Money continues to pour into the House that Rayman built as Ubisoft announced fourth quarter sales growth of 10% to €217 million ($339 million). In addition, the company saw its wallet grow by an impressive 36.4% over the entire fiscal year ended March 31, 2008 by some €928 million ($1.45 billion) driven by "stronger than expected" sales of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (nearly two million units sold), Assassin's Creed(more than six million units sold), and titles from its casual "Games For Everyone" brands.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot called 2007-08 a "remarkable year" thanks to "excellent sales" of established brands and a "steady output of new releases...that have performed exceptionally well." Ubisoft also continues to work towards a sales target of €1 billion, or $1.42 billion, for 2008-09, while the exec set the bar high for his company going forward with an expected growth of "at least 15 percent" in the coming year.
Lastly, Guillemot boasted of a "particularly strong" line-up of titles in the year ahead, including seven existing franchises, five new releases, and a continued focus on bringing more casual games on the Wii and DS, one of which we think should be based solely around counting money.
Oh ... dear. This is exactly the sort of video the internet shouldn't be showing us. Does it not realize the colossal, sensory danger posed by a combination of two of our favorite franchises? Seeing the Assassin's Creed garb running around a modern environment is one thing, but when the mise en scène happens to feature Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay, we stop asking questions ("Where did this come from? Why is it so unrelenting in its awesomeness?") and start experiencing debilitating gleezures. That's glee + seizure, FYI.
In an attempt to address criticism aimed at the game's repetitive "investigation missions," Ubisoft has detailed (via IGN) some of the enhancements made to the PC version of free-roaming bump-off sim, Assassin's Creed. Four new types of missions will be added to protagonist Altair's premortem preamble, including "archer assassination," which tasks players with stealthily eliminating rooftop guards, and "escort challenge," an exercise in protecting a fellow (seemingly inept) assassin as he wanders to a specific location. Also new to the personal computer will be the rather impolite "merchant stand destruction challenge," a pastime that's sure to exude the same amount of subtlety seen in "rooftop race challenge." We're surprised Ubisoft didn't throw in some pizza delivery missions for good measure.
Still, considering the more diverse activities and enhanced guard AI (no more blending right next to a corpse!), PC gamers won't be waiting until "early April" without compensation. And just so you know, we never partook in all the assassin hate -- we liked the clambering and killing well enough to put it in our list of top ten games of last year.
We haven't heard much about the DS version of Ubisoft mega smash Assassin's Creed since we learned of its existence back in October, but we've finally had a little light shed on it by a GoNintendo reader who seems to have nabbed the game's box art. Click here for an embiggened version.
We're kind of intrigued by the "Explore a fully-rendered 3D world" part, and a bit perplexed by using the stylus to pickpocket items from unwitting targets. We're also a bit troubled by the name, Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles. We've learned through the years that "Good Game Title: Character Name's Story/Tales/Chronicles/Adventures" is almost always a recipe for sadness. Here's hoping this one proves us wrong.
If not worthy of a Top 10 spot, then certainly Pac-Man deserves Joystiq's 'Comeback Player of the Year' award. I covered Pac-Man CE'soverblown launch in early June, but it wasn't until I became a devoted player at home that I realized the sheer genius of the first true Pac-Man sequel since 'the Ms.' hit the maze in '82. Designer Toru Iwatani managed to scrape off a quarter-century of rust and fashion a remarkably relevant game that held me down during an otherwise punishing summer drought. Geometry Wars might be the most celebrated, but Pac-Man CE is Xbox Live Arcade's true star.
Ubisoft's hugely anticipated bump-off sim created quite the controversy, though oddly not for the stylish and quite visceral violence it so gleefully inflicted upon authority figures. Instead, Assassin's Creed (or Assassin's Crud, depending on who you ask) divided critics, with some being utterly engaged by the game's unique setting and others thinking the same environment to be remarkably empty. Count us among the former, as we've yet to see a bigger, more lavishly detailed and immersive world than the one dashed through, clambered up and vaulted over in Assassin's Creed.
The game's greatest design flaw may be that it's a bit too open-ended for its own good, refusing to overtly reward or punish players for behaving in a specific way. If you wish, you can spend a lovely afternoon playing Maniacal Guard Killer's Creed instead, carrying out your missions with all the stealthy maneuvering of a grand piano rolling down an escalator. Would it have been wiser for Ubisoft to beat you over the head every time you set off a medieval alarm and otherwise played the game "wrong?" Perhaps... but isn't the point of open-ended gameplay to let you choose your own path?
In many ways, Assassin's Creed is more of a role-playing game than most of the titles officially labeling themselves as such. When you play as Altair -- really play as him, as an assassin -- and measure failure according to your own actions and not what a Fission Mailed screen tells you, the game's intricate world becomes inescapably engaging. Learn about your target, plan your attack and revel in the absolutely thrilling chase that follows your murderous deed. Though the game's overall structure may seem repetitive in the face of such a believable world, the true magic in Assassin's Creed lies not in what you do, but how you do it.
