dead-space-2 posts

This patch for the PC release of Dead Space 2 fixes a number of gameplay issues. A list of changes can be found after the jump.

Download Dead Space 2 Patch #1 (46 MB)
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If you have had a bad case of the Mondays with your boss telling you to work on Saturday and having someone else steal your stapler, cheer up. There are a few one day sales deals you can check out right now:

• Amazon.com's Deal of the Day has the recent EA survival horror game Dead Space 2 on sale for today only for $39.99, a $20 price cut from its normal price.
• Direct2Drive begins a week of daily 2K Games sales with the original BioShock on sale today only for only $4.95.
• Finally Impulse has Dark Void on sale for today only for just $14.99.

Dead Space 2's PC port continues to do well on the Steam PC game download site. Electronic Arts' sci-fi survival horror sequel is on top of this week's weekly top 10 game sales list on Steam. In second place is the stand alone RTS expansion pack (deep breath) Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Retribution. The surprise sales hit of 2011, the fantasy RPG Magicka, is in third place this week.

The top 10 list on Steam is as follows this week

1. Dead Space 2 - Electronic Arts
2. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Retribution - Relic/THQ
3. Magicka - Arrowhead Game Studios/Paradox Interactive
4. Two Worlds II - Reality Pump Studios/Topware/Southpeak
5. DC Universe Online - Sony Online
6. Call of Duty Black Ops - Treyarch/Activision
7. King Arthur Complete Pack - Neocore Games/Paradox Interactive
8. Global Agenda - Hi-Rez Studios
9. Breach - Atomic Games
10. Battlefield Bad Company 2 - DICE/EA

Dead Space 2's release was preceded by a marketing campaign that talked about the survival horror game's fictional religion called Unitology, which also showed up in the first game. Indeed Dead Space 2 was demoed at E3 last June by Electronic Arts press folks were able to pick up a comic pamphlet that discussed the religion much like similar pamphlets that have been passed around by certain Christian organizations.

But Unitology as it is described in Dead Space 2 seems to have more in common with Scientology, the religion founded by the late L Ron Hubbard. In an interview over at MTV's Multiplayer blog, the game's creative director Wright Bagwell denied that the team tried to make a direct connection between Unitology and Scientology, stating, "It was never really intended. I think people get that a lot because the name is very similar." But in a feature story Ars Technica says otherwise, pointing out the many similarities Scientology and the Unitology religion as depicted in the games. The game even has an in-game add for Unitology that shows a man who has more than a passing resemblance to Hubbard.

Dead Space 2 is apparently selling well for publisher Electronic Arts and part of the reason might be those fairly unique "Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2" TV ads that started running a couple of weeks before the game was released. Now the Los Angeles Times reports the parents group Common Sense Media organization has attacked both EA for running the ads as well as the ESRB ratings group for approving the ads.

Common Sense, who has their own ratings system in place for games and other entertainment media, claims the ads violate the ESRB's own ad standards, claiming that the commercials will make the game more desirable for children (Dead Space 2, in case you didn't know, was rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB). In a response, ESRB president Patricia Vance defended its approval of the TV ad campaign stating, "... just because a product desires to be seen as 'cool' or 'edgy' does not in and of itself necessitate that it is directed at children."

[Via VG247.com]

The original Dead Space got solid reviews when it was first released back in the fall of 2008. However, despite marketing ideas like a six-issue comic book mini-series and an animated direct-to-DVD movie, the sci-fi survival horror game from Electronic Arts wasn't a huge sales success. The publisher admitted back in August 2010 that the game had sold about two million copies across its three platforms, including the PC.

Flash forward to today with EA now saying it is very happy about the sales success of its sequel Dead Space 2. The game which was released just last week, is outselling the original game by a ratio of "two-to-one" according to a statement in EA's financial press release. Specific sales numbers were not mentioned but we are going to guess that if they hold up we might be seeing yet another game in the franchise.

The nightmare of what happened on the Ishimura, where an alien artifact called the Marker killed the entire crew of the gigantic mining ship and transformed them into grotesque necromorphs, will stay with ship engineer Isaac Clarke forever. Even as he's held as a patient in the mental ward of a hospital located on the Titan colony, orbiting Saturn. However, this is Dead Space 2, so nightmares have a tendency to come to life and tear apart anything that has the misfortune to be nearby. Fortunately, Isaac's experience makes him uniquely qualified to handle both the necromorph threat and the Titan Colony's government, which will go to any lengths to contain the situation.

Check out all Dead Space 2 Downloads

Magicka pretty much came out of nowhere this past week to land on top of Steam's top 10 best selling PC games (based on revenue). The action-RPG from developer Arrowhead Game Studios and publisher Paradox Interactive sold over 30,000 copies in just its first 24 hours and remains on top despite issues with bugs in the game.

Second place this week went to Electronic Arts' new survival horror sequel Dead Space 2. Another small download-only game, Uber Entertainment's multiplayer shooter Monday Night Combat, is in third place this week. The full top 10 list is as follows:

1. Magicka - Arrowhead Game Studios/Paradox Interactive
2. Dead Space 2 - Visceral Games/Electronic Arts
3 Monday Night Combat - Uber Entertainment
4. DC Universe Online - Sony Online Entertainment
5. The Sims 3 Ultimate Bundle - Electronic Arts
6. Breach - Atomic Games
7. Call of Duty Black Ops - Treyarch/Activision
8. Battlefield Bad Company 2 - DICE/EA
9. Penny Arcade Adventures Combo Pack - Hothead Games
10. Dead Space - Visceral Games/EA

So some of you may have bought Dead Space 2 already and gone through the entire game but we don't think most of you have tried the sci-fi survival horror sequel in hardcore mode. Yep that means the creatures are more deadly and the challenges are much more difficult

But while all of that is going on you stick to your goal on completing the game in hardcore mode. At least that's what we are assuming some of you are trying to do. Once that goal is accomplished you get access to a new weapon in the game. Lots of people speculated about what they would be getting but we bet none of them saw this coming. You can check out the video that shows off the new weapon after the jump:

Electronic Arts, the game publisher that in December bought the web site domain CampaignForPCGaming.com, is once again treating the PC platform as a second class citizen when it comes to multi-platform games. This week, even as Dead Space 2 is released, EA announced that the game will be getting a single player DLC mini-expansion, Dead Space 2 Severed, sometime in the near future

While is great, except that the DLC is strickly for Xbox 360 and PS3 owners of the game. VG247.com reports that EA won't be bringing that DLC content for the PC version. It's a case of "same old-same old" for EA who has denied PC owners a chance to demo games like Need For Speed Hot Pursuit, Dead Space 2, Bulletstorm and most recently Crysis 2. Need For Speed Hot Pursuit PC owners also won't be able to access any paid DLC content for that game.