[E3 09] Ubisoft Press Conference, June 1st 5pm PT/8pm ET?

[AgtFox]

This is the thread to discuss the happenings at the Ubisoft Press Conference on Monday, June 1st at 4pm PT. This thread will be closed until right before the conference starts.

This thread will run much like last year where I will be updating as the presser goes on. Feel free to discuss about your feelings in this thread.

Below is also Scott's (Psykoboy2) live Twitter Feed (http://www.twitter.com/coge3) as well as the general CoG Twitter feed (http://www.twitter.com/colonygamers) that Mike (DoctorFinger) will be updating live. Feel free to leave this specific post (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?p=271232) in one window and follow the rest of the thread (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=8976) in another window so you can get maximum coverage from the staff.

These feeds will be absent from the thread itself a bit after the presser is done so as not to confuse people on what the live Tweets are covering. My own predictions of what will be shown is in the next post.

[AgtFox]

My Ubisoft Press predictions:

1. Obviously they will show off Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage, the new Rayman Rabbids game, possibly Ghost Recon 4.

2. Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction will get dates

3. The long dormant Killing Day (newly trademarked) and Beyond Good and Evil 2 may be shown. The latter has been awfully quiet since that video was shown.

4. New Tom Clancy games (i.e. new series) will most likely be announced.

5. May also show off games that will use Microsoft motion peripheral.

[AgtFox]

This is now open. Starts in about 40 minutes. Remember this is being hosted by Joel McHale of The Soup on E!

Not going to make a news thread about it. Not sure what happened to Scott and EA, he may not have made it there. Hopefully he'll make it to Ubisoft.

[National Kato]

What's the exact start time for this? G4tv.com says 5 pm PT, IGN says 6:30 PT?

[AgtFox]

I'm confused as well, just texted Scott. In Scott's calendar it was 4pm PT and as you said G4 says 5pm, so I guess then?

[Troggles]

5PM PT is the start time, apparently. No streams have started yet, at least.

[Rogue_hunter]

Yeah, yesterday when Scott was telling me the schedule for tomorrow, Ubi was scheduled at 4 pm. I guess that changed since yesterday.

G4 has the rumor that the AC2 team is three times as big as the original game, and that they will be announcing Ghost Recon 4.

[Vigil80]

Hope we can get a link to a decent stream again here. I don't trust Gametrailers since their MS feed kept ending for some reason, and I don't get G4...

Looking forward to Ubi's showing. Maybe they'll be the ones to dish up something that gets the juices flowing.

[AgtFox]

G4 has the rumor that the AC2 team is three times as big as the original game, and that they will be announcing Ghost Recon 4.
If G4 is treating these as rumors they are behind the times. Game Informer said there was 240 people (they have a picture of them all in the magazine) on AC2 and Ghost Recon 4 was announced a couple months ago.

Scott told me the Ubi presser was delayed an hour. Hopefully be on at 5pm PT

[AgtFox]

Ubisoft is imminent...IMMINENT (i.e. c'mon already)

[AgtFox]

lights going down!

[AgtFox]

argh...Petz was in the video montage

[Vigil80]

A professional presenter, how novel.

[AgtFox]

whitest host you'll ever see..Joel McHale..."welcome nerds"

[DoctorFinger]

Someone please shut this tool up.

[AgtFox]

James Cameron must be going to be there for Avatar

[AgtFox]

hey, I like Joel McHale...this is just like the soup

[Hemalin]

What the crap is this guy going on about?

[AgtFox]

Yves Guillemot is coming out...president of Ubisoft

[AgtFox]

media conversions is what he is talking about

[Vigil80]

I miss Joel already.

[AgtFox]

Just saw a crawl on G4 where Ubisoft has confirmed that AC2, Conviction, Red Steel 2, Rabbids Go Home, Shaun White World Stage will all be out by December

[AgtFox]

yeah, you're going to have a lot of French people and French Canadian in this probably. That's Ubisoft and it's executives pretty much.

[National Kato]

Slow start with Yves...and U Play.

