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Ubisoft announces development of six Vita games, including Assassin's Creed and Lumines
Ubisoft is coming out strong in support of the PlayStation Vita, because it's a video game system and that's what Ubisoft does. In advance of Sony's Gamescom presser today, the company announced development of six titles for the handheld, including an Asphalt racing game, Assassin's Creed, Dungeon Hunter Alliance (above), Rayman Origins, and Michael Jackson: The Experience. Perhaps most exciting, the PSP launch standout Lumines is returning on PlayStation Vita. Along with the announcement, Ubisoft shared screens of Rayman, Asphalt, and Dungeon Hunter. No dates were provided for any of these, but expect at least a few of them at the system's launch, because, again, that's what Ubisoft does.%Gallery-130765%
Ubisoft Q1 sales down 36 percent from last year
The latest Ubisoft financial report for the first quarter of its 2012 fiscal year is a tough pill to swallow for everyone who loved Q Entertainment's stunning rhythm-shooter, Child of Eden. The company's sales for the quarter reached €103 million, a decline of 36.3% from the €161 million reported during the same period during FY 2011. The quarter wasn't a total wash -- sales actually exceeded Ubisoft's expectations of €90 million thanks to strong back-catalog sales (thanks, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood!), successful digital titles like Outland and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, and the massive worldwide sales of Michael Jackson: The Experience. Still, in a perfect world, Ubisoft's financial report would just show the logo for Child of Eden, then a picture of Tetsuya Mizuguchi rolling around in an Olympic swimming pool filled with hundred-dollar bills.
Analysts consider dance genre 'bubble,' Ubisoft says more 'The Experience' games possible
Ubisoft's Just Dance and its successful clones like Michael Jackson: The Experience, along with Harmonix's Dance Central, have established the dance genre as a viable market for milking. Now the industry must play the delicate game of sucking the marrow dry without creating a zombie. Gamasutra hit up go-to industry analysts Michael Pachter and Jesse Divnich for their takes on the sustainability of the genre. Both analysts essentially characterized dance games as part of a bubble that is largely unaffected by critical reception (UK hit Zumba Fitness has a 43 on Metacritic). "In short, yes, the dance category is a bubble," said Divnich, "much like most things in entertainment." That doesn't mean that the bubble is about to burst -- or that the bottle of suds is close to empty. At least, Ubisoft is planning to keep on dipping in. The publisher's Tony Key teased that Michael Jackson: The Experience is "just the first 'The Experience' brand." He added that there's no reason why "another artist can't make a great dance game under 'The Experience brand,'" but didn't pitch any bright ideas. The Smurfs, anyone?
Michael Jackson: The Experience sold 3 million units globally
Michael Jackson: The Experience -- Just Dance's cousin, once removed on the Ubisoft side -- has sold over three million units worldwide. Ubisoft tells MCV that the Wii, DS and PSP versions have sold 319,000 units in the UK, meaning that the island nation is responsible for 11 percent of the global guilt burden. The news comes just ahead of the game's PS3 and Xbox 360 Kinect release next week. The latest versions will feature upgraded visuals, some bonus tracks and full body tracking on Kinect -- speaking of which, the "Smooth Criminal" lean is still impossible without the special shoes, so don't feel bad. %Gallery-106272%
Walmart.com lists SOCOM 4, Michael Jackson: The Experience pre-order exclusives
Walmart is offering up two exclusives on pre-orders for upcoming games this week. First up, Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience is available for pre-order on Xbox 360 and PS3 via retailer's site right now. Not only is the game on sale for $46.54, but you'll get the exclusive track "Another Part of Me" -- featured in Captain EO and in the old Moonwalker arcade game -- as part of the deal. There's also a promotion going down with SOCOM 4, where you can pre-order the game and get an exclusive SU90-S Shotgun to use right away (as opposed to, say, GameStop's exclusive map). Let's see: a gun or an entire map? Hmmm ...
