Ubisoft E3 2009

James Cameron explains it ALL

Besides the hustle bustle of booth babes on the show room floor, the press conferences are one of the biggest parts of E3.  And while all flock to the "Big 3" (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony) the more "sizeable" publishers also attempt to bring in the crowd by holding their own little press get-togethers.  Of the four that did (Ubisoft, EA, Konami, and Square Enix), Ubisoft was clearly one of the largest and most...er...extravagant of them all.  Ubisoft shocked many by carting out famous faces, including host Joel McHale (of The Soup) who clearly seemed out of his element amongst the goings on of the gaming convention, legendary footballer Pele who decided being a sports god was not as fun as making a video game, and of course, the prolific director of the highest grossing film of all time not adjusted for inflation, Mr. James Cameron, there to talk about the game version of his new film project Avatar (not  ": The Last Airbender").  

And did he talk...and talk...and talk in one long incredibly unbroken sentence moving from topic to topic so that no one had a chance to interrupt it was really quite hypnotic.  It was ten grueling minutes of Cameron monologuing about his new movie before he even mentioned the video game.  It was as if the entirety of the French-based development studio was too frightened to hold up a "finish it up" sign.  I now know why they invented the "your time is up" music at the Oscars.  James Cameron.

Besides jabbering James, Ubisoft did have plenty of games to talk about, including beloved IPs like the DaVinci powered Italian throat stabbing Assassin's Creed 2, the face-to-urinal introducing powers of Sam Fischer in Splinter Cell Conviction, and the cooky antics of the Raving Rabbids in Rabbids Go Home.  Ubisoft also dished on their followup to one of the worst Wii titles ever made with much improved looking Red Steel 2 as well as a curious battleship like game for the Microsoft Surface (you know, that thing that no one will ever own) called RUSE.  Ubi's lineup is clearly strong making it a big contender for king of the Lilliputian conferences, and with EA's demo-free performance at its own event, it seems a fairly certain ordination.  Check out a full video of conference and a reprint of my liveblog twitter feed after the jump.

Liveblog Twitter Feed

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:00] - Joel McHale starts off with Hollywood jokes...fail.

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:03] - I see the hook coming out of the side of stage, time to show some games Ubisoft...

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:09] - U-Play, an integrated support/profile network for Ubisoft products, been done

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:14] - James Cameron on the stage talking about Avatar (not that Avatar) and the game time in, is this a movie presscon?

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:25] - Dude, someone give James Cameron the "your out of time" light. We know you are excited about your movie.

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:31] - SHUT UP JAMES CAMERON! Seriously, we love your movies, but GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER.

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:34] - 15 minute recap of James Cameron. Avatar will rock, it will be in 3D, the game will rock, making Avatar is hard.

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:35] - Red Steel 2, let's hope they learned form the last time around. Now western themed, using Wii-motion-plus.

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:38] - Apparently "Mythical Desert" == Reaaallly hot + vultures. [Ubisoft Presscon 5:36] - No ingame footage, all clearly stylized CG, hopefully get a brief live demo?

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:40] - Impressive opening to gameplay, guy getting dragged behind a motorcycle through the desert.

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:42] - Sword play looks far more stylized, lock-on ability like Metroid, seems like lessons learned from Red Steel 1.

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:46] Shawn White snowboarding sequel for the Wii Balance board. Not too surprising.

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:50] - Haha, translation problems on the stage with Pele to promote Ubisoft's soccer Franchise. Oh E3...

[Ubisoft Presscon 5:57] - Trailer for Pele's soccer game looks to be very kid friendly and exclusively for the Wii? Tepid excitement???

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:00] - Splintern Cell Convction (Hobo Hero), "...games force stealth on you, making weak and slow."

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:01] - "SC:C will make a you a predator..." Sounds cool to me, can't tell if the trailer is the same one from MS conf.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:04] - Sam Fischer's daughter is dead, he's on the Island of Malta kicking butt and taking names -- aka "investigating"

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:06] Same demo as MS, I love the way they integrate the store as "film" projected on the environment.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:09] - When you dissapear, they highlight your "last known position" so you can see where baddies are headed and ambush.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:09] - New "Mark & Execute" gameplay lets you tag baddies and then jump up and take them out. More tactics, less twitch.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:11] - Similar thoughts from MS conf, far more action oriented, stealth is a tool not the primary gameplay. Looks great!!

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:14] - Cool Teaser of what looks like a battleship/army game RTS/Board game called RUSE. Wish it could use MS Surface.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:18] - Bing Bing Bing, we have a winner, first "PPT slide with numbers on it" award goes to Ubisoft!!

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:19] - "Imagine" (wha??) is a big "tween" selling third party franchise. Ah, I see, Ubisoft wants to out-stereotype EA.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:21] - Is it just me or am I the only one that thinks of "tween" as a pejorative term?

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:24] - The fastest growing market is...fitness? We are talking about video games, right?

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:25] - "Your Shape" to utilize the Xbox camera, or just "cameras" in general? Getting away from Wii-centric fitness.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:28] - Wah, wah, the game comes with its own camera, and will be for Wii this year.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:31] - "Rabbids Go Home" a new adventure game with the "Raving Rabbids" characters, not a party game, home == the moon.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:33] - Possible "Katamari" clone? Rabbids collect junk in a shopping cart to build a pile to get them to the moon.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:36] - Hilarious minigame, Rabbid stuck inside a Wii controller, various ways to abuse a bunny by shacking remote.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:38] - Hmm, I guess it's similar to Katamari in sprit, but clearly not quite the same.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:41]: Rabbids seem a little more "Gremlins" this time around.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:43]: As promised, the TMNT game, being produced by the developers of Super Smash Bros???

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:47] - Clearly very "Smash bros" like. LOL, Coo - ah - boonga, French people, you crack me up.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:50] - Here goes, Assassin's Creed 2!! Cooaboonga asside, the French pronunciation of Renaissance is amazing.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:52] - Trailer focussing on the "mask" element of stealth play, some wealth fat dude getting pwned at his party.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:53] Altair chasing down another guy through the streets of Venice, it looks like it's going to be all pre-renders.

[Ubisoft Presscon 6:57] - That's Ubisoft, few notches above EA but no Microsoft. Now for reals, see you tomorrow at 9AM for Nintendo.