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E3 2017 Ubisoft Conference: The Liveblog

Alex Walker Avatar
Alex Walker

Interested in Far Cry 5, or want to see what Assassin’s Creed in Egypt looks like? It’s time for Ubisoft’s E3 2017 conference. Let’s liveblog this, shall we?

5:30 AM: Right, first things first. I’m in the office, which means its time for my pre-E3 routine of five shots of coffee.

While I go make that, let’s set some expectations. What are you all hoping to see from Far Cry? Anyone keen for a new Ubisoft VR game – I heard lots of good things about Star Trek: Bridge Crew lately. I’d like to see another Valiant Hearts as well, as it’s not like Ubi could have ran out of gripping wartime stories to tell. Although a Child of Light sequel would probably make me very happy indeed.

More likely, however, will be DLC for Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Watch Dogs 2. Probably too early for Watch Dogs 3. There’s also a slim chance that we might see a teaser for what Ubisoft Massive is doing on The Avatar RPG, although it could be a year too soon even for Ubisoft’s standards.

You’ll find the livestream below. I’ll find my coffee in the office kitchen. Time to get ready, everyone.

[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/06/watch-ubisofts-e3-2017-livestream-here/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/06/ubisoft-2017-swirl-410×231.jpg” title=”Watch Ubisoft’s E3 2017 Livestream Here” excerpt=”Ubisoft’s conferences have been entertaining over the last few years, and this year should be no different. There’s Far Cry 5, the return of Assassin’s Creed, and always the potential for the accidental real life meme. Let’s watch.”]

5:40 AM: The pre-Ubi show is just going through some updates for Rainbow Six: Siege, detailing changes to the heart pulse metre and other balance adjustments.

“There’s no perfect balance,” one of the developers says sagely.

Just under 20 minutes until the show kicks off.

5:44 AM: There’s some real dank For Honor memes, apparently:

Bit early in the morning for Call on Me, I think.

5:47 AM: Wow: Ubisoft directly gave a shoutout to the bloke who made a 3D printed model of Ubisoft’s new logo. Not the one Ubi came up with, the turd that the internet created.

5:54 AM: Ubisoft took a leaf out of Bethesda’s playbook by talking about developers as parents and people, and the pre-show has been pretty much focused on community content and community creations. Good way to expose people to the side of games they might not see, and it’s much better than going through the effort of pre-scripted shows.

Also, it helps that Ubi has a good sense of humour when it comes to the jank in their own games. This is well done so far.

5:58 AM: South Park is “all about the booth” at E3 this year – maybe indicating that it won’t have that huge a presence in the show itself. No Trey Parker and Matt Stone interviews, then?

Bit more energy in the crowd, probably because Ubi has a much bigger stake. Ubi CEO Yves Guillemot kicks proceedings off, and we have the first video.

6:01 AM: It’s Mario x Rabbids to kick things off:

6:02 AM: Miyamoto IN THE HOUSE

Awkkkkkkkkkkkward pause after that. Watch it back on YouTube, trust me. It’s long. It’s bad.

6:04 AM: Guillemot and Miyamoto talk about Ubi and Nintendo collaborating, and how the two have known each other for about 25 years. Miyamoto has recorded messages for Ubi employees in the past, apparently. That’s sweet.

6:08 AM: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is exclusive to the Switch, and it’s been in development for about three years.

Oh god.

It’s a turn-based tactical adventure. Blue zones are your zone of movement, and there’s a cover system as well. You can also use teammates to leapfrog other teammates.

It actually looks a bit XCOM inspired, to be honest. Characters have overwatch abilities and there’s a range of items you can equip and use. This isn’t some half-hearted RPG, clearly.

6:16 AM: Couldn’t help myself with this one.

But now it’s time for Assassin’s Creed: Origins.

Origins‘ game director is now talking about how Egypt forced a “reinvented” Assassin’s Creed experience. Which is good. The series has needed it.

Let’s see some more of Egypt, then.

6:20 AM: Photoshop has decided to crash on me. That’s polite.

In the meantime, instead of showing direct gameplay footage Ubisoft are broadcasting this over-the-shoulder crappy cam from a monitor with an awful viewing angle:

A 30-minute live gameplay feed will be viewable once the conference ends, however.

6:23 AM: The Crew 2 appears:

I don’t know what the upside down Golden Gate Bridge is about. A developer comes on stage saying that The Crew took the driving game “out there”, which is certainly a way of phrasing it.

