Not content to upset book owls by "ruining" Dante Aligheri's famous epic poem, Electronic Arts and Visceral Games are going to release their own version of the original book, with their game's main character taking center stage on the cover. The arrogance of this is something to be applauded.
The book is due to hit store shelves on January 19. There is something inherently silly in this, but it's about what I'd expect from this game's marketing department at this point.
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Del Rey Books, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group announced that a trade-paperback edition of the classic poem Inferno, part one of The Divine Comedy, will be distributed to booksellers nationwide on January 19, 2010. This special edition of the canonized poem commemorates the launch of the highly-anticipated Dante’s Inferno™ video game from Visceral Games™. The new edition features an introduction written by Dante’s Inferno Executive Producer, Jonathan Knight, who offers insight into the process of adapting the dark masterpiece into the interactive medium. The book also features a 16-page, full-color art insert showcasing the evolution of characters and environments from the classic poem to the video game.
“Their stunning and inventive take on Dante’s Inferno will be sure to wow players around the world and we are extremely proud to be able to provide those individuals with insight into the creative processes involved in adapting Dante to a new medium.”
"We are so grateful to have the opportunity to work with Random House on this project. Through the creative process of developing this game, we have grown quite close to the literary works of Dante Alighieri. It is his vision that we are adapting for this new media, and new audience,” said Jonathan Knight, Executive Producer at Visceral Games. “The game is a celebration of Dante, and we hope gamers will be encouraged to go beyond the game and explore the classic text that has inspired us so deeply.”
“Visceral Games and EA have provided us with an amazing opportunity to bring one of the great works of classical fiction to a new group of fans,” said Michael Braff of Del Rey editorial. “Their stunning and inventive take on Dante’s Inferno will be sure to wow players around the world and we are extremely proud to be able to provide those individuals with insight into the creative processes involved in adapting Dante to a new medium.”
Created by Visceral Games and available worldwide on February 9, the Dante’s Inferno video game is set in Dante Alighieri’s vividly imagined nine circles of hell – limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, violence, heresy, fraud and treachery. Players take Dante on an epic descent through hell, battling their way through a terrifying gauntlet of demons to reclaim the soul of his beloved Beatrice.
Dante’s Inferno the video game will be released for PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and Sony PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) on February 9, 2010. A free demo is now available for download on the PlayStation Network and on Xbox Live. Dante’s Inferno is rated M for Mature by the ESRB and 18+ by PEGI. For more information on Dante’s Inferno, please follow Dante’s Inferno on Twitter at www.twitter.com/danteteam, and visit the game’s official web site at www.dantesinferno.com, where the team explores a new circle of hell, with new content and updates on the ninth day of every month.
About Del Rey
Del Rey Books (http://www.delreybooks.com) was founded in 1977 as an imprint of Ballantine Books, a division of the Random House Publishing Group, under the guidance of the renowned Judy-Lynn del Rey and her husband, Lester del Rey. Del Rey publishes the best of modern fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history. In 2004 it expanded by launching Del Rey Manga, which has grown to be a major force in the U.S. graphic-novel field.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA™, EA SPORTS™, EA Mobile™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile, POGO, Visceral Games and Dante’s Inferno are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. “PlayStation” and “PSP” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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Contest:
9:00 AM on 01.12.2010
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Wow.
So, yeah. I'm going to buy it. I like pissing off the people who hold things like stories as sacred and untouchable. It's a hobby.
They didn't change Dante's Inferno. They released the poem with colour page inserts and Dante taking the cover...
But yeah, this is a rather terrible idea.
Expect alot of that from people who buy this
People, they are not remaking or changing the book in any way. They are just releasing an edition using the game boxart as cover, and with an introduction by one of the game producers. It is not any different than when editorials re-publish books because a movie adaptation is going to be released, and uses the likeness of the actors in the cover.
Is
Awesome
I might just buy a copy. I've kind of wanted to read Dante's Inferno anyway.
I'm still waiting for them to re-release the Bible, sponsored by Mountain Dew.
(Mat 4:1-11 NIV) Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. {2} After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. But he wasn't thirsty because he had some Mountain Dew!
Har har har!
Can't wait for the Blu Ray release of Milton's "paradise Lost". Who wants to read big pretentious books that changed the world anyway?
Now I'm not a douche; I think the game looks hilariously awesome and I don't care about that, but putting that cover on the book is actually very misleading, and honestly is a little irreverent to Dante's work. Being an enormous fan of the poem (read it in both English and the original Italian no less), seeing that cover on it is...a little sickening.
lulz
@hermes
Touché.
This.
Also, hermes, I can understand the body of the article, but how is the title biased? EA really is releasing its own Dante's Inferno book. Much of the time Jim's titles seem exaggerated for maximum flame war action, but in this case, it's just a fact. There's not even an adjective in that title, for God's sake.
I think you do not understand the words you are using.
Thanks, EA. Thanks. You've done so much to convince the world that people who play video games are actually, physically retarded.
Take THAT Norton Critical Edition!
What I mean is that both, the title and the body of the text seems like flamebait, and makes it look like EA is changing or remaking the poem in some way (it says "ITS OWN" after all), when in reality the only thing they are doing is making the publisher reprint copies of the poem with the character of the game in the cover. Missleading? Yes. Arrogant? Hardly. They are doing nothing it hasn't been done before with movie adaptations like "I Robot", "Lord of the Rings" or "I am Legend" and a thousand others. If anything, its the publisher who wins, as it will make the book appealing to people that wouldn't read classical literature otherwise...
Are they TRYING to make it sound as stupid/funny as possible?
Even if that's the case, who do you think the money's going to?
Even when that's not the case, I still don't see what's the problem. Isn't EA entitled to get revenue from merchandising of its own product?
If changing the cover isn't a problem, then nobody would ever complain about crappy box art on game boxes. Putting this cover on that book is sort of like having a Dante-themed Sackboy with a big cheerful grin front and center on the cover of the game - only worse. I'm not going to question EA's morality, but this is pretty damn stupid.
Yeah, but is it really EA's work? I mean, you said it's just the same book with a different cover.
I personally have no problem with them making a game inspired by the book--it's actually a good idea, and there are a lot of cool concepts in it. But it seems to me they're claiming some kind of ownership of the original with this move, which seems INCREDIBLY arrogant to me, and very disrespectful to the work this game was inspired by.
People complain about the crappy part, not the change. And why do you make such a big deal of it? It's not like Dante's Inferno had an official cover since its first publication...
@Davoidbot: It's not EA's work, but it is EA's licence. If they want to publish the book with the game cover and a message that says "the book that inspired the game", I see no problem with that... As I said, its not like movies haven't reprinted "inspirations" because.
To me, this is not a big deal. Furthermore, its a good thing. I read Atlas Shrugged before playing Bioshock, I got interested in the Civil Wars comics before playing MUA2, I read a lot of greek mythology before playing God of War. If this move helps increase the sales of the book and put some people that don't read much or haven't been interested in the poem in contact with it, more power to them.