ber Ubisoft Ubidays video roundup
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ May 24th 2007 at 8:00AM }
Ubisoft's Ubidays event in Paris spawned almost as many video trailers as it did announcements. Thanks to the wonders of embeddable streaming video, we're able to put them all in a single post for your viewing pleasure and/or displeasure, depending on the game.
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (Xbox 360)
Loosely based on the 837,212 episodes of popular anime, Naruto, this cel-shaded action game seems to strongly encourage you to leap through trees, punch older men and generally behave like a ninja who's under the constant scrutiny of kids. No sudden decapitations like that other guy.
Leading on the PlayStation 3 platform, Haze is set to feature everything you could possibly desire from a first-person shooter -- big guns, tough guys and, uh, tough guys with big guns.
DAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
The fully voice-controlled armadas enable you to destroy your opponents with elegance and eloquence.
"Attack the enemy base."
"Okay, sir, I'll cut off my face."
"NO! Attack the enemy base!"
"I'll enter a footrace."
"I'm switching to the control pad."
In war, you may think you're living easy and living free, but it's a season ticket on a one-way ride. War doesn't need reason, doesn't need rhyme. There's nothing you'd rather do than going down to that party time. Your friends are going to be there too.
We've never seen Sam Fisher like this. In Conviction, he infiltrates crowds, hurls people over counters and blows up hot dog stands... which we can only presume contain nefarious terrorist hot dogs.
This superb trailer for the medieval assassin sim makes us ponder the use of a modern soundtrack in the final game. If it could create a similar anachronistic atmosphere as the one presented in the above video, it would be most effective indeed.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack of No Trades @ May 24th 2007 8:17AM
Haze and Assassins Creed please!
flecture @ May 24th 2007 8:26AM
Yes, but no word yet on the voice acting for Naruto.. i'll be more than a little upset if it's using the american talent, i don't think i could bring myself to play it.
meh @ May 24th 2007 8:37AM
flecture - you are too nice.
You said talent when you referenced our english voice over......wow.
Whoever does naruto is grating as hell, and can't seem to put a tiny bit of emotion into any situation.
shivr @ May 24th 2007 8:38AM
I'd like the believe in the possibility of a decent anime based game... but that looks like more of the same crap to me -_-
Jake @ May 24th 2007 8:50AM
shivr,
How so? Same as which games? I thought it "looked" quite impressive and unlike any game I've seen other than Sonata. Will it be fun? Maybe. But I don't know what "same old crap" exactly it "looks" like.
mrdelayer @ May 24th 2007 8:59AM
The accent should be over the u, not the e.
megaStryke @ May 24th 2007 9:23AM
Yeah, like Naruto's Japanese voice is sooooooo much better. He's a hyperactive teen whose voice just makes me want to punch a puppy, no matter in what language he speaks. You "anime purists" make me sick.
shivr @ May 24th 2007 9:46AM
@ jake
It looks like.. every other naruto game? Particularily the 'clash' games? nicer environments of course withe the hardware upgrade. What little they showed of the gameplay looks like your standard beat em up, which makes me wanna compare it to uzumaki chronicles which was... less than stellar. I like the series and I feel like a game done right could have a lot of potential, so maybe my expectations are too high vs. the dissapointments of past games. A european developer handling an anime titles might make some kinda difference... both both are just as capable of shoveling out a money grab
oh man... why did you guys have to remind me of the eng voices >_> the theme song in the trailer was bad enough ._.
shivr @ May 24th 2007 9:53AM
argh, that should be "-but- both are just as capable fo shoveling out a money grab"
and its true!
