ubisoft toronto
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An Ubisoft VP has resigned following assault and misconduct allegations
Several current and former Ubisoft Toronto employees have described it as having a toxic culture.
Ubisoft Toronto founder Jade Raymond departs to pursue 'new opportunities'
Longtime Ubisoft producer and collaborator Jade Raymond has left the company, citing a need to "pursue my other ambitions and new opportunities." Raymond joined Ubisoft as a producer of the Assassin's Creed series in 2004, and went on to found subsidiary Ubisoft Toronto. Raymond's recent credits include Watch Dogs and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Fellow Ubisoft Toronto founding member Alexandre Parizeau will fill Raymond's vacated position as managing director. "I've spent 10 extraordinary years at Ubisoft, and I am proud to have been part of many of the best teams in the industry making truly remarkable games," Raymond said. "This is one of the hardest decisions of my career, but the Toronto studio is strong and on a solid path. I'm confident that now is a good time for me to transition leadership of the studio to Alex and to pursue my other ambitions and new opportunities. Stay tuned for more on what's next for me, but for now, I'd like to thank Ubisoft for its partnership through the years, and I wish them the very best in all their next endeavors." [Image: Jade Raymond / Wikipedia]
Far Cry 4: Crouching tiger, hidden Blood Dragon
If there's one game that doesn't quite fit into Far Cry's exotic zoo of flammable locales, it's Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. The standalone spinoff (often confused for DLC) dragged the franchise's jungle-stalking into a neon cyber-parody of 1980s action, stripping off a serious face to reveal a toothy grin and bulging cheek. Players loved it, and some wondered why that couldn't have been THE Far Cry 3. As much as I like what I've played of THE Far Cry 4, I wonder about a full surrender to Shangri-La, the strange, mystical reflection of the game's "real" Himalayan world. These excursions into Shangri-La are absolutely integrated into the main storyline – not DLC – and spread across five unreal episodes. There may yet be another Blood Dragon, but Far Cry 4 comes with weirdness built-in.
Splinter Cell Blacklist game director now at Warner Bros. Montreal
Splinter Cell Blacklist game director Patrick Redding left Ubisoft recently to join Batman: Arkham Origins studio Warner Bros. Montreal, where he's working as a creative director on an unannounced project. An Ubisoft veteran of nearly ten years, Redding's previous role was as a creative director at Ubisoft Toronto, again on an unannounced project. According to his LinkedIn profile, Redding's switch to WB Montreal occurred sometime last month, but the news was confirmed yesterday by Arkham Origins creative director Eric Holmes. With Rocksteady revealed as the developer behind the recently unveiled Batman: Arkham Knight, whatever WB Montreal's working on is currently remaining cloaked. [Image: Ubisoft]
Splinter Cell Blacklist 'Homeland' DLC emerges from the shadows
Sam Fisher and Fourth Echelon get some new gadgets and missions in Splinter Cell Blacklist today. The Homeland DLC pack, available for $6.99 on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U, adds a pair of co-op mission maps, two new sneaking suits for Sam, a crossbow with sleeping darts and some skins for Blacklist's Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer mode. Previously, this DLC content was exclusive to pre-orders and the collector's edition. Splinter Cell Blacklist launched last month, marking the first entry in Ubisoft's iconic series since the divisive Splinter Cell: Conviction back in 2010. In our review of Blacklist, we lauded the campaign's situational freedom and proclaimed it the best entry in the series yet.
