“The debut E3 trailer set the graphical bar high for the Ubisoft developers, as far as current gen is concerned they get a pass but the 360 and PS3 ports have come under a lot of criticism.”

The initial sales figures suggest that Ubisoft hopes of a new franchise to add to their development rooster might come to fruition. Over 4 million copies sold in its first week, making the game the best-selling new IP at launch. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot commented last month that they hoped to sell as much as the first Assassin’s Creed title which sold more than 6 million copies. At the current rate of 4 million in a week Watch_Dogs should easily surpass any of Ubisoft’s predictions and with a WiiU release still to come in September. With such impressive sales and generally positive reviews there is no doubt that the Ubisoft heads will be cracking the whip for their Montréal development team to get back to work on a sequel. In fact last year the Head of Sales and Marketing at the company Tony Key made the comment “That’s what all our games are about; we won’t even start if we don’t think we can build a franchise out of it. There’s no more fire and forget – it’s too expensive.” in reference to the then in development Watch_Dogs. A statement that reflects Ubisoft’s current catalogue of games that are mostly made up of sequels or games based on existing properties. Nobody can really blame the publisher from taking a conservative approach when faced with new IP, video game budgets have increased tenfold in the last decade. The likes of GTA V costing Rockstar over $250 million, with the company relying on the games accumulated reputation to shift copies and recoup the costs. Even if Ubisoft have to take a hit financially on the first release with planned sequels the can account for the initial loses in the franchise.

“A small hitch in the games release as arisen over a bug that causes players to get stuck on the games loading screen. Uplay, Ubisoft’s digital distribution service is suspected to be at fault.”

In an interesting move the publisher has also tasked their film division Ubisoft Motion Pictures to start drafting up a film script for Watch_Dogs. It seems a little earlier to planning a movie adaptation for a series that is so new but then again they are already thinking of the long term plan for this would be franchise. Ubisoft have already made plans for all their other major franchises to get the silver screen treatment, the Assassin’s Creed movie gathering steam with a late 2015 release date announced and Michael Fassbender attached as the lead. The video game industry in fact is beginning to mirror their Hollywood counterparts in some respects. At the top end of the industry the big players favour content that will be able to offer them significant return over a long period of time as opposed to a quick flash in the pan. It would be hard to envisage the pitch session for Goat Simulator with the executives at EA or Activision and the publisher drawing out plans for the game as a franchise. Disney planning out a road map for their highly successful Marvel series of films right through to 2021. The big movie producers favour adaptions over original screenplay, the video game industry taking a similar stance.  At the other end of the scale the indie scene has exploded in popularity with new IP finding great success in what can be sometimes a swing and miss sector of the industry. For as many triumphs like Minecraft and DayZ there are there are ten times as many failures among them. The indie movie scene following a similar failure success rate among the films released over the last few years.  However the more important issue surrounding Ubisoft’s movie studio is will we finally see a decent video game adaption in the cinemas, the video game community doesn’t needs another Prince of Persia movie.

“The film is still in early pre-production with no indication of what role Michael Fassbender might be taking on; Altair, Ezio or Connor?”

Taking a look at some of the other major publishers, paints a similar picture with already establish IP getting the go ahead and financial backing. EA like Ubisoft seemed to have taken a gamble with new IP Titanfall, but then again is it much of a gamble when working with Vince Zampella a proven hit driven developer. No doubt EA have plans for Titanfall to be what Call of Duty has become to Activision with Zampella the man behind that particular franchise. The same could be said of Take-Two interactive and their new IP Evolve that is set to release later this year. Not so much a gamble with Turtle Rock at the helm, the same team that was behind the highly successful Left4Dead franchise. These games also seem to be perfectly suited for a host of DLC releases and eventually sequels. It is becoming rarer and rarer that a game will be made with a definitive end point. Modern video games are developed with the sequel in the back of the developers mind or at least at the top end of the industry. When a publisher is given a hit by one of their studios they always want more. The video game fans also playing a part in this, the community endless speculating on sequels and follow ups. With E3 just around the corner the rumour mill is in full effect and rampant speculation abounds.

