Electronic Arts has finalized an appropriate release date for its upcoming survival horror title Dead Space, announcing that the game will keep players in both North America and Europe oxygen-deprived starting this Halloween, October 31. If there was ever a reason for cosplayers to pore over the Sears catalog for toasters to affix to their heads this haunting season, this game is it.

The game is currently in development for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and promises a "chilling, claustrophobic feeling of being isolated in a dark environment." EA also notes that Dead Space will force players to face down alien horrors not as a hulking superman but rather as a lowly engineer, though if history has taught us one thing, it's to not underestimate the little guy.

We've seen elsewhere how popular it was for development houses this year to dress up as the cast of Team Fortress 2, and here's the Flickr gallery of Bioware's offering that was sent to us during all the hubbub of All Hallow's Eve. That should mark the end of Halloween-themed recap pics, barring some ridiculously beautiful image. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Metareview: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
Nega-review: Call of Duty 4
Readers pick best webcomic: domestic bliss
Today's most retro montage: Zelda ads

News
New PS2 coming to Japan: same price, same size
Red Spiderman 3 PSP for Europe and red PSP for Japan
NPD to withhold hardware sales numbers from media
Activision hits Q2 financial high, Guitar Hero fuels sales
College Hoops 2K8 leaves one sneaker in the past
Destineer taps Unreal Engine 3 for new project
Strike puts brakes on Wolfenstein
Harmonix releases iPod game 'Phase'
Virtual reality game gets Pavlovian on crack addicts
EA shutting down Chicago studio
Guitar Hero III makes $115 million in first week
PC Engine devotees arrested in Japan
Playboy interviews Tim Schafer, among others
City of Heroes, City of Villains IPs sold to NCSoft
NPD explains monthly information pullback
Microsoft talks Xbox 360 lifespan, fails to see irony
God of War's Cory Barlog leaving SCEA
Japan's PS3 ads strangely endearing

Rumors & Speculation
Mobile developer talks Google Android gaming possibilities
Guitar Hero III could be in short supply

Culture & Community
Kane and Lynch can't wait for Grand Theft Auto IV
Are you saying 'Ninja Gaiden' correctly?
What your console of choice says about you
Gamasutra's history of Atari 1971-'77 (the good years)

Joystiq reader Spindash54 sent us a handful of adorable, reportedly "ancient" pictures of himself in a Sonic costume. This was our favorite of the collection -- and before you go bashing this relic of Halloween, we'd like to see you post your childhood costume images. No, really, we'd love to see it. Check out the highlights for this weekend:

Joystiquery
Japanese hardware sales, Oct. 22 - Oct. 28: Meager eager edition
Last Week in Warcraft: October 27th - November 3rd
Live at the Jack Thompson debate in Philadelphia
Metareview: Hellgate: London
Metareview: The Simpsons Game (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2)
PS Fanboy Week in Review: 10/29 - 11/4
Rock Band impressions ... from a Best Buy kiosk
Today's just-add-Wii video: Fan-made Goonies game
Today's no-greenlight video: Contra movie trailer
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup says good riddance to Halloween

News
Rock Band audio director talks song selection
Martinet: SMB3 to hit Virtual Console tomorrow
Sensible Soccer coming to XBLA in November
New games this week: Call of Duty 4 edition
Tivo Alert: South Park takes on Guitar Hero Wednesday
More of Rock Band's bonus tracks unveiled
NiGHTS 'My Dream' mode features real-time weather, poor graphics
New on Virtual Console: Super Mario Bros 3, Alien Soldier and Power Golf
ESPN brings shows, games to Xbox Live Marketplace
Playboy shows game character digi-boobs for 4th year
N-Gage relaunch pushed back to December
Capcom reveals mediocre Devil May Cry 4 special edition
European PS3 ad takes a step back ... into crazytown
Cruis'n (ironically) looks like a train wreck
'Dark Mist' enshrouds Japanese PSN this week
This Wednesday: Switchball and Word Puzzle [verb] XBLA
Rock Band done, sent off to manufacturing
Homeworld trademark acquired by THQ
Speedball 2 Tournament hits Steam this November

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Xbox 360 parental timer coming in December
MTV's Totilo thinks Nintendo's done with single-player

Culture & Community
Finality with Final Fantasy retrospective: Part XIII
Tetris L-block wins GameFAQs character battle
Bethesda designer makes Portal level
Thompson says he'll debate at GDC, GDC says otherwise
New James Bond is a gamer
Going kamikazee in Halo 3

Important notes about the above comic from Monday Night Crew (larger version):

• Notice the sign on the door says "Resident Evil 4 party"
• Realize that the recently-arrived guest is not in RE4 attire
• If you don't recognize the out-of-place guest's costume, shame on you
• Doesn't this make you want to see an episode of Arthur where the gang fight off anthropomorphic zombies and ultimately learn a life lesson about family and proper viral containment procedures?

