Hasta La Gadget!

The Wii U has a pretty impressive launch line-up, to be sure, but it seems that one of the best launch titles for the console will be Ubisoft‘s ZombiU. We’ve already seen and heard some great things about ZombiU, and today we’re finding out more about the game’s story and characters thanks to a new development diary Ubisoft has shared with IGN. Needless to say, it’s going to be a bloody and scary experience, but it seems that Ubisoft has made an effort to connect the events in the game with real-world people.

We already know that the story in ZombiU is centered around apocalyptic prophecies made by John Dee, an actual mathematician and astrologer who served as an adviser to Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. Set in London in 2012, Dee’s Black Prophecy is being realized, and the game focuses on three different survivors as they fight their way through the zombie-overrun city.

The game will play out across many real-world locations in London, including Buckingham Palace. The three main characters – The Prepper, a survivalist who is prepared for the apocalypse; Sandra, a leader of the secret society named “The Ravens of Dee”; and Dr. Walker, who is frantically searching for a cure to the infection – all have a different take on Dee’s prophecies, and will have to use their unique skill sets to make sure that they all live through the zombie outbreak. Have a look at the development diary below:

ZombiU, despite having an incredibly stupid name, is shaping up to be a really great looking game. There are plenty of Wii U launch titles to get excited about, but ZombiU might just take the cake. We’re definitely excited to see more of this game, and even more excited to get our hands on it at launch, so keep it tuned here to SlashGear for more details.

ZombiU story detailed in new development diary is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

For those who were gaming way back when browser games like Arch Mage and Utopia were (and probably still are to a certain extent) popular, then you’re probably familiar with the concept of building a city, raising an army, defending yourself from attacks and launching attacks on enemies. Well if you enjoyed those types of social games, then Ubisoft’s recently announced Assassin’s Creed Utopia might be a game worth keeping an eye out for. Scheduled for a release in winter, Assassin’s Creed Utopia is a social game where it allows players to build up a town, train assassins, pit them against your friends or join up with your friends against a common enemy. It will be set in the 17^th century in the New World and will be making its way onto mobile platforms such as Android and iOS. We’re not sure how this will play out but it sounds like an interesting concept and we’ll be keeping an eye out for it in the future.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Assassin’s Creed Utopia announced for iOS, 11 minute Splinter Cell: Blacklist gameplay footage released by Ubisoft,

We’re getting ready to wrap-up coverage for this Wednesday, and what a day we had. First up we had Nokia’s highly-anticipated Windows Phone 8 event, where it revealed both the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820. There was a lot to take in during the event, and you can find everything you need to know in our Nokia wrap-up. It’s there that you can check out product announcements and hands-on posts with Nokia’s new devices, so be sure to give it a look.

After we had finished up with Nokia’s event, it was straight over to Gotham Hall, where Motorola and Google held an event of their own. Google’s Eric Schmidt took the stage first to boast the latest Android numbers, before Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside hopped up on stage to outline the company’s plan for the “The New Motorola.” After that, it was all about the reveals. Motorola revealed three new phones in total: the long-rumored DROID RAZR HD and the DROID RAZR M, which has had its share of rumors as well, along with the surprise announcement of the DROID RAZR MAXX HD. If you were waiting for Motorola’s new devices, you’ll be pleased to know that we have a couple of hands-on posts that cover all three devices.

Woodside also said today that any Motorola phones from 2012 that don’t get updated to Jelly Bean by the end of the year will be a eligible for a $100 voucher, and it was announced that the developer editions of the DROID RAZR M and the RAZR HD will come with unlockable bootloaders. A little bit later on in the day, we found out that the PureView ad Nokia showed during its presentation may be a little bit misleading, and even though there was a ton of Nokia and Motorola news today, there was still time for a new iPhone leak, this time giving us an up-close look at the battery. Windows Phone 8 will be getting screenshot support, and today the EC approved a mobile wallet team up between three European carriers, much to Google’s chagrin.

