Dead Space [Wii] preview

Following rumours Dead Space would be making its way to the Wii (and subsequent bickering about sacrifice of quality), Electronic Arts confirmed it as such two weeks ago. Predictions were made, and now we have some hard info (and a trailer) for you to better judge how this will turn out.

The game will be called Dead Space Extraction; serving as a prequel to the original, it will tell the story of a handful of space colonists struggling to escape a horrific infection on the Aegis VII mining colony. Female gamers will be happy to know a heroine will be featured this time (nothing like that awful Kendra Daniels..unless..), who turns out to be the only possible hope for survival.

New characters, weapons (Arc Welder tool), enemies (one of them flies), puzzles and co-operative multiplayer (!) will be featured, all brought to you by the same design and directive team, with assistance from Eurocom.

As for the debate the game would have to sacrifice graphical quality, this is all we have to say:

Executive producer Steve Papoutsis (who was "producer in charge of all things Horror on Dead Space") stated: "We are confident we are pushing the Wii hardware harder than anyone has done to date."

Sadly, we do have to bring you down a few pegs: the game will be an on-rails shooter (a la House of the Dead):

"Our gameplay takes advantage of a guided and cinematic camera which allows us to frame the action on screen and deliver fantastic and gripping action sequences packed with loads of scares," explained Papoutsis. "We plan to evolve the game by focusing on a frenetic first-person perspective that we believe will enhance the tension and horror the player experiences as they play the game. The unique gameplay and first-person perspective allows us to combine a high action horror movie experience within an interactive environment."

So it turns out (arguably), the gameplay was the thing to be trimmed. Papoutsis does note the title will retain everything else fans loved about the original, saying it's "not your typical Rail Shooter."

If you're waiting until autumn, feel free to check out the Dead Space blog in the coming months.