Ubisoft's E3 2013 conference details The Division, Rabbids Invasion, The Crew
Ubisoft had a few surprises in store during its 2013 E3 press briefing, teasing a bold new direction for its Rabbids series and introducing the post-pandemic online RPG, Tom Clancy's The Division, among other notable announcements.
Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell kicked off the conference with a guitar-shredding demonstration of Rocksmith 2014's Session Mode, in which budding guitarists can customize backing music tracks in real-time using voice commands. A trailer for the online PC RPG The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot followed; afterward, Ubisoft revealed that it is accepting signups for a closed beta.
Ubisoft assured that Obsidian Entertainment's RPG South Park: The Stick of Truth is alive and well, narrowing down its release date to Holiday 2013. Ubisoft previously acquired the project from THQ following the troubled publisher's dissolution late last year. Ubisoft Reflections and Ivory Tower's The Crew was up next, showcasing its unique brand of destructive multiplayer racing across a persistent online world. A release is planned next year for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC platforms.
Ubisoft then launched into a lengthy Watch Dogs presentation, detailing one of the game's stealth sequences and showing how the main character's hacking abilities impact gameplay. The company later showed off new gameplay footage from Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, revealing more at Sony's conference later that evening.
A new entry in Ubisoft's smash hit Just Dance franchise was revealed next, surprising approximately no one. Just Dance 2014 will hit current and next-gen consoles worldwide in October, boasting six-player dance routines and DJ-style song selection mechanics. The company's family friendly lineup continued with the introduction of Rabbids Invasion, an interactive game and television show hybrid for the Xbox One. With the release of Rabbids Invasion, Ubisoft promised that "TV is about to invade your living room and bring it to life like never before."
Ubisoft followed up by announcing a pair of new entries in RedLynx's Trials series. Trials Fusion will bring over-the-top motocross action to the Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360 and PC, while Trials Frontier will see release for mobile platforms. Both games can be linked, resulting in what Ubisoft calls "social and visual breakthroughs."
Ubisoft capped off the conference with Tom Clancy's The Division, an online open-world RPG in which players search for loot and survivors in a city ravaged by a global pandemic. The Division will launch next year for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
[Correction: Previously, we had incorrectly stated that Tom Clancy's The Division was also in development for PC platforms. To date, Ubisoft has not announced a PC release.]
