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Ubisoft “suspends” Désilets’s 1666 development

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So just over a week ago we thought this scenario was getting messy. Now, however, it’s way past messy; we’re into full-on clean-up crew required with hazmat suits and danger pay. When Patrice Désilets was fired by Ubisoft, his new IP 1666 (which is believed to be a competitive title to the Assassin’s Creed franchise) remained behind with the publisher. Désilets is looking into legal options at present, and if you need to catch up on what’s going on, you can read this.

Ubisoft’s next move in this sordid affair has been to place the development of 1666 on indefinite hold. This news came out of a recent investor call, with Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot stating: “So, for Patrice, after more than two months of discussions with him, we couldn’t align our vision both on project development and team management, so consequently our collaboration has ended, and we have suspended 1666 for an undisclosed period of time.”

Here’s where it gets really mean: according to Internet super-sleuth Superannuation, Patrice Désilets’s contract with Ubisoft stipulated that all ownership of 1666 would revert back to Désilets in the event that Ubisoft cancels development proceedings. With Ubisoft choosing to place development on indefinite hold, it’s essentially locked the IP in some weird limbo state meaning that Ubisoft retains all ownership and Désilets leaves with nothing.

Source: Kotaku

Posted by Miklós Szecsei May 16, 2013
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Ubisoft working on ZombiU sequel prototype

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Here’s a spot of good news for us beleaguered Wii U fans: Ubisoft has revealed that they’re working on a prototype for a sequel to ZombiU. The survival horror title was a launch game for Nintendo’s new console, and it was largely well received by both critics and players. The title was also responsible for generating much of the initial hype around the Wii U and was integral in Nintendo’s marketing towards the core gamer demographic.

Responding to a fan question over Twitter, Ubisoft Montpellier’s Jean-Philippe Caro wrote: “Thank you for your interest in ZombiU. The team is working hard on a prototype. It’s too soon to tell you more.” Shortly after that information was divulged, Ubisoft confirmed that the team was indeed working on content, but that no official sequel had been green-lit by the publisher. From the sounds of things it’s still early days.

Ubisoft, unlike many other publishers and developers, isn’t afraid to develop for the Wii U. However, with the once Wii U exclusive Rayman Legends going multi-platform, it’ll be interesting to see whether Ubisoft makes a formal ZombiU sequel, or whether they go the spiritual successor route so that they can drop the “U” moniker and go multi-platform.

Source: Eurogamer
Via: Shacknews 

Posted by Miklós Szecsei May 15, 2013
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New Assassin’s Creed 4 trailer details the rise of piracy

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A central theme to all of the Assassin’s Creed games is one of freedom. The Assassins and Templars are at each other’s throats because each faction believes human freedom is attainable in two very different ways. Aside from this larger franchise plot, each game has subplots that are also drenched in the notion of freedom: in Assassin’s Creed III, Connor was fighting for the freedom of his Native American people while The New World fought for its own freedom from the British monarchy.

If you’re wondering how Ubisoft plans to reinterpret the history of pirates so that it fits into their series’ main theme of freedom, then wonder no more. Here’s a new trailer that sets up the historical background for upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

Incidentally, the trailer after the jump was what Ubisoft used to open their initial presentation of the game to journalists back in February. They have, however, added a sneaky helping of new gameplay footage to the end of it, which is great because otherwise it’d be a trailer of dull coloured, still images with a very serious narrator providing information. That sort of stuff doesn’t sell video games; flashy gameplay clips played against a swirling orchestral score does though!

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei May 14, 2013
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Review: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

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The most important thing first then – Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a standalone, downloadable game, and you don’t need a copy of Far Cry 3 to play it. That works out nicely because I don’t own a copy of Far Cry 3, and besides, Far Cry 3 doesn’t have dragons that shoot lasers out of their eyes. I think I made the right decision.

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Posted by Tarryn van der Byl May 10, 2013
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Two Assassin’s Creed IV devs talk connectivity and PS4

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A few days back, two Ubisoft developers working on Watch_Dogs sat down to tell all of us how great it is to develop on the PlayStation 4. We allowed them to do that because they padded their chat with clips of the game running on Sony’s new toy. This time around, in another “Conversations  with Creators”, we get to hang out with creative director Jean Guesdon and associate producer Sylvain Trottier and his totally metal beard. And by metal I mean the music genre, not the material.

In this new episode, Ubisoft and Sony are talking Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The clips during the developer commentary are all in-game glimpses of the title running on a PlayStation 4. It looks rather pretty, doesn’t it? Oh wait, you can’t answer that because you haven’t watched it yet. Go! Hit the jump and ogle NEXT GEN GRAAAAFIX!

