Original IPs have been quite the rage with EA these days and it’s hard not to get misty-eyed upon seeing Dead Space, a third-person action/adventure horror escapade developed by EA Redwood Shores, in action for the first-time. Reggie and I were invited to EA India’s office in Gurgaon today to have ourselves an intensive hands-on session with a near final-build.

In the beginning of the game, we’re treated with an in-game cinematic of lead protagonist Isaac Clarke with a space crew heading towards the USG Ishimura, a giant orbital ship that suffered a huge communications blackout for whatever reason unbeknownst to its curious approachers. Eventually, stinky poop hits the fan when your crew’s vessel gets pulled into the Ishimura’s magnetic field and you’re forced to make a landing inside its hull. Voodoo vibes are in full effect, and this is pretty much were you come in.

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Imagine a calm, relaxing little town, away from the noise and the pollution of the big city… perfect for a weekend getaway. Spend a relaxing evening at the Toluca Lake, grab a couple of drinks at Heaven’s Night or visit the Historical Society. Meet strange new people, visit alternate dimensions, solve interesting puzzles and did we mention the monsters?

Welcome to Silent Hill…

Unarguably the pinnacle of survival horror, the Silent Hill series has been continuously scaring and captivating gamers since the release of the original Silent Hill in 1999. The fifth installment is set to release just a few days from now and so we decided to take a look back at the franchise before we brave the twisted little foggy town again.

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For fans of Dead Space that have been eagerly awaiting the next instalment of the wonderfully crafted animated comic, EA has finally released the next episode in the series which continues the gruesome story of the Marker, the Unitology conspiracies and the shocking mass-suicides and takes it one step further with the beginnings of horror, betrayal and infection. With just two more comics and the Downfall movie to go over the next three months, Issue 04 opens the gates of Hell as Marla finally figures out how “death is the key” just as the Ishimura inititates planetcrack, marking the beginning of the end and unleashing the Necromorph infestation, accompanied by the obligatory creepy-as-hell soundtrack.

The 130 MB animated comic is available for download in MP4 format from the Dead Space servers here. (Right click, select Save Target As)

Expect a full-fledged review of the issues so far and its evolution as soon as we manage to get our hands on the actual print comics themselves. Soon.

After years of hiding away in Shanghai and delivering beyond-terrible gaming with Bad Day L.A., the veteran behind Doom, Quake and Alice - American McGee - has emerged back into the land of the living with his uniquely twisted take on the already-twisted Grimm Brothers’ Tales. The first of 24 tales in the series, A Boy Learns What Fear Is, is out today on GameTap, with the others set to release consecutively with each passing week.

All the games will be free to play for the first 24 hours, after which players will be required to fork out $3.99 per episode. A Boy Learns What Fear Is, like all the other tales that are set to follow, should offer around an hour’s worth of play and is loosely based around a cruel, sadistic and blood-chilling version of Katamari Damacy’s gameplay style – according to the official website, a boy who wants to learn the true meaning of fear goes around “hanging gallows, a haunted house and even a wedding, but doesn’t truly encounter fear until Grimm decides to enter the story.” After all the terrifying nursery rhymes and the sheer violence and terror of having gone through the original stories once, I am most definitely staying away from these games. But then again, it’s not like I really have a choice – GameTap still refuses to serve gamers outside the United States. Thanks a lot, guys.

In many ways, the first Alone in the Dark game pretty much set the standard for the modern-day survival horror franchise, even if Resident Evil usually ends up taking the credit for it. Sixteen years after the original ended up scaring the bejesus out of us when we were in our teens, Eden Games, who have been consistently wowing us with racing classics like V-Rally, Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed and Test Drive Unlimited, has been passed the torch (pun very much intended) and the resulting experience in the new Alone In The Dark happens to be one wild ride through a bed of roses. And, unfortunately, a briar patch to boot.

Alone In The Dark unfolds in the city of New York as the main man, Edward Carnby, wakes up suffering from an amnesia haze in an apartment building overlooking Central Park, around which the entire game and its mysteries are based. Saved from an untimely demise by a series of otherworldly fissures or “living scars” that tear the city apart, Ed finds himself on the run from the transformed creatures to try and figure out why he’s suddenly having such a lousy day. Along the way, Ed teams up with Sarah Flores, an art dealer who seems to have traded in the usual dress code for leather jackets and Goth thigh-high boots, as they struggle to survive until sunrise in Gehenna, formerly known as NYC.

While the story, penned by Sleepers author Lorenzo Carcaterra, isn’t as tightly wound as, say, Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, it serves as a highly engaging transport for the game’s mechanic and all the conspiracy theories surrounding Central Park – enough to make players at least want to do a decent amount of digging online. What’s confusing, however, is whether this game is actually some sort of a sequel to the original, having transported Carnby straight from 1938 to 2008 after his adventures in the Derceto mansion – a fact borne out by the Central Park EMT’s comments and the not-so-lucid endings to the game. Thankfully, the method of telling the story takes a huge deal of stress and implausibility out of actually doing it, by resorting to a DVD-style system that allows players to skip to any of the eight episodes (split across multiple scenes) that make up the storyline, in addition to rewinding or fast forwarding the game to replay a section in another way or skip one that’s causing a receding hairline.

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Yes, we know. We’ve all heard things both good and bad about the new Alone in the Dark game, but the only way you’re really going to find out about it is if you play it for yourself. Which is exactly what three of our lucky winners will get to do, thanks to the Alone in the Dark contest that we’re running with Milestone Interactive.

Watch this space for our multiplatform reviews and comparisons of Alone in the Dark coming soon, along with one of our devilishly devious trademark Flash puzzles and you could win a copy of the game for the PC, Xbox 360 or the Wii. Be afraid, be very afraid. Of our puzzle, that is.

Alone In The Dark Contest Page

If there’s one way to make a survival horror game a lot more appealing to those who crap in their pants everytime they as much as hear a plastic bag rustle in the dead of night, it is to release one on Friday the 13th. Demoing Resident Evil 5 at the Microsoft Press Conference at E3 2008 some time back, Capcom’s Jun Takeuchi walked the audience through a demo of the game, which is also supposed to be playable on the floor for the attendees during the course of the expo.

After explaining a little bit about Chris Redfield joining a new organization called the BSAA (or was it the VSAA?) and teaming up with Sheva to hunt zombie ass deep in Africa, the game’s co-producer joined in to show off the game’s co-op session - which involved Chris and Sheva working together and helping each other survive the zombie hordes in what was undoubtedly the high point of the entire Microsoft press conference. Which, ultimately, culminated in them facing off against a chainsaw wielding zombie and having the entire world groan in collective agony at having to wait until March 13, 2009. And for all the people in India, you know what that means - RE5 will probably walk in the footsteps of DMC4, so you better start placing your pre-orders as the option goes up on Play-Asia!