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Mother's campaign to bring video game seizure concerns to British Parliament a success
By now, you've probably noticed the seizure warnings interjected into the start-up screens of many games, giving the .02 percent of the population that suffers from photosensitive epilepsy (PSE) a heads-up that the following game may not be entirely safe for them to play. However, Gaye Herford, a mother residing in England, has brought her concerns over game-related seizures to British Parliament after her 10-year-old son suffered a seizure following a round of Rayman: Raving Rabbids on the Nintendo DS.Parliament has agreed to debate whether or not rigorous testing for seizure-inducing material in video games should be required by their developers on a heretofore undecided date. Television and films are already tested in this manner, but no countries require similar checks for games. Ubisoft has independently agreed to begin performing these tests on all their future titles, though we find it difficult to imagine how one makes a mini-game compilation featuring hyperactive, mutant rabbits without using some PSE-sensitive material.
Todd Mitchell tells us how the Wii sucks for third-parties (again)
Just in case you didn't hear him the first time he said it, Kaufman Bros. analyst Todd Mitchell has reiterated his belief that the Wii only truly benefits Nintendo, and that third-party developers have only seen "isolated successes" on the console. Mitchell's argument may have been aired before, but it's also tricky to dismiss, especially as only two third-party titles have so far broken the one million sales barrier (launch twosome Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids). Then again, when it comes to top-drawer, original Wii software, Nintendo has delivered on a fairly regular basis. With the odd exception or two, can the same really be said of other publishers? [Via Go Nintendo]
Spooftastic Raving Rabbids art
Some would argue that Far Cry Vengeance was beyond help, though we maintain to this day that the Ubiport would have been vastly improved with added Rabbids. Clearly, some swashbuckling young designer at Ubisoft shares our thoughts on this crucial issue.The image above is one of nine spoofs to appear recently on the game's official site, all of which feature Rabbids invading a variety of Ubi's more well-known games. Sadly, none of them come in wallpaper size, which is precisely what these would be ideal for. Oh well.Hop past the break for images of "Bunny Steel," "Bunnies' Creed," and "Rainbow Six Bunnies."
Go stark raving mad for some Raving Rabbids 2 footage
We featured a lot of trailers yesterday, but we admit that perhaps we overlooked one important slice of footage: the above trailer for Rayman Raving Rabbids 2. Now a Nintendo exclusive, the game will only be appearing on the DS and Wii, which were the best versions of that game if you ask us. And looking at this montage of gameplay above, the second title should be another stellar game.[Note: The link over at IGN's video portal is kinda funny, so you might have some difficulty getting to their video directly. We suggest you just enjoy the embedded video above.]
Rabbids just aren't manly
Le Haka des Lapins CrétinsUploaded by ubi Those poor Rabbids. Looks like they may need a testosterone infusion before taking the field against these guys. The latest in the long-running and hilarious promotional campaign for Rayman Raving Rabbids and its sequel couldn't be much more masculine if it tried -- it even features the obligatory fellas-in-a-locker-room bit. Nothing like a bunch of guys in towels to inspire consumer loyalty, right?Our only disappointment thus far is that this time around, the campaign isn't nearly as pervasive. Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 is slated for release next month, and we have only a few Rabbid videos. How can we live in such a world?
Behind the scenes with Raving Rabbids 2
For how much we complain about minigame compilations on the Wii, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 looks to be quite the treat. We generally enjoy all of the entries in the Rayman series and found the first title to not only be fun, but also funny. The inclusion of the new real life locales spices things up a bit, as well.Any of you looking forward to those crazy rabbids' second outing on the Wii?
Rabbids have another go at Leipzig
"The best-laid plans of Rabbids and men gang aft agley."Ubisoft's rascally rabbit mascots are at it again, hoping to disguise themselves and sneak into Germany's Leipzig Games Convention. Last year's attempt to infiltrate the event was a failure of monumental proportions; will this year's caper pay off? No matter the outcome, we're looking forward to receiving a lot more of these offbeat ads before Rayman Raving Rabbids 2's November 15 release. [Via NeoGAF]
Promotional Consideration: Reasoning with Rabbids
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.We're cheating a little with this week's ad, as the primary focus of the Rayman Raving Rabbids series has been on the Wii. Keep in mind, though, that Ubisoft promises to make RRR 2 for the DS more like its console counterpart, emphasizing multiplayer party games over platforming, so we're not completely gypping you on this one. Hop past the break to continue.
