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Conspiracy digital trip now available as Watch Dogs DLC
Ubisoft has issued a small piece of DLC for its open-world hackers-as-wizards game Watch Dogs, though instead of new weapons, vehicles or trenchcoats, this DLC adds a new digital trip, dubbed "Conspiracy." For those unaware, digital trips are a special sort of mini-game in Watch Dogs that paint the otherwise staid Chicago landscape with augmented reality features. Conspiracy, for instance, populates the area with stealthy cyborgs that must be hunted down and dispatched with as much prejudice as you can muster. Think of it as a reverse Terminator scenario. Unfortunately, since Watch Dogs is a misleading title, you won't have helpful canine bystanders barking their heads off at anyone with a metal endoskeleton. Those interested in adding Conspiracy to Watch Dogs' complement of digital trips can purchase the DLC at a price of $5. Alternately, those who've sprung for the $20 season pass will receive Conspiracy at no additional charge. [Image: Ubisoft]
Watch Dogs sells 4 million copies
Ubisoft sold four million copies of Watch Dogs in the game's first week at retail, the publisher announced today. The game is now Ubisoft's "best-selling game ever in week one," according to its internal sales estimates. Watch Dogs launched last Tuesday for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It managed to sell more copies in its first 24 hours on shelves than any other game in Ubisoft's publishing history. Our four-star review of the game praised it as a "more fluid and modern power fantasy than we're used to." Watch Dogs still awaits one more platform; it's slated to launch on Wii U this fall, which Ubisoft is now "fully focused on." [Image: Ubisoft]
UK charts: Watch Dogs hacks up records, Mario Kart 8 boosts Wii U
Watch out Glenn Beck, because Watch Dogs is turning Brits into hackers too. The Ubisoft game broke the UK charts record for most copies sold by a new intellectual property at launch, toppling previous holder L.A Noire by a chunky 58 percent. No surprises it's Ubi's biggest ever week 1 seller in the country, beating Assassin's Creed 3 by 17 percent. That means Mario Kart 8 has to settle for the silver trophy, with sales-compiler Chart-Track saying it was "no contest" for top spot. The racer was still the proverbial super mushroom to the country's Wii U sales, which rose by a whopping 666 percent from the week before. With no hard numbers to hand, it's hard to assess if that says more about the new game's impact than the sales from the previous week. Either way, it's the highest we've seen a Wii U exclusive in the UK charts since Pikmin 3, even if it couldn't blue shell its way to the top.
Watch Dogs on PC being taught new tricks via stability patch
Sit. Stay. Run smoothly. Good Watch Dogs! While Ubisoft's open-world hacker-vigilante adventure on PC can really put your rig through its paces - it's recommended that owners of the PC version have an i7 processor and a graphics card with at least 2GB of dedicated RAM onboard - that may soon change, according to tweets from the game's technical director, Sebastien Viard. "Our PC progs are ... currently working on a patch to improve your experience thanks to your reports, stay tuned," Viard tweeted on Thursday. While there's no ETA on this patch, it's at least good to hear that an update aimed at improving performance and stability is in the works. Curious as to why Watch Dogs is having such a rough ride on PC? Viard's got an answer for that as well: "Watch Dogs can use 3+ GB of RAM on [new-generation] consoles for graphics, your PC GPU needs enough VRAM for ultra options due to the lack of unified [memory]," he tweeted. Until the patch hits, Viard suggests tweaking texture quality, anti-aliasing and resolution options if you're experiencing slowdown. Huh. And here Watch Dogs protagonist Aiden Pearce made hacking and tweaking computers seem so simple. [Image: Ubisoft]
Joystiq Weekly: Battlefield Hardline, Watch Dogs review, Evil Within preview and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. With Sony upping PlayStation Plus to six games per month, we're pretty confident that the service is trying to ruin our lives. We're not obligated to tackle every single title, of course, but in the cycle of starting downloads for games "just in case" we ever feel an inkling to play them, we're losing track of which games we should feel guilty about not finishing and which games we should feel guilty about paying $60 for and not finishing. If not for the bills, assignments and the omnipresence of life's ever-ticking clock, we'd plop down in front of our TVs for a few years and knock out every game we ever felt intrigued by. To hell with "everything in moderation" - moderation wouldn't clear out our shelves of "yeah, maybe one day" RPGs, nor would it help us get the timing for our go-to Street Fighter combos down to the exact frame. Moderation is just a feeble admission that we can't control time (yet), and it ignores our potential to play all the video games, which we'll definitely get to. Eventually. Some day. Unfortunately, getting through every game we've ever wanted to play is still just a fantasy for now. Unless you find a way to break the laws of life's constants - if you do, you should totally let us know. We can do co-op or something. Until we reach that dream state, you can get a glimpse of Battlefield Hardline, read reviews for Watch Dogs and Among The Sleep, and dig into a neat feature on Watch Dogs that explains how legalities ruin everything. It's all waiting for you after the break!