Splinter Cell Blacklist review: Fisher is King
It was while stuck behind enemy lines, carefully studying the movements of armored guards that I realized just how deeply I'd fallen for Splinter Cell Blacklist. Completing most of the game as an unseen and non-lethal ghost, I left the franchise's protagonist motionless for minutes as I examined the patterns of three aggressive adversaries. This is the Splinter Cell of days past, a game with as much focus thrown at patient stealth progression as at Hollywood bombast. Back from the cold, Splinter Cell hero and seemingly ageless covert agent Sam Fisher returns to help thwart American enemies. For Sam's latest jaunt through coordinated terror strikes, Ubisoft Toronto recalls the stealth gameplay that made the series famous, while offering more action-focused players tools to survive an onslaught. Whether it's a player's desire to pass through each sequence completely unseen or leave nary a pulse beating in their wake, Splinter Cell Blacklist allows them to craft their perfect gameplay style.%Gallery-195982%
Everyone's second-guessing Sam in Splinter Cell: Blacklist
In Splinter Cell: Blacklist, series frontman Sam Fisher finds himself in a new position as leader of Fourth Echelon, a black ops outfit assembled by the President of the United States. Fourth Echelon was formed to hunt down The Engineers, a group of terrorists promising to attack American interests every seven days until all US troops are pulled out of foreign countries. During a preview session, where I was able to sample the first handful of Splinter Cell: Blacklist missions from the final game, I found myself fascinated with this new team. Fourth Echelon is composed of people who don't necessarily trust Sam's judgment, and don't have a problem vocalizing their criticism.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist co-op developer diary works together
This developer diary video for Splinter Cell: Blacklist explores the characters that players can use in the game's co-op missions. The game is coming to Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on August 20.
Co-op stealth and survival in Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Despite being the boss of his own intelligence team, Fourth Echelon, Sam Fisher is still keen to go it alone on most missions in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. For those special outings, he'll need a partner. Splinter Cell: Blacklist's co-op consists of narrative missions, pulled directly from Sam's subordinates on board the Paladin – a massive plane and base of operations for Fourth Echelon in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Missions will run the gamut from stealthy to more action-focused affairs and in-between, forcing coordination and cooperation in order to reach the next objective. Or, in my case, simply survive.%Gallery-187601%
Splinter Cell: Blacklist resurrects Spies vs. Mercs multiplayer
The iconic asymmetrical multiplayer mode Spies vs. Mercs will return to the Splinter Cell series in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. From the announcement trailer, we can surmise that spies are still dead-set on hacking those terminals, while the mercenaries still have an insatiable bloodlust for sneaky dudes wearing tights. Light and shadow seem to remain prominent tools in Splinter Cell: Blacklist's Spies vs. Mercs mode. The mercenary flashlight and motion tracker are both featured, and there's one sequence where we even see a mercenary employ an explodable drone to take out a spy lurking in the dark. Another sequence shows four spies decloaking, so presumably both sides have some new abilities in Splinter Cell: Blacklist's take on Spies vs. Mercs and the mode is no longer limited to two-on-two.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist Wii U turns the WiiPad into a SpyPad
Splinter Cell: Blacklist on Wii U turns the WiiPad into Sam Fisher's OpSat: Operational Satellite Uplink. It's a means of switching gadgets, controlling drones, using spy cams and rifling through Sam's inventory. Unfortunately, there's no option to make Sam talk out his problems.
Ubisoft Toronto working with Ubi Montreal on another Assassin's Creed
Ubisoft Toronto is collaborating with Ubisoft Montreal on an Assassin's Creed game coming after AC4: Black Flag. and has plans to be involved with the development of four other unannounced games. Speaking with Polygon, managing director Jade Raymond said the studio, involved with Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Rainbow Six: Patriots, has plans set for five further games in total."We have two big collaborations coming that we're not talking about, on two of the biggest franchises at Ubisoft. We also have two new IP," Raymond told Polygon, noting that the fifth project is a Splinter Cell game.Raymond's comments follow on from the intentions she laid out in 2010 to eventually have five triple-A projects going on at Ubisoft Toronto at the same time, with a staff of some 800 people involved. In other words, Ubi Toronto's plans for world domination are beginning to surface, and we should call the authorities immediately.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist dev walks us through an abandoned mill
Splinter Cell: Blacklist game director Pat Reading offers intel on the campaign level Abandoned Mill, highlighting the three different play styles at the heart of Ubisoft Toronto's effort: ghost, panther and assault.
