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Ubisoft’s E3 2016 press conference started with a crazy Just Dance 2017 dance sequence, with Aisha Tyler taking the stage to host once again. It’s her fifth time hosting the Ubisoft conference. Tyler started with some jokes, including jokes about Ubisoft paying her in wine and sarcasm (because they’re French).
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Ubisoft turns 30 this year, so they should have a fun presentation.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands was up next, with a new cinematic trailer.
The cinematic trailer talks about giving people a choice, and shows action including a drone, vehicle chase, and of course some excellent gunplay.
“In Bolivia, the cocoa leaf is core to the culture,” Ubisoft’s Dominic Butler said. In this world, a cartel has turned this Bolivia into a cocaine hub of the world, and it’s up to you and the Ghosts to take him down.
Butler then introduced gameplay from the new title, with the Ghosts having a tactical extraction mission. The player goes into a building after scoping it out, kills a couple cartel members and gets intel on where their target is. His teammate picks him up in a helicopter, and you can switch from passenger to helicopter view back and forth on the fly. Switching to the other Ghosts, they all set up a rendezvous.
From there, they look to take a compound where their target, El Pozolero is hiding. They use drones to scout the area, even flying it into buildings. The Ghosts constantly communicate with one another, and have to constantly work together to make their mission a success. The target spots them and gets away in an SUV. A chase ensues, taking them all over the map. One of the Ghosts gets to the chopper to provide some air support.
Ghost Recon Wildlands is coming March 7, 2017.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole was next, with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone coming out on the stage. This time, the kids are playing superheroes, and you’re the new kid again. Gameplay was shown, with Cartman as the Coon berating you constantly. You choose your superhero class and powers from a dozen different classes.
“There’s more of defining your character,” as is wont for superheroes, Parker said.
They showed Cartman giving the player character his tragic backstory, which you play through – your character saw your parents having sex. The kids yell at Cartman for being dumb. There’s a LOT of swearing in the game, tons of F bombs.
They talked about new additions to combat, including space and time. You can move around the battlefield for a better tactical advantage, and the superpowers are pretty crazy. “Now your farts are so powerful, you can use them to rip through space and time itself. You can re-arrange the turn order so you can gain an advantage.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole will come with The Stick of Truth for free, on the same system, PC, PS4, Xbox One. It hits stores December 6, 2016, and if you pre-order it through the Ubi store, you get your copy of Stick of Truth immediately. A trailer was shown, as the kids talk about how they’ll make their own superhero franchise and make billions of dollars.
The kids fight and declare a civil war, as they’ll split up. Oh man, PC Principal is in it!
Tyler came back on stage to introduce The Division, for news about its updates and DLC. The Underground DLC is out at the end of this month. “We have a little surprise for you,” as well. They are putting Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, and Rainbow Six outfits in the game – you get them via Ubisoft Club when Underground hits.
The next expansion is called “Survival,” and a trailer was shown for it. There’s a terrible blizzard, and it causes a lot of problems for you and The Division. This blizzard expansion looks… cool.
VR was up next, with Eagle Flight, the game designed to give you the experience of flying like an eagle. To the sea?
Carsten Myhill of Ubisoft Montreal came out to commentate on the three versus three multiplayer demo. It’s a first for E3, having a live VR multiplayer demo. The map is Paris, and it’s a capture the flag type game… with rabbits. The eagles can shoot out little energy scream bursts to attack each other. It’s coming to Oculus Rift and “all the other VR platforms this fall,” Tyler said.
Ubisoft Redstorm’s David Votypka came out on stage next to talk more about VR with their new Star Trek VR experience.
In the trailer, several Star Trek actor alums including Karl Urban, Levar Burton, Jeri Ryan, all played the game, and they were truly amazed by the experience. Each player in a multiplayer game plays a different bridge position, like Captain, Engineer, Tactical.
Burton got really into the experience. They did battle and escaped at Warp speed. Star Trek: Bridge Crew is a multiplayer VR game coming Fall 2016 to all VR platforms.
The actor came out on stage after the trailer to talk about the new game live. “We use our imaginations so much when you’re on the set. You’re operating the console, and it’s not connected to anything. You don’t have to imagine in this game. You are existing in a completely rendered environment. You’re on the bridge of a starship and you’re with your friends.”
He said that it’s especially a blast getting to work together to complete missions. He fell right back into the lingo of the game, and said he’d bring Tyler to his house to play the game with Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner. Unfair.
The next game trailer showed a massive earthquake destroying a medieval village. “It came without warning. Doom came to us all.” a lone soldier walks through muck, finds a puddle of water and goes to drink in it. He’s a viking. A samurai and a knight come to the same puddle, circling each other, then starting to fight. The fight increases with more and more characters added to the map, and now it’s all out war. After a massive battle and lots of death, an archer shoots one of them. “I bring war” says a female voice. This is For Honor.
A live gameplay demo followed, as a Viking cut his way through a village. He winds up face to face with the Samurai leader of the village, and has some stiff one-on-one combat that shows guard breaking, alternate angles for attacks, and some brutally bloody slashes that got the crowd going.
For Honor releases February 14, 2017. Happy Valentine’s Day.
Grow Home is getting a sequel, as that little red robot returns for a new adventure, Grow Up. Check out the trailer above.
Ubisoft announced a new Trials and Blood Dragon mashup, and it’s as predictably insane as that sounds. It’s, appropriately, called Trials of the Blood Dragon. Got a huge pop from the crowd – it’s out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Producer Frank Marshall was next on stage to talk about the Assassin’s Creed movie. “I’m always looking for a good story, and Assassin’s Creed has all the elements for a great movie.” He wanted to respect the games, but do something new, with a new story and new characters. It was a “massive production,” shot in four different countries. He praised Justin Kurzel’s directing and the way they created the world.
Marshall brought a new behind-the-scenes video, including some new footage from the movie.
In it, star Michael Fassbender specifically says the movie will deal with Assassins and Templars – the first actual message of Templars in the film (though it was obviously implied by the presence of Abstergo and the entire history of the game’s world). He and Kurzel both talk about the already cinematic world of the games and bringing that to life.
Before Tyler could introduce the next game, the screen suddenly got “hacked.” Yeah, it’s Watch Dogs 2 time. After a short propaganda-style video from DedSec, we see San Francisco, and our new protagonist, Marcus. Check out that gameplay demo here. Sony Pictures plans to make a Watch Dogs movie! The Watch Dogs 2 portion ended with the trailer.
Finally a new IP called Steep was announced, an open world action sports game. Live gameplay followed the trailer – it’s like SSX merged with an MMO and all sponsored by Go Pro.