What would the game Watch Dogs be like with an iPhone? (NSFW)
The new game Watch Dogs puts players in the shoes of a super smartphone-wielding vigilante who can use his device to track and control the world around him. It's a clever take on the action genre that's getting rave reviews. You can see a trailer for the game below to get an idea of how the phone impacts game play. The intrepid jokers at Machinima have created a skit that asks that question we've been wondering since finding out about Watch Dogs: how would it play if the protagonist used an iPhone? The answers are hysterical, though not safe for work. Plug in your headphones and enjoy a laugh.
Watch Dogs breaks day-one sales record for Ubisoft
Watch Dogs is already setting new sales records in its first week on store shelves, as Ubisoft announced that its open-world hackathon has sold more copies in a 24-hour period than any other game in the publisher's history. "The buzz around Watch Dogs was driven by the incredible passion of our early fans," Creative Director Jonathan Morin said on Wednesday. "Today we broke the record for the biggest first day sales in Ubisoft history." While specific sales figures were not released, Game Informer puts the milestone in perspective, noting that Ubisoft's previous first-day sales record-holder Assassin's Creed 3 moved 12.5 million copies in its first five months of release. Watch Dogs premiered this week for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC platforms, and a Wii U port is due to launch later this year. [Image: Ubisoft]
Why you can't visit Soldier Field in Watch Dogs
In March, playing a preview build of Watch Dogs in Montreal, I found myself fixated on one word: Soda. In one of the random missions available to me, I spotted the word brandished on the front of a vending machine deep within a building that protagonist Aiden Pearce was assigned to invade. Something about it felt wrong. There are generally two recognized generic terms for carbonated beverages throughout North America: Soda and pop. (Texas calls everything Coke.) Based on a study by a German linguistics and philology major from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008, Illinois is primarily "pop" territory. Though Ubisoft Montreal did not set out to create a carbon copy of Chicago for its Watch Dogs setting, the developer says it worked hard to ensure the experience was authentic to its real life setting. Regional language, Watch Dogs lead writer Kevin Shortt says, was something the developer knew it had to get right. Soda would become pop. Characters would no longer say "waterfront" as it was originally written, but rather use the local colloquialism "lakefront." While Ubisoft's version of Chicago isn't a reproduction of reality, the developer feels it has captured the essence of the city's strong cultural signature, despite being forced to bend a number elements to conform to its design and budget. There's more to building a recognizable city than just getting the skyline right, as it turns out.
Metareview: Watch Dogs
The first installment of a new Ubisoft franchise just wouldn't be the same if it didn't create critical disagreement. Reviews for Watch Dogs were formed with all the gestational efforts and subsequent knee-jerk commenter fervor that we haven't seen since the original Assassin's Creed. Our review basically equated the Watch Dogs experience with that of being a wizard in modern times. Let's see what others downloaded from the experience ...
Playdate: We're livestreaming Watch Dogs for PS4! (update: game over)
Welcome, ladygeeks and gentlenerds, to the new era of gaming. The one where you get to watch, and comment, as other people livestream gameplay from next-gen consoles. Because games! They're fun! What would you do if you could control your hometown with nothing more than a smartphone? That's what the world of Watch Dogs asks. Here, escaping the cops (and Big Brother) takes a little more than fancy driving skills and sheer firepower; it takes brains and creativity. We've been itching to get our hands on the game since its show-stealing debut back at E3 2012 and now that wait is over -- we'll be streaming live at 4PM PT/7PM ET! Feel like hacking the planet along with us on PS4 before picking up your copy? All it takes is a press of the button below. And if you've already grabbed your copy, let us know what you think of Watch Dogs in the forums; we've set up a thread and everything!
UPlay hiccups render Watch Dogs unplayable for some on PC
Ubisoft warns that some players "may experience long delays when trying to login" to its servers in order to play the PC version of Watch Dogs, rendering the game unplayable on launch day. An influx of new players apparently overwhelmed Ubisoft's authentication services, leaving some unable to join or log in to Ubisoft's uPlay network. Kotaku reports that players are experiencing a number of issues as a result, including stalled downloads, in-game crashes, and unrecoverable errors. Ubisoft has not issued a timeframe for a fix, but notes that affected customers should "stay tuned" for updates. [Image: Ubisoft]
Watch Dogs mobile griefing app out today
Ubisoft's mobile companion app for Watch Dogs is now available on Android and iOS, and gives players the opportunity to interact with others in the game's online sections. Though the word "companion" doesn't have the same ring to it in the "ctOS Mobile" app, as players use it to mess with others' surroundings in an attempt to thwart their attempts to reach the finish line in both race and free ride modes. For instance, players within the ctOS Mobile app can control a Chicago PD helicopter and go on the hunt for their rivals, controlling ctOS devices within the helicopter's range like road blockers and traffic lights to halt other players. Mobile players will also dispatch Chicago police units like squad cars and SWAT teams and upgrade their effectiveness. As app users complete challenges, they earn experience and skill points, with which they can enhance their police arsenal as well as their own abilities. The app is free to download and doesn't require that players own the console game. Ubisoft has a list of its compatible devices on its blog. Our review of Watch Dogs, now available today, notes that the game is "a more fluid and modern power fantasy than we're used to," likening players in the game to being a wizard. [Image: Ubisoft]
Watch Dogs Review: A Wizard Did It
The advanced technology in Watch Dogs is not just indistinguishable from magic – it IS magic. The game would have you believe you're the world's most powerful hacker, bending surveillance cameras, traffic control and all manner of personal electronics to your one-touch whims. But in this paranoid vision of the future, in which every mundane device is grafted to the same computerized skeleton, the right software might as well be an all-powerful wand. Wouldn't you like to be the wizard?
