Rumors: Dead Space expands into FPS and flight, Dragon Age goes multiplayer

Kotaku cites an anonymous "insider" on two new rumors regarding two of Electronic Arts' biggest "new" franchises: Dead Space and Dragon Age. Though Dead Space 2 managed to ship over two million units in its first six months of release, EA wants to "make the series bigger and better," says the insider. The plan: A Dead Space first-person shooter, a Dead Space "flight game" and, lastly, a Dead Space "Uncharted-like game."

Apparently, that recent EA management shift in August "brought in new brass that nearly killed off Dead Space 3," if this insider is to be believed. But it's not dead and, as previous rumors suggested, Dead Space 3 takes place on ice planet Tau Volantis and will feature co-op.

Now for Dragon Age ... this one is good. Kotaku's insider says that, like BioWare's other major RPG brand, Dragon Age will get a multiplayer offering, reportedly powered by DICE's Frostbite 2 engine. This could be part of a future Dragon Age installment, let's call it Dragon Age 3, or a separate downloadable title; the gameplay will be arena-based, and feature both PvE and PvP combat, as well as ... dragons. Because Dragon Age, and all that.

Here's our advice, EA: If you want to increase awareness of the Dead Space brand, making games that aren't like Dead Space seems like a poor strategy. Also, a flight game? Are you trying not to sell games? And the problem with Dragon Age isn't a lack of multiplayer. The (extraordinarily) fast turnaround on Dragon Age 2 resulted in a rushed RPG that was dwarfed (and, frankly, embarrassed) by productions like The Witcher 2 and Skyrim (which managed to ship a not-so-shabby seven million units at launch).