Tag Archives: ubidays 2008

Ubisoft just sent out an email saying that all the trailers shown at Ubidays 2008 in Paris at the end of May are now available in hi-res on Uplay.com.

There’s footage of Far Cry 2, EndWar, Soul Calibur IV, Prince of Persia and plenty more up there, so do take a look.

Adam over at Kikizo diarized some face-time with Ubi-cheese Yves “Likeable” Guillemot at Ubidays, and asked him some fair old questions. He dodged most of them, as is his wont, but this makes for interesting reading nonetheless. So do so.

God bless you and your cameras, IGN. The site’s posted a Ubidays wrap-up video from Paris earlier this month, hosted by brunette games kitten Jessica Chobot. It’s Friday, so watch it. It’s got video of l’Arc de Triomphe and the funny tourist boats on the Seine. And some stuff about Far Cry 2 as well.

After the link.

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Speaking to GI, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has given a good bit of detail on how important creating CGI animated movies will be for the publisher going forward, saying the aim it to rival the likes of Peter Jackson for quality.

“Our goal is to create a studio that will be very high quality, our goal is to try to get to the level of quality of Peter Jackson’s Weta studio,” he said.

“We don’t need to be always making [a] movie, but what we have to do is make sure that what’s necessary for our games is done close to us so we can reuse assets. Or we can have a specific relationship with a director who is going to do 3D imaging in such a way that we can also use them in our games,” he added.

“The goal is to produce the images, the animations, to work on defining scenarios, because that’s what we need in our games.

“For the rest, we will start by working with external companies that are interested and know this business, but we will make sure that movies are coming out at the same time as our games, as our books and other ancillary products.”

Much more through the link. The full interview’s here.

According to this EG piece, wingmen in rugged flight sim Tom Clancy’s HAWX can be controlled by voice. Other than that nugget, the story’s short on detail. The site was told the info at Ubidays in Paris yesterday.

Don’t forget that units from HAWX can apparently cross over into EndWar, so potentially there’s going to be voice in the air, voice on the ground, voice everywhere. Pretending to be some kind of macho, fatigue-wearing bullyboy will never be so much fun.

Tom Clancy’s HAWX releases later this year.

According to this LiveWii report, Englishified by Cubed3, Ubisoft told the site during Ubidays 2008 yesterday that a dedicated Prince of Persia game was being created for Wii.

The Prince of Persia title showcased at the event is in the works for PC, PS3 and 360.

There’s no confirmation on this at the moment, and a Wii SKU certainly hasn’t been announced. Hope it’s true.

Speaking to Next-Gen and Ubidays yesterday, Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot said that Beyond Good & Evil 2 will be a more casual game than the original, a beloved title that flopped so hard it nearly broke its nose.

“We saw with Beyond Good & Evil that so many customers were extremely happy with the game,” he said. “We had a different audience at that time. We had more core gamers than casual gamers than we have today.

“We think the game was probably a little too difficult for the general gamers at that time. We’re going to make it more accessible and make sure that it’s really done for the new generation that’s come into videogames.”

More through the link.

Sorry, this slipped under the radar yesterday. The PS3 version of Tom Clancy’s EndWar will support hand gesture commands via the PlayStation Eye camera, Eurogamer reports.

The feature will be used for moving the strategy game’s map around, from the sound of it. Ubisoft revealed the info at yesterday’s Ubidays event in Paris, also saying that the 360 version won’t be able to support gestures because the camera doesn’t come with a stand.

More through the link.

Holy fucking shit. The video after the break puts Far Cry 2 on the 100% certain-to-buy list for this Christmas for anyone who (1) likes shooting things electronically and (2) owns either a PS3 or an Xbox 360.

Nothing to add. Watch it.

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In what sounds remarkably similar to Call of Duty 4′s online set-up, Far Cry 2 is to have 16-player online play, rewards and a levelling structure.

The game will also have classes, just in case you were wondering, and is apparently about to enter its beta phase.

The news came out of today’s Ubidays event, courtesy of Eurogamer. Read the rest of our show coverage here.

Speaking at Ubidays 2008 today, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has claimed that Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway represents a “15-20 percent” visual leap over Gears of War.

“Hell’s Highway is Unreal Engine 3, it’s the engine that powered Gears of War,” he said. “Now since Gears of War, Epic’s invested a lot in the technology and it’s much better than what was in Gears. And we’ve worked a lot on this technology; so you’re seeing fidelity that’s about 15-20 percent higher than Gears of War.”

The game, set during the latter stages of the war in doomed Allies mission Operation Market Garden, releases for PC, 360 and PS3 this August.

Hit this for the rest of our Ubidays coverage.

Talking to CVG, Ubisoft’s given a statement on conspicuous Ubidays no-show Splinter Cell Conviction. And it’s sounding vague.

“In reference to speculative stories that have appeared recently, in January of 2008 we announced that the game would be released in the fiscal year of ’08/’09,” said a spokesperson.

“And at this point in time we are not ready to be more specific than that. We will begin to communicate more once we feel the time is right for us and our fans.

