E3 2007 Ubisoft Live Updates
Show Begins @ 10:30am Pacific, 12:30pm Central, July 12th
11:35: Yves is back. "Have a good show, and thanks again."
11:33: Following the murder of the slave trader, guards and crowd are pursuing. Trying to escape city, pushing people out of way. Trying to climb up building, people are throwing rocks. Player is being chased across rooftops, need to find a place to hide. Hides in a hay stack, demo ends.
11:29: Now chasing the slave merchant through the city, he uses the crowd to try to get ahead, pushing people in your path. Players use rooftops and poles to avoid crowds and drop down on him. No two chases are alike, he's taking a completely different path than in the previous demo. Hints at overall conspiracy called "The Brotherhood." There is never any cinematic where control is completely removed from player, can move and pan camera around in story sequences.
11:26: Showing different path through mission compared to what was played Microsoft's conference, highlights open-ended sandbox gameplay. Drops off roof in front of doorway instead of fighting guards.
11:24: Historically accurate recreation of Jerusalem, any building can be climbed or reached. One of three major in-game cities. Over 150 NPCs on-screen.
11:23: One last game to show, Assassin's Creed. Producer Jade Raymond and creative director Patrice Desilets are here from Ubisoft Montreal. A little longer than what was shown at Microsoft, Jade says.
11:21: Trailer isn't actually new, was shown at Sony event yesterday. "Today I am reborn. Now it's time to set things right."
11:20: During the game, main character Shane realizes he is being manipulated and is fighting for the wrong side. Defects to the other side, which completely changes the gameplay into guerilla fight instead of overpowered military assault.
11:19: Reiterates Haze as PlayStation 3 exclusive, new trailer will be shown in a moment. Free Radical co-founder David Doak is speaking.
11:18: Nitro bikes trailer. Use Wii Remote a la Excite Truck, 20 tracks and online play with up to six players. Holiday 2007.
11:16: Talking about new brands. Wii exclusive title, Nitro Bikes.
11:12: Now that enemies are all dead, team is whispering, not yelling to avoid detection. Tearing apart pitchfork fence with machine gun to show environmental damage. Every battle of this game actually happened, Gearbox visited actual battle locations with veterans to get everything as accurate as possible. Many different approaches and weapons for each situation.
11:10: "Real tactics in the game with real soldiers acting as they did in World War II," says Antal. When the game realizes something cool with happen, like a good grenade toss, the game cut away, zoom in, slow down and highlight the gory details of war.
11:09: Team automatically reacts to environment, they all go into stealth mode when they see an enemy squad, no command needed. Squad is screaming and yelling insults. Squad is ordered to provide suppressing fire while Randy goes ahead and flanks the enemy.
11:06: Gearbox president Randy Pitchford and Col. John Antal from Gearbox are here to talk about Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway. Antal makes crowd shout, "Everybody fights, nobody quits, always attack. Hoo!"
11:06: Montage continues. Beowulf The Game, Lost The Video Game--just clips from show.
11:02: Video montage of upcoming big-name games. Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 on Wii (wow that game looks hilarious), Naruto on Xbox 360, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction on Xbox 360, EndWar on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, CSI: Hard Evidence.
11:01: Playing a video of Taking Back Sunday playing around with Jam Session, singing along with one of their songs while using the game to replace guitar.
11:00: Now Roxanne by the Police. Makes a jab at Peter Moore's Rock Band performance during Microsoft's E3 2007 conference
10:59: Playing Tom Petty, put chords into game using editor, then strum to determine how fast and hard strings are hit. Now playing Wild Thing, crowd is singing along. "that was awful," he remarks. The crowd is shouting out requests.
10:58: Heading into music games as well. Jam Sessions for DS. All you have to do is know the chords, you can play your favorite songs. "A guitar in your pocket." Demonstrating on-stage now with a stack of Marshall amps hooked up to a DS.
10:56: Petz is 10% of Ubisoft's business. Hopes new brands will make up to 20% of this year's business.
10:54: MyCoach games on DS, built for people that don't have a lot of time to waste. My Word Coach will help expand vocabulary, My Spanish Coach and My French Coach to teach foreign languages. My Life Coach, in-game avatar represents emotional status. Said to guilt you into bettering your life by being disappointed by negative life choices, such as spending all day on the couch.
10:53: New Imagine brand on DS, made for 6-14 year old girls. Fashion Designer, Master Chef, Animal Doctor, Figure Skater,
10:52: New Wild Petz spinoffs, Tigerz and Dolphinz.
10:51: Talking about Petz brand: Horsez, Dogz, Hamsterz, and Catz. All games shipped at about the same time and sold about the same number. "Look for us to do more animals next year." Expanding to other platforms, coming to Wii, PS2, and PC this holiday in addition to DS editions. The #2 pet simulation brand behind Nintendo's Nintendogs.
10:49: Tony Key, VP of Marketing. "We do have a lot of products to show you today. We've had a lot of success in the past few years building and launching brands. This year will not be any different." Promises exciting news, the expanding appeal of the gaming industry. Ubisoft calls its casual business "Games For Everyone."
10:45: Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is on stage. "I expect this market to grow by 40-50% across the next four years."
10:43: Conference will begin in a few moments. Assassin's Creed artwork is on the monitors.
