ubisoft posts

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]

Sometimes a game announcement sounds like its real when its a fake, like a number of April Fool's jokes that hit the internet. Other times a game announcement comes around that sound totally out there but in fact is totally real.

The latter case is what's happening with today's reveal of Anno 2070, the latest game in the long running strategy-trade sim series from developer Related Designs. If you can figure out that the "2070" in the title means that this series is leaving Middle Ages Europe behind for the future, give yourself a gold star.

Yes this series takes place in an era where the sea water is rising and there's less valuable land to go around. You can take up with the techno faction the Tycoons or the green faction the Ecos in this game which will have a single player campaign, a sandbox mode and unnamed multiplayer modes. Publisher Ubisoft plans to release Anno 2070 sometime in winter 2011.

March ends with a bang with a ton of major gaming news today; some good, some bad. Tomorrow we will get hit with a bunch of non-news thanks to April Fool's Day. We will post some of it on this site but we will be very careful to label them as April Fool's jokes (in fact it looks like a couple of web sites have started already; no names).

BTW, should be be scared that Steam hasn't held a big mid week or weekend PC game sale like it usually does? Just saying.

• Steam has a small automatic update for Shattered Horizon.
• The soon-to-be-owned-by-GameStop Impulse has posted its weekend PC game sales deals.
• Strategy First will donate 20 percent of proceeds from its online store to the Red Cross from now until April 11.
• Ubisoft is trying to stop THQ from poaching its game developers from its Montreal offices.
• Finally let's remember that Company of Heroes Online will be shut down for good in a few hours.

One of the most unique looking first person shooters ever made was XIII, the 2003 title from Ubisoft. Now the DRM-free PC game download site GoG.com has added XIII to its growing library of PC titles.

Based on the popular European comic book of the same name, XIII took the unusual choice and had the art design for the game look more like a comic with cel-shaded graphics. The storyline is pretty involved as well as the player controls a man who is suffering from amnesia and who has to solve the mystery of why everyone thinks he's assassinated the President of the US. The game is now available to download at GoG.com for just $5.99.

GoG.com brings us another classic Ubisoft game to its growing PC game DRM-free download library today. This time its Rayman Forever, a revamped version of the first ever game in Ubisoft's long running side scrolling action-adventure game series.

The 1999 released game, featuring a character that has hands and feet but no arms and legs, comes three years after the first version of Rayman, the creation of the acclaimed designer Michel Ancel. This version of the game contains a number of extras including a level editor and 40 levels that have been made by Rayman fans. You can get Rayman Forever at GoG.com now for $5.99.

Developer Techland will have a very busy 2011. It has two games coming out that have both generated its share of mainstream media coverage. One is, of course, the upcoming zombie action game Dead Island. The other is the modern day Western shooter Call of Juarez: The Cartel.

In an interview on The Web Site Formerly Known As Scrawl, Techland's Blazej Krakowiak confirmed that Call of Juarez: The Cartel would be getting a playable demo, although it's not yet determined if it will be released before or after the full game is released by Ubisoft this summer. It will also support the full game's three player co-op mode.

[Via VG247.com]

GoG.com adds yet another game in the classic Might and Magic fantasy game franchise to its DRM-free PC game download site today. This time the site has added Might and Magic 8: Day of the Destroyer, the 2000 released single player RPG that was developed by New World Computing and released by the now defunct publisher 3DO.

The game, now owned and published by Ubisoft, features the player leading a band of warriors in order to stop an invasion from the planes of Fire, Air, Earth and Water that are threatening the game's fantasy world. The GoG.com version, which contains the game's soundtrack and other freebies, is now available to purchase and download for $5.99.

The latest game in the Might and Magic series for the PC now has a firm release date. Publisher Ubisoft announced on its forums that the fantasy turn-based strategy game Might and Magic Heroes VI will be coming out on June 21 in the US. Most of Europe will get the Black Hole Entertainment-developed game a couple of days later on June 23 while the UK gets the game on June 24.

As we have reported pre-orders for the game have already started with Ubisoft promising that folks who put down their money ahead of time will gain access to the Might and Magic Heroes VI beta test. There's no word on when the beta test will begin.

[Via Blue's News]

This patch updates Assassin's Creed Brotherhood to v1.01 and addresses a number of gameplay issues and bugs. A list of changes is shown after the jump.

Download Assassin's Creed v1.01 Patch (42 MB)
Check out all Assassin's Creed Brotherhood downloads

Full blown instrument-controller based music games have been few and far between for the PC (there were a couple of Guitar Hero PC ports) but now that consumers seem to have gotten tired of the genre Ubisoft is jumping right into it with the announcement this week of Rocksmith.

While the game's official web site doesn't mention it the official press release confirms that Rocksmith is coming to the PC sometime this fall. The game will work with most guitars and the game's official web site claims that it will have "addicting gameplay that adapts to your personal skill level." There will be lots of different music styles and genres and there will also be a multiplayer component but details are still few and far between for this game. It should be interesting if there will be a PC game market for Rocksmith.