PlayStation.Blog » ubisoft

Watch_Dogs: Behind the Scenes with PS4′s Rule-Breaking Action Epic

Fred Dutton — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:01:55 +0000

As with any jump from one console generation to the next, PlayStation 4 owners will expect to see hardware that sits at the very cutting edge of innovation, offering unparalleled processing power and an arsenal of exciting new features.

However, the onus on game developers to bring bold new gameplay innovation to the table is every bit as integral to that generational leap, and it’s a responsibility that the whipsmart team behind Ubisoft’s future-tech open world action title Watch_Dogs are really tearing into.

As detailed in our coverage last week, the game’s core conceit – that its central hero, hacker Aiden Pearce’s primary weapon is not a gun, but an entire city – is one of the boldest, most ambitious ideas to come along in some time. To find out more about the game’s attempts to re-write the action rulebook, PlayStation.Blog sat down with the game’s creative director Jonathan Morin.

PlayStation.Blog: What was the first seed of an idea that later grew into Watch_Dogs?

Jonathan Morin: It started as a conversation. Four years ago we were talking about humans exchanging their lives and their details through their phones, and about how that could change our everyday lives.

When you make a new game where the mandate is broad and you have the right to create something new, you want to make sure that the people around you are all working on a subject they’re passionate about – something they really want to explore. So listening to those conversations helped come up with ideas. Like, “we all want to dig into these issues, so let’s try it out.” As the conversation grew, we started to add crazy ideas, like the profiler, and when you start prototyping those things, that’s when it explodes.

PSB: You started development four years ago. To many people, that might seem like a very long time to devote to one game…

JM: Well, there’s always a conception phase where there’s not a lot of people involved. We were only 10 for a long time, then we were 20 or 30. You need a certain kind of people – people who like to dig into subjects and research, try elements out and be comfortable with failure. Those were the kind of people we had.

It was a long process to define what was going to be special about the game. It was pretty early on when we ended up talking about controlling an entire city. The traffic light hack was one of the first prototypes we did. That really generated an emotion. “Woah, what? Can I do it on the other one too?”

That’s the kind of thing where you say to yourself “the promise of doing this is insane.” But you need to make it real and build a system around it that works. So those four years became a big challenge for some very smart people.

PSB: The core idea of having a whole city as your weapon is hugely ambitious – were you ever forced to make compromises to make the concept work in practice?

JM: Not really. There’s no real compromise there. It’s a very broad subject and had a tendency to create an infinite number of ideas when you brainstorm it. There’s a moment when you have to say “let’s stop here, let’s not go there”.

I don’t see that as a compromise, I see that as a necessity. If you want to make a game that has quality and in which everything reacts with each other in an elegant way, the only way to pull it off is to understand the barriers.

Constraint can be seen as a negative from the outside, but when you’re on the inside, having clear constraints helps people produce ideas faster. The constraints are re-assuring. This is where we stop. Then the rest is like, if there’s a subject that is bigger than just one game and there are a lot of ideas, and it’s successful, well… that’s not a problem, it’s a good thing.

PSB: And what about Aidan Pierce? How did his character take shape?

JM: One of the big things about Aidan Pierce is that he’s very street smart. We had a lot of conversations about that. It sounds straightforward, but very early on we looked at a game like Assassin’s Creed and how characters are and how they move. One of the things we felt was missing in every game was contextualisation. All those guys feel like robots. They move in the same way regardless of the situation.

Can we change that? Someone who is smart and is supposed not to attract attention to himself is going to walk in a certain way, and is going to be aware of his surroundings. So we put a lot of effort into that contextualisation. And that influenced everything, especially his look.

Like his mask. If there’s press and media in the game universe, he needs to react to it. Contextually he’s going to put his mask on when he starts doing bad things so that he’s not noticed.

The hat? He doesn’t want to be seen, so he can pull the brim down – like all those actors in Hollywood trying to avoid the paparazzi. They always have caps on. It’s cool, it’s different. The hoodie has been done to death.

The coat – same thing. It hides a lot of his body and he can hide things underneath. It’s also a cool way to interact with the wind physics and create nice continuity of movement. It creates a second wave of movement. It feels a lot more realistic for the player.

It sounds very easy and smart but it took years to have these ideas. Iteration upon iteration.

PSB: Can you talk a little about the ‘PS4 difference’? How does next-gen enhance your game?

JM: The experience is the same. We’re not removing anything from the core experience on either platform. We’re not eager to create a game for a machine. We’re making a game because we think it’s cool. When you create an idea you shouldn’t base that idea only on what’s possible or impossible to do on a machine. If you do I don’t think you’re doing the right thing.

When PS4 showed up, there was definitely a portion of the game we could push forward – the wind simulation, the water, the realisation of certain AI behaviours. So those elements are magnified versions of the core experience in the next gen.

