If Dead Space is to be remembered for one thing, it should be its navigation system, where pressing a button triggers an illuminated "path" in the game world showing you your destination. I don't know if it was the first game to do this, but it was certainly the first to do it so prominently/so well.

That system is now working, albeit in a very crude form, thanks to work done by MIT's Media Lab, which using a phone and a projector has built an in-house guide to...everyone's desk.

While the walking around bit isn't as nice as video games have managed, the way it changes when you point it at a door is a great idea that developers should totally steal.

Guiding Light brings video game-style navigation to the real world [The Verge]

Opus Artz is a concept studio in London which specialises in production art for the video game industry. Among its artists are guys like Bjorn Hurri and Theo Stylianides, so yeah, we're about to see some good stuff.

The studio has worked with clients such as EA, 2K, Paradox and Square Enix, on games like Dead Space 2, BioShock 2, InFamous 2 and, to complete the pattern, Sniper 2.

You can see more of Opus' work at their company site.

Crytek, the developers behind the Crysis series (and the CryEngine), will soon be helping release their own online multiplayer gaming service. It has a stupid name, but everything else about it is very interesting.

It's called GFACE. Seriously. Get over the name, though, and you see it's trying to take online gaming on a PC (and other devices) to a very slick and sociable place.

While saying that the product is run by a "a small team with big ideas", GFACE's creators acknowledge they are "backed up by a well known critically acclaimed game studio: Crytek. We share not only technology and vision, but the commitment to deliver the highest possible quality". All the group's vacant job positions are all hosted on Crytek's website.

As a network, GFACE is built around friends lists, obviously, but with a few key alterations to the way most existing services do things. For one, it's got embedded video chat right there in the framework. It also has a drag-and-drop invite system similar to the way Battlefield 3's Battlelog rus, and again like Battlelog, GFACE operates in a browser.

And that's where it gets interesting. Unlike Battlelog, which was designed for a single game, GFACE's browser plug-in also operates as a streaming agent, meaning you don't actually play the games off your PC, you'd be streaming them in from off-site, ala OnLive.

So, like you can see in the multi-device shot in the gallery above, the guy on the PC plays a traditional 3D first-person shooter game, while other players on iOS devices play command or support roles designed specifically for their hardware. Yet they're all playing the same game, because it all - in theory, at least - runs in a browser and not on the actual device.

It's also taking a page out of Xbox Live's books by letting you access those same friends lists and functionality while watching media.

Perhaps most ambitious, though, is the fact gaming is just part of what Crytek wants GFACE to do. There's a whole raft of social applications similar to what Facebook and Twitter currently do built into the system as well, which you can see in the video in the gallery above.

GFACE is currently in closed beta.

Sideshow is bringing out a limited edition statue of Dead Space hero Isaac Clarke, dressed in his workman's duds from the first game, not his space policeman outfit from the sequel.

There will be two versions available, one with interchangeable hands, the other without. Oh, and his rig lights up. Both will cost the same, and will be out sometime later this year.

2011 saw its share of disappointments, but it was also a year that contained a good number of nice surprises. Some were games we just didn't see coming—they snuck up on us and grabbed us with their excellence. Others were games that we thought were going to be terrible or at best so-so, but which would up being terrific.

I polled my fellow Kotaku editors and assembled a list of some of the most pleasant surprises of 2011.

Bulletstorm

I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't sold on Bulletstorm. It looked juvenile and boring, like a generic FPS dressed up with some color and silly language. I played a bit of it at a press event and remained unimpressed. I wrote a skeptical, critical preview.

As it turns out, I should have given Bulletstorm, and by extension its developers at People Can Fly, much more credit. Our reviewer back at Paste loved the game, and when I finally really sat down and played it, I found that I loved it too. It's genuinely funny in its brash dumbness, and it plays like a dream. The slide-kick alone is one of the most satisfying, endlessly fun gameplay mechanics of the year. I am still surprised at how much I love this game.

SpaceChem

An iPad/PC game based around making chemical compounds certainly doesn't sound fun, but boy is it ever. As Stephen Totilo wrote in his Review, it is "a stellar puzzle game well worth your time and brain cells." Easily one of the best iOS games of the year, and the most fun I've ever had nerding right the hell on out.