“E3 could have seen the big revel of the next Assassin’s Creed game if it wasn’t for those pesky internet sleuths leaking the news early. No doubt they will still have a few tricks up their sleeves for the event”

Watch_Dogs wowed fans at E3 2012 and the anticipation for the game only intensified over the following two years. The game has amassed encouraging sales in its first week of release and is surely on its way to recouping the development costs. Ubisoft might have been criticized for making such bold claims about the games future over a year prior to its launch. Most developers and publisher have future vision for their new IP but to come out and state those claims so boldly is not so common. If the games follow up can build upon the original and maintain the fans attention than their maybe hope for the future of the franchise. If not certain Ubisoft executives might have to back track on their previous statements.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Watch Dogs Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“It’s off to the Caribbean to get into more scrapes with the dreaded redcoats and maybe hang out with some famous pirates along the way”

The first Assassin’s Creed game was released in 2007 and although some may have criticized its repetitive gameplay, it was a refreshing break in narrative content. Very few games look to spend so much development time on historical accuracy and creating a realistic interpretation of famous settings from the past. At the heart of it Assassin’s Creed can be seen as a series of Historical Anthologies, teaching its players about important people and events from the past. The series is now moving onto its sixth title with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, numerous mobile and handheld titles have also being released along the way. It has now become an annual affair with a new game out every winter. I have to wonder like another annually released game Call of Duty is the development process being hampered by their shorted development cycle. If you compare those series to one such as GTA that just recently had its seventh game in its series released last month. Rockstar have taken sixteen years to reach this point with each new title taking an average of 3-4 years in development. Both the Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed series having development cycles lasting half as much time. Does a longer development time mean that the studio will produce a better game, going by GTA V sales figures it would be safe to make the assumption that it does have some affect. Not that the other two don’t sell well, in fact it’s because of consumer demand that those series receive a new title every year. The question I’m looking to put forward is how much better would those series be if the development cycle was extended. Instead of each of the games looking very similar graphical and only adding a few additional gameplay feature to distinguish it enough from it predecessor, maybe a little more could be asked of the creators of the games. This can be illustrated by comparing the first Assassins Creed game with the second which was released two years later in 2009. The leap in graphics and gameplay demonstrates that when time is taken in the development process the game is generally better for it.

“Call of Duty has become slighty stagnant, the developers are gambling on dogs been the key to reviving the series”

There is of course some cases against such a theory Duke Nukem Forever being the prime example with an extraordinary long 15 year development cycle resulting in what was universally panned by most critics. The developers of the game 3D Realms took this theory a little too far with the games designers continually scraping the project and starting over until it was perfect. The problem was the longer they took the more outdated the gameplay and graphics became and thus they would have to start all over again. Eventually the studio went bankrupt and only for the last minute rescue of the IP by Gearbox Studios that the game ever saw the light of day, whether that was good thing or not. For years Duke Nukem took the title for Vaporware of the year, awarded for the game consistently missing its announced release dates. Another such current title that could soon be following in a similar path is Valve and their long awaited Half-Life 3. Valve again like 3D Realms have never being rushed when making their games in particular the Half Life series. Although Valve take their time with Half-Life 2 coming out six years after the original, they have garnered a well-earned reputation for producing some of the best games in the industry.

“The more valve hold off on annocing any details about the next game the more fans clamour for any shred of news”

It is unlikely that Ubisoft or Activision are going to stop releasing a new title for their respective cash cow franchises. However do gamers need to practise a bit more patient to give game designers more time to make better games? It is the gamer’s insatiable demand that has driven the current release schedules of such series with the pleas of over worked game developers falling on deaf ears. Do we need a Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed every year can’t we just have a break every so often. The video game industry releases more titles a year than ever before and a wide range of games available throughout the year, the choice of alternative is endless. Have gamers become junkies for certain titles with Call of Duty players getting withdrawals if they don’t get their annual fix and Battlefield 4 not enough to feed the habit.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Assassin’s Creed IV Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“Remember Me does not quite fit into the class of a triple-A title but will likely build a cult following”

