Zorsis is Dead Space for Wii's Daddy

OK, not really, but I am pretty tickled by the similarities.

If you're not up to speed on the Wii offering for the top-notch survival horror Dead Space title from Electronic Arts, it's not going to be a port -- it's going to be a prequel, implemented totally differently as an on-rails, almost light-gun(esque) title.

If you're not familiar with "Forbidden Terror on Station Z!" (aka, "Zorsis"), it's the technical demo Emergent Game Technologies did for our Wii engine offering for the 2008 GDC (I wanted a gritty, atypical Wii "grown-up" demo), and it's a zombie on-rails "light-gun" shooter (in space).

Here's a Zorsis screen cap from GDC a year ago:


And here's a screen cap of Dead Space: Extraction (shipping from EA this fall):

Even the Extraction targeting reticules have the same blue and orange motif!

All kidding aside, kudos to EA for not just shoe-horning Dead Space as a quick-and-dirty port to the Wii. This new entry in the franchise really showcases their commitment to treating it like a leverage able IP (not that the comic books, animated film, etc. didn't).

Still, there is a weird, kindred similarity to "Zorsis" ...

Zorsis gameplay vids (PC and Wii) can be found on YouTube, and you can download the PC version of the demo to play as well.