Ubisoft Montreal's resident celebrity producer Jade Raymond (Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II) is to lead Ubisoft's new Toronto-based development studio, the company said today.

Slated to open by the year's end, Ubisoft Toronto will be working on "AAA games and new intellectual properties," Raymond noted.

The studio is eventually expected to provide some 800 new jobs.

Ubisoft explained that Jade will manage the studios' "day-to-day operations...under the governance of Yannis Mallat," who serves as the CEO of Ubisoft Montreal and Toronto.

"I'm excited to have Jade managing our Toronto studio," added Mallat. "With more than 12 years of experience in the video game industry, Jade's knowledge and leadership as an industry veteran are major assets in building the Toronto studio."

A new entry in the Silent Hunter franchise, "the best-selling submarine series of all-time" assuming publisher Ubisoft is to be believed, will surface on PC in early 2010 from Ubisoft Romania (Silent Hunter 3, Silent Hunter 4, Tom Clancy's HAWX).

Sporting a focus on "cinematic battles," Silent Hunter 5 puts players in command of a German U-boat during "famous battles" in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Among the new features is a first-person captain mode, in which players can explore the interior of their vessel and observe the crew as they perform daily tasks and obey ... Read more

During yesterday's Ubisoft earnings call, company CEO Yves Guillemot outlined his thoughts on piracy as it pertains to each platform, from PC to handhelds.

Interestingly, Guillemot was especially concerned with Nintendo DS piracy in Europe. And in a surprisingly mysterious comment, the CEO said that a "new tool" possibly coming by the end of this year would "tremendously" reduce the effects of PC piracy.

We've broken Guillemot's comments into quotes on each platform, providing a view of the anti-piracy effort from the top of one of gaming's larger publishers:

On the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3: "What we see is that it's very small on PS3. It's actually also good on the 360 because it's very difficult to pirate when you play the games with your machine online regularly--[Xbox 360 piracy is] a difficult thing to do because the risk is quite high."

On the PC: "All together, on home consoles, the piracy is low. But on the PC, the piracy increases quite a lot, and we are working on tools that will allow us to actually decrease tremendously the piracy... Read more

With Splinter: Cell Conviction and Red Steel 2 pushed out of the crowded holiday season--both now due between January 1 and March 31, 2010--Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has explained that the delays stemmed from quality concerns.

"Red Steel and Splinter Cell are going to greatly benefit from the additional polishing time," he said in a conference call, as reported by Joystiq. "It's just a question of polish...[the teams] asked for more time to be able to come with a better product, for both of those games. The quality of the games is there for what you've been able to see at E3, but we were not able to have that same quality on the full game."

The CEO added that while the two games "will not do as many units for the first month as they would have done in November/December," with an estimated one million sales lost due to the delay, the enhanced "level of quality" should help sell more units long-term.

Alongside an Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) directed, Michael Cera (Arrested Development) starring film adaptation, Bryan Lee O'Malley's comic sensation Scott Pilgrim is also set to become a video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal (TMNT).

O'Malley expects the game to be a side-scrolling game that embraces the cartoony aesthetic of the comic instead of the film's real-life look, reports IGN. No platforms have been confirmed. The comic's fifth volume included pixel art mock-ups of a game on its back cover, though there's no word as to if the actual game will resemble them.

"There's this Ninja Turtles game that came out a couple of years ago based on the recent CGI film, and the Game Boy Advance version was really cool," O'Malley said in a chat with Comic Book Resources. "A lot of the same people that worked on that worked on this game, so it should be cool. Hopefully some of that will rub off on this."

The whimsical six-part comic tells the tale of the "so awesome" Scott Pilgrim as he falls for the aloof Ramona Flowers and must defeat her seven evil exes amidst a non-stop barrage of references to video games, both classic and obscure, plus other bits of nerd culture. The final volume of the comic, the film and the game are all expected in 2010.

The growing pains of Splinter Cell: Conviction continue, as Ubisoft has once again postponed the oft-delayed stealth-action game alongside several other titles.

Both Splinter Cell: Conviction (PC, Xbox 360) and Red Steel 2 (Wii) have been bumped out of 2009, and are now expected to release between January 1 and March 31, 2010. Conviction was originally due in Q4 2007, with at least four delays now under its belt.

Also delayed were the new Ghost Recon and I Am Alive. Once due between January and March 2010, both are now expected between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011.

"We are disappointed that we have to postpone the release of several major games but we consider that this choice is the best one in the long-term interests of Ubisoft," CEO Yves Guillemot explained in a statement.

