EA has announced they will be partnering with Stars Media (Simpson’s, King of the Hill) to create an animated feature film based on their new survival horror IP, Dead Space. The film will in fact be the second way EA is planning on expanding the universe of its new game. The first, a 6 part comic book series that acts as a prequel to the game and “tells the tale of a deep space mining colony that unexpectedly pulls an ancient and vicious alien life force from the dark rock.” The first issue hit store shelves March 3rd and is priced at 2.99USD.

The film then will take place between the end of the comic book series and the beginning of the game. It will follow a plot, disturbingly close to that of Alien, where an alien beacon is found by an exploratory mining space ship in an uncharted area of space, leading to the awakening of a long asleep species. This awakening will elicit the predictable, running, screaming, and most likely dying, that you have come to expect from any movie that rips off is in the spirit of the Alien films. When asked what the motivation is for expanding Dead Space into these different forms of media Glen Schofield, Executive Producer of Dead Space, had this to say:

“The world of Dead Space has such a deep storyline that it’s easily adaptable to other mediums. We love the fact our story is being told across multiple forms of media, providing different experiences to different audiences, which all lead to the same dark place.”

The film will air day and date with the release of Dead Space the game, with a DVD release to follow sometime thereafter. You can find the Dead Space comic books on store shelves now, and expect the game, and feature film, to scare the bejesus out of us, on October 31.

[See also: Dead Space gallery]