Ubisoft dates Haze, Splinter Cell, Raving Rabbids 2, more [update]
Ubisoft has revealed the release dates for all of its major 2007 titles, asking the majority of them to form a neat line in November and proceed to remove the contents of your wallet one by one. You're more than welcome to make a fuss about it, but having the sneaky men of Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell: Conviction within grasp of your neck renders such action unwise. A more notable entry in the release schedule (as posted by Eurogamer) is Free Radical's sci-political first-person shooter, Haze, previously described as "leading on PS3" in a display of timed exclusivity: Haze (PS3) -- 23 November Oh, you'll be wanting the release date for the other platforms as well: Haze (Xbox 360, PC) -- 30 November [Update: Oh dear, Ubisoft has removed the Xbox 360 and PC versions of Haze from the current release list. We're waiting to hear back from Ubisoft on the matter.] Other key titles dated after the break include Assassin's Creed, Dark Messiah: Elements, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, and Splinter Cell: Conviction.
Splinter Cell trailer sneaks onto XBLM
In addition to this morning's surprise Project Sylpheed demo, there is also a trailer for Splinter Cell Conviction. The trailer is the same one released at the Ubidays 07 event last month, so there isn't anything new for Splinter Cell fans to see. Also, the video quality is somewhat suspect, despite the video's label of "HD." Still, it's Splinter Cell Conviction on a larger screen, so we'll take what we can get (of course, we wouldn't mind if Ubisoft wanted to release a cleaner version in the future).If Splinter Cell doesn't float your boat, you can also sink your teeth into a trailer for the Xbox 360 version of Rayman: Raving Rabbids. We watched it, and all we can say is DAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!
Uber Ubisoft Ubidays video roundup
Ubisoft's Ubidays event in Paris spawned almost as many video trailers as it did announcements. Thanks to the wonders of embeddable streaming video, we're able to put them all in a single post for your viewing pleasure and/or displeasure, depending on the game. Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (Xbox 360) Loosely based on the 837,212 episodes of popular anime, Naruto, this cel-shaded action game seems to strongly encourage you to leap through trees, punch older men and generally behave like a ninja who's under the constant scrutiny of kids. No sudden decapitations like that other guy.
Today's multiplying videos: Rabbids gameplay
The second Rayman Raving Rabbids is in production, and GameTrailers has posted a series of in-game clips from Ubisoft's gaming event. The Rabbids trailer and these clips seem to downplay Rayman even more than the first game. (Here's hoping the shipping version has little to do with the appendage-free mascot. Let Rayman thrive in the platformers; he doesn't add much to these mini-game buffets.)See gameplay clips of bunnies spitting carrots, playing baseball, rodeo riding, and serving food after the break.
When artists don't pay attention: Rabbids meet Sam & Max
The boys at GayGamer.net were sifting through their Ubidays press materials and, between deciding whether Double Agent Sam Fisher looked hotter than Conviction Fisher, noticed a very peculiar little thing with the Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 ad. Turns out that it looks very, very, similar to the Sam & Max poster from late last year.Boy of Tomorrow writes, "I'm not the only one seeing a distinct similarity between these two images, am I? Don't get me wrong, Rayman: Raving Rabbids is a fantastic title, but maybe someone should've done a little research on behalf of Ubisoft before they released the image on the right. It's not like they don't have any contact with the Sam & Max games, y'know, Telltale Games actually develops the C.S.I. titles for them."As the French might say, "Le oops!" Granted, the Sam & Max ad is clearly based on the iconic War of the Worlds image of the alien hand on the Earth, but bunny ears popping out of the planet is definitely Sam & Max. We're just imagining how this one got through. It's a fantastic image for Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, it's just too bad it was done six months ago by another game.Oh well, check out the Transformers inspired Raving Rabbids 2 trailer after the break.
Ubidays: Raving Rabbids 2 video and screens
Ubisoft announced that a sequel is coming for Rayman Raving Rabbids, confirming rumors that a sequel for the game was inbound. Well, now that Ubidays has hit, Jeux-France has posted some video (which we've embedded past the break), as well as new images, to gawk at. And, if you're looking for even more to look at, here you can find a screen-by-screen breakdown of the announcement trailer.
