Electronic Arts today announced that it has changed the name of development studio EA Redwood Shores to Visceral Games.

Redwood Shores is responsible for the recent horror title Dead Space, as well as the upcoming literary, tit-filled action title Dante's Inferno.

"Action, intensity, excellence. It isn't just in our DNA, it's in our blood," said Visceral Games VP Glen Schofield, who elaborated on his company's dedication to viscera in a press release dripping with carnage.

"For the past two years, we have adopted a new culture that prizes excellence above all else," he added, brutally. "Primal action is the beating heart of the studio and now our new name reflects that."

One can only point out the definitions of visceral, as copied from Webster's: "felt in or as if in the viscera; not intellectual; dealing with crude or elemental emotions." Yes, EA has perhaps found the perfect name for a videogame studio.

Publisher EA today issued the first details on the Wii entry in EA Redwood Shores' sci-fi survival horror series Dead Space, revealing the new game as a first-person prequel.

Said to be "built from the ground up and developed exclusively for Wii," Dead Space Extraction will apparently "marry the innovative motion controls of the Wii Remote with a frenetic first person perspective to create a new action-packed horror experience."

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Executive producer Steve Papoutsis noted that the title is an on-rails shooter in an interview with IGN, but promised that it "is not your typical rail shooter," adding that the "goal is to innovate and push the genre forward like Dead Space... Read more

Following the official announcement of Dante's Inferno last night, Electronic Arts has released the first teaser for the action game based off The Divine Comedy, the well-known 14th century poetic exploration of hell and its layers by Dante Alighieri.

No platforms have been announced for the project, which is being helmed by Dead Space developer EA Redwood Shores, but the game will arrive sometime next year.

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Adding to the recent revelation that EA DICE's upcoming Mirror's Edge is part of a trilogy, EA Games president Frank Gibeau and Dead Space executive producer Glenn Schofield have disclosed that the company is planning a number of other sequels.

Both EA Montreal's co-op action game Army of Two (PS3, 360) and EA DICE's shooter Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3, 360) have "sequel ideas planned," Gibeau told Variety Meanwhile, Schofield revealed that EA Redwood Shore's sci-fi survival horror game Dead Space (PC, PS3, 360) already has a sequel in the works.

Dead Space debuted at retailers last week, with Army of Two and Battlefield: Bad Company arriving earlier this year. Since its release, Army of Two has been one of the year's best-selling Xbox 360 titles thus far.

Gibaeu also noted that EA's expansion into game-inspired films, books and television shows stems from the somewhat-recent return of EA CEO John Riccitiello, who, in Gibaeu's words, explained that "our fan base would love to experience or learn more about them in linear forms."

The third entry in Electronic Arts' lifestyle simulation series The Sims will be released on PC worldwide in 2009, the company, as promised, revealed today.

Running on a new engine that is said to have been in development for almost three years, the sequel is being developed at EA Redwood Shores. A set of nine screenshots accompanied the announcement.

Described as a "next-generation flagship PC game," The Sims 3 features a new seamless open neighborhood along with expanded options and a more realistic aesthetic for both character and home customization. Characters can now be assigned up to five personality traits, which EA claims allows allows over 700 million possible personality combinations.

"The new engine and technologies in The Sims 3 are designed to unleash the player's imagination with realistic looking Sims who have distinct personalities... Read more

Dead Space (PC, PS3, X360), the third-person sci-fi survival horror game from EA Redwood Shores will be in stores October 31st, publisher Electronic Arts announced today. The game had previously carried a general third quarter release date.

To go along with news of the Halloween launch, EA sent out a new trailer for the game.

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D3Publisher announced today that Vicious Cycle Software's Dead Head Fred (PSP) took top honors for game writing at the 2008 Writers Guild Awards.

Penned by Vicious Cycle staffers David Ellis and Adam Cogan, Dead Head Fred tells the story of Fred Neuman, a private eye who finds that his head has been replaced with a brain in a jar following a scientific experiment. Fred, voiced by Scrubs actor John C. McGinley (pictured left), sets out to reclaim his memories and exact his revenge.

Dead Head Fred beat out a somewhat dubious list of nominees for the Writer's Guild of America's inaugural award for outstanding achievement in video game writing, including EA Redwood Shores' The Simpsons Game and Radical Entertainment's Crash of the Titans. Only members of the WGA's New Media Caucus were eligible for the award.

