Ubisoft just wrapped up its press conference leading up to the E3 gaming conference, previewing 10 games slated to arrive between now and the end of 2019. The publisher opened the show with a colorful musical number promoting Just Dance 2019 that was led by a dancing panda. The show ended with some exciting-yet-brutal swordplay pulled from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Ubisoft’s event was probably one the most exciting we’ve seen thus far.
Dubbed a “space opera,” the long-awaited sequel to Beyond Good & Evil is an open-world action-adventure RPG taking place at the end of the 24th century. As previously reported, it’s actually a prequel to the first installment and the clip shown during Ubisoft’s press conference revealed Jade as the antagonist. The company also introduced the Space Monkey program, a partnership with HitRecord to integrate community-made music and visual assets into the upcoming game starting now.
You can read the full story on our website.
Trials is all about crashing in style and getting up again, and the upcoming sequel is no different. The franchise receives a “fresh visual look” and takes place in iconic locations for your motorcycle platforming pleasure, including Yellowstone Park and Paris. You’ll be able to compete with other players represented as ghosts, through local multiplayer or online. Players can also customize and share their outfits and bike “skins.”
Trials Rising goes into closed beta later this year and will land on the PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in February 2019.
This was likely the biggest game of the show. The story takes place seven months after the black plague appeared on physical money and wiped out most of North America. You are the last line of defense for the United States, thus if you fail, history will be written by tyrants. Outside the story and gameplay, the conference revealed that Year One will produce three DLC packs in the form of episodes with new storylines, new areas to explore, and more. The multiplayer aspect will also include raids supporting eight players.
You can register for the beta now. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 raids the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 15, 2019. Extended coverage about the reveal can be read on our website, along with our hands-on coverage.
The big news with Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle during Ubisoft’s press conference is that the Donkey Kong DLC, aka Donkey Kong Adventure, arrives on June 26,. Joining Donkey Kong on this expanded adventure will be Rabbid Cranky Kong and Rabbid Peach. Also included are four new areas, Donkey Kong’s banana-rang weapon, and a new crossbow used by Rabbid Cranky Kong.
Piracy is dead in the Caribbean, so Ubisoft is sending you and your crew into the Indian Ocean. It’s a shared world where every player encounter matters, whether you team up to take on a nearby Portuguese frigate or turn against each other after confiscating the frigate’s loot. This portion of the show demonstrated the Skull & Bones‘ naval combat gameplay, including ship-to-ship battles and methods for sneaking around heavily-guarded waters. You can read our full coverage here.
Skull & Bones will set sail on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2019.
Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision introduced this game during Ubisoft’s E3 press event last year, and nothing has really changed information-wise since then. It’s a first-person exploration game where a “troubled scientist” pulls you into the minds of his three digitally captured family members. Ubisoft calls Transference a “psychological thriller” where you have to solve a mystery from three different perspectives.
Transference arrives this fall on VR and “traditional” gaming platforms.
The big news with Starlink: Battle for Atlas is that Ubisoft teamed up with Nintendo to add Fox McCloud as a playable character in the Nintendo Switch version. The game itself relies on physical starships you can customize on the fly in the real world to adapt your virtual ship to the current in-game situation. It’s a space combat simulator originally revealed during Ubisoft’s E3 show last year. You can read more in-depth coverage about the Fox McCloud aspect on our website.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas flies onto the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on October 16, 2018.
For starters, the conference revealed that you can now download the Starter Edition via Uplay on PC for free right now until June 18. The other For Honor tidbit introduced the Marching Fire update that adds a new faction, four new fighters, a castle siege mode called “Breach,” significant “visual enhancements,” and an unlimited single-player and two-person co-op player-vs-environment mode Ubisoft will reveal at a later date.
For Honor‘s Marching Fire update burns on October 16, 2018.
The only big news with Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world racing game is that the open beta begins at 1 p.m. June 21 and ends at the same time on June 25. The test will contain the first two levels and the game’s entire open world. The demo also provides solo play and up to three local friends in co-op mode.
The full retail release launches on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on June 29, 2018. You can preload The Crew 2 starting now.
This upcoming installment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise sets your role-playing journey in ancient Greece in 431 B.C. You are a simple mercenary, an outcast destined to become a Greek hero who’s armed with the spear of Leonidas. With Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, you can pick your character — Kassandra or Alexios — and stick with that choice throughout the game. The gameplay showcased at the end of Ubisoft’s conference highlighted Kassandra as she sliced her way through opponents until she came face-to-face with a brute of a warrior named Diokles.
For more Assassin’s Creed Odyssey coverage, visit our website. Check out our hands-on preview of the game too.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey arrives on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 2, 2018.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.