Dead Space 3 demo arriving January 22

EA and Visceral Games have announced a downloadable demo for the upcoming action shooter, set for release on February 5.

The demo will be available for download on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace on January 22. However, EA is offering Xbox 360 owners the chance to access the demo a week early, on January 15. Interested players are invited to register here.

According to EA, the demo will feature a "customised portion of Tau Volantis," the ice planet from Dead Space 3, as well as new necromorphs and a separate weapon-crafting arena that will give players the chance to experiment with weapon combinations.

The demo will offer both single-player and online-only cooperative play. EA has also confirmed that the recently announced Kinect voice controls for Dead Space will be available in the demo.

"Dead Space 3 is the first game to feature co-op-specific voice commands for the Kinect," EA said. "Using your voice, you can find your partner, revive him, trade ammo and health packs in co-op, while in single-player, you'll have access to commands such as the ability to reload weapons, heal yourself, locate objectives, and open menus."

EA said that it is currently planning to offer the Dead Space 3 demo for the Xbox 360 and PS3 only.

Dead Space 3 is due out on February 5, 2013, in North America for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, with a release following in Europe on February 8. The game is the first entry in the action horror series to feature cooperative play. Players will venture to a new planet called Tau Volantis as series hero Isaac Clarke, but will also be joined by newcomer John Carver.

For more on Dead Space 3, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.