Continuing the barrage of news from publisher Electronic Arts, the company's Sims division is readying several new Sim-branded titles, with plans to begin developing "the next generation game for The Sims" within the next three years.

Citing the success of EA Redwood Shores' MySims on Nintendo DS and Wii--over 3 million units shipped, $100 million in revenue--The Sims label president Nancy Smith today informed investors that two additional MySims titles would appear on Nintendo DS and Wii within the 2009 fiscal year, along with a PC version.

The first title, MySims Kingdom, will hit Nintendo DS and Wii between the beginning of October and the end of December, with the PC version of MySims arriving within that same timeframe. MySims Party, meanwhile, is expected to ship on Wii and DS some time between January and March 2009.

Other new Sim titles include SimCity Creator and the previously-mentioned SimAnimals. SimAnimals is slated to arrive by the end of March 2009. A specific release estimate for SimCity Creator was not provided, with Smith only noting it would arrive before March 2011.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed the announcements to EA's Casual Entertainment division and its president Kathy Vrabeck. Shacknews regrets the errors and apologizes for any confusion it may have caused.

Electronic Arts is unsurprisingly planning future iterations for many of the hit franchises it publishes, including EA Black Box's Need for Speed, Criterion's Burnout, EA Black Box's Skate, and Harmonix's Rock Band.

EA president Frank Gibeau discussed the plans in an analyst meeting today, listing them as part of the company's "turn-around" strategy, which is focused on "a strong pipeline of innovative sequels and new IP" and increased digital revenue through titles such as Mythic's Warhammer Online and EA DICE's Battlefield Heroes.

As for the new IP, the president highlighted the company's plans to publish EA Los Angeles' Tiberium, BioWare's Dragon Age, DICE's Mirror's Edge, Pandemic's Saboteur, Valve's Left 4 Dead, and EA Redwood Shores' Dead Space.

Gibeau also mentioned the company's plans for EA Maxis' just-dated Spore (PC, NDS), detailing that efforts to bring the evolutionary simulator to more platforms and produce expansion content are already underway. The studio is known to be working on a Wii edition of the game.

Originally slated for release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, EA Redwood Shores has confirmed that its third-person survival horror shooter Dead Space will also appear on the PC. The studio is planning downloadable content for all three platforms.

Executive producer Glen Schofield also expressed an interest in turning Dead Space into a franchise, paving the way for sequels down the road. "I would definitely like to make future Dead Space games," Schofield told Eurogamer. "We've created a huge and rich back story and universe, so other games could easily be made."

Dead Space is tentatively scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2008, with a downloadable demo expected prior to launch.

The Writers Guild of America announced their nominees for the first-ever awards for video game writing, meant to honor outstanding achievement in game writing in 2007. The nominees include:

• Radical Entertainment's Crash of the Titans (PS2, PSP, Wii, X360)
• Vicious Cycle's Dead Head Fred (PSP)
• EA Redwood Shores' The Simpsons Game (DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, X360)
• CD Projekt Red Studio's The Witcher (PC)
• Massive Entertainment's World in Conflict (PC, X360)

Eligibility for entry requires that the games must have been released between December 1, 2006 and November 30, 2007. The WGA also requires that the credited game writers must be or have applied to become members of the WGA's New Media Caucus, which may very well be the reason for such an unusual lineup of nominations.

As one of the most standout years in gaming history, 2007 featured some of the finest writing ever seen in a video game. A list that includes Crash of the Titans and a heavily edited localization of The Witcher but omits 2K Boston's BioShock (PC, X360) and Valve's Portal (PC, PS3, X360)—both of which were recognized for their writing in Shacknews' Game of the Year awards—seems like a list where technicality, not deliberate choice, won out in the end.

Electronic Arts has released the first 24 screenshots from Dead Space (PS3, X360), the upcoming alien-tastic survival horror title from EA Redwood Shores.

Said to be inspired by such cinematic sci-fi horror masterpieces as Alien and Event Horizon, Dead Space arrives in fall 2008. For more on the game, check out the past trailer and known details.

EA has confirmed to Shacknews that it is shutting down EA Chicago as part of the reorganization plan stemming from its loss of $195 million last quarter. The studio employs roughly 150 people at that location, many of which will be reassigned to other teams across the country.

