercial launch in such stark terms sounds impressive, but in reality it's more like "a pretty good start" for a deserving sequel. So, EA, when are you gonna give Mirror's Edge its second chance?
Visceral: 'A lot of discussion' over live-action Dead Space film
Though there are plenty of jollies to be had from the uber-gory Dead Space Aftermath animated feature, we've got a powerful desire in our heart-of-hearts to lay eyes upon a live-action film set in the Dead Space universe. We're not the only ones. In a recent interview with BBC News, Visceral Games art director Ian Milham explained, "We would love to have a live action film and we've had a lot of discussion. But one of the reasons Dead Space still exists and is popular is because we've made sure to do everything right. So we're doing the same with the film, not just a cheap cash-in but to do something really worthwhile, so we'll see." We appreciate how much thought you're putting into this -- an unprecedented amount of thought, you might say -- though, really, we can't think of an easier game to adapt to film. Here's our simple plan for how we're gonna make this work: Give the rights to adapt the game over to the guys who make the Saw movies. Book two tickets on the 10 o' clock money train to Cashtown.
Dead Space 2 Hazard, Martial Law and Supernova DLC packs available now
The odds are well-stacked against Isaac as he traverses the Necromorph-stuffed hallways of The Sprawl -- which, typically, is the way that real heroes like to do they business. If unassisted survival is proving too hard a task, you can now capitulate and download Dead Space 2's "Hazard," "Martial Law" and "Supernova" downloadable pack. They're available today, each adding a handful of powerful suits and weapons to Isaac's inventory for $5 a pop. Check out the full list of these items after the jump as you try to decide which one sounds like a thing you'd like to own. And don't even say all of them, because if you've got $15 to spend on virtual power tools, then we have some prime Florida swampland to sell you.
TUAW's Daily App: Dead Space
Dead Space is already known as a high-quality title on both consoles and PC, and the sequel just arrived this week to play through. (Though I'm a fan of the series and was even able to play a few preview builds of the game, I haven't had time to play the actual game because of Macworld Expo this week.) But along with the full title, EA has also had its Iron Monkey Studio create and release a Dead Space iOS tie-in, and it's a pretty solid experience. Rather than just rehash the console series, the game is an all-new experience in the Dead Space universe, sporting a pretty impressive recreation of the original game's limb-severing mechanics and horror-based sci-fi setting. You play as a character named "Vandal," a member of the freaky Church of Unitology in the series, who is working on a little sabotage when things go horribly wrong and the series trademark Necromorph baddies start to appear. Just like the full game, the controls are excellent, and while the graphics don't quite scale to the same resolution, they're more than serviceable. The iOS game does a really amazing job of recreating the feel of the full experience. It's not quite as inventive or polished as the full release, but the story especially does a nice job of carrying you right through the game. The game sells for US$6.99 on the iPhone and $9.99 on the iPad, which is quite cheap when you consider what the console versions cost. I should probably say as well that this is definitely a mature game -- while the player death animations aren't quite as gory or detailed as what I've seen in the full title, there are still lots of limbs everywhere and scary moments to experience. The game also offers some microtransactions for power-up items, though the experience is still full-featured without them. And sadly, there's no Game Center integration at all -- this is very much a standalone title. Still, it's an excellent download for fans of the series, and even those who haven't played Dead Space but are still interested in the horror genre should get a kick out of it.
Metareview: Dead Space 2
Galactic handyman Isaac Clarke is back to cut the implements of death off Necromorphs before stomping on their heads. If you can keep your eyes open for the action-oriented horror, you'll have as good a time with the game as we did. But, we aren't the only voice in the interverse. Here's what others thought of the Visceral experience: Giant Bomb (5/5): "Just like its predecessor, Dead Space 2 doesn't do anything especially new, it just does everything exceedingly well." CVG (95/100): "Polished, sickening, satisfying and occasionally heart-testing, Dead Space 2 is undoubtedly the best horror adventure on Xbox 360 and PS3. It's the Resident Evil of this generation - and it'll leave you an emotional wreck." Eurogamer (90/100): "The linearity and reliance on set-piece shocks can often make Dead Space 2 feel like a multi-million dollar Ghost Train ride at a funfair. Overuse of 'mash-the-A-button-to-escape-the-monster' moments jars with the more distinguished mechanics elsewhere." IGN (90/100): "The shocking moments, the gruesome deaths, and the fun of playing through this experience again and again are what I took away from this one." Game Informer (90/100): "Dead Space 2 is a monster of a sequel, offering bigger scares and more excitement than I expected. I enjoyed Isaac as a silent protagonist in the original game, and I find I like him even more now that he's found his voice." Gamespot (85/100) "a campaign that simultaneously leaves you satisfied and eager for more, and intense multiplayer that gives you a great reason to keep coming back to this terrifying universe. Unless you're just plain chicken, this is a sci-fi horror adventure you definitely want to suit up for" %Gallery-114830%
PSA: Dead Space 2 DLC workaround for non-Gold members
If you're an Xbox Live "free" member ready to "strategically dismember" bits of EA because you can't redeem the DLC included in the Dead Space 2 "Collector's Edition", just go ahead and put away the plasma cutter. The redemption card (pictured) gives instructions that won't work for those who aren't Gold members -- but there is a workaround. An EA rep tells Joystiq that Live free members should go to the "Extras" menu and input the code in the "redeem code" section. This will unlock the single-player Zealot Suit and Zealot Force Gun without the need for a Gold membership. The problem with going through the Online Pass screen is that it's used for multiplayer, which you can't access without a Gold membership. This isn't the first (and likely not the last) time that DLC insert cards have caused confusion. [Thanks, Dayton W.]
Shedding light on the lighting in Dead Space 2
Dead Space 2's scares aren't dependent only on space monsters and creepy noises. You also have to see what's going on, or, at least, see the eerie shadow of what's going on. This developer diary introduces DS2's dedicated lighting team -- and shows lots of atmospherically lit in-game shots.
