PaulH
- edited
Last Thursday, Ubisoft Entertainment announced a major expansion of their Toronto game development location with the official unveiling of a brand new state-of-the-art performance capture studio that will help create more filmic, immersive storytelling in games.
The new 2000 square-foot facility located in Toronto's west-end will combine cutting-edge technology with a seasoned team from the the movie and video game industries, with the first major performance capture project being the cinematics for Ubisoft's upcoming Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
Brad Duguid, Ontario's Minister of Economic Development and Innovation, began the morning press conference by reaffirming the provincial government's commitment to the video game industry in Ontario.
"This is an exciting day for Ubisoft and the video game industry in Ontario, demonstrating what can be accomplished when we collaborate and work together," said Duguid.
The announcement was followed by Yannis Mallet, Ubisoft Toronto and Montreal CEO, who said performance capture is a "critical part of the experience we provide to players".
"It contributes to storytelling in our games and delivers narrative and interactive gameplay to maximize immersion for the player. Games are not films. Games, like films, are about telling stories, but with a fundamental difference: interactivity. And the technology and the tools that we provide our team to create the best interactive experiences out there are of Hollywood calibre."
Splinter Cell: Blacklist actors perform a live scene from the upcoming video game
The large performance capture area, called "the volume", is able to support multi-character shoots and through a combination of 80 Vicon T160 motion capture cameras and six wireless headmounted SMC cameras that capture facial movements, is able to record live HD footage and give instantaneous playback on two 60' screens.
"It's a total game changer in terms of capturing performance, that's why we call it performance capture, not motion capture," said David Footman, Ubisoft's cinematics director for Splinter Cell: Blacklist. While the advanced technology in the performance capture studio is impressive, Footman noted that refinements in their production process is making an even bigger impact in the quality of the cinematics. The studio has adapted elements of filmmaking into their process, most importantly putting "editorial the centre of our pipeline," said Footman.
While Splinter Cell: Blacklist will be the first game to have its cinematics recorded in the new performance capture studio, Ubisoft expects to use the space for other projects created at the company's 26 other studios around the world.
Last week's announcement was a continuation of the promise made back in 2009 when the government of Ontario committed to investing $263 million in the Ubisoft Toronto studio over ten years, while Ubisoft's own investment will surpass over half a billion dollars.
Established in 2010, Ubisoft Toronto now employs 260 and aims to increase their staff to 800 over the next eight years.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist made quite a splash at the Microsoft E3 press conference this year, have a look at the trailer on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN0NVBEfw4c
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is releasing for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in Spring 2013. The game is being developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft Entertainment.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is not yet rated by the ESRB.
For more information or to pre-order Splinter Cell: Blacklist, please visit the futureshop.ca product pages below:
The United States has a military presence in two thirds of countries around the world. A group of 12 have had enough and initiate a terror ultimatum called the Blacklist - a deadly countdown of escalating terrorist attacks on U.S. interests.
The United States has a military presence in two thirds of countries around the world. A group of 12 have had enough and initiate a terror ultimatum called the Blacklist - a deadly countdown of escalating terrorist attacks on U.S. interests.
The United States has a military presence in two thirds of countries around the world. A group of 12 have had enough and initiate a terror ultimatum called the Blacklist - a deadly countdown of escalating terrorist attacks on U.S. interests.
Please note: the release date above is tentative. Once an official release date becomes available, it will be updated.
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