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Ubisoft is deleting The Crew from players' libraries, reminding us we own nothing
Ubisoft is pulling licenses from people’s The Crew accounts, essentially taking away a game they paid real money to own. This happens after it stopped being operable on April 1.
'The Crew Motorfest' brings open-world racing to Hawaii on September 14th
Ubisoft's open-world racer 'The Crew Motorfest' arrives September 14th.
The Crew gets some new DLC
The Crew -- you know, that online racing thing that Ubisoft launched late last year -- has just published something called an "extreme live update." I've spared you the capital letters in the press release, but rest assured that the devs think highly of this new drop that features four additional missions and unlockable tuning specs. Ubi has also announced a DLC consisting of three new cars: the Aston Martin V12 Zagato, an SRT Viper GTS, and the Abarth 500. Don't forget the teaser video embedded after the break. [Source: Ubisoft press release]
Onigiri MMO coming to consoles next year
The Japanese mythology MMO, Onigiri, is officially on its way to the Xbox One (and PlayStation 4) next year in North America and Europe, Windows Central reports. The title, which is developed by Cyberstep, will be free-to-play and is already live on the Xbox One in Japan. Onigiri came out on the PC in 2013. The console version may have patches slightly lagging behind the PC version, but it will otherwise be identical in form and function. There will be no cross-over play between platforms. While Windows Central says that this will be Xbox One's "first MMO," that overlooks the already-released Destiny and The Crew as well as other titles on the way, including Elder Scrolls Online, PlanetSide 2, All Points Bulletin, Neverwinter, The Division, and Warframe.
Countdown to 2015 Xbox sale starts: Dark Souls 2, Resident Evil, more
Microsoft kicked off its "Countdown to 2015" sale today on the Xbox Store, discounting a myriad of games with bigger price cuts for Xbox Live Gold members. This week's deals are good until December 22 and feature Lords of the Fallen at 40 percent off, Thief at 67 percent off, Wolfenstein: The New Order for half-price and The Evil Within at half-off as well for Xbox One, among a slew of other games. Microsoft also discounted The Crew/Assassin's Creed: Unity as well as The Crew/Far Cry 4 bundles by 25 percent for the week. Two Xbox One games are also on sale for today only: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its season pass are each 33 percent off and Lego: The Hobbit is 50 percent off. Among the many Xbox 360 games on sale this week, Dark Souls 2 is half-off, Tomb Raider is 67 percent off, Halo: Spartan Assault and Dance Central 3 are each 67 percent off and BioShock Infinite's price is slashed by 85 percent. A handful of games in the Resident Evil series are discounted this week as well, such as Resident Evil 5, Revelations and Code Veronica X by 67 percent each, Raccoon City by 75 percent and Resident Evil 6 by 50 percent. Lego: The Hobbit is also discounted by 67 percent on Xbox 360 for today only, and Lego Lord of the Rings is 75 percent off. The full list of this week's deals can be found after the break.
Joystiq Weekly: Final Fantasy 15, The Crew review, readers' favorite PS1 games 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. The Final Fantasy series has had a fun couple of weeks lately, but between the PC version of Final Fantasy 7 coming to the PS4 and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster's incoming port, most of its news is focused on the past. Leave it to the spring release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, a take on an old PSP game, to bring things into the present – those that grab a copy from Type-0's first run will get an exclusive demo of Final Fantasy 15. So, Final Fantasy fans: Is it going to work? Are you going for Type-0 HD solely because of the demo, or do you kind of want to play the game anyway? Don't worry if it's the former – plenty of people only bought Crackdown to get into the Halo 3 beta before even realizing developer Realtime Worlds' superhero sandbox had its own merits. Demos and ports weren't the only thing that happened this week – The internet seemingly frustrated Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada enough to keep a character out of the North American release, we reviewed The Crew and Never Alone, and we highlighted our readers' favorite PS1 games. Those stories and more are all waiting for you after the break!