Dragon Quest VI, Medal of Honor, and a bunch of Wii music items in Amazon Gold Box
Amazon is offering a spate of gaming deals in its Gold Box today, revealing a new time-limited offer every couple of hours. Strangely, the discounts are about half Wii music-game themed -- things like the Wii versions of Michael Jackson: The Experience (the Deal of the Day at $30), Rock Band 3, and Dance Dance Revolution. However, the non-Wii part includes savings on the DS version of Plants vs. Zombies, Dragon Quest VI, Civilization V and others, so the lack of a fully committed theme is forgivable. Find the list after the break.
Dance games made it rain on Ubisoft's holiday quarter
Ubisoft today reported sales figures for its fiscal-year third quarter, which ended December 31, 2010. For the period, the French publisher recorded €600 million ($809 million) in total software sales, up just over 21 percent from the same quarter in 2009 (though factoring in constant exchange rates -- nearly 60 percent of sales were made in North America -- year-over-year growth was closer to 15 percent). In 2010's three-month holiday period alone, Ubisoft shipped a staggering 10.5 million copies of dance titles, which included Just Dance, Just Dance 2, Just Dance Kids, Michael Jackson: The Experience and Dance on Broadway. Additionally, the company claimed an 18 percent market share of the Kinect platform in the US (and 21 percent in Europe), following its push to become the "top third-party publisher" for Microsoft's successful motion-control add-on. Ubisoft put its Kinect game shipments at over 2 million -- "a very nice level of profitability," CEO Yves Guillemot said in an investor call today -- for the fiscal third quarter. Add in all those copies of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Ubisoft outsold its projected quarterly sales total by €80 million ($108 million), bringing its nine-month fiscal 2010-11 year sales up to €861 million ($1.16 billion) -- a marked increase over the €661 million in sales generated during the same period in 2009, and making it a near certainty that the company will return to profitability at the end of its current fiscal year (on March 31, 2011). With a relatively quiet fourth quarter of scheduled releases, however, the publisher anticipates its total fiscal-year sales to reach only €1.02 billion. Still, "cash flow generation is expected to be positive."
Michael Jackson: The Experience moonwalks onto PS3 and Xbox 360 April 12
Someone whose name has been lost to history once said, "Don't stop 'til you get enough." And that's exactly what Michael Jackson fans have done with Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience. Fans have not stopped buying the game to the tune of two million copies so far -- what Ubisoft's declared a "global holiday hit" -- in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, across the currently available Wii, DS and PSP releases. As for the forthcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, Ubisoft has announced you'll be able to pantomime along to the hits using Kinect or Move on April 12 in North America, and on April 14 in EMEA territories. Additionally, the "Blood on the Dance Floor" and "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" songs will be exclusive to these versions, "with additional tracks to be revealed soon." Update: The "additional tracks" are ... "Stranger In Moscow" and the Walmart-exclusive "Another Part of Me." The full track list is posted after the break.
Michael Jackson: The Experience moonwalks up UK sales chart, Black Ops king of the hill
Gran Turismo 5 ran out of gas after its debut week, dropping 61 percent in sales and into fourth place on Chart-Track's UK All Formats chart. The top three titles were Call of Duty: Black Ops, FIFA 11 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The big premieres for the week were Donkey Kong Country Returns and Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary at 13 and 22, respectively. So, last week we almost neglected to mention Disney Epic Mickey, because it didn't make the Top 40. We thought its performance might have been an anomaly ... until it missed out again on the Top 40 and maintained its place at #11 on the Wii Chart. Not a good sign. Comparatively, Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience, which debuted down at #38 last week, had a thriller of a second week, shooting up to sixth place. It's now holding hands with Ubisoft's stalwart Just Dance franchise, which had its numerical sequel in the fifth spot. Find the full UK top ten after the break.
Michael Jackson: The Experience DS pirates treated to 'Billie JeaoooOOONNNHHHH'
We haven't heard much about the actual quality of Michael Jackson: The Experience's DS iteration, but its anti-piracy measures are absolutely top-notch. Pirates who have downloaded ROMs of the game -- for ... some reason -- have reported that two major problems have found their way into the illicit version of the game: Many of the game's touchscreen controls are rendered non-functional, and also, oh yeah, a vuvuzela just happens to be blaring over all the songs. While the infamous party horn adds a little something something to MJ's mixes, it probably makes it a little difficult to keep up with the dancing. Check out a brief, off-screen video of the anti-piracy horn in action posted after the jump.
