"Yesterday we mentioned a Destructoid report which said that EA's upcoming space-horror-survival title Dead Space had been banned in Germany, Japan and China. Destructoid sourced the info to "Dead Space community manager Andrew Green."

Right away, the story didn't pass our smell test:

Germany, perhaps. They've been tough on game violence of late. But Japan? The home of Resident Evil?

Does EA even distribute console games in China (due to piracy concerns)?

No announcements from the ..."

"In space, no one can hear you scream. And apparently in Germany, Japan, and China, things worth screaming over simply aren't allowed.

In a posting on the official Dead Space Web site, EA community manager Ben Swanson announced that the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC game "will be banned in Germany, China, and Japan." Swanson did not say what indications the team has received to suggest the imminent banning of the sci-fi survival horror game.

While China's government has a lengthy his..."

"Electronic Arts is announcing that Dead Space, their creepy horror-in-space shooter, will be arriving on October 14, a week earlier than their previous release date for the game.

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 gettin..."

"Over the years, gamers have seen dozens of high-profile titles make their world debut by being featured on the cover of Game Informer. In fact, if you’re a regular shopper at GameStop, you’re probably one of the magazine’s more than two million readers.

But does a game getting on Game Informer’s cover signal it’s going to be great?

Can you be confident that these debuts will, one or two years later, become games you want to buy and play? Perhaps the magazine has a “Madden” curse (though..."

"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 and the Xbox 360. The PC version’s date will remain October 31.

The decision to bring it to fans earlier was due to completing the game early after months of polishing.

I guess Halloween isn’t that appealing anymore...personally, the earlier we play it, the better!"

"Recently we had a chance to visit EA studios in Redwood Shores, California, to put our eyes and hands on the much-anticipated upcoming survival-horror game, Dead Space. While there we also sat down with executive producer Glen Schofield for a detailed interview about what Dead Space is and what it means to him personally. What comes out of the session are some pretty interesting points on how Dead Space was pitched to EA and what big name Horror directors lent their expertise to the project."

""

"In my notes about the game was another important detail, a crucial one for people with standard definition TVs like mine. Near some scribblings about the game’s interesting in-game map that Isaac can project to float in the air next to him — and some lines about the in-game (and sometimes on-character) text that indicates his health and ammo — is a jotting about the TVs they’re using.

I had been worried that I was destined to experience another “Battle For Middle Earth” squint. Some EA gam..."

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"So first an update on the game. We are in the heated center of full production. Assets are pouring into the game at an incredible rate. The Scripted Event team has completed the majority of our MoCap (motion capture) and P-Cap (performance capture) recording sessions with the actors (grown men and women standing around all day in tight black-lycra body suits covered in ping pong balls, and little tiny pencil erasers literally all over their faces. Okay...now...ACT!) and that data is making it..."

"Dead Space (Oct 31, 360/PS3/PC)

Dead Space feels eerily similar to Aliens, but the introductory trailer and our first hands-on demonstrated a level of suspense, mood, and intensity we haven't seen in a while. The premise: the entire crew of a deep space mining ship has gone missing, and it's up to you, the sole survivor, to rid the vessel of alien baddies. It should be noted that EA's survival horror only marginally beat out Left 4 Dead (360/PC), the fast-paced Zombie Killer by Valve with ..."

"Dead Space has been given an October 31st release date for both Europe and North America.

....


My biggest question is, will you be able to pause your game when trick and treaters come to the door?"

"You know how when you’re really scared, like seeing what you thought was just a mannequin leave its post in Condemned, or wondering why you can’t back up in BioShock only to turn around and see a splicer blocking your path? And you either pause the game to take a breather and gather your bearings, or you beat the hell out of them in a frenzy of fear with your 2×4/wrench and then pause the game to gather your bearings? Well, in EA’s upcoming Dead Space, this technique to ease the tension and g..."

"No need to be very afraid with this one - at least, not as far as the game’s quality is concerned. Two of our correspondents have sat down for extensive run-throughs of Dead Space; both have come back from EA HQ with good words tumbling from their slack-jawed mouths. It’s hard to believe that no one has thought to mine the ‘haunted house in space’ theme for a videogame project before this, given that there’s an entire bloated genre of this stuff in cinema.

That merely means EA has more to ..."