The Crew accidentally erases player stats
Whoops: It seems as though The Crew's launch wasn't without a few speed bumps after all. Ubisoft admitted that the game's servers had been erasing or showing incomplete player statistics due to a minor issue. Before you get frightened that the game has erased your identity and progress entirely, know that the good news is that "major data" weren't affected at all and that a patch is coming to fix the problem. The Crew launched on Tuesday, December 2nd. Ubisoft refused to provide the media with review copies of the game.
The Crew review: U-turn
Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PC In the course of the last console generation, Ubisoft has gone from "the French publisher behind the Tom Clancy games" to the world's leading creator of lucrative open-world sandbox franchises (by quantity, if not quality). This success hinges on a simple formula shared by all of Ubisoft's open-world games: Large, interesting worlds plus tons of things to see and do equals happy customers. Based on massive sales and a decade of largely positive critical response, this seems like a solid and, more crucially, reproducible formula. With The Crew, Ubisoft and developer Ivory Tower hope to apply those principles to the world of arcade-style racing games while also tacking on an omnipresent multiplayer component that supposedly makes the game's world – an abridged take on the entire contiguous United States – feel more alive, while also making it simple and fun to race around the country with your friends online. It's an idea that's undeniably ambitious and, if executed properly, could propel The Crew to the front of the racing game pack. Unfortunately, this racer is more Yugo than Porsche.
Here's a teaser of The Crew's cinematic story
Ubisoft has been hyping The Crew as an MMO for a while now, and, like many modern MMOs, the game incorporates some sort of single-player story. An outfit called Puppetworks Animation Studio created 13 minutes worth of CG cutscenes to flesh this story out and has released a teaser drawing from those cutscenes. There's not a lot here in terms of The Crew's action driving gameplay, but there are plenty of sketchy characters and revving engine noises. See for yourself after the break.
FIFA 15 reclaims top, The Crew cuts in at sixth in UK charts
Captain Toad isn't adventuring in Europe until next month, so that leaves The Crew as the only major new release in this week's UK charts. Ubisoft's online-roaming racer takes to the grid in sixth place, cruising just behind the typical glob of big hitters. You can tell the silly season's beginning to die out when the latest FIFA is back on top, sat just in front of the latest Call of Duty. Just to prove it's not too predictable, this week the UK chucks Lego Batman 3 back up to fifth on the back of retailer promotions, while lower down Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix debuts in 31st place. For the full top ten and the customary (but not predictable) music video, head past the break.
Ubisoft's action-driving MMO The Crew launches today
Ubisoft's "action-driving MMO" The Crew launches worldwide on PC and multiple consoles today, but before you can drive your roadster across a virtual map of the USA, you'll first have to download the time-honored day-one patch. The patch flips on drivehub challenges and the faction war as well as fixes a slew of UI, PvP, and stability bugs. Ubisoft's Serkan Hasan assured reporters last week that game would be free of the turmoil that usually accompanies MMO launches. The studio had taken criticism from refusing to grant launch previews to media because MMOs are just too hard to review without all the players in place. The standard version of the game is available for around 60 bucks, depending on your platform and retailer of choice. The launch trailer is below.
Gone in 180 seconds - Watch The Crew's CGI launch trailer
It's a case of the fast, furious, and CGI spurious in this trailer for The Crew. While it may not show gameplay, it's still a glossy escort for Ubisoft's open-world multiplayer racer. If you're the fast and the curious, the game launches on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC today.
Ubisoft dismisses doubts about The Crew's launch, releases launch trailer
Are you worried about the launch of The Crew being plagued by server issues, instability, and other issues? Don't be! None of that's going to happen at launch! Who said that? Ubisoft, of course! It seems trustworthy. In the wake of Ubisoft's launch issues this year (Assassin's Creed: Unity), not to mention other high-profile online titles that have been plagued by server issues, lead designer Serkan Hasan has stated that The Crew's beta testing has adequately prepared the game for launch. He also promises that the game's console versions will perform well on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Crew launches tomorrow, December 2nd. The studio has not shown any advanced previews to media on the basis that playing the game before launch would involve sub-optimal play conditions. [Update: We've included the launch trailer below.]
