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The hits just keep on coming with Day 2 of the legendary Mecca of videogames, E3, and this time it's Ubisoft strutting its stuff for all the videogaming world to see. We give you the facts and just the facts, directly from their exclusive E3 2007 Conference.
The little shindig of Ubisoft's started the crowd off with casual games - namely the MyCoach series, the Petz series, and the rather revolutionary guitar simulator on the DS, Jam Sessions. They then finished up with big three bombshells, all of which with the hardcore gamer demographic's name written on 'em. More about those three later, let's tackle the casuals first.
So, the MyCoach games. Tony Key, VP of Marketing in USA was there to talk us through the basics. Being one of the casual game series, MyCoach titles are obviously for people who don't have a lot of spare time to sit down and play a game, thus it offers instant gratification. The titles of the games themselves are self-explanatory to their content - My Word Coach teaches basic linguistics, pronunciation, vocabulary. My Life Coach - rather interesting, as it's something like an electronic Dr. Phil, in the sense that you get a guilt trip every time you play it. From there, we're introduced to the Petz series. Big announcement here - Tigerz and Dolphinz are set to invade your DS this year. Now we can actually see how it's like to take care of a man-eating feline, so casual gets a point.
Sneak announcement here about the Imagine series, again for the DS. It's a new line of games, mostly geared towards the female DS owner demographic. Consisting of titles such as Fashion Designer, Master Chef, Animal Doctor, Figure Skater. Interesting.
Next up is one of the best-sounding (and probably great-playing) titles yours truly has ever seen made on the DS: Jam Sessions, where the handheld is converted from a gaming device to an actual working Guitar. You strum the strings via the touch screen, and press down on the frets in an intuitive control system of combined button presses. It's simpler than it sounds, and we got to see and hear it in action, namely from band Taking Back Sunday. Hooked up to an amplifier, Jam Sessions definitely is the title for the guitar freak in us.
From the casuals, we move to the hardcore. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway. Haze. Assassin's Creed. All three top-notch games that has you either shooting stuff or stabbing stuff, and it's all in good clean fun. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is looking pretty sweet, with intuitive, context-sensitive controls and minimalist HUD, so the belief suspension is at MAXIMUM.
Another sneak announcement, this time for the Wii, and it's about a new title called Nitro Bikes. Looks and sounds like Excite Trucks, with the over-the-top racing physics and hardcore metal music, except with two wheels instead of a gazillion. Something to watch out for, that.
From bikes, we move on to the Nectar-induced rage of Haze. None other than Dave Doak himself is there to present his title, and he talks about the game being more than just another wartime FPS. There's a lot of drama, a lot of story, very deep undertakings of the human psyche and the moral issues we face every day. We get to see lots of in-game and trailer footage, as well as some live-action bits. One of the great scenes: some of the soldiers overdosing on Nectar and going all crazy. Remember, winners don't abuse performance-improving substances, even if fictional!
Haze is wrapped up, and Assassin's Creed makes its appearance as a playable demo, complete with Jade Raymond to talk the audience through. The game's set in Jerusalem, and every building in sight is scalable. Graphics look good, animations look smooth, jewel in the stone in this presentation is the crowd interaction, as well as freedom to accomplish your task in so many ways it's not even funny. Then, oddly, the game's graphics glitches deliberately - think of the Matrix and you've got it. Our white-robed assassin flees from some guards, drops into a haystack. Everything's intense, everything's awesome. The crowd cheers, and as suddenly as it had begun, the conference is over.
Certainly a smooth ride from Ubisoft this year, eh? One thing that really struck us was that the company was able to balance their attentions with both sides of the gaming population spectrum - namely casual and hardcore. Kudos to Ubisoft for achieving something that's quite difficult, in this age of niche audiences. And that's that for our wrap-up of Ubisoft's E3 2007 Conference!
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