Publisher Ubisoft today announced that it will soon open a large internal development studio in the Canadian city of Toronto, Ontario.

Ubisoft is spending over $500 million Canadian dollars on the studio, while the Canadian government will help with an investment of $263 million over the next decade. The publisher expects its studio to create 800 new jobs for Toronto during that period.

"[Toronto] is one of North America's economic and cultural epicenters and our expectations are high," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. "We're excited to be able to count on the exceptional local talent, who will contribute to our accelerated growth and will have a profound impact on the video game industry with the excellence of their creativity."

The studio will open in late 2009, so polish off those resumes soon, Torontonians.

Stardock-run digital distribution platform Impulse has begun adding PC titles from publisher Ubisoft to its catalog, with more slated to arrive in the "summer" timeframe. Assassin's Creed and Far Cry 2--both from Ubisoft Montreal--and Nival's Heroes of Might and Magic V - Tribes of the East mark the three Ubisoft titles offered thus far. Impulse is currently offering 10% off each game, making them $17.99 a piece.

"As our Impulse platform continues to gain favor among PC gaming fans, we're continuously adding the best titles the industry has to offer," said Stardock CEO Brad Wardell. "We look forward to working with Ubisoft on future releases."

Two new RPG titles were today announced for the Nintendo DS, in addition to a "gritty" open world shooter from Ubisoft.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, scheduled for a fall release, is a new Mario RPG set inside Bowser himself, while Golden Sun DS--set for a 2010 release--marks a return of the classic franchise to Nintendo hardware.

Ubisoft's Cop: The Recruit will put players in the role of a new police recruit in an open world setting. The 3D title was briefly shown in a short trailer.

In addition to galleries of fine screenshots for Golden Sun DS and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, trailers for all three games follow below... Read more

Yves Guillemot, CEO of Assassin's Creed and Imagine: Party Babyz publisher Ubisoft, today revealed his belief that Apple will continue to expand into the console market.

"There's also a new entrant in the business...Apple, with the iPhone" he said in a conference call, according to Kotaku. "And we don't think they will stop there."

Guillemot suggested that Apple might not be the only new contender in the market, as he noted a belief that more powerful set-top boxes will bring "more customers" and "more consoles on which we will be able to put products" to the gaming industry.

The CEO also touched on "next generation consoles," which he previously estimated would hit in 2012. Now, however, Guillemot said "we can't give you a date [for next-gen] but from what we see there is a lot of energy to improve [current] consoles," adding that Ubisoft is "working on some of the elements that will appeal in the next generation."

Following Ubisoft's recent announcement that Wolfpack's free-to-play PC MMO Shadowbane would be shutting down on May 1, the company has provided the title with another two months of life, with indications that it could live on through a new publisher.

"The support and enthusiasm the community has shown for Shadowbane has led to an extension of the closure date to July 1, 2009," reads the game's official site. "This should allow the community enough time to play out its final days appropriately."

Meanwhile, Massively noticed that free-to-play MMO publisher Aeria Games has disclosed that it's in discussions with Ubisoft regarding Shadowbane, and is asking its Twitter followers for thoughts on Shadowbane. Thanks to kn1fe for the tip.

Financial documents released by Ubisoft today confirmed that a fourth entry in the Ghost Recon series of squad-based shooters will soon be released by the publisher.

No details on "Ghost Recon 4" were mentioned in the documents, though the game was scheduled to be released in Ubisoft's 2009-2010 fiscal period. This puts the title out by the end of March 2010 at the latest.

Meanwhile, the oft-delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction (PC, 360) was mentioned in a list of games coming "this Christmas," along with the western-themed, Wii MotionPlus-supporting Red Steel 2 (Wii).

Digital retailer GamersGate has discounted its catalog of Ubisoft-published PC games by up to 50%, recreating and, in some cases, surpassing recent Steam deals. Direct2Drive is running a similar sale, offering some games not on GamersGate.

The sales runs until Sunday, May 3, with the full list of games and prices following:

GamersGate
50% Off
• Assassins Creed - $9.95
• Beyond Good & Evil - $4.99
• Blazing Angels - $4.95
• Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII - $9.95... Read more

Wolfpack Studios' long-running PC MMO Shadowbane will see its servers shut down on May 1, 2009--more than six years after its 2003 launch--publisher Ubisoft has revealed.

