With Rainbow Six Siege's annual premiere tournament almost upon us - and indeed, the first offline Siege esports event since the start of the pandemic - Ubisoft have discounted games across the Rainbow Six franchise over at the Ubisoft Store by up to 75%.
]]>Slick tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege will soon enter its third year, and that means updates. New maps and a "map makeover" were announced by Ubisoft Montreal at the Pro League Finals in Brazil at the weekend, plus two new operators specialising in “biohazard situations”.
]]>Ah, hello, and welcome to Rainbow Six Siege’s restaurant of blowing the shit out of walls. I’ll get you a menu shortly, but first, today’s specials.
Would ma’am like a breaching charge, unfurled and exploded so as to knock out a person-sized section? Or would she prefer to use burrowing grenades to excavate a perfect head-height peephole, through which she can take potshots? And for sir, may I suggest a thermite detonation powerful enough to punch through even reinforced barriers? Of course, one may choose to do the work oneself: to rip a hole in patchy plywood with a hail of bullets and make a gap either small enough to press an eye against, or big enough to pop a grenade through. All selections are excellent today — just as they were at launch.
]]>When firefights break out, bullets sending plaster dust into the air and punching holes through walls and doors, Rainbow Six Siege [official site] is as effective a depiction of close quarters first-person combat as I've ever seen. It reminds me of F.E.A.R., Monolith's horror-themed FPS. Take away the slow motion and the scare tactics, and F.E.A.R. is still fantastic, thanks to some of the crunchiest and weightiest shooting in gaming.
As in intense and grimly beautiful depiction of firefights, Siege is on the same level.
]]>After a spot of D-Day turbulence that saw the Rainbow Six Siege [official site] open beta delayed, Ubisoft's tactical FPS has pulled itself from the trenches and is now well into its second day of public testing where it'll be stationed until Sunday. If you can't manage along, you might want to whet your military whistle with a look at Siege's Shakespearean launch trailer below before it launches on Tuesday. Ten-hut!
]]>If you were previously given access to one of the Rainbow Six Siege [official site] closed betas, you can now preload the game's final beta and start playing later today. If you've not previously had access, then no matter: the beta will explode open its doors to everyone tomorrow and run for all through till Sunday.
]]>Stretching the definition of "beta" about as thin as can be, Ubisoft just announced a so-called "open beta" for Rainbow Six Siege [official site] starting Wednesday, November 25. You know, six days before the actual release.
That's likely not enough time to fix anything with the game if something's found to be broken. But it is a perfect opportunity for you to try the game, something we used to call a "demo." Or, as Ubisoft puts it, "Experience team-based tactical combat in its most intense, lethal and destructive form all before it hits shelves on December 1st."
]]>Ubisoft have launched an "online training platform" for Rainbow Six: Siege [official site]. Completing the five exercises included in the current Field Training section of the program and you'll earn an invite to the beta, which is due to launch in a fortnight, on the 24th of this month. I was hoping for a rigorous series of exercises, designed to sort the Clancys from the chancers, but Art of Siege is more like one of those interactive trailers. A drone-cam gives an overview of the situation, you choose a point of entry and then select options to watch the mission play out.
]]>E3 is a bit like a flashbang. In it comes whoosh kersplode then you're disoriented and confused and struggle to continue whatever it was you were up to. What I'm saying is that Ubisoft announced Rainbow Six Siege during E3 while we were curled up on the floor and armed men shouted at us, so we forgot to actually post about it even though we've discussed it.
The FPS (no third-person at all this time) sees baddies trying to fortify and hold buildings before the goodies smash in to come and get them. Emphasis on the smashing, as it has magnificently destructible environments powered by tech some joker at Ubi named 'Realbast.' Realbast!
]]>Tim Schafer has taught game developers how to dream...how to dream about having piles of cash to work on projects that they reckon people crave enough to pledge some of Earth's rapidly dwindling stockpile of money for. The latest veteran to pitch to the public is Christian Allen of Serellan. Admittedly I didn't know the name but it turns out Mr Allen has worked on more Ghost Recon games than I've actually played, as well as being lead designer on Halo: Reach. But what does he want from you? MONEY MONEY MONEY. And why? So that he can make a hardcore tactical shooter. And why am I covering this? Read on.
]]>The announcement of the distant Clancy-fever-dream that is Rainbow Six: (Angry) Patriots brought back memories of playing the first game in the series, or at least I'm going to pretend it did for the purpose of what I say next. Careful planning, exchanging tactical tips with school chums, watching my elite squad fail to navigate the complex architectural geometry of a door. The memories quite literally did not come flooding back. But when I saw the 'Vision Video' for the new game, which serves as a warning of a dire future that can hopefully be averted, I did find myself retreating into memories of better times.
Meet Heavy Rainbow Six: Queasy Terrorism Emotivator.
]]>Team Rainbow's been quiet awhile. It was 2008 when Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 was released, and while Ubi hinted last month that new games would appear in running franchises, it's not until now that iwe knew it was this one. We were expecting Spinter Cell. But it's Rainbow Six: Patriots.
It's coming from Ubisoft's Montreal department, and being made alongside Ubisoft Toronto and Ubisoft Red Storm. Which I hope is their solution to multiformat, rather than a return to the fragmented design days of the last decade, that saw their titles get a little confused. Although despite three teams on the project, they're in no rush - the game is set for 2013. And of course it's not really being made by them, but by Tom Clancy himself. And promises "a bold new direction".
]]>Piracy, as we are so frequently told, is wrong. Apparently it funds child abuse and terrorism (by means they're not quite ready to explain just yet). It's a serious business folks. Which makes it a bit odd when Ubisoft get spotted apparently doing it.
People who bought Rainbow Six Vegas 2 via Direct2Drive were having a bit of a problem with the 1.02 version of the game, with it refusing to install. So Ubisoft or Direct2Drive released a v1.03 patch to fix it. Unfortunately for them, canny people took a closer look at the solution in place.
]]>Much info appeared in Ubisoft and Take-Two's press releases that appeared last night, which were full of words like "fiscal" that confuse and scare me. They also include the slippy-slidey nature of a bunch of their PC releases. So what do we know?
Ubi's Assassin's Creed is going to take an extra couple of weeks before it's on our machines. Sneaking out of March, it's now hiding in a hay cart until April 11th.
]]>Opinions about the Rainbow Six: Vegas sequel seem to be mixed. Some of us are giving it a shrug of indifference, while others are hoping to recapture some of the co-operative combat delights that we experienced with the original game. Personally I think it could well be a fun time - the last game kept me interested a whole lot longer than I expected, despite the overall lack of character and variety. Beyond the jump, a handful of new in-game footage:
]]>Strike a light, they've only gone and doing themselves another first-personage shootual fun-play. Ubisoft have released some more images of Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 (which is another one of those cunning re-namings to cover the fact we're probably up to Rainbow 6-6 by now. Which just sounds silly).
Click-click for larger, and go beneath the cut for another shot of people walking down walls and the teaser trailer.
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