Ubisoft's E3 2018 press conference wrapped up not too long ago, and it was quite the show. Ubisoft had a lot of announcements to make, giving some games we already knew about full reveals while announcing some others we weren't expecting. In all, Ubisoft's energetic press conference lasted right around an hour-and-a-half, and the publisher covered a lot of ground, so let's dive into the trailers from the show.
With games like Skull and Bones and Assassin's Creed Odyssey on the horizon for Ubisoft, you'd be forgiven if you forgot about its upcoming toys-to-life game, Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Starlink was first revealed back at E3 2017, and this year, it made another appearance. What we thought was just a new trailer quickly took an interesting turn, as Ubisoft revealed that a beloved Nintendo character will feature in the game.
Ubisoft's E3 2018 press conference is currently underway, and the company wasted little time in getting to one of its most anticipated games: Beyond Good and Evil 2. Ubisoft wowed fans when it debuted Beyond Good and Evil 2 during last year's show, and this year, it arrived at E3 with a fantastic new cinematic trailer. Unfortunately, the key detail that everyone has been waiting on - a release date - was nowhere to be seen.
One of the largest gaming trade shows of the year is nearly upon us. Though E3 2018 doesn't officially kick off until Tuesday, June 12, most major publishers will host press conferences packed with their biggest announcements ahead of time. Electronic Arts is leading the charge this year, unofficially kicking off E3 tomorrow, June 9. EA's show begins four days of announcements from big game publishers, and with so much happening in such a small amount of time, it can be hard to keep everything straight.
Ubisoft has decided to announce the next Assassin's Creed game, dubbed Assassin's Creed Odyssey, a little early. Though it was likely planning to have the game be a surprise announcement during its E3 2018 press conference in a couple of weeks, a leak yesterday outed the game before Ubisoft was ready. As a result, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is getting something of a rushed reveal, with the promise that we'll learn more at E3.
Consider this one a win for the avid fans of Rainbow Six: Siege. The game's player community became immensely frustrated after developer Ubisoft revealed on Thursday that it was raising the price of the two-year old Siege by $20 in order to account for new loot boxes, alongside doing way with the $40 Standard Edition of the title. Ubisoft has stated that it's heard the feedback, and will be keeping the cheaper version of the game around for new players.
Rainbow Six: Siege developer Ubisoft recently announced the game's next big event, "Outbreak," kicking off in the spring. However, this event, which has players teaming up to battle a mysterious infestation in a quarantined town, also comes with several controversial changes that have left the game's community upset and frustrated. Namely, the addition of cosmetic loot boxes, and a price increase for new players.
Though we should be accustomed to Ubisoft making strange reveals by now, that doesn't help make today's announcement feel any less out of the ordinary. Ubisoft has revealed Sam, a new AI Assistant that lives within the Ubisoft Club app. Like Google Assistant or Alexa, Sam is there to answer some of the questions you may have on a day-to-day basis, though his scope is fairly limited.
The VR action game Star Trek: Bridge Crew just lost its virtual reality requirement, Ubisoft has announced, saying the new non-VR option is arriving as a free update. Bridge Crew lets players experience the Star Trek universe in a virtual ship, taking on a particular role within that ship to help tackle obstacles and otherwise face various in-universe challenges. Until now, you needed a high-end virtual reality headset to play the game.
Mario + Rabbids will get a new "Versus mode" tomorrow, enabling players to challenge a friend on the same system in what is essentially a strategy game with big restrictions. Because of these restrictions (three available actions per turn, namely), players will need to think their moves out ahead of time, strategically using a three-character squad per game.
Ubisoft already has a fairly big 2018 lined up, but some of the titles planned for release next year have been hit with a delay. Today Ubisoft announced delays for two upcoming titles: Far Cry 5 and The Crew 2. Thankfully, neither of the two delays are all that massive.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole is up for preorder (again), and ahead of its release comes a surprise contest from Ubisoft: it wants fans to send in recordings of their farts. The contest is called 'I Am the Fart,' and it seeks a recording of 'the perfect fart,' one that will lead to the contest winner going to California to help produce the perfect in-game fart sound.