Pixeljunk Sidescroller

This one was a surprise mainly because it came out with so little preamble, pomp, or circumstance. And yet it was a fantastic game, utterly worth buying in every way. Ashcraft called it "his new favorite shooter," while Totilo described it as "the total package of retro-chic style and substance," and one of his favorite PlayStation 3 games of the year. (!!) That alone puts it on the "surprises" list.

Superman on iOS

When Totilo wrote this game up, he said that it's not perfect, but simply surprising that it's so good, given the crappiness of most Superman games. I haven't played it, but I'm actually surprised that a Superman iOS game is good at all, so it makes the list!

The Witcher 2

It wasn't so much a surprise that The Witcher 2 was good—its predecessor had also been a fantastic game that got better and better the more you played it. The surprise was the way that The Witcher 2 was good. The Witcher had been a fairly niche game, a stat-based hardcore CRPG that made those of us who love that sort of thing very happy, but didn't have much mainstream appeal. With a new engine and control scheme, The Witcher 2 arrived on PCs loaded for bear, a game that was ambitious not only in its scope and storytelling, but in its mainstream accessibility. In fact, it was the game that the very-mainstream Dragon Age II wished it could be, a complex, hugely branching tale of moral intrigue loaded with great characters, cheap thrills, and fun action combat (once you got past the first few levels.)

I'll be very interested to see how its coming Xbox 360 port does—provided it's a console translation of the amazing game we PC gamers played in 2011, The Witcher 2 will surprise a whole new crop of console gamers in 2012.

From Dust

What looked like a somewhat strange god-game from Eric Chahi wound up surprising us with is depth, difficulty, and satisfying gameplay loop. Stephen Totilo described it as "a very good video game that starts badly," going on to say that it crept up on him, and as he wrapped up the campaign, he was in love with it.

Trenched

Trenched, of course, is now known as Iron Brigade, a humorous action/tower-defense game from Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions. I remember when Schafer unveiled it at the end of the GDC awards in March, and I felt… underwhelmed. It was weird, the tone was kinda bro-y, there was this guy yelling, and I wasn't clear on what the game was. Then, it came out, and I played it—and fell in love with it. Double Fine has a reputation for making games that favor art and story over gameplay, but project lead Brad Muir's design chops made Trenched arguably the best-playing Double Fine game of all time. It's great in single-player and even more fun in co-op, and was one of the summer's most enjoyable surprises.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

So obviously, I loved this game a whole lot, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a surprise. I knew next to nothing about it before it came out, and it sure took me by surprise.

As our own Brian Ashcraft put it, "I had no idea iPhone games could do that." Indeed, Ash.

Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars

When the 3DS launched, the pickings were pretty slim. I had a bunch of the launch titles, but there were very few that I wanted to play for more than five or so minutes at a time. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars was the exception in a big, big way. A combination of Ghost Recon and X-Com, it was a top-down tactical strategy game with an emphasis on troop positioning and canny battlefield exploitation. It was also supremely addictive. Our own Brian Crecente agreed, calling it a 3DS Must-Buy. Later games like Super Mario 3D Land and Cave Story 3D replaced in in my regular rotation, but I still play Shadow Wars quite a bit.

Dead Space 2

I'm putting this one in because I was all but convinced that it was going to suck. I had liked the first Dead Space no small amount, largely because of its isolation and genuine scares. Seeing trailers (like the one at the left, actually) with Isaac talking, stupid rock music playing, Uncharted-ish action sequences… it left me thinking they were going to amp up the game and wreck it. Little did I know that Dead Space 2 would be one of the most polished and enjoyable mainstream action games of the year, a near-seamless blend of horror and action that was almost impossible to stop playing. Bravo, Visceral.

Gunstringer

Man, did I not see this one coming. Who did, really? I'd been kept in the loop by Microsoft PR, and when they finally sent me a copy, it was right after I got a Kinect. So, I plugged it in, thinking "This will be a silly kids' game for sure," and what did I get but one of the two or three funniest games of the year. It worked great with the Kinect tech, it was hilariously written, and it was really fun to play. As it turned out, the origin story for the game was a hilarious case of last-ditch improvisation. I can only say I'm glad the guys at Twisted Pixel faked it like they did—the result was a game that all but proved that the Kinect could have super-fun games.

