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.
According to their website, much of Ubisoft's technical support staff has taken this weekend off in observation of Good Friday and Easter. That's all well and good -- but perhaps, when they aren't draining Cadbury eggs or enjoying fine roasted hams, just one of them could take the time to Google their latest release, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, and discover that a good portion of the console gaming world is ready to swear off all things Clancy.
Our tip box has exploded with complaints from owners of the PS3 version of the game -- apparently, a majority of those who try to play online either can't connect or have to suffer staggering amounts of lag. We'd expect a bandwidth epidemic such as this to be patched post-haste -- we guess Ubisoft didn't anticipate we'd actually want to play their game on the first weekend of Eastertide. What, did they think those terrorists would hunt themselves?
It seems Tom Clancy's latest visit to Las Vegas has yielded strikingly similar results to his 2006 outing: Lots of jumping out of helicopters and being shot at by ambidextrous bandits. Some people like that sort of thing, however, and reviews of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 suggest that Ubisoft's second trip down the strip is just for them. This is your last chance too -- the next Vegas game is that one starring Kevin Pereira.
Eurogamer (70/100): "Overall, Vegas 2 feels like an incremental expansion, despite the success of the character-creation feature. The annoying thing is that with a bit more investment these quickfire sequels would feel like true follow-ups, which would go a long way with those of us who've been following the series for the past ten years. As it is, we'll still go to Vegas, but we'll be grumpy on the way home."
IGN (84/100): "The gameplay in Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is awesome; it just isn't as awesome as it was 18 months ago. The main complaint that most gamers are sure to have with RSV2 is that it's simply too similar to the game that we played late in 2006."
Videogamer.com (80/100): "While Rainbow Six Vegas 2 feels more like an add-on than a proper sequel, that shouldn't stop you picking Ubisoft's latest up. The gun-play is excellent, the production values are top notch and the multiplayer game modes will keep you coming back months down the line."
One of our favorite things about Rainbow Six: Vegas was the multitude of weapons a player could choose from while outfitting their digital soldier. With varying levels of kickback, damage, ammo capacity, and accuracy, each weapon felt like a unique character, and diehard followings sprung up behind many of the game's realistic firearms.
For some reason, watching this gameplay footage for Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 gives us a pretty powerful sense of déjà vu. Either our surreptitious digital overlords just changed something in the Matrix, or we've seen this game before. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you -- we loved the original Vegas, and we're definitely not asking them to reinvent the wheel. But in the first batch of gameplay videos for a sequel, we want to see new, fresh features -- like that revamped Persistent Elite Creation system, or that unlikely (but potentially awesome) boss fight against Mantecore, the white tiger that was responsible for Roy Horn's near-shuffle off this mortal coil.
Eurogamer reports that Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will be shooting up casinos and terrorists before you know it, as Ubisoft has confirmed a March 21st release date for the game.
Vegas 2 will feature numerous improvements over the first Nevada-centric Rainbow Sixgame, including an improved reward system, online co-op, sprinting, and destructible cover. We're assuming March 21 is a worldwide release for the game, although we will confirm with Ubisoft whether that date pertains to North America as well as Europe.
Ever since the first lackluster trailer was revealed at the 2007 Spike TV VGA's, we've been curious about the direction which Ubisoft is taking our favorite terrorist-hunting franchise, Rainbow Six: Vegas. Sure, we've been promised that that Vegas 2 will improve on the mechanics of the Vegas the first, but we haven't heard much about the storyline for this "part prequel, part sequel".
The newest trailer for the game still doesn't tell us about the subject of Six's Sin City romp, but it does drop a few vague clues. For instance, most of the trailer takes place in a large concert hall. Can we expect to rescue a helpless Celine Dion from a pack of disgruntled Cirque du Soleil performers? We can only hope, as this would provide the greatest video game soundtrack since Revolution X -- but it's a fairly unlikely scenario. Ah, well. Our hearts will go on.
In one of the more joyful miscommunications of our gaming times, turns out that the Rainbow Six Vegas Black Pack, which spontaneously went missing after being on the marketplace for 800 MS points, was supposed to be free. Yup, you read that right. It "was originally intended to be free content for the fans of Rainbow Six Vegas" according to Major Nelson. All players who purchased will be reimbursed automatically in 8 to 10 weeks. That's a bit long, but we keep hearing that word free and all anger just melts away. The Black Pack will be back on June 30, with the Red Pack being offered for free as "appreciation" on July 6. Now that's what we're talkin' about! For those who purchased the pack, please make sure your account info is up to date so Microsoft can reimburse you properly.
Well, that's a pleasant surprise ... and we were just joking when we said we'd "like to think that Ubisoft was so racked with guilt over charging $10 for five maps (when that amount previously got you five maps and two new modes) that they pulled it." Turns out, they were. So much so that they offered the same content that is already available in the PS3 version of the game for free. That word just doesn't get old. Don't forget to download your free Wii browser while you still can. Free, free, freediddy, free.
