Today was due to be the day when some older Ubisoft games would see their online services decommissioned, but the company is granting them a temporary reprieve. You now have until October 1st to cram in some multiplayer for several early Assassin’s Creeds, the original version of Far Cry 3, Driver: San Francisco and others. Ubisoft say they’ve been “exploring what is possible to reduce disruption” over the last month, hence the shuffled date for decommissioning.
]]>Ubisoft are switching off online services for several older singleplayer games, including Anno 2070, Far Cry 3, Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. For several of those games, that means that as of September 1st, "the installation and access to DLC will be unavailable," according to an Ubisoft support page.
]]>You thought it was over. You believed the year of anguish would be a memory by now. I’m sorry, you were wrong. The carousel of disharmony will never cease, and neither will the bumper car motorcade of video games. This week, the United States of America chooses a President in a logistical process entirely in-keeping with the carnival metaphor I am here constructing. Even in video games - no strangers to ineffectual binary choice - there is a more varied selection of candidates. Here are 7 Presidents other than those offered on this week’s ballot.
]]>Are you looking forward to the Assassin's Creed Valhalla soundtrack just as much as the actual game? If so, then you should check out our latest music quiz, which focuses on all things Assassin's Creed.
Because the masses have been eating up online quizzes during lockdown, RPS' video wing has been testing the waters to see if you, the video game playing public, also enjoy them. And it turns out you do. And that's lovely.
]]>HDR on PC hasn't improved much in 2019. Despite there being more HDR gaming monitors than ever before, the very best gaming monitors for HDR continue to be quite expensive compared to non-HDR monitors, and the situation around Windows 10 support for it is still a bit of a mess. However, provided you're willing to fight through all that, then the next step on your path to high dynamic range glory is to get an HDR compatible graphics card.
Below, you'll find a complete list of all the Nvidia and AMD graphics cards that have built-in support for HDR, as well as everything you need to know about getting one that also supports Nvidia and AMD's own HDR standards, G-Sync Ultimate and FreeSync 2. I've also put together a list of all the PC games that support HDR as well, so you know exactly which PC games you can start playing in high dynamic range.
]]>We now know where all the golden haze went from the Director's Cut of Deus Ex: Human Revolution - it was pilfered for use in Assassin's Creed 3 Remastered. Ubisoft have released a trailer for the upcoming polished-up version of arguably the wonkiest of the numbered main Creed games, and while I can't deny it looks nice, it's conspicuously golden. Every before and after shot is a deluge of gilded sunsets and aurous haze. The game launches on March 29th and is included with the Assassin's Creed Odyssey season pass as well as sold separately. See for yourself if it looks good as gold below.
]]>Pseudo-historical stabventure Assassin's Creed Odyssey is shaping up to be an enormous game right off the bat, but Ubisoft have plans to keep players coming back well into next year. Today, they unveiled their post-launch roadmap for the game.
Now confirmed, the season pass includes two episodic story arcs - one featuring an encounter with the original Hidden Blade-wielder, the other taking players to Atlantis, but there's plenty of free goodies on the way too. Season pass owners will also get a remastered version of the kinda wonky Assassin's Creed 3. Below, a video detailing everything planned so far.
]]>Ubisoft's "30 Days of Giveaways" is heating up on December 7 when Assassin's Creed III [official site] will be free to any and all who want it. Assassin's Creed III does tend to be fans' least favorite entry in the series, but for the price who can complain?
]]>(The ugly portmanteau in the title is because damnable Uplay's damnable cloud saves system destroyed and rewound over three hours of my progress, which has kept me from getting quite as far into Black Flag as I'd hoped. It also meant I lost a bunch of sea shanties, which was what upset me the most. Is this is Wot I Think? Is it mere Impressions? It's both and neither. Isn't that helpful? PS: in the name of all that's holy, turn off cloud saves in Uplay before you start playing AC4).
It's the best Assassin's Creed yet! Which is 90% because Black Flag, a a third-person action adventure about pirates in the Caribbean, isn't really an Assassin's Creed game in the traditional sense, and 10% because the lead character is from Swansea.
]]>I'm actually afraid to play Assassin's Creed III's Tyranny of King Washington DLC. It's been on my List Of Vaguely Tantalizing Curiosities for quite some time, but I'm sick with worry that it can't possibly live up to the madness its trailers boast. I mean, so far we've seen ghost eagles, mind-controlled Benjamin Franklin, and Washington sauntering - dual pistols cocked, nostrils flared and lips slyly pursed - like he's on a catwalk at some eeeeeevil fashion show. And now? Now there is a pyramid. In the middle of New York. For those not in the know/possibly from space, that is not a place where pyramids traditionally go. Watch the trailer and join me in wondering what manner of strange, wonderful brain worm has infested Ubisoft after the break.