Rumor: Splinter Cell Blacklist Wii U gets its cover blown by employee resume [update]
It seems that Ubisoft is preparing a Splinter Cell: Blacklist port for Wii U. So said the resume of level designer Pascal Allancon, who may have prematurely outed the Wii U version in his LinkedIn profile. The profile has since been edited, but we've embedded an image of the original (via GoNintendo) for posterity's sake.The only platforms confirmed for Splinter Cell: Blacklist so far are Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, all being prepped for the game's launch in the US on August 20. We've reached out to Ubisoft for comment – let's just hope they don't send their response back by plane, because that would take forever.Update: As spotted by reader Tyler, another Ubisoft LinkedIn profile, this time from game tester Robin Dhar, suggests a Wii U version of Splinter Cell: Blacklist is on the way. The information has since been deleted, but we have a screengrab after the break.
See Splinter Cell: Blacklist's RC plane in action
Ubisoft is flying the Paladin remote-controlled plane, included in the Splinter Cell: Blacklist bundle, over an airy soccer field. Care to try it in your house next?
Rediscovering Sam Fisher's roots in Splinter Cell: Blacklist
In Splinter Cell: Blacklist, a decidedly less gravelly-voiced Sam Fisher heads up new government outfit Fourth Echelon, an anti-terrorism task force out to prevent the titular blacklist – an escalating list of threats suddenly levied at the United States by a terrorist group calling themselves The Engineers.Sam and his team (including series regular Anna 'Grim' Grímsdóttir) operate high above the clouds within a massive transport plane, a literal and narrative vehicle that can whisk Sam & Co. away to foreign locales at a moment's notice. Despite being the boss, Sam foregoes the corner office in favor of continuing his hands-on approach to combatting threats to national security in his latest covert op, the first from developer Ubisoft Toronto.%Gallery-177656%
Splinter Cell: Blacklist reintroduces you to the 'Fifth Freedom'
After threatening to kill Carlo Rota of Little Mosque on the Prairie fame, Sam Fisher educates us on the 'Fifth Freedom,' which gives spies the authority to break the law to protect America. We expect to use it a lot in 2013's Blacklist.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist played ghost style
Here's Splinter Cell: Blacklist's demo, which we've seen played before, but all sneaky style. Check out the same – with slightly more of the ultra violence – from Gamescom and E3 in the previous videos.
Ten whole minutes of Splinter Cell: Blacklist gameplay
Allow Splinter Cell: Blacklist creative director Maxime Beland (and his soothing accent) to walk you through 10 full minutes of Blacklist gameplay, as Sam Fisher infiltrates a terrorist cell on the Iraq/Iran border.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist coming to Xbox 360, PC, PS3 in spring 2013 [Update]
Ubisoft Toronto is working on Splinter Cell: Blacklist, shown in a dramatic trailer at the Xbox 360 conference. In the trailer, Sam Fisher (voiced by a new, non-Michael Ironside actor) infiltrates a desert warzone; this time, he's taking out a terrorist organization called the "Blacklist."Kinect functionality is featured, allowing you, as Sam, to yell at dudes to distract them (and your family). You can also command troops, to call an airstrike, for example.Spy vs. Mercs competitive multiplayer returns, and there's a cooperative mode as well. The game is due spring 2013.Update: Ubisoft has released the first details on Splinter Cell: Blacklist, announcing the sixth console title in the series will hit the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.Sam Fisher's return marks the first production from Ubisoft's new Toronto-based team, with support from Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Shanghai.In the game, "a group of rogue nations have had enough of the United States' military presence in their countries. In an effort to force the withdrawal of the U.S. forces, they mastermind 'The Blacklist,' a countdown of escalating terrorist attacks on U.S. assets."Update 2: The role of Sam Fisher will no longer be played by Michael Ironside, EW reports. The part will now be played by Eric Johnson, who will be lending both his voice and body to the title as Ubisoft will be employing performance capture technology to implement his acting into the game.
