Tech Blog

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Ubisoft's press conference was the third event at E3 I went to, and I have to say I was feeling terribly worn out (even only by that point) and felt that it was unlikely that I was going to see anything that was going to set me on fire.

However, after I praised EA for their way of opening their press conference, Ubisoft clearly knew they had to immediately knock it out the park. And in opening the show by having Tetsuya Mizuguchi walk out (silently) and begin playing his new, heavily Rez-inspired game Child of Eden, they probably showed me the most exciting thing I'd see until Nintendo's press conference the day after, making it probably the most surprising of all that it is a Kinect game.

A riot of colours and noise, like Rez jazzed up with a touch of Jeff Minter (by way of Mizuguchi's own band, Genki Rockets) the game is... well, let me say that it made me feel the way I think Halo Reach and Gears of War 3 probably made others feel, which is rather nice.

It was also rather odd seeing Joel McHale on stage with Mizuguchi, though. But sort of great.

One of Ubisoft's big games of the show is Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, a game that I have to say I feel I can't hold an opinion on. it looks great, of course, but not having spent any real time with Assassin's Creed II -- don't blame me, I can't keep up with everything! -- I couldn't invest in Ezio's continuing story as much as I want to.

The strange thing was that Brotherhood was probably the most traditional thing that Ubisoft showed. They did also show Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which is also rather "normal" if you don't consider that too pejorative, but even the games you would expect to conform really didn't. Shaun White Skateboarding, for example, casts Shaun White as some kind of a superhero who can create grind rails and vert ramps wherever he wants and, in the process, add colour to a lifeless world, and in the upcoming Driver San Franciso the hero (cop Tanner from the first Driver game) is in a coma and can "shift" between cars at will, which is a deeply unusual game mechanic.

Though those two games were nothing in a press conference that included the revelation that Ubisoft will be releasing a laser tag gaming set (very poorly explained at the time, so I won't try to explain it myself) and a vitality sensor game called "Innergy" that seems to be about regulating your breathing through mini-games... or something. That was kind of badly explained as well.

The most astonishing announcement, I felt (but the audience didn't, they barely reacted) was that Eric Chahi (creator of Another World and Flashback) is working on a new game called Project Dust. I think the trailer will explain it better than I can.

It was also nice to see that Rayman is returning, in his original 2D form, with Rayman: Origins (and it looks a good deal less violent than Dragon Age: Origins), and for those who care, when introduced it was described that it was "one of" the games Michel Ancel was working on. So don't believe the rumours, looks like there's still hope that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is on the way.