]]>George Washington? More like Jerk Washingtonsofbutts. I'm sorry. I haven't slept much lately, and any time that's the case, my ability to cleverly insult implausibly mad re-envisionings of cherished historical figures is always the first thing to go. But I'm pressing on regardless, just like our tree-toothed, grumpyfaced bizarro pal Georgie Scourgie in Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny Of King Washington Episode II: Betrayal (And Counting!). So then, what nefarious deeds is he up to this time? Rescuing kittens from exceedingly high buildings for the sole purpose of frightening them back up again? Chopping down every cherry tree in the nation and lying about it just because he can? Nope. But he is making Benjamin Franklin all kinds of sad, which is just the most heartbreaking thing ever. See for yourself after the break.
]]>Because - haha - there are pirates in it. Hahah. But you thought - haha - that I was saying the next Assassin's Creed game had leaked to Bittorrent. Haha. Hah. Heh. Huh.
I am neither funny or clever. You know it, I know it, the tiny baby Jesus knows it.
Let's just talk about the leaked reveal of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag instead. It's nothing to do with Henry Rollins, I'm afraid.
]]>I think that was my country's first President's name. Something like that. Honestly, I'm fuzzy on the details, because history was never my strong suit, and I secretly pledge my allegiance to the vengeful, cursed spirit of Mummy King Ramses II. But yes, Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washingface episode one has officially ridden a star-spangled, single-tear-propelled eagle onto Steam, Uplay, and the like. You may tomahawk your way to its historically inaccurate heart as you please. But first, you must watch a trailer. Otherwise, you won't get a proper preview of Connor's fancy new clothes. They're quite spiffy. I bet he even gave them a thorough rinse in one of those - argh, what do you call 'em? - oh, right: Washingtons.
]]>The popular videogames in this instance being Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed and Far Cry series. Of the former, we can expect a new installment, featuring a new time period and protagonist, to arrive before next March. For the latter, meanwhile, apparently the wait won't be as long as it was between Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3.
]]>Insatiable film fiend David Valjalo stops by to offer his musings on adapting the unadaptables - how Hollywood has its work cut out for it, what we can read into the studios and production houses attached to silver screen versions of Deus Ex, Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed, formalist vs realist styles, the need to make 20-hour, splintered narratives conform to the three-act structure, why auteur directors aren't the solution we might think they are, and why Russell Crowe is abstractly key to getting game to film right.
]]>Assassin's Creed III is the fifth in Ubisoft's open-world action series. Like its predecessors, it has you playing a historical 'assassin' who divides his time between free-running across rooftops, hunting down and killing members of a sinister conspiracy and collecting feathers, with sci-fi diversions into a modern-day tale of one of his descendants trying to prevent an apocalypse. This time, though, we're in the New World - America in the throes of revolution against its British rulers/oppressors. A few weeks after its console version, it's not out on PC - here's what I made of it.
Picture a very fat man. No, fatter than that. Much fatter.
]]>SHOCKING AND UNFORGIVABLE REVELATION: I've been looking at a videogame on the PlayingStation. Don't judge me, I just like to sit in a different chair sometimes. And the benefit of the 10-odd hours I've spent with Assassin's Creed III so far does enable me to share some thoughts on what we're essentially in for when the PC version (maybe - let's not count our oft-delayed chickens yet, eh?) arrives later this month.
]]>Hm. Here's something that's leaped out of nowhere, descended upon us in a flash of bloodlust, and knocked us flat in much the same fashion as an enraged koala or, more pertinently, an assassin. Assassin's Creed III is not by any means a F2P game, but it'll still have a (seemingly entirely optional) pay structure just like one. Granted, that in itself isn't really a problem. It's this bit, however, that has me worried: "disregarding your current level." To which I reply: but, but, but, but, but competitive multiplayer.
]]>On paper, Assassin's Creed multiplayer always sounded like something that absolutely, categorically would not work. I mean, we're talking about a series known for its sprawling tales of historical conspiracy and climactically timed eagle noises. How could that possibly translate into a teeming arena of hooded hoodlums? As it turns out, the answer to that question is "quite well." In previous entries, Ubisoft crafted a pretty special blend of sneaky deception and stabby swordception. Assassin's Creed III, meanwhile, doesn't seem interested in breaking the mold too terribly much, but the new setting certainly opens up intriguing possibilities. Dive into the conveniently placed haystack beyond the break to see for yoursel-- no wait! Evil Washington moved it. That crazy scamp. Maybe you should just use the stairs.