Take a trip across Chicago in Watch Dogs video
Some players may want to familiarize themselves with the world ahead of Watch Dogs' release tomorrow and need all the resources they can get. With that in mind, this video guides viewers through the game's map, courtesy of the YouTubers at PlayStation Access. The video does miss a few areas of the map, but generally winds its way across the game's version of Chicago. Watch Dogs will launch tomorrow for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The Ubisoft Montreal-developed open-world game will also arrive on Wii U at some point, which Ubisoft said it is "fully focused on" earlier this month. [Image: Ubisoft]
The real-life hacking behind Watch Dogs' virtual world
It starts out simply. One day, you're scrolling through the Naval Criminal Investigative Service database, identifying a perp's body when an alert flashes red on your monitor. "INTRUSION DETECTED," it screams. You're getting hacked and there's only one solution: Call your bumbling partner over and have him join you at the keyboard. The two of you frantically bang out rapid-fire key sequences as random program windows flash onscreen. The hacker's getting further and further into the system. Your partner's never seen code like this before and his usual tricks to combat it aren't working. That's when the display goes dead and your silver fox of a boss saves the day by pulling the power plug of your workstation.
Conan reviews Watch Dogs, turns it into Grand Theft Auto
You give a man like Conan O'Brien an open-world game like Watch Dogs, he's going to play it like Grand Theft Auto. After deriding the concept of a city run by one operating network, the chat show host goes about destroying Chicago in almost every way possible.
Who let the Watch Dogs launch trailer out?
Hacker/vigilante Aiden Pearce may have seen "something no one was supposed to see" according to the new trailer for Watch Dogs, but don't worry - we're pretty sure Ubisoft wants you to see everything the game has to offer. Which you can, via the trailer above! Handy, that. [Image: Ubisoft]
Watch Dogs on Commodore 64 teaches old system new tricks
Man, that Watch Dogs sure looks like a Commodore 64 game, no wonder Ubisoft delayed it. Joking aside, there's a poetic side to Balazs Kalocsai's retro vid: Hacking rose to prominence in the 1980s, with films like WarGames really bringing it into the public eye. So in that way, a Commodore 64 take is a very apt fit. And, more importantly, how good is that music? For more of Kalcosai's retro videos, head on over to YouTube. If you're after the real Watch Dogs, it hits Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on May 27, and Wii U later this year. [Image: Ubisoft]
Joystiq Weekly: Xbox One's Kinect, Mario Kart 8 review, Godzilla's past and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. If machinery works the way The Brave Little Toaster suggests, you gotta feel for the Kinect - the solid experiences it supplements are often drowned in complaints about its underwhelming games, as well as its general inaccuracies as a listening, motion-tracking controller. We imagine Microsoft reassured the device about its playground reputation by including it with every Xbox One out there, but then ... well, this week happened. Kinect might be destined to just stay at home now, waiting for a band of appliance-shaped adventures to accept his flaws so it can tag along with for their straight-to-Blu Ray sequel. Hey, on the upside, at least that terrifying air conditioner died off before Kinect was ever able to meet him. Can you imagine being left alone in a house with that thing as a kid? Talk about new legitimate fears. Anyway, now that we're done painting a bleak picture of Kinect's secret social life, there's a lot more to this week than technological popularity contests. It's financial season, with Ubisoft, Take-Two and the NPD Group throwing numbers everywhere, we've got reviews for Mario Kart 8 and Super Time Force, and there's also a dip into Godzilla's past of ruining virtual metropolises. It's all stacked neat and orderly for you after the break!
Watch Dogs won't hit 1080p on either PlayStation 4 or Xbox One
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are both plenty powerful, but so far, many third-party games have ended up running better on Sony's console. That trend apparently continues later this month with Ubisoft's upcoming cyberpunk hackathon, Watch Dogs. The PS4 may have the upper hand in terms of native resolution as Joystiq noticed, but the game will run at 30fps (the gold standard for open-world games) on both platforms and neither will sport 1080p natively according to publisher Ubisoft. This is contrary to what a PlayStation.com listing said before it vanished over the weekend. The adventures of Aiden Pearce will run at 900p for Sony fans, while Xbox One owners will see 792p on their flat-screens. Because both consoles will upscale the game and output it to your display's native resolution, it's a difference you might only notice if both versions are running side-by-side. If you'll remember, Assassin's Creed 4 shipped on the PS4 at 900p as well, and received an update to hit full HD after the game launched -- we'll be watching to see if that happens here, too.