Rayman Raving Rabbids to return for Wii, DS
Those rabbids are coming back. NGamer magazine has learned from Ubisoft that they are currently working on a sequel to Rayman Raving Rabbids that will give background on their training for world domination. And lots of minigames, of course.As a game, Rayman Raving Rabbids was an entertaining though somewhat inconsistent collection of great (anything with Disco) and not-so-great (e.g., "Bunnies don't like open bathroom doors") minigames. As a character, however, the rabbids and their hilarious videos have touched us like no other adorable conquistadors ever have. We'll never forget their battle cry: gaaaaaaaahhhh!It's currently unknown whether Sony or Microsoft will see rabbid love, as the Nintendo-centric magazine only mentioned DS and Wii as consoles the game will appear on. A book in the Xbox 360 version's case hinted at a sequel as well, and we expect Ubisoft to ultimately release this on every platform available. No release date has been announced.A collection of hilarious rabbid advertisements after the break.
Raving Rabbids 2: Electric Boogaloo?
Rumor has it that a sequel to Rayman Raving Rabbids is in the works. This rumor is being based on an image at the back of a bundled art booklet for the Xbox 360 version of the game (yes, the image above), hinting that we may have all not seen the last of these psychotic bunnies. The teaser image lends a bit of credibility to the rumor, given that no other console's version has held the same image, but might also mean that said sequel is set to grace Microsoft's system and not the one we hold dear. We'll just have to wait and see, it seems.
Ubisoft fourth quarter sales pushed up by warfighters, turtles
Leading to the obvious conclusion: Ubisoft needs to somehow combine the gritty realism of the Tom Clancy franchise with the anthropomorphic antics of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Politically charged yet irresistibly adorable properties like Tom Clancy's Splinter Shell and Tom Clancy's The War on Terrapins are sure to tap into hitherto untapped fountains of marketability and financial prosperity. Not that Ubisoft is currently in dire need of money, mind you. Gamasutra's detailing of L'Ubi's most recent financial report suggests that the publisher is already exceeding analyst expectations by exchanging one type of green for another.The company's fourth quarter sales saw an increase of 37% to $267.5 million, largely instigated by the one million unit success of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 on Xbox 360, as well as the TMNT film-based game which dragged in 1.1 million units in its eight platform-wide net. Sales for the full 2006/2007 fiscal year stand at $923.4 million following a jump of 24.4%, with earlier titles such as Red Steel, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas and Petz being key contributors.Ubisoft expects profitability to increase further in the coming year by supporting new-gen consoles and expanding their presence in "the casual market on the Wii and Nintendo DS systems." Oh! We've yet to add casual games into our bubbling cauldron of cross-franchise success! So, that'll be Tom Clancy's Krang Age, then?
The Joystiq Weekend: March 17 - 18, 2007
Just another snapshot of pinsomniac's frackin' sweet DIY Rayman Raving Rabbids cake pan. Check out the highlights for this weekend:JoystiqueryJapanese hardware sales, Mar. 5 - Mar. 11: GDC ruined everything editionToday's spoilerest game video: God of War 2 endingNewsSteam injected with Eidos gamesBest Buy done with PS3 20GB modelLowenstein's 'final' interview: Game reviews influence industryConsoul shows more bizarre European PS3 marketingWithin a Deep Forest creator Nifflas interviewedMii channel began as a DS projectLord of the Rings Online team confident entering MMO marketJack Thompson responds biblically to Take-TwoLord of the Rings Online music systemRumors & SpeculationRumorang: NiGHTS returning on the Wii -- Part 2Rumor: Beautiful Katamari to hit Xbox 360, PS3, Wii this yearCulture & CommunityHow much longer can Xbox Live charge consumers?Beware the April Fools in mid-MarchGame name stereotypesHowling Rayman Raving Rabbids cake
Bunnies can't play with a DS Lite
While we can't say much about the quality of Rayman Raving Rabbids DS yet, we're more than happy to sing the praises of Ubisoft's marketing behind the recently-released platformer. The France-based company sent out three promotional images showing the game's villains, crazed and deranged rabbits, in various states of distress.They're not as cute as kittens playing with a Nintendo DS Lite, but not much else is. Head past the break for more artwork of the disaster-prone bunnies.
Peep these screens for Rayman: Raving Rabbids
A couple of new screens for the upcoming DS installment of Rayman: Raving Rabbids have hit the internet, revealing a game that is very much guaranteed to be chock full of platforming action and just as good as its Wii cousin (we're calling it folks). Although we would've liked more screens, we'll take what we can get. We've gone ahead and embedded the screens into the post, past the break.See also: Rayman: Raving Rabbids confirmed for the DS
