assassins creed unity
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Assassin's Creed: Unity title screen crash workaround: remove your friends
Assassin's Creed: Unity has been plagued with bugs and glitches since launch, and developer/publisher Ubisoft has already issued several patches to combat the game's problems. Still, not all the kinks have been ironed out. For example, if you're experiencing crashes at the main menu, according to a recent posting to the game's live updates blog - which details fixes and workarounds as Ubisoft discovers and releases them - you can blame your friends. "We have discovered one of the issues that may cause the game to crash at the main menu after pressing the CONTINUE button. This issue affects all platforms," Ubisoft wrote on its Unity update blog. "For players who haven't experienced this issue, we highly recommend you take the following steps to prevent a crash: Do not add any IN-GAME RECENT PLAYER as a GAME CONTACT. If you already have GAME CONTACTS ... remove them." Ubisoft writes that a fix is in the works. In the meantime, in the city of Paris, we are all strangers. [Image: Ubisoft]
Joystiq Giveaway: 3 copies of The Art of Assassin's Creed: Unity
For all of Assassin's Creed: Unity's foibles, from lackluster mission design to myriad, horrifying glitches in the initial release, one thing is undeniable: It's gorgeous. Ubisoft's digital recreation of Revolution-era Paris is a monumentally impressive work of digital artistry. Who can blame old Arno for constantly getting stuck on the environment? It's gorgeous! That elegant facade was carefully designed by a talented team of illustrators whose work is compiled in The Art of Assassin's Creed: Unity, the equally gorgeous tome. Joystiq is giving away three copies of this book. One grandprize winner will also receive the Assassin's Creed: Unity Abstergo Handbook as well. How do you enter? Just use the Rafflecopter widget below between November 21 and November 28. Winners will be selected after the Thanksgiving holiday and contacted via email. Full rules and details after the break. Joystiq Giveaway: 3 copies of The Art of Assassin's Creed: Unity [Images: Ubisoft]
Far Cry 4 gets a 'live updates' blog too
In a post-Battlefield 4 world, where games launch with known (and significant) technical issues, standard practice is constant updates to quell negative word of mouth. Ubisoft's developing a shared strategy with Assassin's Creed Unity and Far Cry 4 with blogs featuring "live updates." Both the ACU and Far Cry 4 sites provide details on current and upcoming patches. On the one hand, it's great that publishers are providing these patch details on launch day to customers. But that also means consumers are being trained to not trust a game's quality at launch. Is that really the lesson triple-A publishers want to provide?
Ubisoft details third Assassin's Creed: Unity patch
After Ubisoft issued a second patch for Assassin's Creed: Unity late last week, the publisher gave a glimpse of the next update for the game, which is expected to fix more of its technical issues. The third update will be "larger in scope" compared to the previous two, patching bugs "like Arno getting stuck on certain areas of the map," and issues with getting in and out of cover. AI and crowd behavior will be tuned in the coming update as well as co-op multiplayer matchmaking and connectivity problems. Ubisoft also expects to fix situations where the game crashes for players, missing menu items and HUD pop-up errors as well as some of the game's performance issues, such as framerate drops. While Ubisoft said the patch will "dramatically improve" the experience for Unity players, it noted that "this next patch won't solve every problem." [Image: Ubisoft/King_Anesti]
CoD: Advanced Warfare sees off big names to retain UK No. 1
It's that time of year when big-name franchises chuck lengthily-titled entries onto shelves, and the games with the longest names prevail. This week, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare kept top spot in the UK charts, holding off the likes of Assassin's Creed: Unity, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor and Fédération Internationale de Football Association 15 - or FIFA 15 for short. While the latest CoD is king of the sea for the second week running, there are interesting details throughout the UK top ten. For example: The split for UK physical sales of Assassin's Creed: Unity was 52 percent PS4, 46 percent Xbox One and 2 percent PC. Halo: The Master Chief Collection notched the biggest UK launch for a first-party Xbox One game. If you include all publishers i.e. all Xbox One games, it came in 7th. Minecraft Vita hit British retail shelves and scored the third biggest launch for any game on the portable, only behind Uncharted: Golden Abyss and FIFA Football. You'll find more on this week's UK charts below the break, including the top ten and the oft-ignored but stubbornly customary music video