[AgtFox]

oh, Peter Jackson...not James Cameron it seems

[AgtFox]

physically experience the fights in Red Steel 2...guess we're all going to die!

[Rogue_hunter]

The Avatar logo was up on the screen for a little bit.

And it sounds like Ubisoft is gonna be a big partner with Natal.

[National Kato]

Red Steel 2 will let you 'physically feel the fights?' Like, someone's going to kick you in the junk in realtime?

yes, i know it's a French/English translation hurdle.

[Vigil80]

Ugh. "Removing last barrier to entry for mainstream audiences." "...mass-market..."

[AgtFox]

gotta wonder if the underlings ever say, "hey Yves, have someone else explain stuff"

[AgtFox]

oh...tin-tin movie with peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg...lame

[DoctorFinger]

blah, blah, blah. get to the games, bitch!

[Troggles]

What's with all the talk about making movies?

[National Kato]

'Hybrid technologies'....'confluence'....

Just show us some games already! :D

[Vigil80]

Content convergence? Bringing gaming and hollywood together?
I'm sorry to say, but I feel like I'm watching the MS conference again.

[AgtFox]

Avatar details announced tomorrow? What, are you going to announce the 3D gameplay with glasses since the movie is supposedly 3D only

[AgtFox]

Avatar has been with Ubi for a while...I think the movie comes out later this year. Would be nice if they showed it off because no one has seen anything I don't think

[DoctorFinger]

It's like they're purposely doing 'buzz word bingo'

[AgtFox]

short movies based on the AC2 game coming in the fall

[Vigil80]

Did he just announce an AC2 miniseries?

Edit: yeah, I guess he did.

[Rogue_hunter]

Assassin's Creed 2 universe minimovies. Ubisoft is expanding into multimedia.

[AgtFox]

oh man, two french accents on stage at once

[Troggles]

The movie thing actually sounds pretty cool to me. Sometimes in games I'd like to see what happens with the side characters, but a lot of time side-story sections of games are pretty boring. Plus, you can watch them at anytime.

[AgtFox]

James Cameron is indeed there...coming out

[National Kato]

Lookout! Yves again....announcing James Cameron.

[National Kato]

Please show some decent shots of Avatar, James.

[Vigil80]

I though Avatar was some kids' cartoon, I didn't realize it was so friggin' important.

[AgtFox]

shorten up the summary and show the damn game/movie

[AgtFox]

when you hear Avatar, it is not Avatar the Airbender children's series...this is a serious 3D movie supposedly (like I said, I don't think hide nor hair has been seen of it yet)

[National Kato]

I though Avatar was some kids' cartoon,

Different Avatar.

[Hemalin]

Are we going to see some clips or just hear descriptions?

[DoctorFinger]

I though Avatar was some kids' cartoon, I didn't realize it was so friggin' important.
That's Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is completely different.

[AgtFox]

let's give out the whole movie, he's white noise for me at the moment

[National Kato]

Cameron forgot about the '30 second' pitch.

[Troggles]

I've heard enough about Avatar that I've felt like I've already watched it.

Oh wait, is this a video game press conference?

[Vigil80]

My mistake, sorry.

So...

[DoctorFinger]

Much more Avatar babble and I'm going to go nappy-poo.

[Dark Prince]

Someone wake me up when there's something of value here....

[AgtFox]

my head is going to explode...show the damn game and get off the stage.

[AgtFox]

So, Avatar the game will be different than the movie, but have parallel stories...then again, who really knows what Cameron is trying to say.

[Rogue_hunter]

...how 'bout that Avatar movie? Do we really need to go see it, since he's pretty much blabbed the whole movie?

At least he admits tie-in games have sucked, but it won't be telling the movie and will branch off separately.

[National Kato]

"So, let me tell you about this delicious steak I ate today. Boy, was it delicious. You really should've seen it." - James Cameron.

[AgtFox]

so far, 30 minutes in we have seen no gameplay for any game, correct? Yeah, good presser there Ubisoft

[Dark Prince]

So, Avatar the game will be different than the movie, but have parallel stories...then again, who really knows what Cameron is trying to say.

