EA Redwood Shores helming sci-fi horror Dead Space

When Game Informer originally broke the story that Electronic Arts had enlisted a "renegade" team to develop the upcoming space faring survival horror game Dead Space, many in the gaming community rolled their collective eyes. Do they go around stealing staplers and making paper clip chains, or what? Now, however, EA has revealed that the game is being handled by EA Redwood Shores, a studio that is currently responsible for a number of titles and franchises, including The Simpsons Game and multiple Sims 2 expansions. Renegade or not, the developer knows how to play ball.

Dead Space is described by EA as a "brilliant, bold and often-bloody" sci-fi survival horror game that "promises to deliver the ultimate in psychological thrills and gruesome action." In the game, players take up the role of an engineer named Isaac Clarke as he goes from simply trying to fix the communication systems on a mining ship, to having to fight back an alien infestation that has "ravaged" his ship's crew, after which he must "fight through the dead silence and darkness of deep space to stay alive."

Getting anything wholly original out of EA is nice, and it sounds like Redwood Shores isn't so much a renegade studio as they are fans of the Aliens movies. Dead Space is expected to ship next fall for the PS3 and Xbox 360.