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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land Hi there! Um, so, Rainbow Six Vegas 2′s nice. I mean, you know, like Diablo III’s totally hot and all but Rainbow Six’s Fan Pack has a super-great personality and is really kinda into you and maybe you could compliment it on its new maps? Cause like everyone here’s hitting on Diablo III and she’s not the only girl at the party. Just sayin’.
OK, so, Ubisoft about a couple days back sent out word on its forums about the DLC coming in the “early July” (not more specific, sorry) release of Rainbow Six Vegas 2′s Fan Pack. There will be several new gameplay details and three maps. It’s all free, and will all be available via Ubi’s site, Xbox Live Marketplace, or Playstation Network depending on your flavour of platform.
Re: the maps (from Ubi’s post). There are three maps included in the free DLC: Murdertown – Dark, CQB Training – Dark and best of all the much-requested fan favourite Calypso Casino! The three map layouts have not been changed. The re-lit “Dark maps” have a very eerie atmosphere, and may require players to use night vision to spot enemies. Calypso Casino returns with updated lighting and textures. The three maps are playable in all Versus modes and Terrorist Hunt.
As for gameplay, there are new ranks, new A.C.E.S., some rebalancing of weapon characteristics, multiplayer tweaks, and a handy-dandy frag indicator to help you not get your arse blown off. The entire announcement is quoted after the jump, plus the video (hosted at Gametrailers) referenced in the announcement.
Fresh off a sendup of Metal Gear come two more amusing trailers flacking Battlefield: Bad Company. One (above) cracks on Gears of War’s haunting “Mad World” campaign. The second (below, after the jump) goes after Rainbow Six.
Despite all that has gone on with this game in the past, I kinda do want to see what this one is all about. It gets really enervating playing tactical shooters that faithful adhere to painstaking rules of engagement, when all you want to do is huck a grenade and wade into the firefight. Whether indulging that release is enough to sustain an entire game, I dunno, but I at least wanna see it.
HINT: It’s not Splinter Cell. Not Rainbow Six either. Or Prince of Persia. No, when you look at the list Ubisoft released yesterday, showing the total lifetime sales of its major franchises, you’d best brace yourself for a surprise or two. Because atop the chart, beating out all Ubisoft’s current AAA series, is France’s favourite limbless platforming hero, Rayman, with 22 million copies sold (they have to be counting the Raving Rabbids games in that). Slightly shocking, no? But wait. That’s only surprise #1. Surprise #2? How about Petz games selling more than Prince of Persia titles.
Strong performance of the Rainbow Six, Rayman, The Settlers and Ghost Recon franchises drove Ubisoft to a “record-high profits” in the fiscal year ending March 2008, the company announced today. Ubisoft’s sales surged 36 percent to €928.3 million ($US 1.46 billion) , while net income was up 11.8 percent to €109.8 million ($US 172.45 million).
Ubisoft also credited a “sharp ramp-up” of its Games For Everyone casual range, which includes Jam Sessions, My Word Coach and My Life Coach, among others, for its profit climb, along with successful launches for Assassin’s Creed and its Imagine DS titles for girls.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the company now has 14 franchises with unit sales in the multimillions, and plans to launch five new IPs in addition to new casual brands. “Going forward, 2008-09 is set to be another record year for Ubisoft,” said Guillemot.
Yeah, broken. Shame. Seems anyone who owns the PS3 version of the game and wants to play online is shit outta luck, with widespread reports flooding into our poor, beleaguered tips box all weekend of problems associated with the game’s multiplayer. Chief amongst these is just finding someone to play against, with most users complaining of an inability to connect to servers for a game, though those who can connect aren’t out of the woods, with a number of glitches and bugs during online play reported. All in all a big fat mess, really. Ubisoft are aware of the problems, and are asking anyone affected to hit up the game’s forums and complain officially and in detail, as “this information will be invaluable in working out and addressing the issues you are experiencing”. Issues [Rainbow Six Boards]
Best to let Xbox LIVE player Stacy explain what the hell’s going on:
I just thought you might be interested to know that Mike and I met playing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Lockdown. Funny thing is, we hated each other at first, but somehow ended up falling in love. I was from Georgia and he was from the Bronx. On a leap of faith we met, and we have been together ever since. If it wasn’t for Xbox LIVE, our paths would have never crossed. :) We had our daughter–who we thought to be the first Xbox LIVE baby–on September 24, 2007. Maybe she’s the first Xbox 360 baby, at least… I AM SO THANKFUL FOR XBOX AND THE ONLINE COMMUNITY! If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have the man of my dreams and a beautiful new baby!
Congrats! Now Stacy, get your kid off the Xbox 360. Those things get hot. Xbox LIVE Baby [Xbox via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
