At Nintendo’s conference yesterday, Ubisoft teased a brand new entry in the legendary Assassin’s Creed franchise for the Wii U. But the company was ready to start talking about the project at a Nintendo roundtable that is currently in progress.
The development team will be adding new features and expanding the franchise. This is thanks to the Wii U’s multi-core architecture and large memory capacity. Interestingly, the team will be incorporating the Anvil Engine.
Expect fast weapon selective, an interactive database, eagle vision or sense, alternative puzzles, and a helpful map on the controller.
It’s being made by Ubisoft’s Quebec team.
That’s all the details Ubisoft shared. Unfortunately, it wasn’t said if it’s a new game or a port, though Ubisoft promises that it’ll be the best Assassin’s Creed experience possible for Wii U.
Key details about Wii U were left out of Nintendo’s E3 2011 media briefing yesterday. In particular, fans have been curious about how the console will handle online functionality. Good news: Nintendo (or should I say Ubisoft?) has revealed some details at a roundtable taking place right now.
Ghost Recon Online for Wii U will include the following:
– Progression will be tracked on the console
– Personal account system
– Secure/flexible friends list
– Ranking and matchmaking
– Friend others online
– Track how friends are performing and their achievements
– Schedule matches with others while you’re watching TV
– Parental controls and a ban list
– “The ghost feed” to be available
– Use the touch screen to arm weapons
– Coordinate attacks and talk with others
– Scan maps with the controller
– Call out air attacks as well
– Gather intel and dish out commands, comparable to crosscome 2.0 in real life
– No need for a headset thanks to the controller
– Team play is important
– 3 classes: Assault, Recon, Specialist
– Interact with real-time information on a map
– Enemies, friendlies can be seen on the map
– Can click on positions, share strategies
– Players can decide on an area on the map for others to see and then you can coordinate an attack or defend the area
– Missle strike perk: aim with controller and steer
– Tablet can act as a drone
– Customize on the touch screen controller
– Capture domination mode shown at the roundtable
– Spin a 3D map on the controller
– Cover-based game
– Pull triggers for first-person view
– Done available on the controller and it can scan the perimeter and tracks the enemy
– Controller shows maps until the drone is used
We now know of numerous, specific Wii U projects that are in the works from Ubisoft. For example, Ubisoft is working on a new Assassin’s Creed for the console. And now, the company has unveiled a brand new Wii U title for the system.
It’s early on in development, but Ubisoft is going to be able to show the project off at a Nintendo roundtable event. President Yves Guillemot and developers are on hand to demonstrate the game. He believes that Wii U will impact social gaming. And he also is getting ready to show off Killer Freaks, which seems to be a new IP for the console.
Update 2: Kotaku says this is about Ubisoft, as expected.
Update: Some sites are indicating that the event will focus on a single third-party. If true, I have no idea when we’ll get online Wii U details… Maybe Reggie was lying!
Nintendo’s hosting a second roundtable at E3 2011 tonight. From what we’ve heard, Ubisoft will be there to talk about Assassin’s Creed Wii U and it’s possible that other third-parties will be in attendance. There’s a good chance that some online details for Wii U will be revealed as well. Basically, you won’t want to miss it!
Tune in at 9 PM EDT / 6 PM PDT for live news updates.
This information comes from Rage studio’s creative director Tim Willits…
“The Nintendo market is a tough market for us to get into. A lot of first party games, a lot of licensed games – those are the ones that have done the best on that platform. I’d love it if we can get a hardcore FPS community going and build on it, but it’s tough. I think we should keep our toes where we know best.”
Well, you win some, you lose some. I’ve been pretty surprised by the third-party support thus far. Not a whole lot of concrete games were announced yesterday (let alone new titles), but it’s very interesting to see titles such as Batman: Arkham City, Darksiders II, and Ninja Gaiden III coming to the console.
This information comes from Kojima Productions creative producer Yoshikazu Matsuhana…
“Obviously we did have talks with Nintendo early on – they approached us with the Wii U. We can’t say exactly when this happened or what kind of talks we’ve had but we were aware of the hardware and we’ve been looking at it. We are very much thinking about possibilities with the Wii U and it looks like a very fun system. As for whether we’ll have something at launch for the Wii – we can’t say that. Probably not, but we definitely have things in mind. We’re also looking at the public reaction. If there are enough people who say they want us to bring something to the Wii U that also factors into things.”
Matsuhana also touched on the subject of Metal Gear Solid 5…
“We anticipated we would get questions about this today (Metal Gear Solid 5) and unfortunately our answer is, we can’t answer that. We can’t say anything right now. Top secret.”
It’s anyone’s guess what Kojima Productions will work on/what possibilities they’re thinking of for Wii U. It should be able to handle the company’s newly announced engine, however.
Here’s an interesting nugget for you: apparently this game is being made by Tak Fujii!