Sony is putting its massive 84-inch 4K TV up for pre-order tomorrow, T-Mobile has rolled out unlimited 4G data across the country, and Getac has revealed its new Z710 Android tablet, which looks to be capable of taking a few hits. Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy Note II have opened in the UK, where the new device has an expected mid-October ship date, and Ubisoft has announced that it will stop implementing always-on DRM in its PC games. Valve has been forced to impose a submission fee for those looking to list something on Steam Greenlight, Epson has unveiled a pair of home projectors, and finally tonight, NASA scientists today delayed the second engine firing of the Juno spacecraft, which will be headed for Jupiter before long.

That’s all for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up! Remember to check in with us tomorrow, as we’ll be at Amazon’s press event, where it’s expected to reveal a couple of new devices in the Kindle line!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: September 5, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Piracy on PC is a big deal for publishers, but Ubisoft always seems to be in the spotlight when there’s a new story on piracy or DRM. It’s hardly a secret that Ubisoft has major issues with piracy, but before it’s never really gotten down to hard numbers. Today, that changed in an interview with GamesIndustry International, in which Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that Ubisoft experiences a piracy rate of 93-95% on its PC games.

That’s why the publisher will now be focusing on free-to-play, because Guillemot says that will guarantee income for the company. According to him, free-to-play will allow Ubisoft to get payments from countries where its games are pirated the most, and he continued by saying that such a transition is a way to make sure that the company gets long-term income:

It’s a way to get closer to your customers, to make sure you have a revenue. On PC it’s only around five to seven per cent of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it’s only about five to seven per cent who pay anyway, the rest is pirated. It’s around a 93-95 per cent piracy rate, so it ends up at about the same percentage. The revenue we get from the people who play is more long term, so we can continue to bring content.

Ubisoft has come under fire many times in the past for implementing DRM that forces consumers to have a constant Internet connection while playing. It’s also caught some flak for habitually releasing the PC versions of its games after the launch of the console versions, which is a trend it will be continuing with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed III. There has been no lack of negative comments directed at Ubisoft for these practices, so maybe this increased focus on free-to-play titles will mean less always-on DRM.

That 93-95% piracy rate quoted by Guillemot seems to be incredibly high, but if it’s legitimate, then it’s kind of hard to blame Ubisoft for implementing that DRM gamers hate so much. Nevermind the fact that Ubisoft would be missing out a lot of money that way, but shareholders would be on Guillemot’s case all the time, trying to get him to come up with a solution to the problem. We’ll see if this free-to-play shift ends up working out soon, as the company announced a number of new free-to-play titles at Gamescom. Stay tuned.

Ubisoft claims 93-95% piracy rate on its PC games is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last month, Ubisoft stuck with tradition and announced that the PC version of Assassin’s Creed III had been delayed. At the time, the publisher didn’t give a new release date for the title, only saying that it would be out before Christmas. Now we know when Assassin’s Creed III will be arriving on PC, with Ubisoft giving it a release date of November 20 in North America and November 23 in the UK.

With the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions launching on October 31, this means that PC players will have less than a month to wait before their own version of Assassin’s Creed III is released. That’s a new thing for Ubisoft, as typically it waits more than a month to launch the PC version of any given game. That probably won’t do much to make PC players happy given the fact that delaying its PC games appears to be one of Ubisoft’s favorite things, but hey, at least it’s a start.

Ubisoft still hasn’t explained why it delayed the PC version of Assassin’s Creed III, but that isn’t anything new. Ubisoft often delays these PC games without giving any reason at all, leaving us to guess at the reasoning behind the decision. That isn’t a quality exclusive to Ubisoft either, as many publishers like to do the same exact thing.

So, we’ll probably never know why Assassin’s Creed III was delayed on PC, but at least now we have a solid release date for it. PC delay woes aside, Assassin’s Creed III does look quite cool, as it appears to actually mix things up within the series. After three Assassin’s Creed games featuring Ezio, a shake up was sorely needed in order to keep fans interested, so Ubisoft is definitely on the right track with Assassin’s Creed III. Stay tuned for more information.

[via Joystiq]

Assassin’s Creed III PC release date finally announced is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.