In the meantime, here’s what the battle mode from the Mario + Rabbids RPG looks like:

Having played through The Crew, all I’m really hoping for a second time around is a handling system that doesn’t resemble a fridge on ice. Once upgraded it wasn’t too bad, but for the first ten levels I remember it being pretty rotten.

There’s airplanes and water boats too, which is more interesting:

6:30 AM: The Crew 2 is out early 18 on consoles and PC.

A new South Park: The Fractured But Whole trailer is now playing. The new hero: Callgirl.

6:33 AM: It’s the VR element of Ubi’s conference now. Elijah Wood is talking about neural science.

I’m sure this will be up my alley, right?

It’ll be out next year, supposedly.

6:35 AM: Time for a “new experience” from Ubisoft Singapore. That’s not too far away from home.

Starts in 1721. Mentions sailing. The Indian Ocean. Is it pirates again?

(Of course it’s pirates.)

A cover of Mark’s most hated song (it’s from Seal) plays. EXCELLENT. I’m going to find the name of it and play it on repeat for the rest of the week.

The new game is called Skull & Bones.

It’s a “tactical action game” building off the naval combat introduced in Black Flag, which Ubi Singapore worked on. “Together, terrorise the trade routes of the Indian Ocean.”

Man, Sea of Thieves really has some competition. There’s 5 team-based PvP modes, apparently. (Dedicated servers, anyone?)

6:41 AM: You’ll have to take advantage of sailing with the wind, which is a neat mechanic. I can’t imagine it’s too complicated though, or requires a previous background in sailing.

I could really get into this, actually.

Time to kill is fairly low, which seems like the sort of thing that would appeal to people who enjoy World of Warships a lot. (I’m talking mainly to my brother Luke, here, if he’s reading.)

6:48 AM: So after something awesome, Ubi follows up with Hyuna’s Bubble Pop! and Just Dance.

It’s too early in the morning for K-Pop. Just Dance 2018 drops on all platforms in October.

6:50 AM: And now South Park is coming to mobiles:

Remember that space exploring game that leaked in Watch Dogs 2? It’s being shown off now.

It’s called Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and it’ll come with its own Amiibo-esque figures:

6:55 AM: Ubisoft Annecy’s Rebecka Coutaz is back to talk about future content for Steep, specifically competitive content.

That South Park mobile game is called Phone Destroyer, by the way. And as for Steep, it’s getting a Winter Olympics-themed expansion:

6:58 AM: But enough mucking about. Far Cry 5 time. Decent rendition of Amazing Grace by the gun-toting redneck, incidentally.

“People are fucking scared,” the Far Cry brand executive producer and Far Cry 5 creative director says, adding “I had to say it”.

7:04 AM: Er … what the hell is this Ubisoft?

And after a long, long time … well, you can guess already.

Beyond Good & Evil 2. Michel Ancel has begun to tear up a little.

BGE2 takes place in a multi-ethnic society, which draws a few claps from the crowd. “Massive starfaring vessels.” Ancel says the team has been working “very hard” on the technology, and they have an “online seamless playground”, all of which sounds good.

And they want you to sign up for the beta, or the “Space Monkey Program”.

7:11 AM: Ubisoft staffers flood the stage, and Guillemot starts wrapping the conference up. Blimey – that was quick. Although I suppose not having to do a canned live chat for the Assassin’s Creed movie helps a lot.

What did you think? That was a pretty snappy conference by Ubisoft’s standards. No Aisha Tyler either, which I didn’t touch on earlier. But BGE2 appeared. Starlink looked intriguing – guess No Man’s Sky didn’t scare Ubi off that much – and Far Cry 5 looks … well, it’s a Far Cry game. It’ll do just fine.

7:16 AM: Some more Far Cry 5 sequences for you:

I’m down with doggo.

7:17 AM: The actual conference part of the livestream is over, but they’re livestreaming alpha gameplay from Assassin’s Creed: Origins. It’s a different area from what was shown in the Xbox conference yesterday, and a higher level (starting from level 20 instead of the earlier levels).

Here’s the skill tree:

7:20 AM: Quick bit of backtracking: BGE2 takes place before Jade is alive, in case you were wondering how it fits into the story.

Also, can you think of any other publisher that would have this in their conference:

7:25 AM: Well, that’s it for Ubisoft unless you want to watch more of Assassin’s Creed: Origins. There’ll be crisper gameplay footage of that uploaded later today, however.

Until then, it’s sorting out the rest of the morning for me – and getting ready for Sony’s presser in a few hours. I’ll see you then.

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