“Splinter Cell: Conviction is still in development.”

The game was rumoured to have been sent back to the drawing board recently, but the talk was blanked by Ubisoft in the run-up to Ubidays.

More soon.

According to this EG piece, there’ll be no co-op play in the new Prince of Persia, despite there being such a prominent second character in the game.

“No, is the short answer,” producer Ben Mattes told the site. “The longer answer is it’s impossible to capture the flow of the two characters’ interaction between human players.”

More through the link.

According to this CVG piece, Far Cry 2′s single-player campaign is 50 hours long, but no co-op play will be included.

“Just on single alone, gamers can potentially have close to 50 hours of game play,” said producer Louis-Pierre Pharand.

“We decided to abandon [co-op] for this instalment simply because of the complexity and size of the game. Add the Multi experience & the Map Editor… gamers will have their money’s worth with Far Cry2.”

Hit this for the rest of our Ubidays coverage.

According to this CVG piece, Ubisoft’s confirmed that an EndWar demo will hit Xbox Live and PSN before the game launches later this year.

“The balance of these games is the win or lose of the games,” Ubisoft content director Julian Geright told the site. “We’ve balanced it fairly well, but we’re doing two different beta tests – one limited and one much much bigger.

“And then a demo where we’re going to be able to balance on the results. We’re doing a playtest with professional gamers to make sure there are as few exploits as possible before launch.”

The voice-commanded strategy game was in fine fettle at Ubidays 2008 last night, but no specific date has been given for its launch as yet.

More through the link.

Here’s everything that happened in the Ubidays 2008 press conference last night, plus links to all the media released after the event.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 was star of the show, but the publisher showed a generally solid line up full of few surprises but high quality in Far Cry 2, its Clancy games, Prince of Persia and its casual brands. See for yourself.

• Ubidays 2008: Videos of every game
• Ubidays 2008: All the screenshots in one place
• Ubidays 2008: Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking announced for DS
• Ubidays 2008: Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party for Wii and DS
• Ubidays 2008: Beyond Good & Evil 2 trailer posted
• Ubidays 2008: Barrage of Ubisoft impressions and interviews hit web
• Ubidays 2008: Avatar for “middle of next year”
• Ubidays 2008: Shaun White Snowboarding for Wii, uses Balance Board
• Ubidays 2008: Endwar will have “the most epic battles ever seen in videogames”
• Ubidays 2008: Endwar players can be supported by units from other Clancy games
• Ubidays 2008: Over 50 million Clancy games sold worldwide
• Ubidays 2008: Elika replaces sands of time as gameplay innovation in new Prince of Persia
• Ubidays 2008: Hang glider confirmed for Far Cry 2
• Ubidays 2008: “Blasting demons with plasma rifles is over,” says Far Cry 2 boss

You could damage yourself working through endless stories in a creaking newsreader, but that would be simple duplication of effort. No efficiency there. Let us take the strain. Relax. Kick back. Pop that umbrella into your pina colada and wipe the sunblock from your precious eyes. Then watch a load of videos from Ubidays 2008 on one page instead of 1,400.

After the link you’ll find footage of Prince of Persia, Beyond Good & Evil 2, Tom Clancy’s EndWar, Far Cry 2, Soul Calibur IV, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, Tom Clancy’s HAWX and Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway.

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So many sites posting the same thing. It’s enough to depress a girl. Instead, hit the links below for all the screens released from Ubidays 2008 last night. Make life easy on yourself.

• Prince of Persia
• Tom Clancy’s HAWX
• Rayman Raving Rabids TV Party
• Shaun White Snowboarding
• Soul Calibur IV
• Beyond Good & Evil 2
• Tom Clancy’s EndWar
• Far Cry 2
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway
• Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking

As part of Ubidays 2008, Ubisoft has announced that Allen Carr’s bestseller, ‘Easy Way to Stop Smoking’ is being made into a game for the DS.

“Brought to an exciting interactive platform, Nintendo DS, Allen Carr’s Easyway method will take on a whole new dimension,” says the press release. “Players will be actively participating in the game’s content as they input the details of their smoking habits and even select their own Allen Carr’s Easyway coach to take them through the process of quitting.”

Robin Hayley, managing director of the book is rather unsurprisingly positive about the game.

“Our experts worked hand in hand with the Ubisoft team to create an entertaining and illuminating game that delivers Allen Carr’s Easyway method in a new, dynamic and highly effective way.”

The ‘game’ is scheduled for release in November.

By Mike Bowden

Ubisoft has announced that Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party will launch for Wii and DS later this year.

The Wii version will feature use of the Balance Board, which Ubi CEO Yves Guillmot is rather excited about.

“The Rayman Raving Rabbids titles have been an immense success, entertaining the world over,” said Guillemot. “The inclusion of the Wii Balance Board into the game was a huge source of inspiration for our development team and I guarantee you will see the Wii Balance Board used in ways that will be surprisingly unexpected!”

The announcement was made as part of Ubidays 2008.

By Mike Bowden