You might have noticed today that Dead Space 3 is in the news for comments coming from EA that they thought the first two games were “too scary”. The Internet at large, being the hyperbolic creature that it is, jumped to all sorts of conclusions about the direction the game is taking and the changes EA is forcing on it.
But is that actually what was said in the interview? Apparently not, as the headline associated with the article in question is quite different from EA’s comments. The original story over at MCV had the headline EA research said Dead Space 1&2 were too scary, but right down in the article, this is what the EA rep being interviewed, Laura Miele, actually said:
“We were doing research coming out of Dead Space 1 and 2 and we’re really proud of those products. We received feedback to understand how we can take the game out to even more consumers,” she stated.
“We were hearing feedback that they love the thriller game, but it was pretty scary, and the obvious next step was that they wanted to play with someone. So we introduced co-op into the game.
“The horror of Dead Space is still all there. It’s still true to its roots and no less scary, but people felt far more comfortable playing it with someone else than they did doing it on their own.
“Personally, I would rather go to scary movie with my husband rather than sit at home with the lights out watching one on my own. We’re looking for that to reach out to consumers that perhaps were not open to Dead Space 1 and 2.”
I must have missed the part where she says that EA thought Dead Space 1 and 2 were “too scary”. All I saw was that EA’s research showed that people liked the tension and the horror, but they wanted to be able to experience it with someone else, like watching a scary movie or going through a haunted house together.
While it’s not in my nature to sling mud, the headline for the story and the actual quote are quite different, and of course the headline is getting picked up and passed around by various news outlets who aren’t bothering to modify it to fit the actual meat of the article.
Only Ben Kuchera at The Penny-Arcade Report seems to be resisting the tidal wave of sensationalism, but everybody else is running with it. Apparently the fact that EA wants to reach even more consumers with Dead Space 3 is an affront to everything the series stands for, and obviously that means it will become a tame bro-shooter.
What do you guys think? Is the headline totally fabricated for sensationalism? Is this just games journalists being games journalists?
Source – MCV, The Penny-Arcade Report
I’ve found that game journalists seem to love to twist quotes into sensational headlines (look at some articles about Cliff Bleszinski, he’s a favorite target for journalists). And right now it’s really popular to hate on EA, so offering their readers another reason to hate them is guaranteed to rake in more readers.
Just another day on the internet then.
The only problem I would have with someone saying Dead Space is too scary is that it isn’t scary at all. Shocking yes but scary no.
There was one part in Dead Space 2 where I was legitimately scared, but yeah. It’s more jump scares than anything else.
I’m a total pussy when it comes to tense games. I psych myself up and freak out. Alan Wake was freaky enough at points to quit; I had to have people watch me play F.E.A.R and Doom 3. I played through Penumbra with my cousin. I bought Amnesia on sale a long time ago and still haven’t installed it, waiting for someone to be here while I play it.
I like the idea of a less “scary” game 🙂