This year, EA did something that really hasn’t been done before in the industry — they introduced the world of a new videogame IP through other mediums. There was a six-book comic book series, video comics, and an animated film, all of which set up the universe of Dead Space and portrayed the prequel story leading up to the events that take place in the game months before the game itself became available. And this approach — referred to as “IP cubed” within EA — of developing new properties with other mediums in mind from the conception is something we’ll be seeing more of.

“People used to think of things like that as a distraction, but I think our game is stronger because of the influence of the comics and the animated movie,” Dead Space executive producer and EA Redwood’s general manager Glen Schofield told Variety recently. “Everyone internally is looking at ‘Dead Space’ as the model now because there’s just so much content that we’ve generated.”

Another new EA property that is already being set up in a similar manner is Mirror’s Edge. The parkour-inspired title from Battlefield creator DICE is also getting its own comic series, one that introduces the game’s protagonist Faith and covers the events that shaped both her and the city the game takes place in.

So how about it, do you find this multiple media forms approach attractive? Or do you prefer the old school way and have the actual game present all the necessary info to you along the way?