No one knows what he's saying anymore. I think everyone's literally asleep in that theater.

[Vigil80]

Nice bump mapping on JC's face, anyway.

[AgtFox]

game will come out before film it seems

[DoctorFinger]

He's been talking for about 15 minutes now w/o a lick of footage: real-time, pre-rendered or otherwise.

[AgtFox]

scott is follwing what he's talking about on twitter, so he isn't asleep yet

[DoctorFinger]

If they don't get to some actual news soon, I'm going to lead a boycott of Ubisoft.

[AgtFox]

in closing...woo!

[Vigil80]

Get a look at the demo? We'd love to, JC...

[AgtFox]

Avatar playable on the floor (although I already knew that)

[AgtFox]

big cheer because he was done!

[Dark Prince]

scott is follwing what he's talking about on twitter, so he isn't asleep yet

That is true, someone had to be awake for that of course.

[AgtFox]

35 minutes in and a game is finally shown...Red Steel 2

[Hemalin]

Game footage? AMAZING!

[AgtFox]

looks interesting, although I wonder if most of that was in-game or just cinematics

[AgtFox]

ooo...live gameplay?

[Rogue_hunter]

man, McHale was gonna make a Chris Brown joke, it could have been hilarious.

And, apparently the wii motion plus allows you to hook up the nunchuck? I thought it wasn't possible?

[National Kato]

Creative Director of Red Steel 2 has never actually seen a blade up close.

[AgtFox]

first level of Red Steel 2 live gameplay

[AgtFox]

modern day...there was a semi

[AgtFox]

looks kind of cool

[AgtFox]

60 fps in-game...it actually looks quite good for a Wii game

[AgtFox]

bundled with the WiiMotion Plus at launch

[DoctorFinger]

Red Steel 2 will be bundled with WiiMotionPlus at launch

[AgtFox]

shaun white world stage up next probably...and I'm sure Shaun White will be there

[AgtFox]

World Stage trailer

[Rogue_hunter]

More snowboarding games!

They've only shown Wii games to start, right?

[AgtFox]

This is supposedly Wii only and there won't be other Shaun White games on other systems

[AgtFox]

correct Rogue...correct

[DoctorFinger]

shit, the stream is really degrading now. hard to watch

[AgtFox]

Academy of Champions...soccer game, I believe Pele is behind this one because I saw him in the opening video montage in animated form

[National Kato]

Gotta love me some Pele.

[AgtFox]

yep, Pele is coming out...this should be interesting to listen to if we can understand.

[AgtFox]

sneak peak of the game...video is screwed up though I think

[AgtFox]

McHale is trying to delay

[AgtFox]

wow, way to screw up the videos...I know they probably fell asleep listening to Cameron, but come on!

[Rogue_hunter]

Technical troubles! At least at EA they got it started quickly when the video stopped.

[National Kato]

First we had Yves and now Pele. This presser is...difficult?

[AgtFox]

the frenchmen should have a translator too ;)

[AgtFox]

Pele is pretty cool though...the man is a legend, not his fault the video thing is screwed up. He's probably delaying as well

[Rogue_hunter]

Pele's translator is awesome, as she can do it in large chunks, which is surprising.

[Troggles]

Ubisoft should have taken the cue from Microsoft and been more show then tell. I don't think I've heard or seen anything that excites me yet.

[AgtFox]

someone's getting fired! Just kidding.

[AgtFox]

well, they have to show Assassin's Creed 2...I mean, look at the big huge banner outside the Convention Center

[AgtFox]

now sneak preview of soccer game

[Vigil80]

So this is... an rpg about soccer? :p

[DoctorFinger]

So...it's Harry Potter in soccerland?

[AgtFox]

Mia Hamm must be in it too, saw her in a picture with her signature

[AgtFox]

actually looks like Mario Strikers...I think it could be cool

[Rogue_hunter]

Pele and the Soccer Ball of Fate!

[AgtFox]

g4 crawler at bottom...G4=videogames...is that why you had Revenge of the Nerds on earlier and other 80s comedy movies on all the time?

