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Haze delayed until 2008, brings Rainbow Six Vegas 2 with it
After last week's report of Haze being on track for a December release, we're now prompted to point out the rather abrupt appearance of a detour in-between the metaphorical train and its final stop at the PlayStation 3. It seems the designers at Free Radical didn't receive nearly enough coal to reach the lead platform in time for Christmas, and now hope that you'll conduct your purchase of their first-person shooter in the first quarter of 2008.Thankfully devoid of increasingly insufferable train puns, a Gamasutra article details the delay mentioned within Ubisoft's favorable first-half financial results. Sales for le publisher rose by 52% to $372.86 million, with profits jumping up 12% to $44.8 million. You might consider the money already spent on Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, expected to arrive in the same quarter as Haze. Not much is known about the sequel, save that it'll (probably) feature soldier-types shooting up evil, one-armed bandits. Fellow Tom Clancy property, Splinter Cell: Conviction continues to be wishy-washy about a potential release date, as it's also been pushed back to Ubisoft's fiscal year 2008-2009.
PS3 Fanboy review: Rainbow Six: Vegas
After much delay, PS3 owners are finally able to taste the dish Ubisoft first baked for Xbox 360 owners back in mid-November. Has the extra six months in the Ubi incubator, provided PS3 gamers with a far superior version? Does the PS3 version blow its Xbox cousin out of the water? Does the PS3 rendition give you superhuman powers?Rainbow Six: Vegas weaves an interesting-enough plotline, centering around southern boy Logan Keller, a recent rising star amongst the ranks of the Rainbow team and whose face you'll become intimately familiar with as you duck him behind crates or crane his neck around doorways to spot and eliminate bad guys. One of our hero's first missions starts the Rainbow team off in Mexico, where you're being sent to eliminate a terrorist threat led by international terrorist Irena Morales. The game's plot is riddled with conspiracy-a-plenty, taking twists and turns while leading the Rainbow team to locales like Mexico, Vegas (of course) and later, an expansive hydroelectric dam.
$20 discounts on R6 Vegas, GRAW 2 and more
Looking for some great video game deals? Well, look no further than Circuit City and the Sunday newspaper ads. This week, Circuit City is slashing $20 off select games including titles like TMNT ($29.99), GRAW 2 ($39.99), Spider-Man 3 ($39.99) and Call of Duty 3 ($39.99). Also, since both the Red and Black Edition Player Packs will be free downloads, why not pick up Rainbow Six Vegas for the low, low price of $39.99 too? You can't pass that up. Maybe new releases are more up your alley, then we advise picking up a free $10 gift card with a Transformers: The Game purchase. And if you're in the market for Shadowrun, purchase it for $37.99 on Windows Vista and Circuit City will throw in a wireless receiver for free!All deals are available online or in-store, so save a few bucks and pick up some new games to add to your video game library this week.
Rainbow Six Vegas Red and Black edition now free
Yes, you read the headline correctly, because both Rainbow Six Vegas Players Packs are going to be free for download. Major Nelson just informed us that the Black Edition was pulled from the Marketplace earlier this week, because Ubisoft didn't want the content to cost 800 Microsoft points ... they wanted it to be free! The Black Edition is now available on the Marketplace and is free for download, so go get it! But wait, did you pay for the content before the Black Edition was pulled? Not to worry, because Microsoft will be reimbursing those who paid for the Black Edition within' the next ten weeks. Sweet, isn't it?But that's not all the good news. As a thank you to the Rainbow Six community, Ubisoft decided to make the Red Edition Player Pack a free download starting next Friday, July 6th. That's a 800 Microsoft point value! But sorry for those who already purchased the Red Edition, because no reimbursements will be made for the content. Ubisoft rocks ... they rock hard!