I still don't get why people like sonata graphics so much... maybe I need to get my eyes checked >_> I mean thay're good graphics but its not like the end all of cell shading either
Rico @ May 24th 2007 11:04AM
Haze doesn't seem to be just another generic FPS, as anyone who read the recent Edge feature will know. A key plot device is Nectar, a performance enhancing drug that increases your ability to identify targets and spot danger - one example includes a grenade emitting ripples from the ground as it falls, to indicate where it will land - but at high doses, you begin to lose control of yourself and become unable to discern friend from foe. Enemies in particular will take advantage of this and attempt to overdose you with Nectar so you effectively become a killing machine aimed at your own teammates.
dannah @ May 24th 2007 12:31PM
Brothers in Arms 3 is actually titled Hell's Highway, not Highway to Hell.
Yay BiA!
SGT Monty @ May 24th 2007 12:32PM
@10
So far Haze seems pretty standard fare to me. The nectar angle is nothing new. In Far Cry you used similar "special powers". Until I see some gameplay footage that stands out from the rest, then it doesn't look special to me. Reminds me of Black, lots of smack talk, but pretty standard fare in the end.
As with an FPS, you need a strong multiplayer aspect if you expect the public to play your game longer than a week. While Ubisoft has done great with Tom Clancy games, it remains to be seen what they have planned for Haze. Just my opinion, don't get upset.
Hikaru @ May 24th 2007 12:53PM
The Japanese voice actor of Naruto doesn't say "believe it" enough said.
Hikaru @ May 24th 2007 12:55PM
BTW, there are onlu around 135 real episodes, and then Shippuuden that's only 14 for now. Believe it!
Geoff Gibson @ May 24th 2007 1:12PM
Ravig Rabbids for life!
Seriously though, I loved the first one and that trailer was hilarious. Can't wait to get my hands on it.
Also Haze, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Assassin's Creed all looked amazingly fun.
BPM @ May 24th 2007 1:15PM
Hikaru:
But Japanese Naruto does say "dattebayo!" a whole damn lot. Just as annoying as "believe it!"
Oh, wait. I guess it isn't, because it's in Japanese which makes it "TEH OMG AWSUM OLOLOLO." amrite?
Kunikos @ May 24th 2007 2:08PM
The Japanese voice for Naruto has a 30-something year old female voice actor, that's why it's not as lame sounding as a similar age American man doing the voice (poorly).
Also, translating "dattebayo" into "believe it" is probably one of the worst mistakes you could ever make. Dattebayo doesn't mean anything, you can't translate it, they should have just dropped them completely or just made Naruto talk a little bit in slang terms instead.
Triforceowner @ May 24th 2007 3:33PM
Is that what the in-game combat is going to be like for Assassin's Creed?
megaStryke @ May 24th 2007 3:50PM
The American Naruto voice ACTRESS is less than ten years older than her Japanese counterpart. Also, that stupid "dattebayo" and "-bayo" shit after every sentence is every bit as annoying as "believe it," so... shut the fuck up, people.
UltimateQ @ May 24th 2007 4:00PM
xbox 360 my giant pimply butt. release for the pc and I might care.
Hikaru @ May 24th 2007 4:01PM
It's not a matter of what's annoying or not in Naruto's voice, is about the poor acting quality of English voice-over actors and seeing or hearing in this case, something the creators intended it to be heard, because they hire voice actors that they feel are good with the character personality.
All in all, that's why I learned English as my second language (Hollywood/British movies), French as third and Japanese at fourth, and so on, to see and hear the things the way they are, NOT because the Japanese are SOO AAWESSOMEE!!!11.
megaStryke @ May 24th 2007 4:04PM
Aside from Naruto, who has a grating voice in any language, the voice acting in that show is just fine. Show me this "piss-poor" acting in this show. I would love to see it. They did a fantastic job matching the characters when the switch to English was made, even Naruto who, like I said, was always SUPPOSED to be an annoying brat.
Hikaru @ May 24th 2007 4:15PM
YEah..seeing ninja in Japan speaking English...
YEah...hearing "don't die Sasuke!!" like Sakura is reading unemotionally a letter...
あなたのばかか?
にほんごすごいです!11!!1
megaStryke @ May 24th 2007 4:19PM
No, I'm not stupid, and no, Japanese doesn't always mean the show is better than if it were in English.