Saints Row: The Third

This one certainly snuck up on me—I'd liked the first two Saints Row games fine, but I was most certainly not expecting the third one to be as polished, smart, hilarious, and balls-out fun as it was. I tried to articulate that as best I could in my review of the game—this was a game that was generous, funny, and would go to almost any length to show the player a good time. At times, I couldn't even figure out how they were getting away with the things they were, but there ya go. Saints Row: The Third was easily one of the most welcome surprises of the year.

But those are just a few of the things that surprised us. What games pleasantly surprised you this year?

A couple weeks back I ran an enjoyable feature on Duncan Harris, the video game photographer behind the website DeadEndThrills. Harris takes some of the most evocative, beautiful video game screenshots I've ever seen, and we've been sharing some of his work each week here.

This week has some good stuff. Let's get into it, shall we?

First up, at top:

"I Am The Very Model of a Sideways-Scrolling Beat-Em-Up"

Or really, Mr. Harris? Well then:

I've information vi-o-lent and beat the bad guys to a pulp
I know kung-fu-ian theory and am teaming with a lot-o-moves
with many cheerful ways to shred anonymously evil dudes

(with many cheerful ways to shred anonymously evil dudes!)

Bonus points for the Gilbert & Sullivan reference! Here are Duncan's notes on this terrific shot from Bulletstorm:

Tools and tricks: custom game build, debug camera, custom FOV, 2160p rendering, FXAA injection, timestop.

"No Place Like Home"

Yet another shot that captures how gorgeous Modern Warfare 2 was in its wanton destruction. As I careened through this single-player campaign, I always felt like the art team had slaved over this incredible stuff, only to have us pass it by in the blink of an eye, actively penalized for pausing to take it in. It's nice to slow down and dig the lovely particle effects.

Duncan's Notes:

Tools and tricks: game client 1.0 (boxed version), MW2 Unleashed command console patch, high quality ambient occlusion, custom LOD bias, 2160p rendering, FXAA, no-HUD, timestop, free camera, custom FOV.

"Wormwood"

A beautiful shot from STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl (screw it, I'm not doing the periods anymore and you can't make me). Gotta play more of this game. Duncan's notes:

Tools and tricks: 2160 rendering, antialiasing (SMAA), free camera, time demo recorder, no-HUD, STALKER Complete 2009 mod, custom FOV (hacked game DLL @ FOV 50).

"Escape Velocity"

A very cool shot from The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Dark Athena. Duncan's notes:

Tools and tricks: 2160p rendering, antialiasing (FXAA), free camera, timestop.

"Hymn of the Big Wheel"

The ferris wheel from STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, which also makes a cameo in the best level of the first (and best) Modern Warfare. As Duncan points out, "In a city where the average age was just 26, it's fittingly cruel that the Pripyat Ferris Wheel, a decaying symbol of Soviet nuclear naivety, is today its most irradiated landmark. It might also explain where Modern Warfare's John ‘Soap' MacTavish got his superhuman powers and giant bollocks"

Heh. Notes:

Tools and tricks: 2160 rendering, antialiasing (SMAA), free camera, time demo recorder, no-HUD, STALKER Complete 2009 mod, custom FOV (hacked game DLL @ FOV 50).

"Crysis Collection #1"

To fill out this week, I'm looking back at Dead End Thrills' Crysis collection, which is truly a game made for this site. They are all gorgeous (how many amazing shots of an island can you drool over?), but I really like this one.

"Crysis Collection #2"

Too many games that have lovely looking surface water drop the ball once you go under water (I'm looking at you, Skyrim). But not Crysis. I love how this shot celebrates that—few games go so far as to have an underwater view look as gorgeous as this one.

Seriously, go download the entire collection.

Remember back in May, how we showed you that footage from the US military's new "video game" simulation suite? Well, it's back. And it looks more amazing than ever.