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei May 10, 2013
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Ubisoft fires Patrice Désilets, creator of Assassin’s Creed

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Wow, this has just become increasingly messy over the years. First, some background: Patrice Désilets is the creator and designer behind the Assassin’s Creed series – you know, Ubisoft’s most successful and lucrative IP to date. In 2010, Désilets left Ubisoft and at the time it was believed he did so because he wasn’t happy with the direction the AC franchise was heading – you know, the whole annualised releases thing. Désilets departed Ubisoft Montréal and ended up working at THQ Montréal.

During his time at THQ Montréal, Désilets was working on two games that had working titles of 1666 and Underdog. Very little is known about these games, but you can guess what happened next: THQ imploded and the now dead publisher began offloading studios and IPs. Ubisoft acquired THQ Montréal along with 170 members of its staff and all the games it was working on – yes, including Désilets and his two new games 1666 and Underdog. It must have been a slightly awkward “homecoming”. Regardless, there was no concrete evidence on whether Désilets would slot back into Assassin’s Creed development or if he would continue work on his other two games.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei May 08, 2013
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Two Watch_Dogs devs talk connectivity and PS4

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The PlayStation Blog runs a series called “Conversations With Creators” and in this episode they’ve got two of the main guys behind Ubisoft’s upcoming hacktivist open world game, Watch_Dogs. It’s a little “Yay PlayStation 4!” in tone, but it does talk about how they’re planning to leverage the new console’s online capabilities.

Apparently, in terms of connectivity, Sony’s vision for the PlayStation 4 is in line with Ubisoft’s for Watch_Dogs. We’ve already seen that protagonist Aiden Pearce’s ability to everything that sits still long enough is central to the title’s gameplay mechanics, but taking that online and into a multiplayer scene is another “core pillar” for the development team.

Basically, the world of Watch_Dogs is going to be a connect one and one that you can stay engaged with even though you’re not in front of a TV with a console plugged into it. As you’ll hear in the video, you’ll be able to continue engaging with the world of Watch_Dogs via your cell phone. Hit the jump for the video.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei May 06, 2013
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Watch_Dogs release date, new trailer and four CEs

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Ubisoft South Africa fired off press releases unveiling the release date for upcoming hack-centric open world game Watch_Dogs. (Really? We have to underscore that title now Ubisoft?) The game stunned everyone with its E3 unveiling last year, and since then it has been one of the most anticipated titles for 2013. According to the press release, Watch_Dogs will be available on 21 November 2013 on PlayStation 3, PC, Wii U and Xbox 360. The press release also states that it’ll be available “at the launch of” PlayStation 4. Additionally, the game is coming to “other next generation consoles”.

On top of the announcement of the release date, Ubisoft has unveiled four different collector’s editions. In order of the most content to least, those editions are: the Dedsec Edition, the Vigilante Edition, the Uplay Exclusive Edition and the Special Edition. We’re assuming that somewhere among that lot there’ll be a good old boring vanilla edition.

Hit the jump for a breakdown of what each edition contains as well as a brand new trailer for the game. No pricing has been announced as yet and judging by a quick Internet search, our local online retailers have yet to put up these editions for pre-order.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei Apr 30, 2013
2 Comments

Rayman Legends Challenge app and Wii U update out now

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In a break from tradition, here’s some good Wii U news for you Nintendo faithful: the Rayman Legends Challenge App is now available to download. Yes, it’s still free! Yes, it’s still got heaps of potential to keep you occupied for a very long time, if you’re into that whole online leaderboards and competition thing.

If you recall, the Rayman Legends Challenge App was a peace offering of sorts from the development team behind the very delayed Rayman Legends. The reason for the delay is because the once Wii U exclusive was suddenly made multi-platform a few weeks before the game was due out. That was the doing of the Ubisoft employees who wear suits and ties to work and carry briefcases; the ones that have deadpan stares and dollar signs tattooed to their wrists.

If you want a peak at what the free download entails, then there’s a launch trailer for you after the jump. It’s around 850MB to download – the app that is, not the launch video.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei Apr 26, 2013
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My fragile mind cannot handle this much ’80s action

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Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, the standalone spin-off to the recent island hopping FPS, is looming over the apocalyptic horizon. As it looms there, looking all dramatic and neon coloured, some equally dramatic synthesised music pew-pews in the background. No 1980s science fiction action film was ever complete without trippy synthesised music. Seeing as Blood Dragon is channelling the best (worst?) of that now long-lost film genre, it needs cheesy synth music too.

To emphasise just how seriously Ubisoft is taking this whole ‘80s infused spin-off, they’ve released a five minute short providing some background to the game. It’s amazing. Like the kind of amazing that has cyborg commandos, face implants, laser Gatling guns and an epic laser samurai sword showdown against the background of a blooming mushroom cloud.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is available for pre-order on Steam. The game is out in mere weeks. It’s going to be incredible. I can feel it.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei Apr 17, 2013
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