Dead Space 3 includes real-money in-game purchases for weapons and gear

Visceral Games is continuing the tradition of in-game purchases of weapons, and suits for main characters John Carver and Isaac Clarke in Dead Space 3. Similarly to the original Dead Space and 2011's Dead Space 2, players can use real money to purchase special, unique weapons that are otherwise unavailable in the retail game.

As in Dead Space 2, the Collector's Edition of Dead Space 3, which accounts for all first-run copies of the game, include two additional suits, the Witness suit and the First Contact suit, as well as the Evangelizer combination assault rifle and shotgun, and the Negotiator, an electrical weapon. Retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop are also providing pre-order customers exclusive access to unique in-game weapons.

New to Dead Space 3 however are resource packs. The game's weapon crafting system allows you to craft equipment in two ways — by finding parts scattered around the game world and assembling them at a workbench, or by using raw materials found throughout the game like tungsten and scrap metal to build parts or even, at great cost, full weapons. Players can also gather raw materials using Scavenger bots, which can be found throughout Dead Space 3's campaign. Less patient players can purchase resource packs containing raw materials using real world currency, though Scavenger Bots also find ration seals, which can be used in lieu of actual money.

There's a catch though — blueprints are required to build weapons from raw materials. While certain "team favorite" blueprints are available immediately, others must be found during the game, or shared by a co-op partner.

A representative from EA provided the following comment:

In Dead Space 3, Isaac survives treacherous conditions by scavenging for resources and weapon parts to craft new, more powerful weapons. Players that want to speed up the process will have the option to buy certain resources by using in-game currency or PlayStation dollars/Microsoft points, while the more powerful weapon parts can only be earned through play. Purchasing items is not required at any point in the game.