Michael Jackson: The Experience: The Launch Trailer
Is it just us, or are the glowing, blank-faced dancers in the Just Dance games kind of uncanny-valley creepy? If you feel the same way, consider this a warning: this trailer features a bunch of gameplay from Michael Jackson: The Experience for Wii, which shares that style. Music's great, though.
'Experience the Glove' by winning Michael Jackson: The Experience contest
People who buy the first run of the Wii version of Michael Jackson: The Experience will receive a sparkly glove. But one lucky Michael Jackson: The Experience owner will get an even more ostentatious (and valuable) glove, in addition to the regular one. A pair of gloves -- how unusual! Five "golden tickets" are distributed in copies of the game, each one constituting an entry in a drawing for this replica Michael Jackson glove. Five additional contestants will be awarded entries on the game's Facebook page. Yes, it's a random drawing whose prize is an entry into another random drawing. The glove is identical in design to a limited number of replicas given to celebrities to autograph and auction on Charity Buzz (the "Experience the Glove" campaign, Ubisoft and the Jackson estate are calling it), with proceeds going to a children's charity of that celebrity's choice. Currently, the only such glove on the site belongs to Whoopi Goldberg -- handily taking care of holiday shopping for that Whoopi Goldberg superfan in your family with the notoriously cold right hand.
Ubisoft Quebec adds a Longtail studio
Ubisoft has reached a deal to absorb 48 members of Longtail Studios Quebec into its own Quebec City studio, reports French-language outlet Le Soleil (Google translation). The acquisition will also result in a reported 5–6 staff layoffs and effectively closes Longtail's Quebec branch, though its New York headquarters and remaining studios are expected to remain in operation for now. Le Soleil claims that anonymous staff from the studio are pleased to now be working directly for a well-established developer -- plus they'll only have to move a few floors in their current office building, which they share with Ubisoft. The move comes just weeks after Longtail Quebec's studio director, Andreas Mollman, abruptly departed. The studio had most recently contributed to the development of Ubisoft's Michael Jackson: The Experience and other unnamed, but "key" Kinect projects, Ubisoft clarified in a short statement. The Quebec outfit represented about half of Longtail's total workforce, and the company will now shift the bulk of its development efforts onto its Halifax studio, director general Estelle Jacquemard confirmed. Jacquemard also denied suggestion that the company's future was in question, heralding the success of its most recent release, Dance on Broadway, and saying that ten new jobs would open up in the coming weeks. He also shot down rumor that Longtail's owner, Gerard Guillemot, has plans to get out of the games business altogether -- Gerard is indeed the brother of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and a co-founder of the mega-publisher himself.
Michael Jackson: The Glove bundled with Wii version of Michael Jackson: The Experience
We appreciate Ubisoft's sense of restraint. How, you may ask, could it be considered "restrained" to bundle a Michael Jackson-style white glove, covered with rhinestones, with initial shipments of the Wii version of Michael Jackson: The Experience? Because Ubisoft could have chosen to put a big loop on it for you to strap the Wiimote into, but it didn't. That's totally classy. The glove is not included with the PSP or DS versions also out this month, but Ubisoft hasn't mentioned whether a similar offer would come with next year's PS3 or Xbox 360 versions. (We doubt one would be bundled with the Xbox game, though, because Kinect would probably freak out if you were wearing a reflective glove.) In addition to this critical hand-warmth news, two more songs were announced for inclusion in the game: "Speed Demon" and "Dirty Diana." It's another show of restraint on the part of Ubisoft -- the company could have gone the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith route and loaded the game with non-Michael Jackson music. %Gallery-106383%
Michael Jackson: The Experience is in for a Thriller
Ubisoft has revealed three more tracks for the upcoming Michael Jackson experience entitled, um, Michael Jackson: The Experience. There will certainly be more than a few MJ fans happy to hear about the inclusion of "Ghost" and "Rock with You," but the highlight of the announcement is easily the Halloween classic "Thriller." We can only hope that the game will include the full version of the song -- werewolves, Vincent Price and all -- however unlikely that may be. Check out some new screens in the gallery below and some new gameplay footage after the break (no "Thriller" footage, sorry). %Gallery-106272%
Michael Jackson Xbox & PS3 delayed to 2011, Wii and handhelds unaffected
Want to play the Michael Jackson video game on PS3 and Xbox 360 this year? You'll have to beat it, because Ubisoft has delayed the HD versions of the game to next year. It's not all bad news, though. The publisher told IGN that "we're giving our teams more time to develop the Kinect and Move versions to ensure we deliver awesome experiences that take full advantage of the new technologies." Before you say they don't care about us, the Wii and handheld versions of the game are unaffected by the delay. The Wii, DS and PSP versions are still planned to ship this November. Will you be there?
