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Impressions: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Click to enlarge By now you've likely seen the impressive live-action teaser trailer through which Ubisoft announced its latest Ghost Recon title, Future Soldier. If you haven't, well, have a look before reading any further. It's important since, last week at Ubisoft's offices, I saw the actual game in action -- and just about everything from that trailer is an actual gameplay mechanic. And then some. I got a look at the makings of a future soldier and how their abilities -- gear, weapons and additional battlefield hardware -- will evolve the series, plus how Ubisoft and Red Storm just might have come up with a way for teams to play more like, well, teams in online matches. %Gallery-90264%
Ghost Recon live-action trailer has cloaking devices, explosions
Ubisoft is kind of knocking it out of the park with live-action short films based on its games. First it brought us Assassin's Creed: Lineage, now we have a live-action trailer for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The trailer, directed by Ben Mor, pretty much has anything you could want. Rather than spoil the action, we'll just give a brief rundown of some of the things included: Minigun-packing robot drones Personal cloaking devices Explosions Shoulder mounted anti-tank missiles Yeah, you should probably watch it right now. And don't forget a full short film is still slated to be released later this year.
Ubisoft prepping short film, a Ghost Recon: Future Soldier prequel
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ubisoft will release a short film ahead of the release of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The film will be helmed by Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy, the duo that just won an Academy Award for their short film Logorama. We're assuming the Ghost Recon film won't be quite as cheeky. The short, which will serve as a prequel to Future Soldier, will be a 20-minute live-action film, reportedly with a budget between $8–10 million. It's being written by Tim Sexton, co-writer of Children of Men. The project is in line with Ubisoft's ongoing strategy to expand its scope of media to include more than just video games. Last year, the company released the Assassin's Creed: Lineage short film series to promote Assassin's Creed II. Later in the year, Ubisoft Montreal's Yannis Mallat envisioned a future where Ubisoft crafts films and games using the same assets, which is precisely what it did with Lineage. Given the talent and financial backing behind the Future Soldier film, it looks like Mallat's future could be a bright one. [Via Big Download]
Get a taste of the future: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier teaser
The previously Xbox Live-exclusive Ghost Recon: Future Soldier trailer has found its way onto the YouTubes. As expected, it's a lot of CG and absolutely no gameplay -- with a final title screen promising release in "Fall 2010." One item in the teaser, however, did manage to excite us: Invisibility. It looks like every future soldier gets one of those special Harry Potter blankets. Neat! Head past the break for the teaser.
Ghost Recon also headed to Wii, PSP, and DS; Wii version developed by a different team
Among the handful of Ubiscoops about 2010's releases coming out of today's investor call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot brought up the tactical Tom Clancy franchise Ghost Recon. Beyond the already revealed platforms for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Guillemot detailed the franchise's further ubiquity, saying the next Ghost Recon game will "be on all platforms: 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, [and] DS." He noted that the Wii version of Ghost Recon will "be done by a different team" with a "different approach ... created for that Wii population." Presumably, the game will involve standing on the balance board to approximate a sniper's breathing -- and it'll also be made up entirely of mini-games. Whoa, whoa -- calm down there killer. We're just joshin' ya! He also confirmed something we've been mentioning for months now: "There will be more competition in the first eight months than in the last four." Get your calculators and spreadsheets out, folks -- early 2010 is gonna be a bruiser like we've never seen before (on our bank accounts, that is).
Ubisoft reports fiscal Q3 sales of $679 million, hints at unannounced titles
Sure, $679 million may sound like a lot of money (it sure does to us!), but when you're a company CEO reporting that number to investors and it's 2.7 percent lower than last year's equivalent time period ($697 million), it's not quite as impressive. And that's just what Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot had to do earlier today when the company reported its fiscal Q3 (October 1 through December 31) sales for 2009. Given the publisher's French HQ, we're not privy to the period's revenue until later this year. In discussing plans for the upcoming year, the company cited "at least seven franchise titles" being launched this year, calling out this morning's (finally) officially-announced Ghost Recon: Future Soldier among others, leaving one (presumably unannounced) title unmentioned. The publisher then indicates "at least two new brands (R.U.S.E. has already been announced)" will see the light of day in 2010 -- leaving one unannounced new brand. Getting murkier yet, it appears "at least 5 online games" will be heading to the information superhighway, though only three are mentioned (yep, you guessed it -- that means two have yet to be revealed). With GDC, PAX East, and E3 not too far off (already?!), there's still plenty of 2010 left for announcements.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier to be present Holiday 2010
Or, it'll be a Holiday 2010 present, depending on how heavily you drop those hints and how desirable you find Ghost Recon: Future Soldier's "cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes." Developed by the GRAW veterans at Ubisoft Paris, Future Soldier promises to "go beyond the core Ghost Recon franchise and deliver a fresh gameplay experience, with an unparalleled level of quality that will excite long-time fans and newcomers alike." Yes, this is definitely from a press release. A multiplayer beta is scheduled to start in Summer 2010, with invitations tied to another of Ubisoft's freshened franchises, Splinter Cell: Conviction (which is but a stone's throw away from release). The offer is currently extended only to the Xbox 360 version of Conviction -- and aside from Microsoft's system, no platforms have been explicitly mentioned in Future Soldier's announcement. He's from the future, so Facebook is a likely candidate. Update: According to one of Ubisoft's Twitter accounts, the "same experience, same development team and same release date" will be coming to PlayStation 3. Ubisoft's Kimi Matsuzaki also noted that PC details would come "later."
Ubisoft trademarks Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Since Ubisoft formally announced Ghost Recon 4 back in April, news on the game -- or anything Ghost Recon-related, for that matter -- has been pretty scant. If a trademark discovered by Superannuation recently is any indication of where the series is going, however, then it seems "the Ghosts" are going into the future. Just this week, Ubisoft trademarked "Ghost Recon: Future Soldier" with the usual "game software and electronic game programs" descriptor for video game trademarks. In fairness, the Ghost Recon games have always been set a bit into the future, with Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 taking place in the not-so-distant 2014. Will the French game publisher take the next step and bring the series into the somewhat-more-distant future? 2015, perhaps? We've heard that, by then, you won't need roads. Think of that! [Via Superannuation]
