Dante's Inferno: To Florence And Back

You may have heard quite a bit about a new EA game called Dante's Inferno. We announced the game in December at the Spike TV videogame awards and first-look stories began to hit around the world last month – in the UK, PSM3 and 360-Gamer have featured cover stories on the game, while Eurogamer ran a week-long Dante's Inferno special.

It's been especially gratifying to get so much support for Dante's Inferno given we're still around a year away from releasing the game. It's particularly interesting that Dante's Inferno is a rare instance of a game based on literature.

Dante's Inferno is based on the first part of the medieval epic poem The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri The dark fiction gave birth to the Tuscan Italian dialect and is widely considered the work that has defined the western world's contemporary conception of hell and purgatory. The poem tells the tale of Dante who journeys through the twisted, menacing nine circles of hell in pursuit of his beloved Beatrice.

Written in the 14th Century, The Divine Comedy and it's three parts – Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise – was published and read aloud in the language of the Italian people, thereby making the poem accessible to the mass public, unlike the bible. The poem delivers a striking and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife and the punishments of hell. In Inferno, Dante traverses all nine circles of hell; limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery.

When we're trying to launch a new game such as Dante's Inferno it really helps to give it as much context as we can. We held an official press launch for the game in Florence, home of Dante Alighieri and a European city full of medieval architecture and steeped in Christian iconography. Around 40 European journalists joined us for the trip, where a city tour was followed by a game presentation and demo from the executive producer Jonathan Knight. Press got a load of hands-on time with Dante's Inferno and got the chance to interview Jonathan and graphic artist Wayne Barlowe, well known for his creature art on Hollywood films such as Galaxy Quest, Hellboy and Harry Potter. Glen Schofield, who led the Dead Space team and who is now general manager at the EA Redwood Shores studio, was also on hand for interview.

One of the most interesting things about the press launch was the reaction to showing code from the game so far in advance of a game's release. Normally, press would only expect a presentation and demo at this stage as first-look events are notorious for being devoid of any actual game playing. But given that the setting was right, the code is looking great and one of the key messages we're trying to promote is that Dante's Inferno has great gameplay all at 60hz , it was essential to get press playing it.

It was also a chance to get people understanding Dante. The lead character in the game is a returning Crusader haunted by the sins he has committed in the name of God but determined to get home to be with the love his life, Beatrice. Her death and Satan's stealing of her soul to hell is the catalyst for Dante's journey into the Inferno and his battle through the Nine Circles of Hell. Hopefully, press enjoyed the chance to play this imperfect anti-hero and his ability to punish or absolve the lost souls he encounters. Hopefully, you will too.

Stay tuned for more information on Dante's Inferno as it comes through.