Rainbow Six Vegas Black Edition goes AWOL
So, the Rainbow Six Vegas Black Edition DLC really did appear on Xbox Live. It was brief, but it was there. But now, as you have already found if you've attempted a download over the past day or so, it is most certainly not there. The good Major offers little help on his blog, saying only: "This has been pulled. I'll let you know when it makes a return." Wow, cryptic.There are, of course, plenty of delightful theories as to why the pack pulled a Judy on Family Matters. Some think that it got on to Marketplace too early, some think a critical bug was discovered. We like to think that Ubisoft was so racked with guilt over charging $10 for five maps (when that amount previously got you five maps and two new modes) that they pulled it. We admit that's not really likely. We'll be sure to update this post when it triumphantly returns.
R6 Vegas Black Edition pulled from Marketplace
For unknown reasons, the Rainbow Six Vegas Player's Pack Black Edition downloadable content that released yesterday has been pulled from the XBLM. Major Nelson updated his post stating that new content was pulled, but didn't give a reason for it not being available. Some people who have downloaded the content are stating that the new maps seem to load slower than others, but other than that they didn't find a problem with the Black Edition pack. Stay tuned as we'll be sure to let you know when the content gets placed back onto the Marketplace or when we learn more about what went wrong.
Rainbow Six Vegas expands yet again with Black Edition
Rainbow Six Vegas continues to roll along, picking up new levels like some sort of very specific Katamari. This new infusion of terrorist-thwomping action (just two months after your last hit) is called the Player's Pack Black Edition and will run you 800 points ($10).For your sawbuck, you'll nab three brand new maps like Red Lotus and Wartown plus a revamped version of Streets. You'll also get an appearance from a very special guest star: PRESIDIO, which the elderly among you may remember from Rainbow Six 3. The content weighs in at 705 MB and is available now.
Black Edition DLC flanks from behind cover on XBLM
A new Player's Pack is ready for download for Rainbow Six Vegas that came out of center field. For 800 MS points, the Player's Pack Black Edition brings you get 5 new maps, including classic from the original Rainbow Six 3, Presidio. Other new maps include a remixed Streets, as well newcomers Wartown and Red Lotus. All in all the whole pack comes to 705.5 MB. Did you get the previous Red Edition, which also included new gametypes with its release, and would you pick up the latest, as its only maps this time around?
Worldwide PlayStation 3 releases for the week of June 25th
Another Sunday, another release list. Let's see what's out in the next seven days.US Games The Darkness Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix The Bigs Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent Transformers the Game EU Games Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Asian Games Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Quite a well populated list. There's no real way anyone can complain about this week's releases. Unless you're a European The Darkness fan. Don't forget, though. If there's a game that's only available in another region, then feel free to import it. Your PlayStation 3 won't care. Release dates are subject to constant change, so give your local game shop a ring before walking down there.Which of this week's releases will you be picking up? We've already got our copies of The Darkness ordered.
Metareview: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
Publisher Ubisoft was hush-hush about this quietly released PSP version of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas. We showed our readers early footage from the game, and it appeared that opinions were quite mixed on the game. The critics, on the other hand, are quite unanimous in their opinion: Game Almighty (55/100) - "All in all, Rainbow Six: Vegas for the PSP falls short of the lofty standards set by this franchise. It doesn't perform the way you'd expect from a Tom Clancy game." GameSpot (68/100) thinks the game could've been more: "The short campaign and limited multiplayer detract from what is otherwise a solid PSP shooter." Gamer 2.0 (78/100) agrees with GameSpot: the game just needed to offer more: "Vegas doesn't quite have enough entertainment value to be worth it for anyone but the most hardcore of Rainbow Six fans." The game currently has a Metascore of 59 from the critics. Do you agree? Do you disagree?
Virtually playing Rainbow Six Vegas
Although Rainbow Six Vegas is now available to purchase, it appears that no one has received any review copies: our site certainly didn't, and the major outlets (IGN, Gamespot) also appear to be in the dark. Can a publisher be really confident in their product if they won't send out review copies?While we haven't had a chance to play, there are eager PSP gamers out there that have. PSP GadgetZ has taken the time to record some footage of the game, load times and all. Watching this is the closest thing we have to playing the game. How does it look to you? Do any of our readers own a copy? Let us know.Video is embedded, after the cut.