[AgtFox]

other stuff from crawler...guess you can play both sides in the Avatar game and will have nothing to tie into the movie

[AgtFox]

I'm guessing Coniction is up next

[Vigil80]

Splinter Cell, now we're down to business.

[AgtFox]

yep, I was right!

[Troggles]

I never cared for the other Splinter Cell games, but this one has me a bit excited. I like the new changes.

[Wraith]

Well they're on to Splinter Cell now...

[AgtFox]

trailer for Conviction

[AgtFox]

same trailer as shown at Microsoft Presser...*sigh*

[Troggles]

This looks very familiar.

[AgtFox]

why cheer...most of you saw it earlier.

[AgtFox]

demo...wonder if it will be the same as at the Microsoft presser...bets anyone?

[AgtFox]

yep, same one as presser...start off in the bathroom.

[Troggles]

So, first hour down. Have we learned anything yet?

[AgtFox]

environment is all destructible...the choking is actual gameplay for interrogation.

[AgtFox]

they showed the cool in-game story pop-ups again..at the MS presser they showed objectives on screen in transparent white. Yep, it was right there.

[AgtFox]

you can set up moves through surveillance and execute those actions...they showed him highlighting a lamp first and then an enemy...he smashed through door and shot the lamp onto the enemy...pretty cool.

[Vigil80]

Little fuzzy on how the mark amd execute gameplay functions.

[Troggles]

It's identical. I guess the guy playing has either played it a million times, or it's just a script running.

[AgtFox]

I'm sure it is like a waypoint system...you look and press a button to do the consecutive moves.

[Troggles]

Little fuzzy on how the mark amd execute gameplay functions.

Looks like it queues up actions so you can do them real quickly automatically.

[AgtFox]

yeah, but they're explaining it better. Things may be quite linear on this level as well...or the game could be linear itself.

[National Kato]

Splinter Cell Conviction just looks great!

[AgtFox]

360 and PC exclusively...but we already knew that long ago

[Rogue_hunter]

finally announced PC version of SC:C

[AgtFox]

RUSE is up next

[Wraith]

Ruse (RTS)?

[Wraith]

Surface-based RTS? (Who's going to have the Surface device for this?)

[Hemalin]

Now all I need is a $20,000 Surface table.

[AgtFox]

no, it's for usual game systems...but that trailer tells us nothing really.

[Rogue_hunter]

I want that table, even though I have no real clue what Ruse is.

[Wraith]

No details about the game...just the footage. Now onto Casual games...

[National Kato]

Lame CGI trailer for Ruse....now on to 'casual gaming.'

We've already seen Ruse in action.

[AgtFox]

time for Ubisoft casual (Raving Rabbids, Imagine, Petz, etc.)

[Wraith]

no, it's for usual game systems...but that trailer tells us nothing really.Well that was a big tease. Bleh.

[Dark Prince]

Did I hear "tween brands"?

[Wraith]

"Tween brands" :(

Imagine biggest selling Ubi brand. 2.75m units.

[Vigil80]

Typical smartass sales guy, with "casual" games... Don't tell me this is the closing presentation for Ubi. I feel like I'm at a board meeting.

[AgtFox]

Imagine, Petz and something else coming up

[Troggles]

Typical smartass sales guy, with "casual" games... Don't tell me this is the closing presentation for Ubi. I feel like I'm at a board meeting.

Can't be. No AC2 yet.

[AgtFox]

it is not the end...if they don't show Assassin's Creed II there will be a riot in the theater.

[AgtFox]

Petz hamster superstars? really?

[Troggles]

Petz! The NUMBER ONE Pets sim on the DS! Who knew!?

[AgtFox]

ok, that's cool if you have a young daughter...make your jewelry on DS, upload it and buy it in real life

[Troggles]

OMG That horse was magic!

[DoctorFinger]

I want a crossover between Petz and Cooking Mama.

[AgtFox]

Fitness games now

[Wraith]

Now fitness games. yawn.

[Vigil80]

Ok I get it, the casual and kiddie titles fund the hardcore projects. But was this presentation designed to rub our noses in it?

