Ghost Recon
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Ubisoft: Assassins Creed 2, new Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon by March 2010
In a recently released Ubisoft sales report, the company revealed its plans for its upcoming fiscal year 2009, which begins in April and ends in March 2010. Seven franchises are to be launched, including the sequel to Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell Conviction, Anno and a new entry in the Ghost Recon series. Four licensed games are in the works, including James Cameron's Avatar. Finally, the company expects to launch three new brands and expand its casual games library. Of the seven franchise titles, only the four above are explicitly named, leaving the rest a mystery. We're going to hope, along with Joystiq, that one of those is Beyond Good & Evil 2.
Assassin's Creed 2 officially confirmed, with us by March 2010
Ubisoft's third quarter earnings report has finally officially confirmed that the sequel to 2007's best selling assassinate-em-up, Assassin's Creed, will be available before the end of March 2010. While technically impressive, Assassin's Creed was a bit lacking in the gameplay department, we felt. A great proof-of-concept, but without enough fresh content to keep from getting stale after a while. Something we're hoping to see improved in the sequel. Ready for another year of seeing Jade Raymond wherever you turn? The report also mentions that there will be seven franchise titles being released during the fiscal year starting this April, including Splinter Cell Conviction (which we can assume is still 360 exclusive), Ghost Recon and, as we've already mentioned, Assassin's Creed 2. There will also be three new IPs, including I Am Alive. No other games in these categories were mentioned, so no doubt Ubisoft has a few more surprises up its sleeve.
Assassin's Creed 2, Red Steel 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, Ghost Recon coming by March 2010
Straight out of Ubisoft's Q308 earnings call comes news that Assassin's Creed 2 – the not-so-secret sequel to the 6 million plus selling megahit – will be silently leaping onto consoles "by March 2010" according to the Twitter feed of gaming gournalist Geoff Keighley Ubisoft's third quarter earnings report.Ubi's forecasting for its 2009 fiscal year – running from April 2009 through March 2010 – takes "into account ... 7 franchise titles" including Assassin's Creed 2, the mysterious (still Xbox exclusive?) Splinter Cell Conviction, and Ghost Recon. Some quick finger-based math tells us that leaves four unannounced "franchise titles." Beyond Good and Evil 2, maybe? Red Steel 2, perhaps? Throw us a bone here!Update: Ubi's CEO Yves Guillemot "mentioned a game that [he] wasn't supposed to mention" during today's conference call. Guillemot blurted out, "We have lots of products coming for the Wii next [fiscal] year. We have Red Steel" before apologizing for his indiscretion. We imagine a room full of PR reps rolling their eyes. Sacrebleu!PDF – Ubisoft Q308 earnings report
Rumor: Ubi readies new Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six
Sources close to CVG have said that Ubisoft is poised to announce new installments of its popular Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six franchises later this year. According to the source Ubisoft, which released Rainbow Six Vegas 2 in March 2008 and has had Ghost Recon on the shelf since mid 2007, could have both titles ready for the 2009 holiday rush. Unfortunately details for either title are scarce but the general school of thought is both franchises would see a reboot away from current story lines and settings. So, the rumor is Ubi is hitting up new a Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six? In other news the sky is blue and the sun is hot.
Russian-Georgia conflict predicted by Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy might be this generation's Nostradamus. Although off by about three months, the first level in 2001's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is eerily familiar to the past week's events, where Russia and South Ossetian rebels have been fighting with Georgia. Unlike Ghost Recon, however, there has been no signs of US special forces armed with technologically advanced firepower and controlled by a mysterious "player."Scholars are already sifting through The Great Texts in anticipation of any potential conflicts in 2014 Mexico City.[Via Game Politics]
Rumor: Next Halo is 'darker, grittier,' tactical and without Master Chief
What's this? More rumors about another Halo? The latest Gamespot Rumor Control has a source that claims the next Halo title will be tactical, "a cross between Ghost Recon and Gears of War" and will be announced sometime this year (maybe tomorrow?). According to the source, the "darker, grittier" iteration is more akin to Neil Blomkamp's shorts. Oh yeah, and that Master Chief guy is nowhere to be found.In terms of gameplay, you can reportedly play as an entire squad (huh?) in the entire campaign, and there will be online co-op. The mention of Ghost Recon is particularly interesting, as a former creative director from G.R.A.W. developer Red Storm joined Bungie in August 2007. Gamespot seems confident with their source, and that would make for quite a big E3 announcement.
