Can I get a slow clap for Electronic Arts? Rather than produce a shoddy “Dead Space” port for the Wii, the company is developing an entirely new game for Nintendo’s Wiimote-waving army. “Dead Space Extraction” will take place prior to the events that unfolded in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title that released last October.

How bout some co-op to go with your space aliens?  Find out more, after the jump.

IGN’s Matt Casamassina recently caught up with executive producer Steve Papoutsis, who revealed that the game will “feature all-new characters, new enemies, new bosses, new weapons, and new never before seen environments.”

Perhaps the juiciest detail to come from the interview was that the game will feature cooperative multiplayer, which will allow Wii owners to strategically dismember nasty aliens with a friend. “Extraction” will be a first-person shooter that features “on-rails gameplay,” but Papoutsis noted that the studio wants “to innovate and push the genre forward like Dead Space did for third-person action survival horror.” As expected, players will use the Wii Remote to aim.

Fans of the original game will be happy to know that EA Redwood Shores, the team behind Isaac Clarke’s adventure, is focused on delivering another tension-filled space romp.

“It would not be a Dead Space game if we did not deliver on the violence, horror, terror, and action from the original game,” Papoutsis told IGN. “I worked as the producer in charge of all things Horror on Dead Space, and with that being said I’m highly motivated to continue to improve on what we achieved in the original game.”

IGN has posted the first trailer for “Extraction,” which you can check out by clicking here.

“Extraction” is part of EA’s initiative to bring more titles, including core IPs, to the Wii. During the publisher’s latest financial earnings call, CEO John Riccitiello said EA will “rival Nintendo on their own platform.”

I have to give EA a big pat on the back here. Rather than produce a rushed port to cash-in on the Wii’s popularity, the company seems genuinely interested in expanding the “Dead Space” universe. This certainly doesn’t guarantee that “Extraction” will match the quality and intensity of the original game, but, for now, it seems that EA has quelled some of the concerns surrounding the title. Though, I have little doubt that some naysayers will bitch about the game’s graphics.

I am not sold on “Extraction” yet, but I am intrigued by the promise of a new protagonist and a new story. Plus, it would be a great way for me to brush up on the “Dead Space” background story, since I totally ignored the animated film and comic book series that released last year.

Source: IGN