Ubisoft E3 2009 press conference recap
The Ubisoft E3 press conference opened with Joel McHale, host of E!’s The Soup greeting the crowd with “Good evening fellow nerds,” which was as good a away as any to open a press event that was somewhat all over the map. But the good news is that Ubisoft is working on a lot of games that are worth paying attention to.
Media Convergence
But before it got to the heart of why a bunch of game nerds and journalists were gathered in the auditorium, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot wanted to ramble a bit about media convergence and to talk about U Play, a new web-based service for gamers where they can create content, get hints, share with friends and more. The first games to offer UPlay integration include Avatar, Assassin’s Creed 2, and Splinter Cell: Conviction.
Hooray for Hollywood
Guillemot continued on with his talk about media convergence, mentioning collaborations with some of Hollywood’s finest including Lightstone and Fox, as well as Peter Jackson, Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, and with Kathleen Kennedy of Paramount. The latter three are part of a collaboration on the upcoming Sony Pictures and Paramount film Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. The film and games will be released in the U.S. on December 23, 2011 and internationally in late October and early November 2011.
James Cameron’s Avatar
Then the talk turns to James Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi epic, Avatar - and who better to talk about it than the man who is making the film. James Cameron talks about the back story of the film and how Ubisoft has worked closely with him and his team to create more than just a marketing tool for the film. Cameron said what most people think when people talk about movie games” “most movie games suck.”
But in the same breath he said that this game based on his film is very good.
Development on the game has apparently been under way for over two years and Cameron says that the Ubisoft team hasn’t made a game that is the “red headed stepchild” of the movie. The game takes the story in a different direction explaining things in some ways more deeply then the film ever could. The game has its own set of unique features like special vehicles, weapons and lore as well as its own unique storyline that is still set within the confines of the film. While Cameron talked a lot the basic message to the audience was that Ubisoft isn’t making a crappy game. As much as I’d like to believe him, James Cameron is not a game developer, and doesn’t know as much about games as he’d like to think he does. He makes good movies. My pessimism aside, Avatar sounds like it could be an interesting game if it can live up to even half of the hype that Cameron put out there this evening.
Red Steel 2
Moving on, a live demo of Red Steel 2 was shown. The Wii MotionPlus, which the game will ship with later this year, really does make the newest titles in the sword and gunplay game for Wii more responsive in every way. Now when you move the Wii Remote the sword actually moves the way you move off screen. The Live demo showed off a battle against multiple enemies including a few that were armored. With Wii MotionPlus the game can now tell how much force you have used when you swing your sword, which translates to more damage in the game. There are lots of changes to the whole formula that make this game look a much better experience, but i’ll leave the details from our crispy troops on the show floor this week. The game will ship later this year and will be bundled with Wii MotionPlus.
Shaun White and Pele
A Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage trailer was shown - mostly featuring a goofy skit with White building a ramp on his roof. The game was announced earlier this month so no real news here. The game will ship for Wii this winter.
Another Wii game, this one featuring Soccer / football legend Pele, was show called Academy of Champions. The game is clearly geared towards kids and will also be exclusive to the Wii. The soccer action in the game is best described as a little bit real soccer and a lot of arcade style play. It looks very good. That game will ship sometime later this year.
Splinter Cell Conviction
The biggest title shown at Ubisoft’s press event made an appearance earlier in the day at Microsoft’s event: Splinter Cell Conviction. After the official trailer was shown once again, it was time for another demo with producer and creative director of the game. Conviction marks a serious change in direction for the series, where Sam Fisher was bound by the people he worked for and the voice buzzing in his year. After his daughter is killed in “an accident” Sam leaves his employer and goes on a hunt to find the truth.
This Sam Fisher has no conscience as his guide anymore and there are official no rules to abide by, which means he has carte blanche to kill or torture anyone he wants to at any time. The key things to note with this game is that stealth gameplay is less methodical and more expedient. You can tell that Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed have had an influence on this game as Sam swings on ledges, climbs pipes and commits various acrobatic acts. Another new feature is Mark and Execute. This feature, which plays out sort of like a real-time VATS system from Fallout 3, lets you mark multiple enemies and assassinate them quickly - at least that’s how it looked in the demo I saw.
Pages: 1 2