Ubisoft gives us a new countdown [Update 3]
Update 3: It seems that as every hour progresses the timer (above the five decoded files) adds another hour to the countdown. Stay tuned until we get a confirmation on what exactly is happening.Update 2: The timer now states the countdown will end at 5:50PM EST.Update: Apparently the decrypter on the Ghost Recon site went on a lunch break. The new countdown, set to expire at 1:50PM, has just added an additional 2 hours. The new countdown now ends at 3:50PM EST.Last week we reported an interesting development occurring across all of Ubisoft's Tom Clancy branded websites. First, a flash overlay of a smoking dossier (or black box) appeared over the official Ghost Recon website that provided users with no functions or information. The next morning a menu appeared allowing site visitors to click into an alternate reality game called MACSAT7 Recovery which expanded the flash window and revealed five audio and video files in the early stages of decoding. Soon reports flew in that other overlays, with what appeared to be wreckage from a downed helicopter, began appearing on the official sites for Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and the upcoming End War that all pointed to the original Ghost Recon site.After carefully conducting mathematics we realized that each of the five files were counting down to the date and time they would be decrypted, and thus available to analyze for information, but we also noticed an overall timer that was counting down to around noon on April 2. Moments ago the ARG came to an end and we were surprised to see a new countdown has emerged for 1:50PM 3:50PM EST.Could this be the rumored Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3, which is said to end the trilogy's stay in Mexico, or the highly expected Firehawk? Only time will tell.
End War & Splinter Cell sites redirect to Ghost Recon, countdown to April 2 appears [Update]
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Viral_marketing_points_to_possible_Ghost_Recon_announcement'; Update: At the time of this story the Rainbow Six website wasn't acting properly, however it has been reported that it too is pointing to the Ghost Recon website via a similar overlay. This story has been updated to include the Rainbow Six site.In the early hours of the day this morning one of our readers helped us spot a strange overlay on the official Ghost Recon website. Visitors of the site were treated to a smoking dossier (which might be a black box after all) but nothing could be done other than close off the overlay and scratch your head.Today, both the End War, Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six sites have received similar flash-based marketing treatments. Each site includes an overlay of smoking items that appear to be from a wreckage which, when clicked, redirects visitors to the official Ghost Recon website -- home of the original mystery.While it could all end there, today the Ghost Recon site updated with new information and a mysterious countdown timer.
Ghost Recon's smoking file teases us
One of our eagle-eyed readers tipped us off to an interesting development on the official Ghost Recon site. Users are treated to a large smoking file flash overlay when the site is loaded up. It appears that some information still marks the burning folder but as it stands the entire thing is a mystery. With the recent release of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the ownership agreement with Tom Clancy and the continued domination of Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on Xbox Live (proving gamers want more than just Halo 3) is it possible this new smoking file could contain a gun? A gun called Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3? [Thanks, Jbarnum]
Europe to get GRAW2 Legacy Edition in April
Yesterday, Ubisoft announced that a newly new and jam packed edition of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 would be hitting European territories this April called the GRAW2 Legacy Edition. This new Legacy Edition will feature all of the previously released GRAW2 downloadable content adding an additional 32 multiplayer maps, new game modes and new weapons to the classic (see: older) GRAW2 experience. Ubi didn't mention anything about pricing for the Legacy Edition, so one should expect it to fall in line with pricing for new releases. That said, is there really a point to releasing this Legacy Edition seeing that most of the die hard military shooter fanboys already moved on from GRAW2 to the oh so popular CoD4? Just saying ...
GRAW 2 co-op pack numero dos hits LIVE, doesn't [Update]
Update: The GRAW 2 Co-Op Collection 2 downloadable content is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace for 400MS Points weighing in at 976MB. Original Story: Time for your confusing story of the day kids. Today, Ubisoft's London office sent out a media alert letting the press know that the second anticipated GRAW 2 Co-op Collection pack has been released onto Xbox LIVE for 400 MS Points. The only thing is, it hasn't. Scouring Xbox Live Markeplace, at the time of this article, there is no sign of any downloadable co-op pack for the Tom Clancy-based hit -- other than the original co-op collection package. Loyal X3F Army soldiers will remember this isn't the first time Ubisoft's UK office jumped the gun on a GRAW 2 announcement. It looks like the release was premature, but it does answer some of the questions we had regarding the latest DLC for the critically acclaimed title. After releasing the first co-op collection for the hefty asking price of 800MS Points, Ubisoft throws out the latest expansion installment for half-price but doesn't skimp on the content. Adding five co-op missions that continue the story of the original DLC, 9 adversarial maps -- 7 remade from other games in the series and 2 new creations, and 8 brand new achievements to pad your gamerscore. We're waiting anxiously in the wings for Ubisoft to remind us that the shooter-war isn't just a two pony race. As soon as we learn the content has hit LIVE we'll let you know.
GRAW2 Co-op Collection 2 gets fully revealed
The achievements didn't lie, because today TeamXbox exclusively revealed yet another piece of GRAW2 downloadable content called Co-op Collection 2. Just like the Co-op Collection before it, this second set of DLC will feature five new missions (Bridges, Stronghold, Depot, Riverbed and Ghost Town), nine new adversarial maps (Bridges, Stronghold, Depot, Riverbed, Ghost Town, Roadblock, Island, Treatment Plant and Mining Camp) as well as eight additional achievements worth 125 Gamerscore. TeamXbox posted a pretty solid video preview of the Co-op Collection 2 which also tells us that the DLC can be downloaded right now off the XBLM. But after doing a quick XBLM look, no Co-op Collection 2 could be found. So, we'll just say release date and pricing are "pending".