Ubisoft bought Wolfpack in 2004, with Shadowbane becoming a free-to-play MMORPG in March 2006. Wolfpack was then closed by Ubisoft in May 2006. A majority of the Wolfpack veterans moved on to Stray Bullets Entertainment, which continued to support Shadowbane alongside efforts to develop a new massively multiplayer game.

Reads the official Shadowbane Farewell:

We come to you now with regret and sadness, but also happiness and pride.. Regret and sadness that it has finally come to this, and as of May 1, 2009 the Shadowbane servers will be powered down once and for all. Yet happiness that it lasted so very long, and pride to be able to stand before such a passionate community to thank you for your undying support and unwavering loyalty to Shadowbane.

GOG, fine purveyors of good old games, today announced an agreement with publisher Ubisoft to bring choice PC classics to the GOG.com digital download store.

The first three titles are already available on GOG for $9.99 apiece: Beyond Good and Evil, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946.

Planned future releases include Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Far Cry, Heroes of Might and Magic and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.

Run by Polish publisher CD Projekt, GOG offers DRM-free downloads of classic games with bonus features typically such as downloadable soundtracks, manuals and avatars.

Act of War: Direct Action developer Eugen and publisher Ubisoft today revealed their upcoming project, a "one of a kind" real-time strategy game called R.U.S.E.

Coming to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by the end of Ubisoft's next fiscal year--March 31, 2010--the game focuses on deception, misdirection and bluffing one's enemies. It's powered by the IRISZOOM Engine, said to let players zoom in from a satellite view all the way down to the ground of the battlefield.

"Ubisoft is known for innovation and R.U.S.E. continues that tradition, offering the most immense and detailed maps ever seen in an RTS," said Ubisoft senior marketing VP Tony Key. Players can explore the maps using IRISZOOM Engine, which provides an aerial, smooth interaction unlike anything ever seen before."

The publisher also stressed that R.U.S.E. is optimized for the Intel Core i7 processor, and that it's working with Intel to take "full advantage of Intel technology."

Independent developer Darkworks and publisher Ubisoft have revealed that they are no longer collaborating on the upcoming first-person survival game I Am Alive.

The project is now in the hands of Ubisoft Shanghai, which was aiding in development.

Originally slated to arrive this year, I Am Alive was recently delayed and may not make it out until early 2010. According to an Ubisoft statement posted by Darkworks:

In order to respect the new launch date for this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations, we have mutually decided to complete development of I Am Alive at Ubisoft Shanghai, as the two studios have collaborated on aspects of the title over the past year.

The team at Darkworks has respected its contractual obligations on the project and will be a part of the success of the game when it launches.

While it's rather unusual for a game to switch developers midway through its life, the practice isn't unheard of. Namco recently pulled Splatterhouse away from independent developer BottleRocket with a U-Haul truck, though the game is still due this year.

Ubisoft today announced Dawn of Discovery (Wii, NDS, PC), the North American title of Related Designs' city-building sequel Anno 1404.

Dawn of Discovery will continue the Anno series' focus of historical urban planning and settlement management. Unlike past games in the franchise, Dawn of Discovery does not appear to feature combat.

The Wii and Nintendo DS versions will support motion and stylus controls, respectively, while the Wii version of the title will feature a co-op mode.

Dawn of Discovery is set for a summer release on Wii, Nintendo DS and PC. Click through below the fold for a look at the game in motion. ... Read more

As Midway's spiral into bankruptcy continues, Ubisoft has announced that it will be handling the sales, marketing and distribution of Wheelman in most major markets.

In development at Midway's Newcastle studio, the driving-action game starring "action-film megastar" Vin Diesel will hit PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 24. Previously, Midway was set to handle all publishing duties for the title.

An Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 demo of Wheelman is expected before its release.

Specifically, Ubisoft will be responsible for the game's sales, marketing and distribution in North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Under the deal, Midway retains its future rights to the franchise, and the ability to sell the game in all other European territories.

Publisher Ubisoft is expecting the next generation of consoles to start shipping by 2012, according to statements made by CEO Yves Guillemot.

"We have now enough to help us to grow the company for not only next year, but to get ready for the coming of the next generation consoles that are probably going to happen 2011, 2012," said Guillemot, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

Ubisoft has already begun readying for the new hardware, increasing its workforce to meet the demands of fresh technology.

"We have to be ready for [the next generation of hardware]. We are already hiring people and buying some technology and looking at some brands as well," he added, noting that Ubisoft will soon announce the acquisition of a new sports property.