UbiSoft: Competition for Worst Publisher?

When the whole Batman: Arkham Knight issue boiled over several months ago, I'll admit I was completely bowled over. Before you even get into the fact that the company released a game in such piss-poor quality they had to take it off of Steam to convince a few customers not to refund it and before news came out they basically had 12 people total porting this game, you have to concider WB released a game that they knew was at best in Beta stages, and the best evidence for it is that literally two hours before the game came out, they increased the minimum requirements to play the game. Such action is despicable as it really can only be seen at best as an attempt to decieve people into think this is what the game was supposed to need to begin with and so it's ok if it runs like shit everywhere else, and at worst, it's an attempt to make people who are not paying attention believe it's their own fault for not reading the requirements and therefore they should just keep the pile of shit WB just shoveled out to them. It was perhaps the single most shameful display of bullshit from a AAA publisher I had ever seen...

Red Steel 2 (Wii) Review

Do you remember the launch of the Wii? Back in 06/07, the machines were next to impossible to find, even as people were only buying it for a few of it's admittedly large launch line up. Ubisoft's own sword fighter Red Steel was among these games, but with the poor reputation it was earning, no one was interested. Fast forward to 2009 and Red Steel 2 came out promising to do much better between the add-on the Motion Plus it required and generally more effort. At the time I wasn't willing to take a risk on this game due to the fact that to play I would have to buy the new add-on to play and not being the biggest fan of westerns.

A few years later, however, I got ahold of the add-on for the controller for reasons that now escape me, and stumbled on a copy of this game still sitting on the shelf pretty cheap, so I decided "what the hell" and picked it up. Right now, I'm glad the game was cheap as it proved broken for me, making it the second broken game I have reviewed on this site. Step inside.

Far Cry 4: The Disappearing Game

Wow, Ubisoft just can not catch a break, can they? Yesterday, reports were coming in to Ubisoft and Microsoft that Far Cry 4 was no longer available on Xbox LIVE as a download. Not only that, but anyone who had bought the game got a message asking if they own the game when they tried to run it. I can only imagine the frustration when a game you spent $60 on refuses to work anymore, and in fact behaves like you didn’t even buy it to begin with, but that is the issue they saw.

Case 003: Of Orcs and Men- (PC) The rising of a rebellious revolutionary rumpus!

 

 

Oh, it’s you. You’ll have to forgive me, I had JD for breakfast. Normally, I don't take to drinking so early, but I bend the rules when I get my ass kicked before the early cycles. It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before, talked to the wrong dame, talked AT the wrong guy. You know how it is. Anyway, let me say that this is a case file that surprised me and I think it will surprise you too.

I found this file while cleaning out some of these data caches, this is relatively new, so give it the once over while I get something for this shiner.

uPlay Suckage: It’s not just for PC anymore. (Updated)

This article is not just pointing and laughing at the egg on Ubisoft’s face. It is actually a warning. I thought once they were going to try to turn themselves around and they were learning, but I was wrong. So HORRIBLY wrong. They learned all right, but not what we needed them to. Right now most people who bought Watch_Dogs at launch can tell you uPlay sucks, as they could not play online at all (and many still can’t). Their platform of choice was plagued by online issues as the uPlay servers all versions use were destroyed Diablo 3-style. But at least they could play single player games, right? RIGHT?

Sadly, this too, may have just been fucked up for everyone.

South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC) Review

This is it. The first big game of the year that I was excited to see and had to play day one! I was excited enough, that I actually spent 2 weeks without a main game since finishing Saturday Morning RPG so that I could open this up and start playing that day! On that fated Tuesday, I went to several stores to pick this up for PS3, but found everyone sold out. It was annoying, and left me with a choice: do I get it for PC where I am very reluctant to get anything by Ubisoft due to their uPlay system, or do I get this on 360 where I have an old one my brother left at my place? With a little research, the game found it’s way into my Steam collection, as uPlay is not in the game and the console in question is one of the old white 360s which are known for certain issues. I started playing that night, and the game blew me away for the first few hours.

But as I finish the game last night, I find myself not so hyped for it and not so excited. The game is fun, but it is not anything as good as it could have been, and not near worth it for the asking price of a AAA game.

Ubisoft… actually… learned?

This morning while scrolling through videogame news, I saw something that nearly made my jaw drop…. according to IGN, Ubisoft has pulled a 180 on their stance of DRM, choosing to back off from their current draconian ways of requiring a constant connection while playing their games. This is indeed big news to anyone who has tried to play their games right after a Steam sale (it never works cause their servers are flooded).

Rather, it seems uPlay has been morphed into a service much like EA’s Origin in which your account is linked to the game for activation, and you go on playing without worrying that a bad connection will kill your game literally in the middle of your final swing before a boss is defeated. As shocked as I was to hear this from the same guy who a few weeks ago was claiming the platform needed such DRM cause games get pirated at a 95% rate, I have to admit, I was pleased to see this was nothing more then a final tantrum before giving their paying customers what they want and have been very vocal about…. DRM that isn’t unreasonable to said paying customers.

If they can build their name back up now in the PC community, I will have to say “good job.” It’s a daunting task, but not impossible. Just ask EA. Good Luck, Ubisoft, and God Speed.