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Dead Space 3 executive producer Steve Papoutsis has spoken out to clarify earlier reports that Isaac Clarke’s upcoming monster-tinged adventure would see a barebones PC port.

When asked why Dead Space 3 wouldn’t see a PC-optimised version by Shacknews, Papoutsis replied by saying the platform is “by no means any less important to us; it gets a lot of attention. The PC is a very different platform. As developers, you want to deliver an experience that’s as similar as possible on different platforms.”

Visceral Games continues “to evolve our games as we develop them,” added Papoutsis, “but we certainly don’t target PC as something that’s going to be significantly different. We aren’t trying to create disparity in the experience that our gamers enjoy; we want to make sure everyone’s having that same experience.”

A powerful PC will see benefits over the console version, then, but Visceral Games isn’t going out of its way to develop exclusive benefits like DICE did with the PC version of Battlefield 3. “The biggest thing is we want to make sure the quality of the experience is consistent across all platforms so we don’t have one userbase saying it’s better on their system,” said Papoutsis. “We want it to be great on all systems, that’s our approach.”

Dead Space 3 — complete with co-op, microtransactions and N7 armour — will be released for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 5 in North America and February 8 in Europe.

Junction Point Studios is no more. Disney Interactive provided a statement to Joystiq today, noting that it decided to close the Austin, Texas-based Epic Mickey studio due to organizational changes.

“It was with much sadness that we informed our teams today of changes to our Games organization, which include the closure of Junction Point Studios,” a Disney representative said.

“We’re extremely grateful to [Junction Point founder Warren Spector] and the Junction Point team for their creative contributions to Disney with Disney Epic Mickey and Disney Epic Mickey 2.”

Separately, a Disney representative has confirmed with Polygon that Spector has left Disney altogether.

It is not clear what additional effect, if any, Disney’s organizational shift will have on its Games division. The company recently announced Disney Infinity, a new “toys-to-life” game that is currently in development at Avalanche Software for release this June.

Potential trouble at Junction Point came to light this week, when sources said staff had been on leave for more than a month. It is not clear how many were employed at the time of the company.

Junction Point shipped Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two in November. The game was not a critical or commercial success for Disney, recording mediocre review scores and reportedly selling 270,000 copies in the United States by the end of 2012.

Rockstar vice president Dan Houser has said the idea of a sci-fi themed open-world is “very tempting”, but that the studio first needs to find “a good reason” to do so.

When asked if the GTA franchise would ever leave its contemporary time period by French website Ecrans (translated by OXM), the GTA scribe and lead writer on Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 said Rockstar would do so “the very second we have an idea.”

“One of our strengths is the consistency of the game world,” added Houser. “We’re not necessarily the best writers in the world, but we know how to write a video game.”

Looking back to Rockstar’s enormous success with Red Dead Redemption, Houser said Rockstar chose the Western setting “because we knew we had something to say.”

“We have no interest in going into science fiction for the sake of flying cars and laser guns,” he added.

What’s holding Rockstar back, then, is that it doesn’t yet have the right story to tell. “The best science fiction stories are those that speak about the human condition. So while this idea is very tempting and, by definition, anything’s possible in a videogame, we lack the essential thing for the moment: a good reason.”

Rockstar’s latest title, the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V, is scheduled for a spring 2013 release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. PC and Wii U versions are being considered.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II has minted over $1 billion for Activision, and now the publisher is giving back to real-world troops. Forbes reports today that Activision will donate copies of Black Ops II to military bases and hospitals across the world. In addition, several of the game’s leading voice actors will embark on a tour to visit soldiers and staff.

The effort is part of a USO/Armed Forces Entertainment tour that will see Black Ops voice talent Kamar de los Reyes (Raul Menendez), James Burns (Sgt. Frank Woods), and Rich McDonald (Commander David Mason) play against troops at each tour stop beginning today and running through February 4.

“We play at war on the safety of our sound stages, with imaginary weapons and pretend enemies. These men and women face the real thing every day. We want to honor that fact and give the real heroes the attention they deserve,” de los Reyes said. “I’ve always been humbled by the sacrifice our military and their families make every day to ensure our freedoms. I can’t wait to look these men and women in the eye and express to them in person how much we appreciate their service. It’s an honor that leaves me speechless.”