It's November, so put your costumes away and start thinking about next year's attire. While you enjoy shopping for discounted candy and debating whether or not you should provide a link to your gamer costume in the comments below (we think you should), here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics. Be sure to vote for your favorite!

	No Ghost Left Behind
	Boss fight
	Shine spike
	Painstaking market research
	Lost without you
	3-for-1 special
	Domestic bliss
	Neurons and hammer-ons

You've got to hand it to the little girl - nay, little sister - shown in this video, who plays her part without showing how traumatized she truly must be after seeing her father dressed up as Big Daddy and knocking on the cabinet door to summon her out.

In some strange way, this Halloween footage is quite endearing. Now would you kindly check out the video after the break?

Shhhh. We're scared. Don't make a sound or the bad man will come back. We passed on a few Halloween-themed videos to post, but this is the one that gives us nightmares.

See the horror in the first video after the break, and we'll even toss in those other less-scary clips as a bonus afterwards. Our eyes! They burn!

If you're still searching your soul (and your closet) for a last-minute Halloween costume idea, then you could probably do a lot worse than dressing up as Billy Mitchell. Or, as Mr. Awesome likes to call him, "Silly Bitchell".

If you want to talk cheap gaming costumes, then check out MTV's Multiplayer blog. Looks like all you need access to are a mullet-y wig, facial hair and a patriotic necktie of some sort. Plus you need to have attitude in spades and the ability to drop cheesy lines left and right. You can accessorize with bottles of hot sauce, arcade tokens, and a sneer.

Halloween on the cheap. Get a friend to dress up like Steve Wiebe, and you're set.

While we were putting the finishing touches on our Portal Halloween costumes, friend of the site – and games business journalist – N. Evan Van Zelfden made his way to Gamecock's Halloween-themed Dementium launch and filed this report: An art-house theater in Austin, Texas was the location of last night's launch party for Dementium: The Ward, a survival horror game for Nintendo's DS which goes on sale today. Made by three guys in a garage – each had over a decade of development experience – Renegade Kid signed with Gamecock in May of this year, and the game was gold by the end of October.

"The game technically releases tomorrow," Gamecock's Jason Livergood told the audience of developers, adding that this hadn't kept some retailers from releasing it a few days early. Not only have people started buying the game, they've started writing the publisher.

Here's a roundup of festive links that might stimulate some last-minute creations:

• Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas: Video Game Edition
• 21 awesome game-related Halloween costumes
• Retrogaming Halloween Costume Ideas
• How to build Pacman and The Ghost Halloween costumes

Trivia: can you guess what gaming-related defect the costume above (pictured) represents?

[Thanks, Andrew]

A Planet Half-Life member, who goes only by the online nom de guerre "Kevin," created this incredible Gordon Freeman costume with nothing but duct tape and cardboard (seriously, that's it). In exchange, he has earned the admiration of nerds and Halloween costume partygoers everywhere. Why do cosplayers always have to dress up as Final Fantasy characters, or Mario anyway?

Joystiq salutes you, Dr. Freeman. Just don't bring any of those headcrabs to our staff party.

[Via Aeropause]

Club Namco wants you to know that the Pac-Man head is this year's most popular Halloween costume, leaving even Mario and Luigi in its wake. We're sure there isn't any bias here, since they make and sell the thing. They must have done extensive research with graphs, pie charts and focus groups to back this claim up.

Rush out now or be the most unpopular kid on your block. No word yet on the Ms. Pac-Man head situation.

[Thanks, Amy]

For those dreaming of the gorgeous gun ballet glimpsed in Final Fantasy XIII, it may come as a rude awakening when we loudly exclaim, "Hang on, we haven't even gotten number 12 yet!"  Thankfully, Square Enix has answered our call by officially announcing the North American release date for their next inevitably epic RPG. Final Fantasy XII will be in stores this Halloween, 31 October 2006. If ever there was a good reason for Sephiroth and Rikku cosplayers to head out into public and purchase the game in full fantasy garb, this is it.

Not to be left behind on the platform as the Collector's Edition trend train heads off, the game will be arriving in two distinct versions. The vanilla package will retail for $49.99, whereas the Collector's Edition, laced with interviews, series featurettes, trailers, art galleries and ancient evils, will be available at Gamestop and EB Games exclusively for $59.99. Depending on how fond you are of the non-final franchise, that's either a trick or a treat.

[Image: Advent Children.net]