Assassin's Creed Unity to get second patch 'soon'
Ubisoft is preparing a second update for its recently-released open-world action game Assassin's Creed Unity in a bid to squash widely-reported bugs and other gameplay quirks. "Patch 2" will specifically address co-op crashes, hay cart snags, and glitches that clip hero Arno through the ground and into a deadly void. An update for the PC version will additionally fix flickering issues and improve performance for specific hardware configurations. Ubisoft notes that it plans to release the patch "as soon as possible." [Image: Ubisoft]
Console Madness: Joystiq is giving away an Xbox One Assassin's Creed: Unity bundle
Remember that time we gave away a Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Xbox One bundle? Sure you do. If you won that beast, congratulations! If you didn't, we bet you'd like another shot. Joystiq and Microsoft have got you covered. We're giving away an Assassin's Creed: Unity Xbox One bundle this week! How to get your hands on this warlock: Just enter using the Rafflecopter widget below between Friday, November 14 and Friday, November 21. One randomly selected winner will get the Xbox One. And one lucky runner-up will get a free Moga Rebel controller, perfect for playing games like BioShock on your iPhone 6. Want another chance to win a brand new console? Between now and the end of December, we'll be giving away a limited edition white Destiny PlayStation 4 and a Super Smash Bros. Nintendo 3DS XL. Our console madness continues! Full rules and restrictions after the break. Joystiq Xbox One Assassin's Creed: Unity bundle Giveaway [Images: Microsoft/Ubisoft]
Ubisoft now working to fix Assassin's Creed: Unity issues
Following a rough launch earlier this week, Ubisoft wants to assure fans of Assassin's Creed: Unity that the development team is working to patch the game's many glaring technical issues. Just how glaring are these issues? According to the analysts at Digital Foundry, though it appears exclusively on new hardware, Assassin's Creed: Unity performs worse than its prior-generation predecessor Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, while featuring more graphical glitches (see the faceless abomination above) and relatively frequent crashes. Despite the controversial decision to display the game at 900p resolution, Digital Foundry finds that Unity struggles to maintain a steady 30 fps framerate, and that crowd scenes often plunge the game as low as 20 fps. Though Digital Foundry plans to investigate Unity's shortcomings in more detail over the next week, the analysts diplomatically state that "there's certainly the sense that both console versions of the game aren't running at their best." As for Ubisoft's plans to fix these problems, the publisher claims it is currently working on an update to fix a number of specific glitches discovered by players, including protagonist Arno Dorian falling through the game world and getting stuck inside hay bales, and the game crashing without warning. Ubisoft is also investigating the performance issues outlined by Digital Foundry, though it has yet to offer word on any fixes that might be in the works. [Image: Ubisoft/King_Anesti]
Walmart discounts Halo: The Master Chief Collection bundle for Black Friday
U.S. retailer Walmart has revealed its Black Friday sales lineup, giving holiday shoppers time to prepare for a series of deep discounts later this month. Starting on November 26 at 6 p.m., customers can pick up an Xbox One hardware bundle that includes a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection and a $30 Walmart gift card for $329. The Xbox One Assassin's Creed Unity Bundle is also up for grabs at $329, matching a deal Target announced earlier this week. Walmart additionally offers Mario Kart 8, The Evil Within, and Destiny for $35 each, along with a $149.99 Nintendo 3DS XL bundle that includes a free copy of New Super Mario Bros. 2. Cheap Ass Gamer has a full breakdown of Walmart's featured gaming deals. [Image: Microsoft]
Metareview: Assassin's Creed: Unity
As Assassin's Creed: Unity leapt down to PC, Xbox One and PS4 today, it was met with a mixed critical response. Our review of the game got hung up on plot issues and buildings, the latter in a very literal sense, with a middling score that plunged through the floor much like our hero Arno did during our time with the game. "Assassin's Creed Unity is the best and worst of Assassin's Creed," Weekend Editor Sam Prell discussed in his take on the game. "It's hard not to appreciate everything that it gets right, and you'll have a good time if you can wrangle some friends for co-op, but it's impossible to ignore where Unity falls tragically short." For a sampling of the varied opinions from other reviewers, head past the break.
