EA Helps Publish Special Edition of Dante’s Inferno

By Dena Cassella Published January 11, 2010

Gaming die-hards may be heading to the bookstore soon to snag a special paperback edition of Dante Alighieri’s poem Inferno to get some back-ground on Visceral Games’ new video game. Electronic Arts and Del Ray Books, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today 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^th to commemorate the launch of Visceral Games’ Dante’s Inferno video game. The new edition features an introduction written by Dante’s Inferno Executive Producer, Jonathan Knight, who describes his process of adaptation from classic literature to an interactive gaming medium. Visceral Games says that in the game, 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.

“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.”

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Dante’s Inferno the video game will be released for PlayStation3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system and Sony PSP (PlayStationPortable) on February 9, 2010. But if you can’t wait until next month for a sneak peek, a free demo is now available for download on the PlayStation Network and on Xbox Live.

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