Report: The Crew lead designer confident of stable launch
Glitches and save issues have plagued Ubisoft's most recent prominent releases, but The Crew's lead game designer, Serkan Hasan, has told The Metropolist that the upcoming social racer should have a smooth ride out of the gate. Aside from urging players to expect the Xbox One, PS4 and PC versions to be fully capable of 1080p and 30 fps at launch, Hasan also shared no reservations about the stability of The Crew's online features. Hasan explained that he harbors confidence because The Crew has "reaped the benefits of a long term beta program, designed specifically to push our infrastructure as far as possible in real world situations, with thousands of players from all over the world playing the game at the same time." Hasan's comments follow a post to the Ubiblog which stated that copies of The Crew were not sent to press in advance due to an assessment of its true experience requiring "thousands and thousands and thousands of players – something that can't be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press." Bungie mentioned a similar philosophy before it launched Destiny, with review copies being held until the socially-focused shooter's public audience arrived on opening day. Opinions were mixed concerning Destiny's loot-fueled adventure, but at least the push to become top Guardian was a mostly-stable affair. [Image: Ubisoft]
Ubisoft's The Crew: Not pre-screened for critics
I used to love reading movie reviews in the local paper when I was a kid, though sometimes it puzzled me when a film was listed as "not pre-screened for critics." Generally these were B-movies that critics were prone to savaging, so the distribution companies figured they'd make more money if prospective customers didn't see Siskel and Ebert ripping a film up one side and down the other. Fast-forward 20 years and Ubisoft is doing something similar with The Crew. According to the latest company blog post, the open world MMO racer won't be given to media outlets in advance of its December 2nd release, ostensibly so that reviewers can experience the game in "optimal conditions" that include lots of other players. "The Crew was built from the beginning to be a living playground full of driving fans, so it's only possible to assess our game in its entirety with other real players in the world," the company says. "And by other, we mean thousands and thousands and thousands of players – something that can't be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press." Ubisoft goes on to say that any reviews that do appear on release day will be built around media preview sessions from the title's beta phases and thus will not "reflect the finished game."
Everyone can hang out with The Crew in next week's open beta
Well, not quite everyone; PS4 and Xbox One owners can test-drive The Crew's open beta between Tuesday, November 25 and Thursday, November 27. Then, five days later on December 2, Ubisoft Reflections' and Ivory Tower's persistent-world racer launches worldwide for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC - perhaps with its own live updates blog. Beta players can roam free across the entire open world of Americana, condensed into the five major regions of the Midwest, East Coast, South, Mountain States and West Coast. In the beta, challenges and player vs. player lobbies are limited to the first two of those regions, and Ubisoft notes "some online features" - i.e. multiplayer - require a Xbox Live Gold or PS Plus membership.
The Crew gets an everything-you-need-to-know trailer
Ready for another trailer featuring Ubisoft's The Crew? This one is a bit meatier than previous clips, as it runs for nearly eight minutes and serves as a sort of everything-you-need-to-know visual guide to the upcoming open world racer. You'll learn about the world and its 12 major cities as well as everything from skills to missions to factions to customization and the game's "CarPG" progression mechanics. Hop in and go for a spin just past the cut. Don't forget about the game's console open beta which starts on November 25th!
See the bonus cars of The Crew Season Pass in new trailer
This trailer for The Crew shows off the game's season pass content, including the exclusive Ferrari 458 Speciale and McLaren 12C cars. The Crew will launch on December 2 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The first DLC pack for the game arrives in January.
The Crew's season pass hyped in new trailer
If you're undecided about purchasing a season pass for The Crew's DLC, a quick look at Ubisoft's latest trailer may help you out. Perks include one week of early access to new content, a Ferrari 458 Speciale, a McLaren 12C, and four themed car packs (speed, vintage, extreme, and raid). The Crew launches on December 2nd.
The Crew hints at 'new PvP mode,' season pass info
The Crew hasn't launched yet, but Ubisoft is already marketing a season pass for its racing MMO that will include everything from new missions to themed car packs to a "new PvP mode." The announcement doesn't say much regarding the new mode other than that it exists, but there is a lot of info regarding the rest of the obtainables on the game's official website.
