ubidays 2008

playstation 3

Ubi Demoer: HAWX Will Respond to Voice Command

Posted by Owen Good at 6:00 AM on June 2, 2008

Eurogamer reports back from Ubidays 08 that a demonstrator let slip word that voice commands will be able to order around your fellow fighter pilots in Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

"Demonstrator Andrei Costin spilled the beans at the recent UbiDays event in Paris, but avoided elaborating on exactly how it will all work; we expect it will be a blend of EndWar and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter," writes Eurogamer.

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events

Raving Prince, Assassin and Fischer Rabbids

Posted by Brian Crecente at 1:00 AM on May 31, 2008

Ubisoft handed out packs of these four Raving Rabbids at this year's Ubidays. I'm not a huge schwag fan myself, but these managed to melt even my cold heart. And yes, we're sorry Ubisoft, turns out Sam Fischer did make an appearance at your show.

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industry news

Ubisoft Specifically Vague On Splinter Cell: Conviction

Posted by Mike Fahey at 2:00 AM on May 30, 2008

Last week reports surfaced suggesting that Splinter Cell: Conviction, the latest chapter in Ubisoft's Sam Fisher saga, had gone back to the drawing board for a drastic reworking. Now that the company's Ubidays event has come and gone without even a thumbnail screenshot from the game, a representative is ready to give us specifics on how vague things are with Conviction.

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events

Ubidays the Final Round-Up

Posted by Brian Crecente at 1:00 AM on May 30, 2008

events

The Worst Of Ubidays 08

Posted by Luke Plunkett at 3:30 PM on May 29, 2008

There was loads of good stuff on show at Ubidays. Loads. The announcement of Beyond Good & Evil 2 probably stole the show, but Prince of Persia and H.A.W.X. are also looking mighty promising. But you know what? We've covered those already. And they weren't the only games on show. No, with Ubidays, as with all things in life, you've got to take the good with the bad. And when it comes to Ubisoft, "the bad" is sadly, as always, the bulk of their Nintendo lineup.

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first person shooter

Far Cry 2 Dev and Port Teams Range from 175 to Three

Posted by Brian Crecente at 11:30 AM on May 29, 2008

Far Cry 2 uses a proprietary engine that was built from the ground up for the game. The developers told me that about 175 people worked on creating the engine and then the game for the PC. Currently that team is working to build in DX10 support, though it wasn't ready when I had a chance to look at it.

Because the engine was built to work on a PC, bringing the game, with all of its bells and whistles, over to the Xbox 360 was a relatively easy affair, the developers told me. Afterall, they said, the Xbox 360 is essentially a computer. In fact they only have three people working on the team that is porting the game over.

The Playstation 3? Not quite as simple an affair. They have a team of 14 working on that port, mostly because of the "difficulties" of working with the Playstation 3's unique architecture.

first person shooter

Making Far Cry 2's Africa

Posted by Brian Crecente at 8:00 AM on May 29, 2008

Far Cry 2 is set in Africa, but what part? Turns out it's in a fictional, Africa, one that while it may resembles bits and pieces of the continent, isn't in fact tied to anyone area.

The developers told me that while Far Cry 2 may feel a lot like central Africa there is no one area that has the same "biomes" as the game. That's because the team didn't want the game's location to politicise Far Cry 2 and what you are doing in the title.

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first person shooter

Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway Hands-On

Posted by Brian Crecente at 7:00 AM on May 29, 2008


I've loosely followed the Brothers in Arms franchise through its couple of iterations, but despite the tight command system it's never really struck a chord with me. It just wasn't different enough to separate itself from the pack.

After spending some time with Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway earlier this month my opinion hasn't changed much, though I was impressed with some of the visual work Gearbox Software is doing on the franchise.

In this latest version of the series you continue to play with Sgt. Matt Baker and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division. I played through a couple of encounters in the game and noticed a few changes.

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first person shooter

Far Cry 2: No Girls Allowed

Posted by Brian Crecente at 6:40 AM on May 29, 2008

Far Cry 2, Ubisoft's answer to Grand Theft Auto meets Mercenaries 2, has a lot going for it from its enormous 50-square kilometre map to its use of animal AI. Another neat feature is how they've decided to deal with the player character.

In Far Cry 2 you can't customise the way you look, instead you get to choose to play nine of the dozen characters that inhabit the game as friends. Depending on who you choose it changes some of the 75 or so side missions you can play through.

But why only nine of the dozen characters in the game? Because the other three are women.

"There are so many lines of dialog that they would have had to rescript and record if we let people play as a female," I was told.

Wow, that's not going to go over well.

industry news

Prince of Persia Ditches Roots, Gets a Final Fantasy Make-Over

Posted by Brian Crecente at 6:02 AM on May 29, 2008


Prince of Persia is getting a make over, one that not only gives the Prince a new look but breaks from the storyline that linked the franchise's trilogy so close together.

The new Prince of Persia, we were told at a press event earlier this month, will be totally separate from the Sands of Time trilogy and will feature a prince, not the prince.

"There were hundreds of tails in Arabian Nights and this is just one of them," Ben Mattes, the game's producer said.

Instead the game is set in an "ancient fantasy Persia" and while it will continue to have some of the Prince of Persia's pillars of play like acrobatic combat and movement, it will also lift some of the things that worked best in Assassin's Creed.

"We will be including some things that worked well in Assassin's Creed in there," Mattes said. "But it will still clearly be Prince of Persia."

God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the God of Darkness,. Our Hero arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life - an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness.

In this new tale, the new prince will find himself in a fantasy world of light and dark, caught up in the battle between the God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the God of Darkness. After the destruction of the tree of life the prince has to fight to stop the rise of Ahriman, the god of destruction.

Mattes said that the prince will also get a bunch of new moves including the ability to use a gauntlet to slide down walls and cliffs.

The game will feature a new female lead as well, Elika, who will be used to explore the idea of collaborative AI.

Mattes said the game, which will take more than 10 hours and less than 50 to beat, will be playable at E3. He declined to talk about whether there will be multiplayer support in the game.

Hit up the jump for a very chunky prepared Q&A with Matte.

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