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Report: Ubisoft's UPlay service may have browser exploit on PC [update: Ubisoft responds]
Between delays and draconian DRM, Ubisoft doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to the PC versions of its products. We might have to add browser exploits to that list, if a post on Seclists.org is to be believed. According to a poster by the name of Tavis Ormandy, Ubisoft's UPlay browser plugin, designed to let users launch a game from the web, contains an exploit – namely one that allows "wide access to websites."Ormandy discovered the flaw in the PC version of Assassin's Creed Revelations, though it's reasonable to assume it would appear in all of Ubisoft's UPlay enabled PC titles. The upshot of this, according to TechDirt, is that the exploit could allow any website – i.e. "bad websites" – access to your computer. Both Joystiq and Engadget have contacted Ubisoft to confirm the flaw. In the meantime, you may want to disable the UPlay browser plugin. Update: Ubisoft has made a statement on the issue, reports RPS. The company has acknowledged the flaw and has made a "forced patch" to resolve the issue. The company recommends that "all Uplay users update their Uplay PC application without a Web browser open," which will "allow the plug-in to update correctly." The UPlay PC installer has also been updated to include the patch, and is available via the UPlay website.
Ubisoft UPlay may accidentally contain web plugin exploit, Ezio would not approve (update: fixed)
If you've played Assassin's Creed 2 (or other Ubisoft games), you may have installed more stealthy infiltration than you bargained for. Some snooping by Tavis Ormandy around Ubisoft's UPlay looks to have have discovered that the service's browser plugin, meant to launch locally-stored games from the web, doesn't have a filter for what websites can use it -- in other words, it may well be open season for any maliciously-coded page that wants direct access to the computer. Closing the purported, accidental backdoor exploit is thankfully as easy as disabling the plugin, but it could be another knock against the internet integration from a company that doesn't have a great reputation for online security with its copy protection system. We've reached out to Ubisoft to confirm the flaw and learn what the solution may be, if it's needed. For now, we'd definitely turn that plugin off and continue the adventures of Ezio Auditore da Firenze through a desktop shortcut instead. Update: That was fast. As caught by Geek.com, the 2.0.4 update to UPlay limits the plugin to opening UPlay itself. Unless a would-be hacker can find a way to compromise the system just before you launch into Rayman Origins, it should be safe to play.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations beta arrives exclusively for PS3 Sept. 3
An Assassin's Creed: Revelations multiplayer beta will kick off on September 3 exclusively on the PS3, available in the first week only to PlayStation Plus and UPlay members. According to Ubisoft, nine characters will be available in the beta across three maps, with four gameplay modes each. You'll find them all listed after the break and depicted visually in the gallery below. With Assassin's Creed: Revelations just a few months away from launch, now's also the time to refresh your memory of the franchise's many outings thus far. Check out the stylish little recap clip above if you don't know your Ezios from your Altairs.%Gallery-130355%
Ubisoft announces 'Uplay Passport' online pass for Driver: SF, future games
Ubisoft has confirmed Uplay Passport, its version of "online pass" or "Project Ten Dollar." The Uplay Passport, which will be implemented for the first time in Driver: San Francisco, is the standard multiplayer pass that will restrict online play to those who have redeemed a code in new copies of the game or purchased a code from the Xbox Marketplace or PSN. A new Uplay Passport, for those who pick up the game used, will cost $9.99. Ubisoft mentioned it was looking into implementing the feature last year after EA's success. Driver will be the test drive, but don't expect it to be a revelation if the next Assassin's Creed has it too.