So, the Rainbow Six Vegas Black Edition DLC really did appear on Xbox Live. It was brief, but it was there. But now, as you have already found if you've attempted a download over the past day or so, it is most certainly not there. The good Major offers little help on his blog, saying only: "This has been pulled. I'll let you know when it makes a return." Wow, cryptic.
There are, of course, plenty of delightful theories as to why the pack pulled a Judy on Family Matters. Some think that it got on to Marketplace too early, some think a critical bug was discovered. We like to think that Ubisoft was so racked with guilt over charging $10 for five maps (when that amount previously got you five maps and two new modes) that they pulled it. We admit that's not really likely. We'll be sure to update this post when it triumphantly returns.
New game modes and multiplayer maps comprise the first downloadable content pack for Ubisoft's first-person terrorist foiler, Rainbow Six: Vegas. Eurogamer reports that the Player's Pack Red Edition should find its way onto the Xbox Live Marketplace before the end of March. Of the two new gameplay modes, Assassination sounds like it could provide for some tense moments. One team must protect and escort a fragile and likely paranoid VIP to an extraction point, while the opposing team attempts to make said very important person a very dead one instead.
Total Conquest, on the other hand, is closer to King of the Hill, except with royalty being ordained by three seperate radar installations. As for the added multiplayer maps, two are altered versions of existing levels, namely Border Town and Killhouse, and three are brand new. These include "Doscala Restaurant," "Marshalling Yard" and the extraordinarily descriptive "Roof," which is actually a coffee factory crawling with terrorists and, you know, brewing up trouble. (OOF!)
Ubisoft has not yet appended a price tag to the content, but our expectations are set between 800 points ($10) and 1200 points ($15). Player's Pack Red Edition is currently exclusive to the Xbox 360 version of Rainbow Six: Vegas.
This ain't your Xbox's Rainbow Six, but Wired's GameLife was impressed by Gameloft's version of Rainbow Six Vegas for the mobile platform -- at least for the duration of a 10-minute play session. The first two stages featured some variety, including a sniper task (pictured) and then a casino assault. GameLife noted that the second stage worked particularly well because players simply control a cursor; it's essentially a point-n-click action game.
Gameloft has a lot of experience developing mobile games, including 11 previous Tom Clancy titles. Last summer, the company was named the 'Best Mobile Games Studio' at the Develop Conference & Expo.
The Frag Dolls won their first pro-circuit event last night, beating "The Unknown" to earn first place in the 4v4 Rainbow Six Vegas competition at Winter CPL. Aside from being the Frag Dolls' first big victory, it appears that this is also the first time an all-female team has won a (co-ed) pro-circuit tournament. Valkyrie, Seppuku, Calyber, and Psyche (all pictured) proved to be the winning combination for the Ubisoft-sponsored team.
Rainbow Six Vegas' voice chat issue, along with a scrolling list of additional bugs, have been patched up with today's arrival of the promised auto-update. The severity of some of these issues has drawn sharp criticism from players, some of whom have given up on Vegas. With the patch deployed, will they return?
Ubisoft would do well to learn from Capcom's recent exercise, when the company released a multiplayer demo of Lost Planet early enough to receive feedback from fans and correct issues in time for the game's launch. Sure, Vegas hasn't been on the market for long, but three weeks is enough time to sour our perceptions.
Ubisoft has released a list of some 36 gameplay issues that will be addressed in an upcoming Rainbow Six Vegas patch, including the now infamous voice chat bug. This latest development adds to the growing concern that console titles, particularly their online modes, are being governed by a 'ship now, fix later' mentality.
Who will protect us from such lax development standards?
Rainbow Six Vegas: the other Unreal Engine 3 shooter.
Vegas will no doubt live in Gears' shadow this holiday, but series' followers know that Rainbow Six offers its own brand of 'thoughtful' combat. Indeed, it's the team-based multiplayer that will propel Vegas up the Xbox Live popularity chart. Rainbow Six is back.
Game Informer (95/100) - "While the single-player mode is great, the multiplayer may be the best thing to come to Xbox Live since Halo 2 ... the best addition in the game, though, is without a doubt the four-player co-op. You and three of your friends can now experience the entire single-player campaign together as one Rainbow Six squad. Note to game developers: Every first-person shooter should feature this mode from this day forward."
Games Radar (90/100) - "Deathmatch-style modes do exist and are definitely entertaining, but it's team play -- much like in the single player campaign -- that will keep you coming back ... the game's greatest feat is adding strategy to the first person shooter and getting the player -- whether working alone or with others -- to occasionally stop, forget about the gun and just think."
1UP (85/100) - "There can be no doubt that the reception of Rainbow Six Vegas will be somewhat tainted by the release of Gears of War. While the two games are very different stylistically, they share some fundamental gameplay mechanics, and both suffer from the same problem: namely, bland-but-competent online gameplay."