Hikaru @ May 24th 2007 4:25PM
lol you are a funny person, so, you mean that if your native language is not English and you don't speak it, you'll like more a movie like Lord of the Rings or one that you like dubbed in your language?
Hikaru @ May 24th 2007 4:27PM
BTW, you speak Japanese or you just translated it?
Because if you know, I don't see why then you defend Japanese to English dubs.
WizarDru @ May 24th 2007 6:34PM
"YEah..seeing ninja in Japan speaking English..."
Why do I have the feeling that you'd find ANY English version to be unacceptable? And for the record, Naruto doesn't take place in Japan....it takes places in a fantasy world with fantasy kingdoms who's setting just happens to be modern. It no more reflects Japan accurately any more than Avatar: The Last Airbender.
While I wouldn't paint Naruto's English dub as the best I've ever heard, it's a far cry from being bad and light years from being the worst I've ever heard. If you think it's truly terrible, then you really haven't heard that many dubs in the past 30 years like I have.
megaStryke @ May 24th 2007 4:31PM
I took a couple of years of courses. That's a non-issue though. I watch shows in both languages and sometimes I find the English voice acting to be on the level or superior. Is that difficult to fathom? Hell, Hideo Kojima admits that he likes the voice acting in the English versions of Metal Gear Solid games better than in the Japanese games.
Hikaru @ May 24th 2007 4:37PM
Yeah, I'm not saying all the time is worse, but in Naruto's case I personally think it is, Metal Gear is a good example, Cowboy Bebop too, and others, anyways, maybe it is because English is not my language....
Mr Khan @ May 24th 2007 5:42PM
I happen to prefer English to japanese, just because i can understand the former opposed to the latter, and i don't (for animes i actually like) want my eyes distracted even for a second having to read and comprehend subtitles
megastryke is right, though, the Japanese terminology roughly translates to something vaguely equivalent to, "ya know," which is not used in the same expressive manner (indicate zeal) in English, they had to pick something
The bigger grievance is the fact that Toonami got Naruto, and not Adult Swim, where the show could have at least run with most of the Japanese level of violence/language intact
UltimateQ @ May 24th 2007 6:18PM
narutos voice is annoying in any language.
The reason people prefer to watch it in Japanese (with fan subtitles) is not specifically for the voices, but because we butchered the hell out of it to make it 'family friendly'.
There is less blood (not that there was a whole lot to begin with), there is several scenes or entire episodes missing; just because they decided it would not be suitable for younger viewers...
At least that is my opinion as to why the English dubs sub horribly.
UltimateQ @ May 24th 2007 6:19PM
english dubs suck horrible* typo fix
WizarDru @ May 24th 2007 7:07PM
The reduction of the violence isn't really a function of the dub, it's a function of the edit for Cartoon Network. The DVD sets have the episodes fully restored. And Adult Swim wouldn't get nearly the kind of ratings that Toonami commands.
The show is virtually unchanged from the Japanese version, with the exception of some minor changes. No name changes. No serious plot changes. Toning down some of the more serious violence (and having watched Kakashi's torture by Sosuke's brother, I'd hardly say it was massively toned down) makes it more marketable to a larger audience.
I understand some folks being discontent with the changes...but they didn't make it just for you.
Muu @ May 25th 2007 9:46AM
It might be 'good enough,' but I have to wonder how much extra it'd cost them to go from 'good enough' to 'damn good' voice actors. I was completely blown away by the Cowboy Bebop dubs; pretty much everything except for Spike's voice at times were dead-on.
Of course, it might just not be worth the cost difference. The talent in Japan must be ridiculously cheap (and they probably are, since most work at convenience stores, etc. on the side to pay the bills) considering how much extra fanservice work they put in, i.e. radio shows (most of which are done w/ no pay), drama CDs, events... which all go towards the goal of selling more of the ridiculously priced DVDs, and the many drama CD/character songs, as long as the momentum is still there.