E3 2014 - Ubisoft Media Briefing (Live Updates!)
(6:00PM ET) E3 2014 forges ahead with Ubisoft, today's third big showcase!
Welcome to E3 coverage here on ZAM!
Today’s third media briefing (3 of 4) is from Ubisoft for 1 hour. We’ll be covering every detail, constantly keeping this page up-to-date. Keep a close eye and keep refreshing!
When: 6:00PM-7:00PM Eastern / 3:00PM-4:00PM Pacific — Watch on Twitch.tv!
All Events: Xbox, EA, Ubisoft, Playstation, Nintendo
Times below are in Eastern Time.
5:57 - Nothing yet!
6:01 - A smoking monkey. Is this Far Cry 4? But of course! Looks like the intro sequence of the final game. Guards check the bus. Chaos ensues. The light-haired antagonist goes into a long dialogue with a guard, and seems to know the player. The dynamic is interesting.
6:06 - Developer takes the stage and briefly chats about the trailer.
6:07 - Aisha Tyler walks onto the stage, a frequent host of Ubisoft's Media Briefings. Much more swearing in this briefing! Example: "hella f**kin' smoky"
6:09 - Just Dance 2015 pops up! Aisha Tyler cracks a joke about Pharrell's Happy, which promptly blares 10 seconds later. Just Dance 2015 looks polished with neat graphics. Shows off a mode where other people rate your dancing – I can already hear the comments.
6:11 - Jason Altman shows a Just Dance 2015 mobile app; says it's a "breakthrough in latency free multi-device online gaming." Says unlimited number of people can join the game at one time. Dozens of professional dancers take the stage. Uses the phone like a controller, meaning lots of constant phone-waving. Hope you've got a good warranty!
6:16 - Tom Clancy's The Division is on the screen! Looks like they're discussing the lore behind the game. The trailer is super depressing. Like, really depressing. Very well-done, though, the stop-motion style works tremendously. Major props to the devs. This trailer is unskippable. Wow.
6:21 - Engines revving. Out comes The Crew! Trailer is a timelapse of players driving across the U.S. in an expansive open-world. Slow music plays, landmarks pass by. Even though it's captured gameplay, it feels oddly cinematic. "Where will your crew go?"
6:24 - A developer Julian Gerighty talks to Aisha Tyler on-stage. Mentions they've been involving the community during development. Closed Beta starts July 23rd, and you can register now. RELEASE DATE: November 11th, coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
6:28 - French flag on a guillotine? Assassin's Creed: Unity is up! Church bells echo, and a bird flies across the sky – standard Assassin's Creed fare! As expected, game looks pretty. One assassin walks through smoke, and three more follow...a very clear nod to Unity's multiplayer aspect. No gameplay, but a very solid cinematic. More shots of multiple assassins. The subtitle Unity makes much more sense.
6:32 - Alex Amancio shows off the various tools at Arno's disposal. Suddenly, a cinematic plays and covers the basics of the game's setting of 18th century France. It's an introduction to a gameplay demo. The player quickly descends from a building, filters through a chaotic crowd. After finding some guards, he engages in some fairly fluid swordfighting. You can tell they've put considerable effort into making the world feel alive and natural. Note: The UI is nice and clean. Overall, a polished entry to the Assassin's Creed series.
6:40 - Shape Up, a fitness game? Go figure! "Stay fit. Stay fun." A developer competes against a previous version of himself in some kind of rhythm game dance-thing. A bit awkward to watch, but...actually seems acceptably fun to play! Intriguing!
6:46 - Time for some fitness dueling! Two devs have a push-up fight on-stage. Player tracking seems pretty good. The game really does have a fun style to it.
6:48 - Valiant Hearts: The Great War is now up, a stylish World War I game featuring unexpectedly-deep characters and their everpresent dog. The trailer is quite sentimental.
6:52 - Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and CEO of Ubisoft, comes out to introduce the final game of the event.
6:53 - Super mysterious multiplayer game. Rainbow Six: Patriots? Nope! It's Rainbow Six: Siege. It looks awesome. Destructible environment, great style. Very desctructible environment, it works beautifully. The trailer is a very good watch. Does this mean Patriots is cancelled? Even if it is, Siege makes up for it. Watch for yourself!
[END]
And that's the briefing! Thanks again for joining us, folks!
Colt "ShdwFlm" Casey
Deputy Editor