New GRAW2 achievements means more DLC
For those of you who are still supporting the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter then you'll be glad to know that a set of eight new achievements totaling an additional 125 Gamerscore have been added to GRAW2. Funny thing about that is can't unlock them yet. The list of eight new achievements come straight from the bowels of Xbox.com and correspond to various GRAW2 co-op mission completions as well as killing tasks on any "GRAW 2: CC map". But know that these achievements are not the same ones released with last year's GRAW2 Co-Op Collection DLC, these are freshly new and totally unannounced co-op missions. So, that means only one thing to us: more DLC. We expect these new achievements to correspond to another round of paid (or free) GRAW2 DLC that will be making its way to the XBLM soon'ish. You are on alert. [Thanks, Brad]
Video: GRAW 2 co-op DLC
Hey, kids! Still playing that Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 game? Do you feel like you need something new? Maybe you saw the fancy, newfangled Co-op Collection content pack that was released yesterday, and maybe you found yourself wondering if it was worth 800 MS Points. You thought to yourself, "that's a lot of scratch," perhaps. Well, as usual, we're here to help. Ubisoft released a little teaser video that shows off all the levels available in the new content pack. The co-op campaign is comprised of 5 missions from previous Ghost Recon titles (3 from Ghost Recon, 2 from Ghost Recon: Island Thunder). The pack also includes four new adversarial maps, two of which are remakes of old favorites (Castle and Prison). Check out the video and see if it's worth opening your wallet.
Big GRAW 2 pack coming next month
It appears that Ubisoft's going to be ringing in Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday shopping season with a cornucopia (pilgrims FTW!) of content for tactical shooter Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2. Sometime in late November, fans will be able to add five new missions that continue the story line and nine new multiplayer maps, seven of which are rehashed from old Ghost Recon games. Oh, and those who get the pack through Xbox Live will also have 125 more Gamerscore points available. The one big question that we don't have an answer for yet is price. But Ubisoft is supposed to put some new details out today, so we'll likely soon know if this Thanksgiving treat is the equivalent of delicious pumpkin pie or ... Jello salad.
GRAW 2 getting Co-Op Collection expansion
Ubisoft has plans to make GRAW 2 fresh again by releasing a new campaign / multiplayer expansion sometime later this month or early November. The GRAW 2 Co-Op Collection expansion includes five new campaign missions and nine new multiplayer maps while adding an additional 125 Gamerscore to the mix with nine achievements. Complete details on all the new campaign missions, maps and achievements can be viewed over at IGN, but after giving the expansion content a look over we still have one question on our mind. We wonder if the Co-Op Collection is going to be enough to draw us away from our current FPS gaming rotation and bring us back to GRAW 2.
Second GRAW 2 Throwback Pack is now free
Piggybacking the free release of the original Throwback Pack, Ubisoft has just made the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Throwback Pack 2 a free XBLM download! This second Throwback Pack features an additional seven remade multiplayer maps including Ghost Town, Aral Sea and Rocky Cove among others and features an additional gametype called Co-op Exfiltration. This multiplayer expansion was previously listed at 800 Microsoft points, so with a 100% discount making it free, we think you should give it a download. Free GRAW 2 Throwback Pack and Throwback Pack 2 ... life is good.
GRAW 2 gets free content pack
If you haven't loaded up Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 in a while, we think you'll be pleasantly surprised if you dig the disc out. Last week, the first "Throwback Pack" (originally 800 points in May) went free on the Marketplace. Today, there's a brand new throwback pack, the appropriately titled "Throwback Pack 2", that's absolutely free. The main draws here are seven levels that have been remastered from previous Ghost Recon games. But you'll also find a new mode to play around with, Co-op Exfiltration. Wow, from $15 for eight re-lit maps and 4 co-op missions to seven missions for free -- what a difference a year makes.
Deal of the Day: GRAW 2 for $45 at Fry's
With the incredible amount of games coming out over the next couple months, PlayStation 3 owners' wallets are going to get a bit stressed. Luckily the game deals keep rolling in letting gamers on a budget pick up the hot titles AND still be able to eat. Today we have a nice tip from Cheap Ass Gamer that Fry's is selling Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 for $45 dollars, a tasty 25% discount from the retail price. The game has been getting good reviews and even though the game is 6 months late, Ubisoft appears to have done a good job at porting it from the 360 and have added quite a bit of additional content to help compensate for the delay. The cheap price just makes it all the more attractive.
GRAW silently released to public, footage captured
Wait. This game came out? Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 silently released to PSP systems, with no advertising and no coverage. Perhaps Ubisoft was too afraid to send review copies? (As of writing, there are no published online reviews of the game.) Without the help of critics, we can only look to you, our readers, for sage advice on this game. PSP GadgetZ has once again captured some of the first footage of the game. Does it still look like a N64 game to you?