Apparently the stories that a video game's parents tell it really are true: One game can make a difference!
In an inspiring story that's sure to be adapted into a Disney animated film (featuring the voices of Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and Robin Williams as the side-splitting "Ubi"), the sales of Assassin's Creed (at 2.5 million last week) may have been enough to save Ubisoft from EA's clutches.
Financial Times reports that strong sales of the game has helped Ubisoft increase its value to approximately $4.3 billion, meaning that it may just be too expensive of a pickup for EA at the moment. Of course, with the threat of Activision Blizzard looming, who knows how far EA will go to keep its market share?
Ubisoft announced that in the month since launch its love-it or hate-it epic Assassin's Creed has sold 2.5 million copies globally. The company said the title has "greatly outstripped" its sales expectation and the game is the fastest-selling new video game IP in US history. The company now expects to sell a minimum of five million copies of Assassin's Creed before the end of their fiscal year in March '08.
Ubisoft is also boosting its income expectation by 12%, it raised fiscal year projections by an extra €15 million to €840 million ($1.2 billion). The company also says that Tom Clancy's End War, Brothers in Arms and Far Cry 2 are scheduled for its next fiscal year beginning in April. Ubisoft plans to lay out its games portfolio for next year on Jan. 23, '08.
This week, rapid-fire ranter Yahtzee turns his verbal assassination skills on a game with a matching murderous motif, Assassin's Creed. Though Ubisoft's expansive bump-off sim has divided gamers and critics alike, Yahtzee picks a clear side by the end of this Zero Punctuation episode -- and it's not the one you might expect. Though he didn't approve of the combat or "wordy" dialogue (watch out, Mass Effect), it seems the Prince of Persia-esque platforming and non-linear "faffing about" convinced the man with the sweet hat to give the game an overall thumbs up.
Didn't see that coming, did you? Find the (NSFW) video proof after the break.
It's a jam packed edition of the cast this week, kids. First up, there's some hot Justin on Daffy action. Then, we explain why people who don't like Assassin's Creed are stupid. Then, we get an incredibly brief visit from the Silver Surfer himself, Doug Jones. Finally, all hell breaks loose with 360 dashboard update talk, the Brush With Fame and our new feature The Big Three. Also ... (shudder) ... Chocolate Log. Cast ahoy!
Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [Digg] Like the show? Digg it. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly
Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy
Joystiq reader Flynn tipped us off to a rather bizarre, er, "glitch" in Assassin's Creed where death is just another gateway to life ... twice. Think you're seeing double? (Or quadruple if you play both videos at the same time.) Well, you're right. Enjoy the video after the break.
Joystiq reader Flynn tipped us off to a rather bizarre, er, "glitch" in Assassin's Creed where death is just another gateway to life ... twice. Think you're seeing double? (Or quadruple if you play both videos at the same time.) Well, you're right. Enjoy the video after the break.
That's the conclusion reached by one Rob Cooper, the man in charge of both Ubisoft UK and the festivities following the triumphant debut of Assassin's Creed at the top of the UK charts. The ambitious bump-off bonanza became the third-fastest selling Xbox 360 game ever, a fact which Ubisoft sees as confirmation that we don't all want games with roman numerals and pretentious colon usage in the title. "I think the success worldwide of Assassin's Creed absolutely proves that new IP can live and prosper within the sequel and licensed based competition," said Cooper, speaking to MCV. "The industry is crying out for new and compelling content and we're delighted that AC has lived up to its expectations."
Sales expectations, perhaps, but whether or not the game itself delivered depends on who you ask and how myopic their viewpoints are. Don't bother asking us though -- we're too busy being medieval jerks.
With news slowed to a slight trickle and good games coming in a torrent, we're forced to veer from the typical format to talk about the games we've been playing. If you're looking for the secret, inside scoop on Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Rock Band, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men or a bevy of other titles, we've got it. Also, space lesbians, a Brush With Fame and blood balloons. It's a bargain at any price.
Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [Digg] Like the show? Digg it. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly
Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy
Ubisoft's parkour piece man sim, Assassin's Creed, has scurried to the top of the UK sales charts, bumping off Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in the process. GamesIndustry.biz reports that the Xbox 360 version gathered 67% of total sales, with the PlayStation 3 edition accounting for 43%62% the rest. The speedy commercial success also made Altair's anachronistic adventure the fastest-selling new IP since 2002's The Getaway.
In other fastest-selling title news, Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy managed a number five spot, flying off shelves faster than any other Wii title before it. But what of the games in-between the portly plumber and the murderous flag gatherer? The aforementioned Call of Duty 4 wound up in second place, The Simpsons Game in third and WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2008 in fourth.
Okay, seriously, what is this guy's problem? Nobody's bothering him. Nobody's even touching him. Yet for some reason the "hero" of Assassin's Creed just thinks he can push other people around.
Luckily for Altair, it's always funny to watch people get physically harassed for no reason. Tiny glitch in the "shoving past crowds" mechanic of the game? Most likely. Hilarious for its incidentally perfect comic timing? Most definitely. Just don't try this at your local mall.
