maniaplanet posts

After releasing a short and dark teaser trailer a few weeks ago, Ubisoft has finally released a full trailer for Trackmania 2 Canyon, the next game in developer Nadeo's racing game series. The trailer shows off a massive improvement in graphics for the game while still having the huge open air jumps, upside down loops and more that was a staple of the original Trackmania games.

Ubisoft has also issued a press release announcing that closed beta testing for Trackmania 2 Canyon will begin sometime in July. The game will include the map editor and other tools that will also be a part of the entire Maniaplanet service that was first announced last June at E3. The first person shooter game, Shootmania, will enter beta testing "in the coming months" while the RPG game Questmania will have its beta test "at a later date."

It's been nearly a year since Ubisoft announced plans for ManiaPlanet, an umbrella title for developer Nadeo's three planned PC games. The first was supposed to be Trackmania 2, the full sequel to their popular racing game with a beta test planned by the end of 2010.

Obviously Nadeo missed that timetable but today on the official ManiaPlanet forums the development team finally released the first real screenshot from Trackmania 2. While there's still no clear word on when the beta for the game will begin the fact that the team is releasing screenshots means that there is finally progress.

[Via Blue's News]

Last June at E3, Ubisoft's press conference announced its plans for Maniaplanet, its PC exclusive platform from developer Nadeo that included the upcoming racing-puzzle sequel Trackmania 2. A beta test for Trackmania 2 was supposed to start in the fourth quarter of 2010 but as you can see that date has come and gone.

Now in a post on Maniaplanet's official forums a Nadeo rep gives a tiny news update, stating, "At the moment, the news can start in March and the latest it can start is April. I am trying to make everybody ready for the new adventure of maniaplanet, and it takes a lot of time." Apparently some of the delay can be attributed to the development team moving to new offices." Ubisoft's next financial report is due to be announced next week and perhaps the publisher will give more info on Maniaplanet's status.

For the past few days we have been going over our most anticipated PC games in the next 12 months in the first person shooter, action, RPG-MMO and strategy genres. But there are a lot of games that just don't fit comfortably in those categories. But that doesn't make them any less notable in our eyes. Also there are some games that we missed out on writing about in our previous parts of the series.

Today is the conclusion of our most anticipated PC games feature of 2011. Today's list includes a number of racing games along with some sim titles, adventure games and indie titles. As with our previous articles these games are listed in order of their planned release dates but those dates can, and usually do, change with little notice.

Every year we are surprised by the number of games that manage to be released. But there are always PC game titles that are announced and then pretty much disappear from view. These are the games that Big Download puts the label "Vaporware" On. Unlike other such web sites, we consider vaporware to be any PC game that was announced, lots of time with much hype, only to go into a cave with little to no info revealed about the game at all.

That's why you won't see games like Diablo III or even Duke Nukem Forever on this list. Yes, they are taking a long time to be completed but at least the development teams behind them have shown the game off in playable form in the past year and it looks like they may actually be released. But that's not the case with most of the games on our new 2010 PC game vaporware list. While they may all finally come out of their shell, we have no idea when that will be at this point.

So which games made our top 10 list this year? Check after the jump to find out for yourself. Just be careful: It's dark in there.

Ubisoft's latest financial report is the definition of the term "mixed". The France-based game publisher reported that revenues for the first six months of its current fiscal year (which ended on September 30) came in at 260 million euros, up 57 percent from the same period a year ago. However the company still recorded a net loss of 89.8 million euros for the time period compared to a loss of 52 million euros from the same period a year ago. Ubisoft stated it had lower than expected sales for its RTS game R.U.S.E. as well as the console version of H.A.W.X 2 (the PC version was released just a few days ago).

Ubisoft also said it took a one time 62.1 million euro charge for a reorganization of its studios which it said "resulted in the termination of certain projects". The report didn't name any specific games as being cancelled. In another part of the financial report it said there have been "team reductions" at some studios while others have seen team increases. Overall Ubisoft said it currently has 6,200 employees compared to a year ago when it had 6,400 team members

Last June at Ubisoft's E3 press conference, the publisher made an out-of-left-field announcement as it revealed plans for ManiaPlanet, a PC-specific platform that would allow gamers to make and share content for three genres. ManiaPlanet is an outgrowth of Ubisoft's 2009 purchase of Trackmania developer Nadeo.

The E3 press conference said that ManiaPlanet would begin in the fourth quarter of 2010 with beta testing of Trackmania 2, the first full sequel to Nadeo's popular racing game. Since the announcement there's been little word on the status of the game or of ManiaPlanet as a whole. In a recent forum post on the ManiaPlanet message board a Nadeo rep wrote, "the only news I can give is that we are moving forward and that maniaplanet is shaping well." The rep also seemed to hint that the Trackmania 2 beta will likely be pushed back, stating, "from the E3 video, the target is Q42010, and I think it would still be feasible in term of code but to be as efficient as possible on many topics, we will probably take more time before the betas."

Big Download has now come to the end of its coverage of E3 for its 2010 installment. We went to cover and for the first time to film tons of activities at or near the Los Angeles Convention Center. We saw some good game demos, saw some that, well, didn't wow us and saw some really odd stuff along the way.

While other web sites and media outlets like to give out awards to games at the show, our philosophy is that giving awards like "Best RPG" to unfinished products is a little silly, especially since very often the final game doesn't turn out as well as its E3 demo. So as we did last year, we are giving awards in categories that are a little different and also showcase what it's actually like to attend the event for those of you who can't go. As always we hope you like it.

Want to see all the PC gaming highlights from the E3 2010 press conferences? Big Download has you covered in one convenient video. Here are the PC highlights from yesterday. Be aware that some of the games shown are not meant for younger viewers.

Addendum:

Users can sign up for the EA Gun Club at gunclub.ea.com. Owning Battlefield Bad Company 2 and pre-ordering Medal of Honor will make you eligible for access to the Medal of Honor multiplayer beta this Thursday.

Ubisoft premiered a light gun game (think Laser tag) called Battle Tag. Although it's technically not a video game, a computer is used to keep score and acts as a moderator while players run around blasting each other with real light guns that require virtual reloading and can be programmed for a variety of game modes. Each Battle Tag kit includes two guns and two sensor vests. Games support up to four players at a time. No pricing was announced.

A game codenamed Project Dust also premiered at the Ubisoft press conference. Not much information has been revealed about the project other than it's expected to be the spiritual heir to Populous. Players choose among different factions to control elemental powers and use them to deform and reshape the landscape in real-time.

Lastly, Ubisoft wants you to feel better as you game. Innergy, which premiered at the Ubisoft press conference, comes with a heart rate monitor that slips onto the index finger. By performing exercises based on your individual heart rate, you can ultimately reduce stress for a longer, healthier life. This and other games represent a collection that Ubisoft calls "Games you can feel" - the company's theme for this year's E3.

Check out the highlights from Episode 2
Check out the highlights from Episode 3
Check out the highlights from Episode 4

A while back Ubisoft announced that it had purchased the French game developer Nadeo, the creators of the Trackmania racing game franchise. Today at their Ubisoft E3 2010 press conference it was announced that Nadeo is working on not just a game but a whole platform that will let people make their own games.

The concept is called Maniaplanet and Ubisoft says it will let people not only use development tools to make content for Trackmania titles but also first person shooters (Shootmania) and RPGs (Questmania). Maniaplanet will be the online social link for these games with players sharing their user-generated content. It will begin late this year with the beta test of Trackmania 2. Shootmania's beta starts in the first quarter of 2011. No date was revealed for Questmania's launch.