[Troggles]

Anyone think it's funny that this imagine crap is probably sandwiched between Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed?

[Wraith]

360 camera-based fitness game coming up

[DoctorFinger]

SO fitness games go from squat to squat-and-a-half, and that's the 'fastest growing genre'?

[Dark Prince]

Fitness is a genre bigger then Shooters or Action-Adventure? Seriously?

[AgtFox]

Sounds 360 only here...or is Sony's rumored motion peripheral also cameras?

[Wraith]

Fitness is a genre bigger then Shooters or Action-Adventure? Seriously?They said "fastest growing," so maybe it's by percentages of new games, compared to previous years...

[Troggles]

I love the way they phrase things to make them sound important. Fitness is the fastest growing genre (from 0 to some). Petz is the number one pet sim on the DS.

It's sugar coated shit, in my mind.

[DoctorFinger]

I assume Sony is announcing a camera tomorrow, too. Notice neither they nor EA mentioned a system for their camera game.

[AgtFox]

Evidently called Your Shape according to the big screen

[DoctorFinger]

Please, for the love of God stop making jokes

[AgtFox]

Coming to Wii this holiday season

[Wraith]

building their own camera
YourShape
Wii
holiday season

[AgtFox]

must come with webcam

[Vigil80]

It comes with a camera of its own.

[AgtFox]

this is actually big news if you're into fitness

[Troggles]

I guess the Wii is getting some sort of camera function.

[Wraith]

At least Nintendo's guaranteed not to have the worst press event this year.

[AgtFox]

working closely with Nintendo...camera uses USB port on Wii

[Vigil80]

Except for the Splinter Cell demo, this is the Nintendo presser prologue...

[AgtFox]

close her out with Assassin's Creed 2...c'mon!

[AgtFox]

darn it...Rabbids game

[Rogue_hunter]

yay for rabbids?

[DoctorFinger]

fuck me stupid, just end it already.

[Troggles]

This is almost painful to watch.

Ok, now it's beginning to hurt.

[AgtFox]

at least they know we'll sit through this to see AC2...right?

[Grifter]

I've never played a Rabbids game but I love the trailers.

EDIT: Except for that one.

[AgtFox]

Rabbids Go Home trailer

[Vigil80]

You know, even though he's being paid to play things up, I even get the feeling from Joel that there's Ubi's junk, and then there's Sam Fisher!!1!

[Troggles]

at least they know we'll sit through this to see AC2...right?

I know I am. Which is wierd, because I didn't actually play AC much.

[AgtFox]

that was pretty funny...live demo now

[Wraith]

...building a giant pile of garbage. :eyeroll:

[violent]

Have I missed anything decent?

[AgtFox]

have no idea how to describe that move as the guy looks like he is jacking off

[Vigil80]

Self gratification joke #2 of the conference.

[Troggles]

Haha...I'm liking this demo.

[AgtFox]

only Conviction violent...but that was a repeat of the live demo from the MS presser

[Dark Prince]

This Rabbids guy is probably the most exciting person out of this entire Ubisoft conference thus far.

[Troggles]

There was some new Red Steel 2 stuff that looked like it could be fun. Other than that, it's been a pile of garbage so far.

[National Kato]

only Conviction violent...but that was a repeat of the live demo from the MS presser

But at least it showed off how you could go about it differently. That is, while the level was the same and they did a lot of the same attacks, many were different.

[Grifter]

I honestly don't understand how Ubi thinks this game is worth this much time.

[AgtFox]

Grifter...it actually sells a lot on the Wii...the Rabbids series

[IIntrude]

Agreed, this should have just a few min presentation. Besides SC, this is rather pathetic.

LOL Joel seemed to be at a loss for words concerning the Rabbits :)

[Wraith]

Third (?) Ryan Seacrest mention by our host.

[AgtFox]

aw, forgot about TMNT fighter

[Wraith]

TMNT up now.

[AgtFox]

Ryan Seacrest jokes are a running thing on The Soup...both Joel McHale and Seacrest are on the E! Channel

[DoctorFinger]

We're an hour 45 into the presser and no mention of AC2, Beyond Good & Evil 2 or Ghost Recon 4.

