Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming: Zorsis is Dead Space for Wii's Daddy

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Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Zorsis is Dead Space for Wii's Daddy

OK, not really, but I am pretty tickled by the similarities.

If you're not up to speed on the Wii offering for the top-notch survival horror Dead Space title from Electronic Arts, it's not going to be a port -- it's going to be a prequel, implemented totally differently as an on-rails, almost light-gun(esque) title.

If you're not familiar with "Forbidden Terror on Station Z!" (aka, "Zorsis"), it's the technical demo Emergent Game Technologies did for our Wii engine offering for the 2008 GDC (I wanted a gritty, atypical Wii "grown-up" demo), and it's a zombie on-rails "light-gun" shooter (in space).

Here's a Zorsis screen cap from GDC a year ago:

Zorsis screenshot from Emergent Game Technologies; contact Adam Creighton for more information

And here's a screen cap of Dead Space: Extraction (shipping from EA this fall):

Even the Extraction targeting reticules have the same blue and orange motif!

All kidding aside, kudos to EA for not just shoe-horning Dead Space as a quick-and-dirty port to the Wii. This new entry in the franchise really showcases their commitment to treating it like a leverage able IP (not that the comic books, animated film, etc. didn't).

Still, there is a weird, kindred similarity to "Zorsis" ...

Zorsis gameplay vids (PC and Wii) can be found on YouTube, and you can download the PC version of the demo to play as well.

Labels: Electronic Arts, Gamebryo, GDC08, humor