When Ubisoft announced this month that they would close online services for Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (and a few other tactical shooters), it was a surprise for two reasons. One, it's still a great game! Two, many players were under the belief that Ubisoft had already closed its servers, because it's been unplayable since December. Ubisoft have now told us what went wrong with Vegas 2, though sadly they say they're unable to support workarounds that might help people continue playing.
]]>As they do every so often, Ubisoft have announced they're ending online support for another round of games this year. The latest games condemned to lose online services include Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. This is on top of the server shutdowns Ubi announced earlier this year, which included Far Cry 2 and Anno 1404. It especially stinks because Vegas 2 multiplayer has been broken for months, so players can't even give it a proper send-off.
]]>I haven't paid much attention to Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which seems like it might have been a mistake, because a) it's supposedly quite good, b) it has the biggest muzzle-flashes I have ever seen, and c) it's a game full of high-tech techno-tools. DLC for the game has just arrived today, amusingly dubbed Khyber Strike, and it features a number of said gadgets - look at that little turret thing! I know what our next household pet will be. There's also a new map, a new game mode, and some expanded character progression, for those of you who are keen on expanded things. And let's face it, who doesn't want to expand something? See all these features wrapped in the loving arms of a trailer, below.
]]>When some players report that keyboard and mouse don't work with their PC game, you know you've got a problem. And that's only the beginning of a laundry list of issues leaving players feeling rather haunted by Tom Clancy's Ghosts. While some players are reporting mostly functional experiences, others have found themselves plagued by unadjustable resolutions, framerate caps, chugging performance, crippling server connection problems, and show-stopping crashes. But, at the very least, Ubisoft is officially on the case.
]]>Quick bit of unfortunate news: If Ubisoft's rather, er, atypical ads are to be believed, you're spending every waking moment and sweaty, sleepless night fantasizing about Gunsmith in anticipation of GRFS' (pronounced "gurfs") PC launch on June 15. And since the target audience for those ads totally exists and you're definitely part of it, an out-of-nowhere delay to June 29 may be an actual tragedy worthy of tears.
]]>Tom Clancy has written and directed loads of adverts for his Future Soldier game and the latest is a launch trailer, although the PC version isn't actually launching until mid-June. Nevertheless, it's my favourite advideo to date, featuring as it does the word co-operative over and over again. I like co-operative games so maybe I'll actually enjoy this latest Clanciful vision of tomorrow's conflicts, even if previous attempts to convince me of its worth by comparing players to addicts and going all gloomy didn't particularly convince. There was also the worst advert for anything ever, which you may have been lucky enough to miss. Please don't feel obliged to prove me wrong by sharing worse adverts below.
]]>Continuing its trend of, er, nontraditional trailers, Ubisoft's stirred Ghost Recon: Future Soldier's pre-launch pot with a taster that's... well, it won't bore you. That much is certain. It's not quite a sadvertisement along the lines of, say, Dead Island or Mass Effect 3's case of the sunflower weepies, but it does attempt to get inside a soldier's head both on the battlefield and off to, well, mixed results. Basically, this faux-documentary makes a leaping grasp at somberness, only to bellyflop into a cavernous abyss of cheese below. Fortunately, if that's not your thing, it still ends with the requisite solid minute of explosions. It's basically National Geographic: Explosion Edition, honestly. A tropical city? Smithereens. Frozen wastes? Sorry global warming; the Ghosts beat you there. A jungle? Sure. A forest? Duh. Space? Does that make them space ghosts? I'll stop now.
]]>The phrase "gunsmith" always makes me imagine the Ghosts ducking into a wartorn alleyway, only to discover a comfortable alcove occupied by a jolly, thick-bearded dwarf and his robust set of smelting tools. They sit down and banter for a bit over a thick hunk of black bread and some finely aged cheeses. It's all very pleasant. Evidently, however, Ubisoft and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye on the subject of mythril and its effectiveness in modern combat zones. Granted, when someone else says "gunsmith," I don't imagine that this is what immediately springs to mind either.
]]>When you think about it, Ghosts of the Tom Clancy variety actually have quite a lot in common with ghosts of the Casper, The Friendly persuasion. After all, I mean... you know... well, they both have "ghost" in their name. They both, uh, talk to people... Oh, and invisibility! That's the ticket. The latest Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, however, absolutely ruins my clever analogy. And I could tell you what exactly you'll see with death-defying feats of linguistic gymnastics, but instead, I'm opting to take full advantage of the under-appreciated art form that is comic book sound effects. So, in short, BOOM, THOCK, KABIFF, POW, ZOTT, SPLUSH, RATTA-TAT, WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU MA'AM. Dramatically dive behind the break and shout something about "tangos" to watch the full trailer.
]]>Like me, you may have become a little confused about what Ghost Recon games are coming to PC, and which aren't. Let me explain. Ghost Recon Online is, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier wasn't, but is now. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars was for the DS. Ghost Recon: Have We Found The Ghosts yet won't be, but then will, but then won't be again. Ghost Recon: Elizabethan Attack definitely will be for the first three months. And Ghost Recon: Ghostly Reckoning will only be on PC if you install it on PS3 first, and play via your 360. Glad to have cleared that up. Below you can see the latest trailer for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which is coming out on the 15th June for PC, rather than 25th May for consoles, because Ubisoft just cannot help themselves.