To recap, this is the Dismounted Soldier Training System (DSTS), a new simulation tool for the US Army. It's cost the government nearly $60 million to develop, but if you get to use it you'll probably think it's totally worth it, as it's designed to be played not on a screen, but in a virtual reality rig, complete with goggles.

A lot of what you're seeing here, especially in the second video, aren't "levels" in the traditional sense, they're massive outdoor environments being rendered by CryEngine 3 (the engine that powers Crysis 2).

Looks like a very pretty version of ArmA. Which makes me want to play this. Badly.

With 2008 survival horror third-person shooter Dead Space, EA created a hit title. Dead Space went on to spawn a sequel, a rail-shooter spin-off and a puzzle game, animated films, comic books, and a novel. But according to one insider, EA is just getting started.

EA is looking at new ways to expand Dead Space, an insider told Kotaku. The Dead Space team was apparently told that it must look at ways it can make the series bigger and better. Thus, according to the source, EA is working on a Dead Space first-person-shooter. That's not all.

This would not be a first. Back in 2009, EA released an on-rails Dead Space shooter for the Wii called Dead Space: Extraction. The game, a prequel to the first Dead Space, was ported to the PS3 earlier this year.

EA's desire to expand Dead Space is also apparently why there are plans to make a Dead Space flight game—in short, it's Dead Space, but you're flying ships.

The insider added that after these titles are completed, the Dead Space team is moving forward on "an Uncharted-like game". Work on this game has not started yet, and the title is still supposedly in the early planning stages.

Dead Space's expansion comes as a management shuffle at EA brought in new brass that nearly killed off Dead Space 3—the reason being the Dead Space games don't sell like games like Uncharted games do. This change also means that there are likely to be fewer risky new big titles, such as Mirror's Edge.

Dead Space 3, however, is apparently not cancelled. The insider told Kotaku that the game will feature co-op and is set on an ice planet. That backs up earlier rumors that Dead Space 3 will be trade pitch blackness for a blinding, frozen tundra. As Kotaku previously posted, the next entry takes place on the planet Tau Volantis. The planet's "white-out blizzard conditions" may trade the blackness of previous Dead Space games for pure white, a new method for keeping the beasts of the horror franchise well hidden from view.

The third entry will also supposedly be the last Dead Space to feature engineer Isaac as the protagonist, thus ending a trilogy.

After that the Dead Space franchise is, as previously mentioned, moving on to an action-heavy Dead Space game. Think Uncharted in space.

None of these Dead Space games are yet official. Even Dead Space 3, which was apparently outed in September, hasn't been officially announced. Considering how often game titles are killed off in production, if true, a similar fate could await some of these games. Or, it's entirely possible that EA pushes them out the door and releases them.

If so, Dead Space the FPS, Dead Space the flight sim, and Dead Space the adventure game would only dilute what makes Dead Space, well, Dead Space, diluting it.

Kotaku is following up with EA and will update this post should the company comment.

Even if you have zero interest in sunk ships or James Cameron movies, you need to see this video of the interior of the Titanic, built using CryEngine 3. It's as amazing as it is shiny.

Amazon's new $200 Kindle, the Kindle Fire, isn't just a book-reader that happens to run Scrabble and Sudoku. It runs lots of Android-compatible games: the usual suspects like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, but also... the $7, high-end sci-fi horror game Dead Space.

There was an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Dead Space. The Fire doesn't run that. It runs the Dead Space that came out for the iPad last January. That one looks like a high-end game for the original Xbox and is fully controlled via a touchscreen. The Fire runs that without a sweat.

Watch the video for proof.

Portable gaming isn't just the Nintendo 3DS or the Sony PSP. In the past year or so, we've all gotten used to new iPads, iPhones and Droid devices cropping up as increasingly viable competition to Nintendo and Sony's handheld gaming machines. Now we've got the Fire.

The Fire could be viewed as just another Android device, but it's not. It's an impressive Android device (read our sister site Gizmodo's review) marketed by Amazon. The massive Internet retailer sells a lot of Kindles. They make sure Kindles are a big deal. The Fire was and is. And, now, it just might be an important video game platform, too.