Joystiq Streams: The history of shooting in Bedlam, plus free games
After a week straight of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Joystiq Streams, we've been thinking seriously about the land of first-person shooters. With our palate overwhelmed by Microsoft's genre-defining series, we find ourselves in need of something stranger. Something a little bit different. So we'll be playing Bedlam, a dollop of science fiction weirdness based on a novel by Chris Brookmyre (@cbrookmyre) and developed by RedBedLam. We'll be playing alongside RedBedLam's Steve Finn and Kerry Fraser-Robinson, not to mention doling out some Steam codes for the game. Does the game literally journey through the visual history of FPSes? You bet. The action starts at 4:00PM EST on Joystiq.com/Twitch. Joystiq Streams airs every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00PM EST like clockwork, but if you want to catch every stream, make sure to follow us on Twitch. [Images: RedBedLam/Ubisoft]
Assassin's Creed Unity review: A tale of two games
PC, Xbox One, PS4 It was the best of Assassin's Creed, it was the worst of Assassin's Creed. So it goes with Assassin's Creed Unity, the newest game in Ubisoft's alternate-history series, where sci-fi tech allows you to relive the secret war between Assassins and Templars. Unity succeeds where it needs to, but it falls short of the metaphorical, fall-breaking haybale almost everywhere else, landing with a sickening thud on hard pavement. Unity is capable of inspiring loving adoration while simultaneously bringing you to boiling hatred. It aims high, fails more often than it triumphs, and is in dire need of a technical re-tweaking. At the same time, whenever the pieces align, it feels like coming home.
Watch Conan O'Brien scream at Frenchmen in Assassin's Creed: Unity
It's November, so it's the busy season for Conan O'Brien's Clueless Gamer segment. As a Brit who doesn't speak with a French accent, the talk show host's take on Assassin's Creed: Unity resonates with me. Also, that weary look at the mention of "backstory" is golden. [Image: Ubisoft]
PSA: Xbox One is now $50 cheaper until January 3
The previously-announced holiday promotion that shaves $50 off the standalone Xbox One and all Xbox One bundles is now live, Xbox spokesman Larry Hryb (aka "Major Nelson") announced on his blog. The limited-time sale will last until January 3, and only applies to systems and bundles sold in the US. On a related note, the Xbox One Assassin's Creed bundle, which combines a 500GB Xbox One with digital copies of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed: Unity, is on store shelves starting today as well. The 1TB, Kinect-less Xbox One bundled with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will be out tomorrow. [Image: Microsoft]
There's something off about this Assassin's Creed: Unity trailer
The weird part of this Assassin's Creed: Unity video is where Arno jumps through a rift in time and travels from French Revolution-era Paris to a Paris filled with electricity, zeppelins, machine guns and the Eiffel Tower. And possibly Nazis. That's a 140-year jump. What the hell is happening here? Ubisoft released the trailer with just one comment: "In Assassin's Creed Unity, all of French Revolution Paris is yours to explore, and perhaps more." Perhaps, indeed. Assassin's Creed has always dabbled in time travel of sorts with the Animus, but this is a big leap for an installment that's been billed as a French Revolution story, and nothing more. Assassin's Creed: Unity is due out for Xbox One, PS4 and PC on November 11. See the fairly demanding PC requirements here. [Image: Ubisoft]
Assassin's Creed: Unity shows off sneaking, sweeping, PC specs