Ubisoft's Chris Early on Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy and other 'companion games'
Ubisoft's VP of digital games, Chris Early, delivered a talk last week at SXSW Interactive on the rising phenomenon of "companion games"; small, downloadable or web games that use the same IP as and link in some way to a larger retail product. These games include Dragon Age Legends and Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy for Facebook, but also, he explained, titles like Dead Rising 2: Case Zero. After the presentation, we talked with Early more about companion games, their value to core gamers, and how they can be used to completely dominate a player's life.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood bonus mission free to European Uplay users [update]
Launched last year with Assassin's Creed 2, Ubisoft's Uplay has served as an in-game rewards system on top of Xbox Live's Achievements and PlayStation Network's Trophies, letting those who sign up for it unlock bonus items using accrued points across supported games. Recently, these same folks got an email offering them a free bonus mission in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood called "The Trajan Market." The mission was originally available as part of the game's "Codex Edition" and sends Ezio into a marketplace in the middle of Rome, where he fights Borgia guards and discovers a treasure hidden in a ruined tower. As you can see in the screen grab above, the code was even sent out to Uplay members who don't own the game. If you're not yet a Uplay member, you can sign up on the official site. Also, you didn't tell us there'd be free stuff, Ubisoft! Oh wait, maybe you did. Update: Ubisoft has clarified that this offer is for European Uplay members. [Thanks, RobLink and Jason]
JoyStats: 40% of players finished Assassin's Creed 2 campaign
During a recent press event, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood mission director Gaelec Simard disclosed to Joystiq that 40 percent of Assassin's Creed 2 players finished the game -- "which is huge," he added. The figure is up roughly 5 percent from the estimated 35 percent completion percentage of AC1 players on Xbox Live, who were tracked through their Achievements. Ubisoft's AC2 data paints a more complete, cross-platform picture of the total player base's completion rate, as it was provided by the game's built-in Uplay service, which tracks gameplay statistics (in addition to providing a platform through which players can unlock in-game content). Still, players must have their consoles connected to the internet and must register Uplay accounts before the service begins tracking their data. While 40 percent completion might seem low, especially for one of the best games of 2009, it's still significantly higher than the less than 30 percent rate of completion among a sampling of GTA IV players, as found in a study published by Gamasutra a year ago. "In the industry, the number of games that are finished is more like five to ten percent," Simard figured. "We all think people finish games, but when you start asking around, you'll find that a lot of people don't get to the end. We want the player to experience the whole package, so that's something we're trying to push."
Assassin's Creed 2 first Ubisoft title to incorporate 'Uplay' service
With the launch of Assassin's Creed 2 today, Ubisoft has officially lifted the veil on its Achievement/Trophy-like "Uplay" program. First revealed at E3 (though minimally detailed), Ubisoft claims it to be an "online destination where gamers are at the center of a connected gaming universe," intended to link all Ubisoft titles across Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Players can access the Uplay portal through the web or in-game, with AC2 being the first title to include the still-in-beta service. Of the "four primary services" Uplay includes – titled "Win," "Help," "Share" and "shop" – only Uplay Win is currently available in the beta. Ubisoft explains Uplay Win as "[enabling] players to collect units based on their actions in the games and exchange them for rewards such as exclusive in-game content or digital items," the first of which are an Altaïr outfit and "access to the Auditore Family Crypt" (among other things). We've yet to fully plunge the depths of Uplay's offerings in Assassin's Creed 2, but if there's anything really exciting, we'll be sure to let you know all about it. Keep it locked! %Gallery-78406%
Ubisoft aims to 'quickly' soar to a 10% market share
During the BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told attendees his company aims to capture a 10 percent market share in the flooded games industry. According to Guillemot (via GamesIndustry.biz), Ubisoft currently stands at "around 6 percent," but the executive believes his company can expand its reach using a multi-tiered strategy to raise its share very "quickly." At its core, Ubisoft's plan was detailed as a three-pronged approach: A focus on present and future consoles, online and social networks and entertainment convergence. In June 2009, Ubisoft revealed the cross-game interface social media and digital platform, Uplay -- a web-based service it hopes will allow developers to better connect with players. Apart from this "confluence" concept, Ubisoft has continued its convergence strategy by expanding its marketing reach to gamers through various forms of media and through the use of its movie license agreements. "We have many opportunities to gain market share," Gillemot said during the event, echoing statements made during its Q2 earnings call last week regarding the importance of leveraging upcoming technology from Microsoft and Sony. And let's face it, if pre-order data is to be believed, Ubisoft will soon be diving into giant wells of loot following the release of Assassin's Creed 2... and that has to help the company inch closer to its 10 percent goal.
Uplay brings 'confluence' to Ubisoft titles
Ubisoft has just revealed a web-based service called Uplay, set to come out by the end of the year, that will enable people playing their games to connect up and share media, make purchases, and download game information, all through a standardized cross-game interface. It will premiere in their games later this year and will hope to accomplish Ubisoft's stated goal of "confluence": connecting developers with players and gamers with each other completely inside of the game menus themselves.We're skeptical, but they haven't pulled back the curtain on what exactly it will offer Ubisoft fans yet. But we'll find out by the holidays, as the first games to support Uplay will be Splinter Cell: Conviction, Avatar, and Assassin's Creed 2.
uPlay touts "iPhone of golf GPS technology"
There's certainly no shortage of GPS devices out there to aid your golf game, but the folks at uPlay seem to think they've got one to beat 'em all, with them even going so far as to tout their new uPro device as the "iPhone of golf GPS technology." Exactly what earns it that designation, we're not sure, but the device will let golfers determine the distance to holes from their current location, and give them aerial photography, video flyovers, and details on course hazards, among other things. No word on a price or release date just yet, it seems, but we'd expect those details to be revealed when uPlay shows off the device at the 2008 PGA Show that gets underway in Orlando on January 16th.