]]>I feel like it's something of a credit to Assassin's Creed III that Ubisoft can overload our finely honed assassin senses with barrage after barrage of media, yet I still feel a tingle of excitement watching some of it. I mean, there's a fine line between whetting our appetites and shoving a fully cooked turkey down our throats, and Assassin's Creed III crossed it ages ago. In truth, though, a few things are still shrouded in mystery. For instance, there's Connor. What's he like? What are his hobbies? Has he seen any good movies lately? Who's his favorite ancient Greek philosopher? After the break, you'll find a new trailer that answers precisely zero of those questions. It does, however, elaborate on Connor's backstory a bit, and it looks pretty darn impressive in the process.
]]>Ubisoft's officially taken the star-spangled wraps off Assassin's Creed III's first batch of DLC, and it's probably not what you were expecting. Well, OK, it's partially exactly what you were expecting - for instance, one of those ever-popular pay-it-all-upfront Season Passes and a couple helpings of extra multiplayer content. But then there's also the part where you're trying to kill George Washington. Evil United States Post-Revolutionary God Emperor George Washington. Alternate history, ahoy!
]]>Craig was sent into the heart of Ubisoft to bring back this Assassin’s Creed 3 report, dead or alive.
I love Assassin's Creed, but it's a series begging for some tight editing. Scratch that, it's series that needs someone sat at the developer's offices wearing a giant listening device that points in every direction. This person will have a buzzer to press anytime a developer strays away from the two-storey high blackboard drawing of an assassin stabbing people. "I had a great idea! Ezio could be a property manager - " *BUZZ!*. "So I'm taking this to Jade: what if we had first-person puzz - " *BUZZ! BUZZ!*. "Hey everybody, let's add in naval bat - !" *BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!*
]]>I counted. The latest Assassin's Creed III "Inside" special features seven billion different human beings. And also George Washington, who counts as one man, one myth, and one legend. It's a fairly intimidating roster, to be sure, but the whole production is quite ably done. The topic at hand today is none other than exotically named half-Native-American main character Connor, and there's actually some pretty good insight to be found here. Do games need development staffs large enough to eclipse the sun with a printout of their credits sequence? I'm not so sure. But I can certainly see some of the benefits.
]]>It's one of the most anticipated blog posts in internet history. Now, in a one-part series, get an inside look at the creation of a blog post about a making of trailer for Assassin's Creed III. Inside the process that's behind one of the most exciting articles ever written. Inside the technical breakthroughs that made it all possible. And inside the mind of John Walker, one of the greatest games journalists ever to have lived.
"I just sit in front of the keyboard, and the genius falls out."
This is, Inside A Post About Assassin's Creed III.
]]>I sort of love it when game trailers have zero context. For instance, I'm sure there's a story-based reason full of love, loss, and QTE-based hugs for Connor's sudden ability to captain a warship, but this quick glimpse makes it look like he simply stole someone's clothes, strolled aboard, and started barking orders. I wish I could do that. I need more clothes. Also, a boat. At any rate, Assassin's Creed III is blending high-seas shenanigans with its trademark brand of biffstabs, but don't take my word for it. I tell only lies. See (note the merciful lack of an ocean pun here) for yourself after the break.
]]>I'm excited about the upcoming anim-awesomety(tm) of Assassin's Creed 3's multiplayer. I've had loads of fun with the previous games in the series, as they're essentially spy-vs-spy-spy-vs-spy-spy-vs-spy. The third game adds Domination, a conquest-style team mode, and Wolfpack, a co-op mode where you sprint across rooftops with up to three other friends to chase down AI targets. The tiniest slice of the new stuff is shown in an otherwise meta-story thick trailer, detailing the nonsense about the annoying time travel tech that everyone but Ubisoft hates. It's only 3 minutes, but if you're really averse to the Abstergo stuff you can skip to half-way through to see the new Domination and Wolfpack multiplayer modes in action. I've also uncovered some other footage, because I'm a hacker of the internets.
]]>As we previously reported, the PC version of Assassin's Creed III will not arrive until November 23rd, three weeks after the console versions. Ubisoft confirmed the date in a release this afternoon.
I've reposted the "Frontier Demo" video below, as I think that's the most interesting and impressive glimpse of the game that we've had so far.