There's a lot of room for activities in Assassin's Creed: Unity – activities such as murder mysteries, treasure hunts and high-intensity sweeping, as shown off in the game's Open World Activities trailer. To prepare your rig for these feats, Ubisoft has released PC requirements for the game, including a 64-bit operating system, 6GB RAM minimum and 8GB RAM recommended, 50GB hard drive space and, for multiplayer, 256 kbps or faster broadband connection. See the full requirement list below. Assassin's Creed: Unity will run at 30fps on both PS4 and Xbox One, and developers have said that there's no real advantage to a game running at 60fps, the framerate some fans would rather see. The game's AI is what makes a top-tier framerate difficult to reach, even on new consoles, Senior Producer Vincent Pontbriand said: "We could be running at 100fps if it was just graphics, but because of AI, we're still limited to 30fps." [Image: Ubisoft]
Assassin's Creed Unity Steelbook Edition only on Uplay
Those with an undying love for physical media should prowl Ubisoft's Uplay store for a peek at Assassin's Creed Unity's Steelbook Edition, a $64.99 target housing PS4, Xbox One and PC downloads of the game. The Steelbook features a stained-glass take of Unity's protagonist, Arno, drawn by illustrator Tony Moore, the same artist that worked with Rob Zombie on an ultra-violent short celebrating the Assassin's Creed series. Reinforced protection for your disc (or voucher) is joined by an official soundtrack and art book, all of which should be heading for your door by Unity's general November 11 launch day. Editor-in-Chief Ludwig Kietzmann recently followed Unity's stealth-favoring lead, and while he thinks its crouch-activated stealth mode is "effective and snapping to cover worked well on every surface," Ludwig's Arno "often climbed the wrong way" and was hindered by a framerate that "seems to have a lot of trouble keeping up with Unity's huge crowds and vivid lighting, which impacts Arno's responsiveness." [Image: Ubisoft]
Meet the lovely actors behind Assassin's Creed: Unity
In what is either a knock against Ubisoft's art direction or a compliment to voice actors in general, this trailer introduces the people who provide the voices for Assassin's Creed: Unity, all of whom are better looking than their supposedly idealized in-game counterparts. [Image: Ubisoft]
Assassin's Creed Unity Xbox One bundles include AC4: Black Flag
Dear Templar Order, Today our brothers at Microsoft have shown their allegiance to the assassins. They will release two bundles of their Xbox One console featuring the exploits of our ancient enemies. Both versions contain Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, with the standard version priced at $399 and another including Kinect at $499. It will be available at retailers on November 2. This is not just impacting our North American operations, as Europe is also not safe from those who believe "nothing is true, everything is permitted." The bundles will arrive there on November 4. Both games will be included in the box as codes, but Unity won't be available to pre-download or access until the game launches on November 11.
Joystiq Weekly: Vib-ribbon launches, Driveclub Review, RE: Revelations 2 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. "Better eight years late than never," PlayStation Network users probably said during this week's return of Vib-ribbon. Sure, we're not exactly in drought season, but what's stopping you from impulsively bailing on 2014's release calendar to revisit a 1999 cult classic? Beyond money and life's responsibilities, anyway. If Vib-ribbon is fair game for a 2014 appearance, can we go ahead and get our hopes for comparably-unlikely surprises? Sure, StarCraft: Ghost's indefinitely-on-hold status is probably irreversible at this point, but if Blizzard felt like continuing development in secret for years and launching it without warning, we wouldn't be upset. Valve, you're more than welcome to do the same with fresh installments in the Half Life or Left 4 Dead series. There was more to this week than feeble wishes though, including resolution news for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Assassin's Creed: Unity, reviews for Driveclub and Neverending Nightmares, and previews for AC: Unity and Resident Evil: Revelations 2. All those and more are tidied up for you after the break!