[Grifter]

Grifter...it actually sells a lot on the Wii...the Rabbids series

I know but Ubi has so many other good IPs that would be more in line with the tastes of the type of people attending E3.

I'm also bummed because I have to leave now and I'm going to miss AC2... I blame the Rabbids!

[AgtFox]

I highly doubt BG&E 2 will be shown (I could be wrong), Ghost Recon 4 is iffy

[Troggles]

And I thought the Microsoft conference was too long...

[Vigil80]

He mispronounced cowabunga.

[AgtFox]

September 22nd for TMNT Smash Up

[Wraith]

"Who else will join the brawl?" at the end of the TMNT trailer...

[AgtFox]

No More Heroes 2...totally forgot about that

[Troggles]

Coooo wah booonga!

[AgtFox]

new game from Q Entertainment...makers of Rez, Lumines, etc. Codename Eden

[Vigil80]

Here it is, AC2

[Wraith]

Tetsuya Mizuguchi introduced. And the game is... code name "Eden." No details.

[AgtFox]

Finally Assassin's Creed 2

[AgtFox]

He could not believe the visuals we are about to see

[Troggles]

Worth wading all through this just to hear about something from Q?, even though it was pretty much nothing.

[Rogue_hunter]

frickin' finally for AC2. man, this one has been taking forever.

[violent]

Still gotta finish the first one.

[AgtFox]

no, don't prolong the agony audience

[AgtFox]

playable at the show...November 17th release

[Wraith]

November 17. trailer now

[DoctorFinger]

Assassin's Creed 2: Nov 17

[AgtFox]

Glad one of my predictions was right that it would get a date

[AgtFox]

bitches...you're all late! ;)

[DoctorFinger]

ooh, renaissance hookers. Now that's a game I can get behind

[AgtFox]

the visuals are pretty awesome for a cinematic

[AgtFox]

Ezio works pretty fast

[AgtFox]

except he didn't escape quickly

[AgtFox]

one week after Modern Warfare 2...ugh, this could be rough again

[AgtFox]

multiple weapons on the doohickey on his left arm!

[AgtFox]

we waited 2 hours for that...that was agonizing, but at least it ended on a high note

[DoctorFinger]

what a freaking lame press conference

[National Kato]

AC2, just CGI...but with guns?

[Wraith]

No gameplay, but still cool.

[IIntrude]

Looks cool for a cinematic. But color me overall unimpressed, was hoping for some ingame footage from one of Ubisoft's most look forward to games.

[Telefrog]

The Ubisoft conference was the exact opposite of good.

[Dark Prince]

So it came down to being a Ryan Seacrest bashfest, (which is fine by me) while only showing off gameplay for two games? Yawnfest ahoy.

[Adam Blue]

The Ubisoft conference was the exact opposite of good.

Exactly. I'd call all this a waste, but I don't think the point is to impress the gamers.

[violent]

Ah, so I didn't miss anything. Nice.

[Wraith]

Wow, I really liked that...Google Chrome commercial just now on G4.

[Vigil80]

God forbid we impress gamers with our game presentation at a game conference. Being a game making company and all.

Holy crap, I can't believe i was hoping Ubi would get me excited.

Somewhere there's a guy working on BG&E 2 and eating a croissant, saying, "WHY weren't we allowed at the conferenzze?!"

[Adam Blue]

God forbid we impress gamers with our game presentation at a game conference. Being a game making company and all.

Holy crap, I can't believe i was hoping Ubi would get me excited.

Somewhere there's a guy working on BG&E 2 and eating a croissant, saying, "WHY weren't we allowed at the conferenzze?!"

Well, I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure this is for investors and all business.

[Hemalin]

Well, I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure this is for investors and all business.
Did the investors really get all excited by James Cameron talking for 20 minutes?

[IIntrude]

I wouldn't think investors would care about awesome graphics, new moves, silly bunnies, etc.... I would think they would want hard numerical and monetary data to better educate themselves as to potential investments.

I have always thought this show was for the gaming media and it's followers. But thats just my view.