splinter-cell-conviction posts

Last week we reported that some players of Ubisoft's PC ports of Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction could now play the game without having to be always connected to the internet. Now a rep for the publisher has told Shacknews that some of its recent PC titles have been "patched out" to allow the games to be players without a constant internet connection although they will still require such a connection in order to start.

This decision, however, is being done on a "case-by-case basis" according to the story. Upcoming PC games from Ubisoft (such as the PC port of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood) could still launch with the publisher's controversial DRM "always on" internet connection requirement.

Earlier this year publisher Ubisoft decided that it would make all of its current and upcoming PC game titles require an "always on" internet connection in order to be played. This DRM set up, which affected even single player-only games like the PC port of Assassin's Creed 2, was met with massive protests by PC gamers.

Now a story posted on Reddit by a gamer claims that the "Always On" requirement has now been relaxed a little bit. While PC gamers will still need to have an active internet connection to start any of the affected Ubisoft games, it looks like the internet connection can now be cut and active games can still be played. Previously if you lost your internet connection during play of titles like Splinter Cell Conviction your gameplay would be interrupted as well. We have emailed Ubisoft to find out if they have indeed relaxed their DRM PC game policies or if this is just a lucky technical glitch.

[Via Blue's News]

Steam's big holiday sale continues today with a new batch of price cuts for PC games from now until 1 pm Eastern time Sunday. In addition to today's Steam deals, GamersGate ends its daily sales event with Men of War Red Tide for just $5.49. Also the streaming PC game service OnLive has put several games on sale for as much as 75 percent off from now until January 2.

The games on sale today on Steam today are as follows:

Batman Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition - $7.50
Splinter Cell series - Save 50 percent off all games in the series or save 60 percent off of Splinter Cell Conviction if you own Splinter Cell Double Agent.
Red Faction series - save 75 percent off all games in series.
X Superbox (all games in the X space sim series) - $19.99
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - $29.99
Dragon Age series - save 50 percent off all games in series
Monkey Island Special Edition 1/2 - $3.75
Altitude - $2.49
Shank - $7.49
Flatout series - save 90 percent off all games in series
Civilization V - $37.49
Tropico 3 Gold Edition - $6

Ubisoft's relatively new Toronto development studio hasn't released one game yet but the head of the studio has some ambitious plans for the future. In a new chat with Develop, studio head Jade Raymond stated that the goal is to have up to 800 team members at the studio within 10 years.

While Raymond would not get into specifics, she did say, "eventually we'll be working on five" games when they have enough people. At the moment Ubisoft Toronto is working on two games with just 45 team members. One of the games will be the next title in the Splinter Cell series but details of that game have not yet been revealed.

Confirming earlier rumors, Ubisoft has now revealed via their latest financial press release that a Mac version of the developer's stealth-action game Splinter Cell Conviction is in the works. In addition the publisher also has plans to release a Mac port of its hit open world action game Assassin's Creed 2.

Both of the Ubisoft Mac ports are scheduled to be released to gamers sometime this quarter which means they are due out before September 30. Our question: Will the Mac ports also have Ubisoft's "always on" DRM set-up that are now a part of the publisher's PC game releases? We hope not.

Could Sam Fisher be heading over to Apple's side of the woods? That's what UK-based web site MCV is saying. The site has posted up word (with no sources listed) that Splinter Cell: Conviction, the latest game in the Ubisoft stealth action game series, will be released for the Mac platform on October 19.

If the story is true it will be first game in the series to be ported over to the Mac platform since the first Splinter Cell game was released for the Mac in 2004 by publisher Aspyr, two years after the game was first released for the PC in 2002

This patch for the retail version of Splinter Cell Conviction updates the game to v1.04 and fixes a number of minor bugs. A list of changes can be found after the jump.

Download Splinter Cell Conviction v1.04 Patch (23 MB)
Check out all Splinter Cell Conviction downloads

If there's one thing to take away from Splinter Cell Conviction, it's that you shouldn't make Sam Fisher angry. Bad things happen when he has you in sights. Third Echelon's top spy comes out of retirement, acting as a rogue agent investigating his daughter's death, and gets caught up in a massive government conspiracy. Accompanying Fisher's new attitude are brand new gameplay elements, including some questionable interrogation methods. The game no longer comes to an end or hits players with impossible odds when they are detected. Instead, it shifts to an action mode where players have a chance to escape or try to turn the situation around to their advantage. It's a tougher and meaner Splinter Cell experience, and a welcome change for gamers who aren't great at stealth games.

Check out all Splinter Cell Conviction Downloads

This patch for the retail version of Splinter Cell Conviction updates the game to v1.03 and enables voice chat functionality.

Download Splinter Cell Conviction v1.03 Patch (23 MB)
Check out all Splinter Cell Conviction downloads

It's time for yet another monthly graphics driver update from the folks at AMD via their ATI unit. The newly released Catalyst 10.5 drivers are now available to download via AMD's Game web site. The drivers for the ATI Radeon graphics chips are available for Windows XP, Vista and 7 users in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

The release notes for the new drivers reveal the driver's new features and more importantly the driver's various bug fixes for quite a number of recent PC games. The titles with bug fixes include Alien vs. Predator, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Mass Effect 2, Napoleon: Total War, and Splinter Cell Conviction. The bug fixes for the games sometimes depend on which version of Windows you currently use.