Activision also runs the Call of Duty Endowment, a nonprofit company launched in October 2009 that helps soldiers transition to civilian careers following their military services. De los Reyes said he is happy that Activision is involved in this area, but noted there is much work to do.

“Not enough attention and support is given to our military when they transition into civilian life. It’s an enormous problem, and moreover an embarrassment that we don’t focus more on veteran affairs,” de los Reyes said.

[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, Crytek confirmed with GameSpot that all 35 Crytek USA staffers are former Vigil Games developers. In addition, Crytek USA will not develop any future Darksiders games, and the company will not be housed in the former Vigil Games office.

The original story follows below.

Crytek today opened a studio in Austin, Texas, marking the Crysis developer’s ninth studio overall and its first in North America. Crytek USA Corp. will be led by industry veteran and Vigil Games (Darksiders) co-founder David Adams, who will head up the outfit as CEO.

In addition to Adams, Crytek USA will be made up of 35 others, though it is not clear if Vigil Games staffers are among them or what the company is developing.

Vigil Games and the Darksiders series failed to find a buyer in last week’s THQ bankruptcy auction, putting all jobs and the series itself in jeopardy.

GameSpot has contacted Crytek for comment.

Crytek USA is the second studio Crytek has opened this month. Two weeks ago, the company established an outfit in Istanbul. Crytek also has offices in Frankfurt, Germany; Kiev, Ukraine; Budapest, Hungary; Sofia, Bulgaria; Seoul, South Korea; Nottingham, United Kingdom; and Shanghai, China.

Gears of War: Judgment is due out March 19, but not all will need to wait until that day to play the newest entry in the series. Those with a GameStop PowerUp Rewards membership who preorder the title online or in-store will have early access to the game’s new OverRun mode, it was announced today.

A GameStop PowerUp Rewards membership is free.

The “early access experience” begins Friday, March 15 at 11:59 p.m. PDT and runs through Monday, March 18 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. In addition, the offer retroactively applies to all members who had previously preordered Judgment at GameStop.

Judgment’s OverRun mode is the first class-based, multiplayer gametype in the Gears of War series. It pits Locust and COG soldiers against each other in a head-to-head, objective-based battle for five-player teams.

What’s more, multiplayer experience points earned during the early access period will carry over to the final game for those who purchase Judgment in the first week. Additionally, those who preorder Judgment from GameStop will receive a Young Marcus character skin and a Lambent weapon skin.

A demo for Judgment will be made available to all Xbox Live Gold members worldwide March 19. For more on Judgment, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

Valve’s Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will be the featured games of the Electronic Sports League’s new EMS One competition, with over $300,000 available in 2013 for Europe’s best gamers. This will be the most amount of money any gaming league has put up for these two titles thus far.

Dota 2 and CS:GO will each have four seasons with four live event finals over the course of the year. The top eight teams at the end of each season will meet at the offline season finals. The first event is being aimed for mid-April, with each game played on a separate weekend, EMS Product Manager Lari Syrota told GameSpot.

“The EMS One will feature an extensive online season with multiple matches throughout the week, contrary to consisting of a series of large-scale offline events”, Syrota said. “We believe that this model will be more beneficial to CS:GO and Dota 2 because it facilitates the growth of these scenes.”

ESL’s largest tournament brand, the Intel Extreme Masters, currently feature StarCraft 2 and League of Legends for its seventh season. This season was the first that Counter-Strike was not a featured title, and the Dota series has never been chosen before.

“Counter-Strike: GO and Dota 2 were obvious choices”, Syrota said. “CS:GO has a strong heritage in esports, with many of the star players from the old days as well as ambitious newcomers creating a very compelling competitive environment. Yet, it lacked a strong backbone so far, and this is where we come into play. Dota 2, on the other hand, is the successor of the MOBA pioneer, and its increasing popularity proves that it deserves attention from the world of eSports.”

Matches will be played and broadcasted online every week without breaks, with broadcasters Joe Miller and Paul “Redeye” Chaloner behind the microphone.

Details regarding the first teams invited, and how many weeks the season is, will be announced tomorrow on ESL’s homepage.