]]>As gamers, we do have a habit of accompanying our thrown bathwater with the baby, the taps, the bath itself, various bottles of shampoo, and all the shower fittings. And in the angered fuss about all manner of issues regarding our being "milked" by game releases, the phrase "DLC" seems to have become a dirty one. And that's just plain silly. With rumours circulating that Ubisoft are planning a season pass for Assassin's Creed III DLC, and even a new dedicated dev team to produce it, some are tending toward the negative. No, this is a good thing.
]]>There is certainly a long list of things we grumble about when it comes to game releases these days, from day one DLC to whichever mad choice of DRM accompanies, but they can all pretty much be summed up in one statement: Just release the game. It would make every gamer so much happier. And on that list is when games release themselves in different versions, with different in-game content. So that makes the six different versions of Assassin's Creed III (the game itself) not only confusing, but pretty annoying. Especially when it's a game that's looking so great.
]]>There are no lycanthropes in AssCreed III but I might manage a smile if AssCreed IV, which will probably be the fifteenth game in the series, had all manner of shapeshifters and undead running around in its industrial British setting. The American Wolf Pack aren't a band of teenwolves though, or indeed a group of increasingly unpleasant men with sore heads, but rather the teams of assassins in the game's new co-op mode, details of which IGN has extracted. Teams of up to four will work together to take down mark(s) against the clock across 25 waves. The news from Comic Con is that the PC version will be here "before Christmas" (Edit: Ubisoft's now claiming that the delay's not real and we all just imagined it). Here's some footage of Boston, with commentary.
]]>Here is a pattern:
- Action videogame is successful - Movie rights are optioned by big studio - Big star and/or director is attached - ???? - Humdrum movie fails to make as much profit as hoped.
Assassin's Creed is next to be dragged to the blockbuster movie adaptation stocks, and none other than Michael 'only good thing about Prometheus' Fassbender is going to wilfully endanger all his good work of recent years by co-producing and starring in it. RPS has the first exclusive image of the film, which you can see below.
]]>Live action trailers are, by default, dumb. We all know it, they all keep making them anyway. But it's hard to imagine a dumber one that today's jingoistic bullshitapocalypse for Assassin's Creed III. It seems to be trying to pitch the game as a brutal look at the oppression of a people, rather than running around inside your own DNA, jumping off trees and murdering people. But to celebrate America's overwhelming envy for our shiny red coats, surviving Brits can look at the game itself in some GAME stores today. If there are any left.
]]>There are three remarkable things about the new Assassin's Creed III trailer, although 'remarkable' may be too strong a word really, so let's dial it back to 'notable'. Thing number one is that, having just read all about Rome II, I couldn't help but think the opening of this video would make more sense as an advert for Total War of Independence. Secondly, I was surprised to learn that despite not actually being released yet, Assassin's Creed III was the best adventure game and action game at E3. It was also the best trailer, which makes more sense. The last thing I noted was that some of the single player missions are so big that it's only possible for consolemen to get them by pre-ordering the game in a giant box, although the PC Digital Deluxe Edition manages to fit them down an internet tube.
]]>Once upon a time, I believed the dreaded Ubidelay was finally sharing a suffocatingly packed grave with the publisher's other incredibly misguided ideas about how PC releases should work. After all, Far Cry 3's bucking the trend, so I was allowed to hope, right? But alas, Eurogamer's uncovered some rather convincing evidence to the contrary, at least, in the case of Assassin's Creed III. Specifically, our blue, platform-agnostic cousin got its hands on a promotional image that prominently states "PC version out on 23rd November 2012." That puts Connor's eagle-scream haystack dive onto our hard drives roughly a month after the console versions. Boo.
]]>Continuing E3's exciting theme of deer being skewered on arrows, the Assassin’s Creed III Frontier demo - which was shown to some of the assembled ravagers of the event known as E3 - shows the new assassin chap killing a deer by creeping up on it and zapping it clean dead. That's a great time to play a cutscene, as the developer's narration explains. Man, I like those cutscenes. Never get tired of them. Sometimes I just sit back and watch a couple of hours of them. You only have to hit one button at the start of those ones. The little triangle button. It's that easy. Mm.
Look, I'm being baselessly snarky, so ignore me and watch it - because he sure does kill some redcoats - and have a read of this. That's better. Much better.
]]>One of the most striking scenes of yesterday's E3 press conference gauntlet didn't take place on a stage or a screen. It wasn't rehearsed or pre-planned, and it most certainly wasn't expected. I sat in a jam-packed arena-sized auditorium and watched a game demo unfold on a screen bigger than my hometown. OK, that wasn't the surprising part. I'd been doing that all day. This one, though, came to a rather abrupt halt when - mere inches away from the camera - a man's head erupted into a volcano of hyper-detailed gore after a point-blank shotgun blast. And then: deafening applause from hundreds of people.
