tom-clancy posts

While there have been a ton of Tom Clancy-branded games from Ubisoft over the past few years (with more to come) the author himself hasn't released a new novel for the past six years. That changes today with the release of his latest techno-thriller, Dead or Alive.

The story centers on "The Campus" a fictional counter-terrorist agency that fights the bad guys without an official sanction from the US government. One of the main characters in Dead or Alive is "Ding" Chavez. Fans of the Rainbow Six game series will know that character as the leader of Team Rainbow in several installments of the tactical shooter franchise.

Tom Clancy may not have written a novel in several years, but that doesn't keep his insanely marketable name off of games based on "near future" events. HAWX is one of these, and the second one continues this tradition of politically-charged thrills mixed with high-speed explosions. Want proof? Just take a look at this launch trailer. It's so full of your standard political thriller stereotypes (terrorists, Middle East, modern weaponry, references to military figures), but as long as we get some awesome missiles and explosions, we're happy!

Download HD HAWX 2 Launch Trailer
Check out all HAWX 2 downloads

It looks like there will be more than one Tom Clancy-based game from Ubisoft this fall. Releasing alongside Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Ubisoft announced today their plans for Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 for the PC and other platforms. The sequel to their 2008 near-future flying action game will be developed by Ubisoft's Bucharest developer.

Ubisoft has revealed little info and no screenshots from the game yet, saying only that H.A.W.X. 2 will put players in the roles of "elite aerial soldiers in control of the world's most technologically advanced aircraft." A teaser site has already launched but it only shows today's press release and the above logo for now.

We had a feeling about this last week and for once we were right. Ubisoft has officially announced what they have been teasing us about for a year. A new Ghost Recon shooter game is in the works. Officially titled Ghost Recon Future Soldier, the game is due for release before the end of 2010. Ubisoft trademarked the title late last year.

Developed by Ubisoft's Paris studio, the publisher is keeping most details of the game to itself. It does state that the game will feature "prototype high-tech weaponry" and high end tech along with both single and multiplayer modes. There's no official word yet if the game will be released for the PC although almost all of the previous Ghost Recon games have been released for the PC platform.

Update: A "tweet" on the Twitter page of Ubisoft's community manager Kimi Matsuzaki states, "For those wondering: We will tell more about the PC version later." A later "tweet" seems to indicate the PC port will be released sometime after the console versions.

We know a lot of you have been waiting for a demo to be released for Tom Clancy's HAWX. Originally the demo was due for release today but now publisher Ubisoft has announced that the PC demo has now been pushed back a few days. It is now scheduled to be released on Monday, March 2 (the Xbox 360 demo is already out and the PS3 demo should be released later today).

Just a reminder: the demo for the upcoming near-future themed military action-flying title will contain two missions from the full game; a training mission and the Glass Hammer mission over Rio De Janeiro. Players will be able to unlock access to three planes in the demo (F-16A Fighting Falcon, SU-35 Super Flanker and SU-35 Super Flanker) with two modes of play (normal and expert). Most cool of all, the demo will support up to four players in co-op multiplayer mode. The full version of Tom Clancy's HAWX will be released for the PC on March 12.

Ubisoft wants to expand the Tom Clancy brand of techno-military games. In 2008 they released Tom Clancy's EndWar, a console RTS game that got praise for its voice control feature but slammed for its poor gameplay. The publisher is hoping for better luck with their next game in the franchise, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

Scheduled for released this quarter for the PC and other platforms, Ubisoft is ramping up its promotion of the game with some new screenshots that we have added to our gallery. The near-future flying action game is looking pretty sweet in these new visuals and we hope to get some hands-on time with the game before its release.

During a gaming session at E3, Joystiq learned that Tom Clancy's EndWar will ship to consoles on October 14. The voice-controlled real-time strategy game is currently not scheduled to hit PC but UbiSoft reps say the publishing giant is considering bringing the franchise to the PC.

Ubisoft may have a serious contender with EndWar on consoles, the home of few RTS titles, but in the world of PC gaming rife with RTS titles, could barking orders into a microphone be enough? We suspect Ubisoft will wait for sales data to be the judge.

Also, to clarify, voice-command is an optional control method for the game but as the game was built with it in mind Ubisoft recommends using your voice to control EndWar.

During the Ubisoft Press Conference, Ubisoft America president Laurent Detoc briefly discussed strategic options revolving around the Tom Clancy brand. Detoc discussed a world of possibility for Tom Clancy since acquiring the brand and since acquiring Hybride Studios, the CGI studio behind such films as 300 and Sin City. Although film isn't mentioned, Detoc said the Clancy brand can easily be shifted into television and more books. Detoc also reminded attendees that this is the tenth anniversary of the Tom Clancy brand, which has sold 55 million units collectively.

Whether you like military shooters, innovative first-person platforming, or racing, Big Download had something for this past week. In fact, we had surprisingly a lot, considering that most game publishers are holding their cards until next week's huge E3 conference.

Next week is sure to be a big week (and rest assured we'll be on top of every new file that pops up amidst the frenzy), but hopefully this will be enough to tide everyone over until then! Here are just a few highlights from the latest new downloads

	HAWX Developer's Diary #1 HAWX is an air combat game in the same near-future world as Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. In this video, a developer talks about the game, and of course there's footage as well.
	Frontlines: Fuel of War Beta Demo Try out this shooter that tries something a little bit different with territory control.
	LEGO Batman Bruce Wayne & Poison Ivy Trailer A humorous sneak peak at a couple of the characters from the fourth entry into the LEGO pop culture franchise series.
	GRID 1.2 Patch The acclaimed racing game gets some important bug fixes.
	Mirror's Edge Story Trailer A beautifully animated sneak peak at the storyline and setting behind Mirror's Edge, an innovative first person parkour game.

A new trailer for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 2: Vegas has been released, offering a preview of what fans can expect from the game's forthcoming fan content patch. As we reported earlier today the Fan Pack will add three new maps to the game along with some other new additions and features. It's due out in July and will be a free download for the PC and the game's other platforms.

Download the HD Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Fan Pack trailer from Big Download.