Splinter-Cell-Chaos-Theory
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Far Cry 2 lead designer Clint Hocking no longer working for Valve
It's emerged Clint Hocking, the lead designer of Far Cry 2 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, left Valve towards the end of last year. According to Hocking's blog and his LinkedIn profile, the industry veteran's post as a designer and level designer ended in December 2013. The former Ubisoft and LucasArts creative director joined Valve in June 2012, but as Game Informer notes, it wasn't known what he was working on there. If the rumor mill is to be believed, Hocking was involved with the as-yet-unannounced Left 4 Dead 3. Back in October, Hocking featured on a supposed list of people working on the game, with ValveTime reporting (via superannuation) the list was procured from an internal Valve database.
Amazon: Buy one, get one on Ubisoft DRM-free PC downloads
Got five bucks? Want a couple of kinda-old Ubisoft PC games? Well, if you fall within that very niche category of people, a current promotion over at Amazon may be relevant to your needs.Assassin's Creed, a few Splinter Cells and Far Cry 2 are just a few of the titles you can nab for half a sawbuck -- without that pesky Ubisoft DRM. And, as astute headline reader types will tell you, if you buy one, you'll get one free of charge. The sale ends Saturday.
Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy sneaks to June 21, Prince of Persia HD on Blu-ray also delayed
Originally due to be released today on both Blu-ray disc and PSN, the HD-ified Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy has slipped off the radar and into the shadows. IGN reports that it'll wait there, for undisclosed reasons, until resurfacing on June 21. It's not alone -- the retail release of the Prince of Persia HD trilogy, also expected today, has been pushed to April 19. Both trilogies will retail for $40 when they finally arrive on Blu-ray. The three high-res Prince of Persia games are already available via PSN at $15 a pop.
Driver 3DS announced, Ubi 3DS games confirmed for Japan
Ubisoft revealed Driver 3D, another title from its franchise roster heading to Nintendo's 3DS. Andriasang reports the game has a Spring 2011 release date, along with the previously announced Battle of Giants: Dinosaur Strike, Ghost Recon Tactics and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory 3D.
Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell HD collections listed by UK retail site
High-definition updates of last generation's Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia games have popped up again, this time on a UK retail site. Eurogamer points to listings on Zavvi.com of the two Ubisoft trilogies, bundled on PlayStation 3 for £30 MSRP. Splinter Cell has a late November date attached, while PoP is listed for March 2011. Last month, the two HD collections emerged on Amazon France, both with an early November release date. The PS3 already has the God of War Collection out there, with Sly Cooper and ICO / Shadow of the Colossus bundles on the way. We've contacted Ubisoft for official word on the Splinter Cell and PoP bundle matter, but should that fail we have an asset on standby to extract the information ... through any means necessary.
Direct2Drive celebrates 5-year anniversary with 50 games for $5 each
Over the next five weeks, Direct2Drive is offering a special discount on a host of different titles in celebration of its five-year anniversary. Every Monday, Direct2Drive will feature a new set of titles, reducing them to $5 (or £5 UK), with the first week of the promotion focusing on "Ubisoft and Strategy titles." While the upcoming week's titles have yet to be revealed, Direct2Drive has teased us with utterly vague descriptions of what to expect: Week Two: Action Games Week Three: RPGs & MMOs Week Four: Indie Games Week Five: War Games The first week of the promotion ends on September 14. Games differ slightly based on your geographical region -- for instance, Ubisoft is strangely omitted from the European promotion. Check out a full list of this week's games for both regions after the break.
GameTap Thursday: Splinter Cell: CT, Tomb Raider: Anniversary free for one week
It's a decent enough week for GameTap as Sam Fisher sneaks in and explains chaos theory through action. Also, Lady Croft gives it away for free. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Windows) - Pre-emo Sam Fisher is out to save the world in this third installment in the stealth-action series. Ocean Express (Windows) - Sounds intriguing, right? Well, it's a Tetris hybrid clone. This week sees the addition of Tomb Raider: Anniversary as a free-to-play title for one week. The full list of gratis titles can be found after the break.
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Metal Arms now available on Xbox Originals
We know you're keen to see what super spy Sam Fisher was up to before he started digging Linkin Park CDs into his wrists, so we wholeheartedly suggest you check out what many consider to be his best espionage entry, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. And if you absolutely can't find it on Xbox for less than 15 bucks, know that it's now available on the Xbox Originals download service. If you'd rather not choke terrorists or contemplate why nobody can see a man with a Christmas tree on his head, Metal Arms: Glitch in the System should provide your "shoot first, shoot some more and then forget what you were going to ask" fix. Other fixes include (but are not limited to) "robots," "gun-toting robots" and "gun-toting robots shooting gun-toting robots." It's $15 (1,200 MS Points) for this one too.
Splinter Cell and Metal Arms become Xbox Originals
Following hand in hand with Xbox Live coming back online are two new (and previously promised) Xbox Originals titles to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Both the 5.39GB Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and 1.61GB Metal Arms: Glitch in the System are now available for 1200 Microsoft points each to all Xbox Live regions except folks in Japan. And because it's an icky Monday and we're feeling crabby, we have to mention that that these and all Xbox Originals titles do not feature any achievements OR come with paper manuals. We know how infuriated some fanboys get without their paper manuals.
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Metal Arms join Xbox Originals lineup
Major Nelson informs that secret agent Sam Fisher and some robots have been discovered covertly trying to sneak onto the Xbox Originals lineup. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Metal Arms: Glitch in the System will be available for 1200 MS points ($15) a piece beginning next Monday (except in Korea and Japan). As usual, it behooves us to mention that unless it's 3AM and you've got the hankering for an Xbox Originals game, it's probably best to take a look around the intertubes (or a favorite gaming pawnshop) for a better deal.