This was the blaring exclamation point on the end of a day of gleefully grotesque neck-shanking, leg-severing, and - of course - man-shooting. I can honestly think of maybe five games - in four multiple-hour press conferences - that didn't feature some sort of lovingly rendered death-dealing mechanic. And oh how show-goers cheered. So then, have we all become brainless barbarians with a lust for blood bordering on fetishistic? Hardly. That'd be a simple black-or-white (or, I suppose, red) answer, and this issue's a whole lot messier than that.
]]>Assassin's Creed III done released a big pile of video last night, along with four new screenshots. There's a silly CGI trailer that helps no one, but also a great big chunk of in-game footage that shows off the sneaky, jumpy, stabby and animal-hurty ways of a far more rural Assassin, and then some of the ship combat. Click on the pics for bigger versions, and see the trailers below.
]]>Want to see the new Assassin's Creed III trailer, eh? Well, you'd better be 18. If I find that someone under the age of 18 watches the ungated YouTube video below I will march straight to your house and tell your parents.
]]>According to an interview with Gamespy, Assassin Creed 3's creative director, Alex Hutchinson, has declared that Ubisoft won't be "investing hugely in a mouse and keyboard setup", instead suggesting that PC gamers use a controller to play the game. Which at first may look like another reason for us to hitch up our skirts and stomp angrily to the protesting grounds, but I'd argue that perhaps he's right.
]]>There’s some muttering in the audience as Tommy Francois, IP development director at Ubisoft leads us through a sixty minute history of Assassin’s Creed III’s development. From concept work in 2010 to animation tests to proof of concept videos to details on the historical research, we’re being shown everything except the game itself. For a game this size and in this age of wham, bam, now preorder ma’am promotion, this sort of gently passionate round the houses development discussion is highly irregular. ‘Just show us the trailer lol,’ I am entirely prepared to bet at least one of the hundreds of journalists in this crowd has written in their notes.
Much as getting to see how the game evolved from its original concept – ‘social stealth’ set during the American War of Independence – and just how closely it’s stuck to it across nearly three years of development is personally fascinating, there is a part of me that does just want to be shown the trailer lol. Then I get it.
]]>Yesterday's Assassin's Creed III firsto-revealo-CGIo-trailero created a spot of inadvertent drama by leaving out a single word in a sentence of text at the end. That word was 'date'. And the sentence it should have been in was 'PC format release to be confirmed.'
]]>The American Revolution is a fascinating setting to have moved AssCreed onto, and not just because it puts me in mind of my beloved Colonization. Proto-technology, a wildly changeable climate, shades of grey on both sides of the conflict and recognisable mythology to apply conspiracy theories to. My major concern is that the English will be cast as one-note boo-hiss baddies, but then again the real-life modern day England is currently being governed by boo-hiss baddies, so I suppose it's apt. Nonetheless, we're told that new and unspellable Assassin hero Ratohnaké:ton is "of Native American and English heritage", so presumably there will be some sympathy for King and country in there after all.
After a week of leaks and rumours, Ubisoft have officially revealed, explained and entrailerised the confusingly-named fifth Assassin's Creed. Snow, tomahawks and George Washington await you below.
]]>Poor Ubisoft: everything they do seems to be leaked. Are they clutzes, incapable of keeping anything locked away in their forbidden closet of mystery? Or are they marketing geniuses, making us all rush to look at their things by pretending to drop an envelope with "IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS: Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge" in red across the front, right in front of people with a 'Press' card stuck in the rim of their hat? Anyway, Assassin's Creed 3 is now a known thing, and some screenshots have snuck out, confirming the American Revolution setting. There's a lot of rural brooding going on, including one shot where he's hunting an animal, and only one urban area. A new direction? Below I have the only PR released thing: the packshot. Unless that's what they want me to think? I don't know what to believe!
]]>The bones of Assassin's Thr33d, as it must now forever be known, have been dug up by Kotaku, showing off a very assassiny looking person. He's standing in front of a billowing American flag, wearing chaps and carrying flintlock pistol, a tomahawk, and a bow and arrows strapped to his back. He's also covered in blood, as if he's just stabbed a giant, sated leech. My conclusion: cosplayers everywhere have a new costume to copy, and that George Washington should probably invest in some stab proof colonial long johns.
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