Experience the Michael Jackson game's first song list
Ubisoft today announced the first set of tracks licensed for Michael Jackson: The Experience, the multiplatform dance-n'-sing-along game coming this holiday. Only seven cuts deep, the list was accompanied by the publisher's assurance of "many more" -- eh HEE HEE! -- songs to be revealed: "Bad" "Beat It" "Billie Jean" "Earth Song" "The Girl Is Mine" "Who Is It" "Workin' Day And Night" The Wii Experience is indeed playable for the first time this week at Gamescom, but Ubisoft is focusing its marketing efforts on the company's so-called "proprietary Player Projection" technology -- sham on! -- featured in the Kinect version of the game. As it sounds, and demonstrated in the promo shot above, Player Projection superimposes the player into the game screen via the image captured by the Kinect camera. (It's not be specified whether this common effect will also be featured in the camera-equipped PlayStation Move version of the game.) If you're hoping to avoid the rather unpleasant experience of falling flat on your face while watching yourself fall flat on your face, then you had best study up on some of MJ's dance tricks. Thankfully, the game will include -- eh hee-hee-hee -- the "Michael Jackson School" mode. %Gallery-99711%
Michael Jackson: The Experience will be playable at GamesCom
If you're anything like us, you've been wandering the streets at night ever since Ubisoft announced a Michael Jackson game at its E3 2010 presser, waiting for news on when you can get some time with the "experience." Here's hoping you've been wandering around Cologne, Germany, as that's the first place anyone will get a chance to go body-on with Michael Jackson: The Experience during this month's GamesCom 2010. Sure, Ubisoft will also be bringing Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Driver: San Francisco and Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time, but those are all, like, games about other stuff. Aren't you more excited to play a game featuring the King of Pop? Maybe you'd be more interested to know that Just Dance 2 will be playable? Oh ... right ... Europe -- you're definitely more excited about Just Dance 2 than anything else. Who're we kidding?
Michael Jackson game subtitled 'The Experience,' coming November
Following its bare-bones announcement at Ubisoft's E3 press conference, "Michael Jackson: The Game" has been dubbed Just Michael Jackson Michael Jackson: The Experience. The Experience will place players in the shiny shoes of Jackson himself, reliving some of his most iconic performances using the Wii, PlayStation Move or Xbox 360's Kinect motion tech to dance along with an on-screen prompt. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will also include an option to sing along, using Kinect's built-in mic or a standalone microphone. Additionally, DS and PSP versions of the game will feature Ouendan-esque rhythm-tapping gameplay. According to Eurogamer, The Experience is due out in November, which should give us enough time to figure out the meaning of the name. Is it because we're getting the full Michael Jackson "experience?" Or, is it possible that the game includes an experience-based character progression system? If so, we're putting all our points in the Toe Stand specialization tree.
Michael Jackson game being developed by Ubisoft
How does Ubisoft follow up on its multi-million unit selling Just Dance? By making an "interactive performance-based" game about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. The E3 presentation featured a few dancers on stage moving in front of a Kinect camera. However, other than a short musical number and a logo, Ubisoft hasn't presented much else (not that it'll stop hardcore fans from pre-ordering the game now). We first heard of a possible deal for a Michael Jackson game last year. The original concept promised "recent voice recordings by the singer." It's unclear if Ubisoft's game is the same project, but it will feature classics, like "Beat It" and "Billie Jean." According to a press release, fans will be able to not just dance, but sing along as well. In spite of not being shown at the press conference in any playable form, Ubisoft's Michael Jackson game will be available for Kinect for Xbox 360, PlayStation Move for PS3, PSP, Wii and Nintendo DS. %Gallery-95223%