SGD '07: Rainbow Six: Vegas screenshots are gorgeous
Straight from this week's Sony's Gamer's Day comes three beautiful looking shots of the PlayStation 3 version of Rainbow Six: Vegas. We've been waiting for this title for a while, can't wait for it personally. I just hope that they're able to keep the online play as good as the 360's play is. As usual, the screenshots look excellent. Look for this game on shelves on the 12th of June. %Gallery-3242%
Ubisoft fourth quarter sales pushed up by warfighters, turtles
Leading to the obvious conclusion: Ubisoft needs to somehow combine the gritty realism of the Tom Clancy franchise with the anthropomorphic antics of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Politically charged yet irresistibly adorable properties like Tom Clancy's Splinter Shell and Tom Clancy's The War on Terrapins are sure to tap into hitherto untapped fountains of marketability and financial prosperity. Not that Ubisoft is currently in dire need of money, mind you. Gamasutra's detailing of L'Ubi's most recent financial report suggests that the publisher is already exceeding analyst expectations by exchanging one type of green for another.The company's fourth quarter sales saw an increase of 37% to $267.5 million, largely instigated by the one million unit success of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 on Xbox 360, as well as the TMNT film-based game which dragged in 1.1 million units in its eight platform-wide net. Sales for the full 2006/2007 fiscal year stand at $923.4 million following a jump of 24.4%, with earlier titles such as Red Steel, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas and Petz being key contributors.Ubisoft expects profitability to increase further in the coming year by supporting new-gen consoles and expanding their presence in "the casual market on the Wii and Nintendo DS systems." Oh! We've yet to add casual games into our bubbling cauldron of cross-franchise success! So, that'll be Tom Clancy's Krang Age, then?
Player's Pack Red Edition available now
The wait is finally over. The Player's Pack Red Edition downloadable content is finally available for Rainbow Six Vegas players. Coming in at 800 Microsoft Points, this pack has the return of Assassination Mode, as well as bringing Total Conquest to the battlefield (ha! pun). Five maps are also included, with only forty percent of them being relit. The new ones are Roof, Doscala Restaurant, and Marshalling Yard, while the Extreme Makeover winners are Killhouse and Border Town. So, what say you, fanboys? Assassinatory Conquest or 3D Ultra MiniGyruss Adventures?
New Rainbox Six: Vegas content now Live
This has been a terrible week for significant others. Not only were their loved ones drawn away from designated "snuggle time" by two delicious new maps for Halo 2, but now they'll have to contend with new DLC for Rainbow 6: Vegas. Yes, the Player's Pack Red Edition ... the one announced two months ago. There was also a freebie auto-update released for the game, which you can read about here. In case you didn't hear before, the 800-point pack includes two new game modes: Assasination (Team 1: Let's kill that guy! Team 2: You'd better not!) and Total Conquest, which is King of the Hills (not you, Jordan Eubanks) with three spots teams need to control. There are also three fresh maps and two remixes, but you wouldn't know that from reading the dashboard description, which just says there are "brand new maps." A small request to companies releasing DLC for purchase: Please let us know what we are buying. Anyway, you know now, so go, buy with confidence. Or, you know, don't. He/she misses you.%Gallery-1642%
Ubisoft viral site hints at new Tom Clancy game
Nowadays, "viral" is more or less the term used to describe any website that is overly cryptic, edgy or, thanks to an abundance of Flash, somewhat annoying. Enter the recently erected, cryptic, edgy and somewhat annoying Ubisoft website, jsf28555833-80604722.com. Upon visiting the page, you'll be faced with all manner of military gibberish, false newscaster mutterings and a man who appears to be in a permanent state of discomfort. The Tom Clancy logo at the bottom provides the biggest clue, seeming to suggest that marketing for a new terrorist foiling sim is already in stealth swing. Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six are fair targets, but a glance at the infamous (and quite reliable) leaked list of Ubisoft games shows one of the few remaining titles to be Tom Clancy's Firehawk for PS3 and Xbox 360. Further intrepid internet investigation (read: Google search) highlights the website's initial letters "jsf" -- Joint Strike Fighter. Is Tom Clancy taking to the skies?[Via Eurogamer]