Xbox Originals to add Splinter Cell and Metal Arms
Since we know that 94.8% of all Xbox Live users adore Microsoft's Xbox Originals program (it's a scientifically proven fact), we know there's a good chance that you'll be uber excited to hear that two new titles will be added to the catalog next week. On Monday, April 21st, both Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Metal Arms: Glitch In The System will be available for purchase off the XBLM for the standard 1200 Microsoft point price. So ... yup, more Xbox Originals titles next week ... what more achievement complaining can be said?
Team works to send Sam Fisher back to high school
Want to see schoolyard fights end with a lot of broken necks? Well, if you happen to be a student or alumnus of Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California, then you can. Project SC-DV is making the school into the central setting of their version of Splinter Cell, which runs on a heavily modified version of the Unreal Engine for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Hopefully it won't lead to any arrests. Although you'll be able to sneak into the girl's locker room, you won't encounter any students, or teachers for that matter. According to their site, "Project SC-DV has absolutely NOTHING to do with the environment of a high school, nor does it have any relations to students or staff of the real life Deer Valley High School campus. In no way can you see nor hurt anyone that has anything to do in relation to the campus." Check out their site for more pictures, which look fairly impressive so far. We'd like to see some side by sides to compare them, but as far as amateur projects go, this ain't bad. [Thanks, Einhanderkiller]
Splinter Cell maps causing problems on 360s
Despite a five-month delay on new Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory maps, all is not well. Some Xbox 360 users are reporting problems with the update, some going so far as to say the new maps make Splinter Cell unplayable. Fortunately, there's a workaround, but it involves deleting all your saved games in the process. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory wasn't included in the original backwards compatibility list, but has since made it in--perhaps this is related to the problems some 360 owners are having with the new content. Either way, with months of testing, it's surprising to see this sort of bugginess.
Free bonus Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory map
The team over at Ubisoft are giving away a bonus map for Xbox and PC versions of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, free of charge. I can only assume that the reason it's free is so they can all get that warm fuzzy feeling after helping people out without demanding cash (obviously it has nothing to do with attracting more people to get out there and buy the game). The new map is playable in the 'versus' multiplayer gametype (where you try and break your buddy's neck) and is set in Brooklyn, New York. Ubisoft is also planning two new Co-op maps called Nuclear Plant based in Yongbyon, North Korea and UN Headquarters which is set in New York. All this talk of free maps puts the latest Halo maptacular pack into perspective. Sigh. [Thanks, todd]
Chaos Theory - Day 2
The future is looking bright, my friends. My second run with Chaos Theory, while not perfect, definitely eased some of my frustrations from the night before. My partner and I are committed to starting off slow, confining our multiplayer efforts to a single map, for now. We've chosen Orphanage, and until every little nook and cranny is burned into our memory banks we will not be moving on. We took a few dry runs (no mercs) in Story Mode as spies, setting the time limit to infinite. Yeah, we looked like a couple of blind mice at first, but we were also kids again, exploring the woods behind his house. There's something deeply satisfying about running through a spooky, abandoned orphanage, albeit virtual, with a life-long friend-knowing that in reality we are separated by over 100 miles.
Chaos Theory patch is here!
Ubi recently released a patch to cure some of that chaos that you PC users may be experiencing. At 77MB it's a big patch, but thank Ubi for putting it out there (released Monday) before the game hit retail. If only they had an easy cure for my doubts... [Thanks, Fady]
My first run with Chaos Theory was...
...a rusty one. After firing up the disc and watching the spectacular intro I jumped right into Versus mode. I hit my first wall when I was forced to pass an entrance exam. Admittedly, this was a good thing, giving me an chance to brush up on my technique before embarrassing myself on Live!-however, the exam certainly doesn't prove that you are ready to compete. After bumbling around in a few short (the hosts kept quitting) matches, I finally found my way into my partner's game-and we were all set to go Pandora on these kids. At least that's what we thought... in reality, the games were horridly sloppy. We resorted to snapping necks, as all attempts to find our ways around the new levels were futile. And that's when I remembered Splinter Cell takes dedication. All-nighter dedication. And I realized there would be a towering mountain to climb to reach supremacy.
GameSpot deals Chaos Theory lowest score yet
Granted, it's an 86. But this is really the first review that has had something critical to say about the multiplayer modes-which as a huge Pandora fan, I am really looking forward to. Yes, it often seems like GameSpot prides itself on panning (if you can call an 86 panning) the bandwagon games. But if you ignore the score, there's enough content to bring you down from your cloud. Yeah, I'll enjoy Chaos Theory, but I'm going into it knowing it won't change my life-or even blow me away.
Chaos Theory Review Roundup (Xbox)
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is generating some serious acclaim. And while I burned myself out with Pandora Tomorrow, all this hype has got me digging into my pockets again. But with Halo 2 falling short of expectations, are the critics simply eager to appoint the definitive Xbox game? We'll find out tomorrow... 1UP (100) Cheat Code Central Platinum (100) EGM (95) Game Informer (98) Games Domain (90) GameSpy (100) GamePro (90) IGN (96) Next Level Gaming (95) Official Xbox Magazine (99) Team Xbox (98) Total Video Games (90) Worth Playing (96)
Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is golden, in more ways than one apparently
Well, if the reviews are to be believed you can expect to love the hell out of Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. GameRankings has its average at 97.2%, with 3 impressions in (from Game Informer, Official Xbox Magazine and Electronic Gaming Monthly). A little birdy over at Worthplaying told us that the game has gone gold for almost every platform under the sun. We must admit, the open-ended level design sounds intriguing when you throw in the excellent Splinter Cell game mechanics. Do you like that 50 bucks in your pocket? Great! Now say goodbye.