Members of EA Chicago were responsible for the Fight Night series, as well as the Def Jam fighting franchise, the most recent entry of which, Def Jam: Icon (PS3, X360), was met with lukewarm reviews. The studio was known to be working on an untitled fighting game featuring Marvel Comic characters, which was planned for release in 2008.

When asked about the future of EA Chicago-handled properties, EA told Shacknews it is not yet ready to discuss its plans for those titles. A statement made by corporate communications VP Jeff Brown to Gamasutra indicates that EA Canada--the branch that handles the majority of the company's soccer, hockey, and basketball games--was tasked with the Fight Night franchise last year.

At the time of the studio's 2006 inauguration, Shacknews editor Chris Remo spoke with EA Chicago general manager Kudo Tsunoda. Tsunoda noted the studio's ambitions to become a premiere fighting game and next-gen developer. "In the long... Read more

This week's PlayStation Store update marks the return of the world's greatest crimefighter, Bartman, in a demo for EA Redwood Shores' followup to The Simpson Movie, The Simpsons Game (PS2, PS3, PSP, X360, Wii, NDS). The playable demo will be joined by a demo for Omega Force's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War (PS3, X360), as well as Yuke's Go! Sports Ski, a full game utilizing exclusively Sixaxis controls and costing $2.99.

Though it will follow the release of the movie, The Simpsons Game isn't really based on the feature film, instead following the famous yellow family through a self-realized parody of common video game trappings. The Koei-published Bladestorm comes from Dynasty Warriors developers Omega Force, which gives a pretty good idea of what the game will be like.

Both demos and Yuke's ski title should be available for download sometime this Thursday. The demo for Bladestorm makes its debut on Xbox Live this Thursday as well, though The Simpsons Game demo has yet to be scheduled for Microsoft's platform.

EA sends along more than two dozen new screenshots of EA Redwood Shores' stylish The Simpsons Game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, showcasing killer dolphins and space aliens.

Built around cooperative play, the game will also arrive on PlayStation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP this fall. For more on what appears to be the best Simpsons game since Konami's renowned beat 'em up arcade smash, scope out our hands-on preview.

Electronic Arts issued the first details of its recently revealed survival horror effort Dead Space.

Developed by EA Redwood Shores for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and targeted for a fall 2008 release, the third-person game tells the tale of Isaac Clarke, a run-of-the-mill engineer sent to repair a deep space mining station. Of course, when Isaac gets there, he, as EA puts it, "awakes to a living nightmare" and finds "the ship's crew...ravaged by a vicious alien infestation."

Dead Space is said to be in part inspired by Paul W.S. Anderson's 1997 cinematic terror Event Horizon. Given EA's description today, it unfortunately appears the game will not mirror the film's use of Sam Neill (pictured left) as its main antagonist bad dude.

"This team has worked on some tremendous properties but we have always wanted to work on something that was darker and creepier," said executive producer Glen Schofield. "We are all such huge fans of the horror and sci-fi genres; we wanted to create the most terrifying game we could, and keep the player on the edge of his [or her] seat the entire time."

If you wanted screenshots from games like Burnout Paradise, Hellgate: London or The Simpsons Game, this is the post for you. ... Read more

Electronic Arts will be adopting a new organizational structure that will see the company's efforts and development teams categorized under four labels.

The creation of the new model is credited to EA's Sims division team, which will now operate under The Sims label. Helmed by Nancy Smith, The Sims label will encompass all of EA's Sim projects, including EA Redwood Shores' MySim (Wii, DS), Tilted Mill's SimCity Societies (PC), and Maxis' The Sims Castaway Stories (PC).

The EA Games label will be lead by Frank Gibeau and handle franchises such as Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, Spore, Battlefield, ... Read more

During an Electronic Arts event this week, I was able to see a few levels from EA Redwood Shores' upcoming The Simpsons Game (working title), headed to PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP this fall. Check out my impressions.

Finally, I was given a brief demonstration of a Marge-themed level, in which the Simpsons matriarch takes the citizens of Springfield on a crusade to stop distribution of the controversial violent video game Grand Theft Scratchy: Blood Island. Using a megaphone, she is able to exhort her angry mob to tear down game advertisements and march on the local SequelStop retail store that is carrying the title. Along the way she and her posse must subdue crazed kids who have been pushed to violence by the game.