Remember Me is classed as an action adventure stealth game, following a similar gameplay style like most games in that genre which entails a lot of running and jumping interspersed with quick time events and fast paced combo heavy combat. All staples for a fun and action filled romp through the streets and seedy underworld of near future Paris now renamed Neo-Paris. The story follows Nilin who is rebelling against the omnipotent Memorize Corporation that helps its Parisian citizens to upload and share their memories at the same time as erasing the bad ones. This leads down the obvious scripting path of an evil controlling company wiping memories in order to hold onto power and sending endless waves of mercenaries against any who oppose them. Memories are not only key to the plot of the story but feature as a unique gameplay element as well, the player can enter into the memories of the enemies in order to manipulate their behaviour with the outcome often leading to their death or use the mechanics to avoid or overcome impassable hazards. Like most games developed at this late stage in the current console generation the graphics hardware of the devices are being ringed out for every last pixel and you can’t go wrong with neo-noir style of graphics especially set with the backdrop of Paris which makes me wonder why it not used more as a settings for games (I’m still hoping for an Assassins Creed based around the French Revolution). The one problem that arises from its French setting is that the characters and voice actors are not Francophiles but British and American. Granted in a vast metropolis like Neo-Paris it may well be home to many Anglo-American citizens but if you’re going to go to the trouble of creating an amazing 3D visualization of near future Paris it might be idea to hire a few French voice actors especially since the development studio is based in Paris itself. I would argue maybe to go even further and have French speaking characters to give a fully immersive feel to the game, most gamers are capable enough of reading subtitles. That’s its one flaw and it’s one that is hard to criticize in an industry that is heavily biased towards the English speaking world. It features an original score by French composer Olivier Deriviere who composed the music with an orchestra and then re-recorded it using electronic instruments to tie into the cyberpunk feel of the game. All these elements should make for a relatively successful game but its release is poorly timed with the new consoles on their way and gamers eager to hear news from E3 next week of the new titles on offer at the launch of the Xbox One and PS4.

“New IP titles set to be released over the next several months”

Although it does seem like I’m suggesting that there is no hope for a new IP title to compete with the established franchises, but that’s not true as all of those games had to start out as gambles by their respective developers and publishers. It’s really the fast pace of current development cycles that have increased the pace at which games are produced with Assassins Creed and Call of Duty now becoming annual releases. Unique title may have to strain a little harder to be heard above the rest but there still is hope for the industry not to be a sea of carbon copy titles. At Microsoft’s recent press conference to announce the arrival of the Xbox One, Microsoft Studios announced they were in production of 15 new titles 8 of which were new IP. One of those titles will be Remedy Entertainment’s Quantum Break, the Finnish game developer is not known for resting on their laurels and have always looked to break new ground with new IP such as Max Payne and Alan Wake. With a new generation of consoles on the horizon the idea of risking the launch of new titles can seem too much of a gamble in favour of trusted best-selling series such as Call of Duty, which undoubted will sell a lot of new consoles with the release of their latest in the series Call of Duty: Ghosts. However Microsoft would be wise to remember that it was Bungie with their brand new IP Halo that helped make the original Xbox a success, many would also argue that Uncharted by Naughty Dog helped the PS3 retain a large share of the console market. For the latest generation of consoles it might fall to Ubisoft’s Watchdogs to be that stand out title or that mantle could be taken up by Bungie once again with their latest game Destiny. From an economical point of view it is easy to understand why publishers look to series like Call of Duty and Assassins Creed to provide them with a guaranteed return on their investment and with the industry taking a slight knock from the general global recessions, publishers are more wary of putting their money into projects that haven’t been proven on the market yet. Hopefully the financial gain generated by these established franchises will allow publishers to put those profits into funding start-ups and new IP and not let the industry fall stagnant.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Remember Me Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.