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This Just In: Ubisoft Makes The Money for Q3

Shiva Stella — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:00:00 -0600

Ubisoft has announced its results for the first half of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, claiming that sales are up 52% mostly due to the release of high-profile games, including Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and Assassin's Creed.

The company also posted a little update on its release schedule following a third-quarter review, all provided at the jump.

Third-quarter business review

The third quarter of fiscal 2007-08 got off to a good start with a number of new games released in November including Assassin's Creed, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, Beowulf, and the range of casual games. Assassins Creed has already notched up record sell-through sales of more than a million units, a positive sign that the brand will be successful and that Ubisoft has created another long-term franchise. The casual games including the Imagine, Petz and My Coach brands have also recorded a solid early performance.

2007-08 games release schedule updated

Ubisoft today announced that Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will be released during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007-08. This release will capitalize on the success of the first episode. In addition, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction, previously scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007-08, will now form part of a stronger line-up for fiscal 2008-09. Lastly, Haze which was due for release during the third quarter of fiscal 2007-08 will now be launched in the fourth fiscal quarter. The targets previously announced by Ubisoft remain unchanged as they already took into account the possible impact of these delays as a preventive measure.

New Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 DS Trailer, Official Site Launches

Shiva Stella — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:26:02 -0500

A new trailer for Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 on the Nintendo DS has hit the Web and is available at the jump; surprisingly it doesn't look all that bad - sort of cute.

Ubisoft has also published the game's official website, which you can access at the link. The title is set to launch for the DS on November 13, followed by a November 15 release for the Wii version.

New Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 Trailer

Shiva Stella — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:51:00 -0500

This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

Ubisoft recently unveiled a new trailer for its Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 for the Nintendo Wii console. Enjoy.

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Ubisoft Paris Developing Revolution Title

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 12:34:00 -0500

According to the May issue of Game Informer, Ubisoft Paris (of Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfigher fame) is developing a title for the Nintendo Revolution, a shooter rumored to be named Red Steel.

Teasing gamers to look inside, the magazine's cover displays a handgun and katana, with the sword reflecting an image of the Revolution controller as a subtitle reads: "Ubisoft Breaks The Silence On The Nintendo Revolution."

Played from a first-person perspective, the game is said to take advantage of the Revolution's innovative control scheme in order to blend shooting and swordplay elements. Neither Ubisoft or Nintendo have confirmed the title's release, but this could be good news for Nintendo fans worried about the company's next-gen third-party support. Look for more info soon on Red Steel, as E3 is only a month away.

Originally written by Evan Lahti

GH Review: Rayman DS (PSP)

The Gaming Horizon Archive — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 18:22:00 -0500

This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

A disturbing trend amongst the new handhelds is the number of ports weve seen rather than brand-new franchises being established. The trend continues with Rayman DS, a port of the Nintendo 64 game Rayman 2: The Great Escape, which was a critically acclaimed game. Does Rayman DS stack up against its well-aged older brother, or does it bring shame to the Rayman name?

If youre planning on porting a game to a handheld, at least pick a good game to port, and just like Nintendo did with Mario 64, Ubisoft made the decision to do so with Rayman 2. Anyone whos played the N64 version will instantly recognize this as it is exactly the same game, just with a control scheme that utilizes the touch-screen to make up for the lack of a control stick.

Graphically, this game looks quite nice. It pulls off N64 quality graphics very well. Its not a step up from its previous incarnation like Mario 64 DS was as some of the textures here are still a little muddy, but for the most part the game looks wonderful. The initial jungle stage that you start in looks very lush with vegetation everywhere. Waterfalls and springs that litter the stage also sparkle and add an extra dimension to the environments. The characters themselves are modeled quite well with a range of expressions such as laughter and fear that show their feelings in a fashion that makes it very easy to understand whats going on between the characters since you cant make out the language.

Controlling Rayman is a surprisingly simple task. You can use either the D-pad or touch-screen to move him around while the A button attacks, the B button jumps and controls Raymans helicopter descents, and holding the R button locks onto enemies. And for those not familiar with Raymans antics, knowing that you dont have to completely aim his energy bursts is a good thing to remember they will home in on an enemy in the general direction that youre facing. As you progress, youll earn upgrades to his attacks so that they pack mightier punches and fly further distances with his helicopter abilities. With the loss of the analog control stick, itll be hard to make Rayman walk slowly or tiptoe with the D-pad, but of course, you could always just use the touch-screen to do so. If youve played Mario or any other 3D platformer, than youll know exactly how Rayman controls, which makes this game very accessible.

It seems Rayman borrows a lot from Mario, but they do differ in the way the levels are set up. Instead of a free-roaming castle acting as a central hub, here there is just a map and you place a cursor on the level you wish to enter. The only way to open up new levels is to collect Lums. Collecting these Lums is what sets up Raymans story. Rayman is held captive at the beginning of the game, but his friend Murfy helps him escape. During the escape, however, Rayman and Murfy become separated, and he stumbles across little beings called Teensies. From them he discovers that a pirate named Razorbeard has imprisoned everyone and has broken the heart of the world into 1,000 pieces. So now, its up to Rayman to collect these pieces, or Lums, and collect four masks so that they can awaken a power known as Polokus to fight off Razorbeard. The story sounds like a cookie cutter excuse for a drawn-out fetch quest, but the hilarious and loveable cast makes the journey an enjoyable one.

The biggest gripe I have with Rayman DS is the camera. This was seriously one of the worst cameras Ive dealt with in recent memory. Its not enough to make the game unplayable, but there are a lot of spots where the camera will cause you to misjudge a jump or platform and in some cases will make some pits completely hidden to you. Trust me when I say that more of your deaths will be attributed to the camera than anything else.

I also had a problem with the controls. Though the controls seem more forgiving here than they do in Mario 64, I couldnt get comfortable with either the D-pad or the touch-screen. After a couple of hours, I finally managed to get a decent grasp of how it handled, but they still caused a headache every now and then.

Lastly, while the game does look nice, the framerate jumps around frequently. One moment its running at a silky smooth clip, the next its staggering. This will frustrate you just as much as the camera because itll throw your timing off when trying to jump to a place thats hard to reach.

If youre in need of an alternative to Mario 64 DS or need a serious fix of handheld 3D platforming, you could do a lot worse than Rayman DS. While it suffers from some technical shortcomings that its predecessor didnt, Rayman DS is a port of what was a great game and a large portion of what made Rayman 2: The Great Escape great shows up in this miniaturized form.

Solid 3D Platforming, bad camera and uncomfortable controls.

Nice, but the jumpy framerate is a big downer.

Music and sound effects are fitting, but the gibberish character dialogue is unique.

Its impressive that a 5-year-old N64 game is still fun today.

The main game is lengthy, and there are some short bonus levels and minigames.