]]>And frankly pretty impressive. The first trailer for the upcoming tactical shooter shows off a bunch of the gadgets that players will have access to as they sneak and infiltrate, the best of which is clearly the quadrocopter drone (I am so buying the toy one of those for myself soon...) which can be used for scouting out enemies ahead and allowing you to plan your route. It all looks incredibly fancy too, with a lovely balance between the washed-out real-world environments and the Tron-like tech overlays. Actually paying attention to this, now. Take a look.
]]>While Far Cry 3's social features are a bit baffling, Ubisoft's new Ghost Recon Network makes a whole lot more sense. It's not a traditional social network, really, as it has more in common with Call of Duty Elite: it will allow you to track stats from any device, customise your weapons and find other customisations from other players, set up and manage squads. It'll come in web or Android or iPhone app form on May 25th, with the release of the console versions of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The PC release is June 15th. You could use those tweaked weapons in Future Soldier Guerilla mode, the four-player co-op mode that we forgot to mention last week.
]]>We know very little about Ghost Recon: Commander, so little in fact that I only just found out that it's going to exist. I'd rather be a Commander than a Future Soldier or an Online so I was pleased about the prospect, but then I saw that it's a Facebook/mobile game and my interest spiraled away like chocolate syrup down a motel shower drain. However, Chris Early of Ubisoft has told Pocketgamer.biz that playing Commander will unlock advantages in the other two upcoming Ghost Recon games, and vice versa. I suppose the idea is that spending a spare half hour on Facebook could earn you a gun rather than a dubiously rekindled acquaintance with a former sort-of-friend. Quotes and thoughts await below.
]]>The man in this video had ten different customised weapons waiting for him at any time, so remember that if you choose to mock his overly-dramatic presentation of Ghost Recon Future Soldier's Gunsmith capabilities in the comments: he probably has a 'snotty internet jerk' config that'll make the Windows key on your keyboard garotte you. The plug and play aspect of the arsenal in Ubisoft's future shooter means there's a gun configuration for ever day of the week, plus 19'999'993 more days after that. Such configuration is essential if you're in the hunt for The World's Most Dangerous Man. I'm not sure if the video is hinting that Osama will be in Future Soldier, but I don't think it fits in the time frame. Not that they really care about realism: X-ray guns? If they have those then they'd clearly have a mecha Bin Laden.
]]>BWAARRRR, LOCK AND LOAD, BWARRRRR, LAUNCH DETECTED, BWEEEEEEEE, RATATATATAATA...ARRGHLE...KABOOM...shhhhhhhh.
That seems to be the script for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier judging by the gameplay footage in this new trailer. Sure, there are missiles launching and helicopters strafing entire continents with vicious intent, but there's also sneaky silenced sniping, creeping up and stabbing, and a great deal of encouragement to fight dirty. "Only the dead fight fair" is the tagline and it's not a curveball announcing the arrival of hordes of rulebook-wielding zombies but rather a way of saying, 'do whatever is necessary'. Position yourself within a shrub upon a hilltop and observe the trailer through a thermal imaging binocuscope.
]]>First it was happening and then it wasn't cos of mad piracy paranoia and there was a bunch of shouting and it was horrible and now it is happening again! Sometimes having a moan really does work, though it is better to moan politely and with words that don't mostly begin with 'f'.
]]>Is it Thanksgiving or Groundhog day? I could have sworn it was yesterday that news emerged of a Ubisoft title not being released on PC, with anguished claims about rampant piracy being blamed. Now it's the turn of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and although the quotes given to PC Gamer don't actually accuse us all of 'bitching', they do paint an unpleasant view of the PC gaming landscape. We're told that Ghost Recon Online is the PC's alternative to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.
'Why', you ask? Senior producer Sebastien Arnoult has the answers. Or at least, some answers. "When we started Ghost Recon Online we were thinking about Ghost Recon: Future Solider; having something ported in the classical way without any deep development, because we know that 95 per cent of our consumers will pirate the game." Sigh.
]]>Ubi's techno-shooter Ghost Recon: Future Soldier had rather disappeared off the release radar, but it's popped up again with a bright blip reading "March 2012". Alec took a look at the game for Eurogamer early last year, so we can probably expect to have changed a bit since then. What won't have changed is the game being all about tactical hi-tech combat with a dose of stealth. It could be refreshing, if done right.
Hey, we've got a recycled E3 trailer below. That is something you can watch.
]]>RPS didn't got to E3. So E3 came to RPS, with Ubisoft showing their E3 demos in London yesterday. South London being slightly easier to reach than Los Angeles, I went along to have a look at what they have to offer us in the coming twelve months. Well, quite a bit. While ManiaPlanet will await a future date to look properly at it, there were four key PC-relevant games on show: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Driver: San Francisco, Ruse and - though it hasn't been announced for the PC, I'll be surprised if it's not - Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. What did I make of them? I tell you below, via the medium of telling.
]]>Alec has vanished into the Oxford countryside, probably on a mission of some kind, but it could just be he got loose after dark. Either way, his preview of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is up over here. Here's a bit that is illustrative and relevant:
]]>Ubisoft made their promised announcement last night. Are we excited to hear the words: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier? Very little is known at this point, beyond that it's the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter team, and seemingly with a multiplayer focus. A few scraps of detail below, and the teaser video.
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