i-am-alive posts

The 2010 edition of E3 has been over for a week now but we are still recovering from checking out all of the titles that we saw at the Los Angeles Convention Center. There were also lots of games that were there we didn't get to see unfortunately. But most importantly of all were the games we know are being made but still didn't make it to the show.

E3 is unquestionably the single biggest event in the game industry but for a variety of reasons some highly anticipated PC titles were not even shown in trailer form at the event. So which games went missing? We just happened to have created a handy list of titles that we think could have made an appearance of some type at the show.

Last time Ubisoft announced the release date plans for I Am Alive, the disaster-themed action game was being delayed to sometime in the publisher's 2010-2011 fiscal year that begins on April 1, 2010. Now IGN is reporting another delay that will keep the game from being released until sometime in the next fiscal year that begins on April 1, 2011.

The game was first announced in July 2008 but has had a troubled development history. In 2009, Ubisoft made a game change and pulled the title away from its original developer Darkworks. Now under development at their internal Shanghai studio, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated during this week's financial conference call, "It will use the Splinter Cell engine. We think it can become a very good quality product."

Ubisoft had some bad financial news come in today but that wasn't the half of it. The publisher also announced today that they were pushing back the release dates for several of their upcoming titles including one that has already seen its share of delays.

We are talking about Splinter Cell Conviction, the latest game in their Tom Clancy branded stealth action game series. Originally announced way back in 2007, the game went into stealth mode for a few years before getting a big re-reveal at last June's E3. Ubisoft said at the time that the game would finally be released this fall but today the company revealed that it would now be released in the first quarter of 2010.

In addition to the latest Splinter Cell Conviction delay, Ubisoft has also announced that two games that were due for release in the first quarter of 2010 would also be pushed back. The disaster action game I Am Alive and the next game in the Ghost Recon military shooter series will now be released sometime in Ubisoft's next fiscal year which begins on April 1, 2010.

Ubisoft is hanging in there with some mostly solid financial results for the France-based game publisher. Today the company announced their that full fiscal year sales results (for the year ending March 31) came in 14 percent above the previous year's results. Sales for the fourth quarter were 206 million euros, down from the 217 million euros recorded from the same time period a year ago but still in line with previously announced expectations for the period.

Ubisoft said sales of its new Tom Clancy game brand HAWX, which shipped in March, matched its expectations of 1 million total unit sales. This coming quarter is a bit light on releases with only Day of Discovery (also known as Anno 1404) and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood due for the PC for the current quarter that ends on June 30. As a result Ubisoft expects the quarter to have sales that are 44 percent lower than the same period a year ago.

However, the company is prepping for a big holiday 2009 season which will include releases like Assassin's Creed 2, the long-delayed Splinter Cell Conviction and the game adaptation of James Cameron's sci-fi movie epic Avatar. Other games that are scheduled for release sometime in the current fiscal year are the RTS game R.U.S.E., the action game I Am Alive, and a unnamed new game in the Ghost Recon military shooter series. Unfortunately no mention was made of Beyond Good and Evil 2, the sequel to the acclaimed action-adventure game that Ubisoft first announced nearly a year ago at their last Ubidays event.

Darkworks, the French-based game developer who made the survival horror title Cold Fear for Ubisoft a few years ago, had been working on some time on the still mysterious disaster-action game I Am Alive. Now it appears that things are a-changin. While the game is still being made, Ubisoft has pulled Darkworks off the title.

A post on the Darkworks web site has the complete Ubisoft statement without any other comment: Here is is in full:

In order to respect the new launch date for this ambitious title, and Darkworks having other obligations, we have mutually decided to complete development of I Am Alive at Ubisoft Shanghai, as the two studios have collaborated on aspects of the title over the past year.

The team at Darkworks has respected its contractual obligations on the project and will be a part of the success of the game when it launches.

The sparse Darkworks web site gives no clues as the the "other obligations" mentioned in the Ubisoft statement. Originally planned for a March 2009 release date, I Am Alive is now scheduled for release sometime in Ubisoft's 2010 fiscal year which begins on April 1, 2009.

Not every game publisher is hurting for money in this economic climate. French-based Ubisoft announced its latest financial results for the quarter that ended December 31. Revenues were 508 million euros, almost 13 percent higher than the same period a year ago and slightly higher than what the company predicted previously. Some games like Far Cry 2 sold well in this period but others such as the new Prince of Persia revamp performed below Ubisoft's expectations.

The company also updated its release schedule, once again confirming a PC port of Tom Clancy's EndWar and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. before the end of their fiscal year (on March 31). However they also confirmed that the action game I Am Alive, which just a couple of days ago was also targeted for a March release, has slipped back into the company's next fiscal year which begins on April 1.

That next fiscal year is already looking promising with Ubisoft saying that Assassin's Creed 2, the long delayed Splinter Cell Conviction and a new Ghost Recon title are all scheduled for release sometime in that year. The movie-based game James Cameron's Avatar is also due for release in that time frame as are other unnamed games including all new franchises.

Ubisoft's upcoming release schedule has just thrown nearly everyone a curve ball as Eurogamer reports that the first person action game I Am Alive, previously thought of as a console exclusive, will also be coming to the PC. Even more bizarrely, Eurogamer reports the game will be coming out at the end of March.

I Am Alive was first revealed back in July at E3. The press was shown a CGI trailer to showcase the game's setting of a city that has been rocked by a massive disaster and one man's journey inside it. That's pretty much all the info Ubisoft has revealed about the game, which is being created by developer Darkworks (their last game was the survival horror title Cold Fear). Hopefully Ubisoft will step up the promotion of I Am Alive before its release.