Viral website features Tom Clancy game
Ubisoft is uncharacteristically up to some viral marketing antics, hosting some teaser for an unannounced game over at www.rev64.com. The website features the face of a man who winces and grimaces and a news stream heard in the background talking about OPEC and its affect on the US. There's a whole bunch of text flanking the right side of the page with clickable links that either play news clips, make the man's face cringe, or play weird sounds. Again, we're not professionals at figuring this viral stuff out, so we'll leave it up to you guys. But we do know that all of Ubisoft's fingerprints are on the site (that's the easy part) and it also showcases the Tom Clancy logo at the bottom of the page (even though IGN reports it as a Rainbow Six logo ... tisk, tisk). Is it a new Rainbow Six game or maybe it's the next Splinter Cell installment, we just can't tell. We'll just have to wait this one out, unless someone wants to spend hours analyzing the website and report back to us. Please?[Via IGN]
Seven PS3 titles delayed from Euro launch, 27 still left
We now have seven PlayStation 3 titles that will miss their original European release date alongside the console's launch. The dubious septuplet and their new release dates: Splinter Cell: Double Agent -- March 30 NBA 2k7 -- April 6 F.E.A.R. -- April 20 Oblivion -- April 27 Untold Legends -- April 27 GRAW 2 -- June 2007 Rainbow Six: Vegas -- Spring 2007 While more than a few of those are top-notch titles, Sony still has 27 launch titles -- 23 disc-based and four downloadable -- and at their disposal, including Virtua Fighter 5. Will the absence of these seven games affect the launch? No more than the price, and the delays aren't very far behind the March 23 launch. In three months, no one is going to care about the delays. The initial momentum lost, however, is debatable. [Via PS3 Fanboy]
Rainbow Six Vegas gets the patch treatment
If you've played Rainbow Six Vegas since Tuesday, you'll know that there was a patch you had to download earlier in the week. And this isn't a boring little patch, oh no. This is a gameplay changing, bug fixing, behemoth of a patch. Ubi_Rickas originally posted the full details of the patch on the official forums, outlining what Ubisoft fixed. Among the biggest changes made was making the weapons a little more balanced (per community feedback), quicker loading for customized faces, host can no longer kick a player during the game, and many other tweaks. A full list of changes are listed after the jump. Are there any Rainbow Six Vegas fans who've been playing with the patch applied, and if so, what are your impressions of the new tweaks?[Thanks, smak]
Rainbow Six: Vegas downloadable content revealed
New game modes and multiplayer maps comprise the first downloadable content pack for Ubisoft's first-person terrorist foiler, Rainbow Six: Vegas. Eurogamer reports that the Player's Pack Red Edition should find its way onto the Xbox Live Marketplace before the end of March. Of the two new gameplay modes, Assassination sounds like it could provide for some tense moments. One team must protect and escort a fragile and likely paranoid VIP to an extraction point, while the opposing team attempts to make said very important person a very dead one instead.Total Conquest, on the other hand, is closer to King of the Hill, except with royalty being ordained by three seperate radar installations. As for the added multiplayer maps, two are altered versions of existing levels, namely Border Town and Killhouse, and three are brand new. These include "Doscala Restaurant," "Marshalling Yard" and the extraordinarily descriptive "Roof," which is actually a coffee factory crawling with terrorists and, you know, brewing up trouble. (OOF!)Ubisoft has not yet appended a price tag to the content, but our expectations are set between 800 points ($10) and 1200 points ($15). Player's Pack Red Edition is currently exclusive to the Xbox 360 version of Rainbow Six: Vegas.