PSB: What aspect of PS4 has surprised or excited you most?

JM: One thing I like about the PS4 is its philosophy, which from a creative perspective is an important thing. I think the next generation of games will be more than ever at the service of the player. Players are now the ones who drive what next gen should be. They’re connected all the time. The way they live their lives are different. So we need to pay attention to how society changes to give them a form of entertainment that is a natural extrapolation of that. I think that Sony understands that.

PSB: I know you’re leaving your big multiplayer reveal for another day, but can you talk in general terms about how you’re approaching that part of the experience?

JM: You can play single player or multiplayer in the game. You’re always in your own session. If you’re playing alone, you’re playing alone. So it means there are millions of people alone in their own sessions. We’ve simply added the ability to merge those sessions together at the pacing of our choice.

You can be free-roaming and naturally getting into some kind of activity that makes you intertwine with another player. You interact with them, then you’re done and it goes away. It’s not like you have someone in your game the whole time who can mess with your game, but it’s definitely the beginning of a solution to tackle those taboos.

Players often worry that another player is going to come into their game and break their experience. That’s an old school statement. We need to fix that, and it’s a design problem, not a technical problem – how do you bring two players together and let them interact in a way that’s pleasing?

One thing I can say is that when we watch people play together in Watch_Dogs, most of the time they don’t even realise that it was another player. There are no signs. There is a great thing there that someone can be in the experience and naturally enter a situation. They become part of the story. “That was another player? No way! That’s awesome!” They didn’t notice. That’s spectacular!

As a developer, I can immediately tell when it’s another player in a game – jeez, that guy doesn’t walk like an AI, that’s a player. But in Watch_Dogs, players won’t notice that immediately. It’s a new form of emotion and it fits perfectly in the Watch_Dogs universe where everybody watches everyone else.

New Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Gameplay Trailer Takes to the High Seas

Gabriel Graziani — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:59:39 +0000

Edward Kenway set out to earn his fortune in the West Indies, but you’ll see first-hand how he (like so many other sailors of his day) turned to a much more brutal, ruthless and lucrative life in Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag. We’re very pleased to deliver yet another glimpse into this world and further define our vision of The Golden Age of Pirates with this new gameplay trailer!

Captain Edward Kenway is a complicated guy with simple objectives: get money, honor the crew and live a life unbound by the laws of remote sovereigns. His story will take you all around the Caribbean, plundering, pillaging and generally leaving a wake of mayhem behind you.

But there is also a larger tale involving Edward’s contemporaries, and despite their commonly-known roles as thieves and brigands of the sea, there were pirates of the age who worked to create a truly free society. Edward will become embroiled in their struggle, and that of a much more inconspicuous and clandestine group…

As you can see from the trailer, you can expect a wide variety of new and exciting activities in AC4, including: dynamic boarding raids, incomparably smooth free-running in both natural and city environments and multi-pistol fighting that makes sense in the Assassin’s Creed melee style.

Also, you’ll learn that if a shark attacks you, the best thing to do is to punch it in the gills (and that is really true).

New Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag Trailer: The Golden Age of Piracy

Gabriel Graziani — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:00:19 +0000

Every Assassin’s Creed game is based in an actual historical setting, with a sense of place and time that provides the backdrop to amazing adventure fraught with peril and political intrigue. The setting for Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag is no different! Contrary to popular belief, pirates didn’t suddenly decide to become a scourge of the seas out of the clear blue sky.

The emergence of piracy was the result of decades of violent and brutal privateering that was not only sanctioned, but also bankrolled by warring naval powers of a size and scope never known before. All of this will have already happened in AC4, so we thought it would be a good idea to bring you up to speed.

The wild, nearly lawless and verdant islands of the West Indies and the towering ships that ruled them present some of the most unique and exciting stories we’d ever encountered, so we couldn’t wait to show them to you in AC4.

Behind the tales you’ve heard, lurking in the shadows of history, the Assassins are always working to ensure that people live free. For a time, that belief aligned with those who plied the seas from Kingston to Nassau… let us reveal the truth.

Watch_Dogs: 7 Things You Need to Know

Sid Shuman — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:03 +0000

Watch_Dogs’s dark vision of technological totalitarianism is heading to PS3 and PS4, and we were lucky enough to see the first live gameplay demo in San Francisco earlier this week (played on a DualShock 4, no less!). We’ve carefully studied the footage, asked pressing questions, and present you with this breakdown. Read on, then submit your questions in the comments below!

1. Aiden Pierce isn’t your typical videogame protagonist. “Aiden is a man with a dark past who has made questionable choices,” Lead Story Designer Kevin Shortt explained in our first live gameplay demo. Growing up in Chicago, Aiden used his technical prowess to infiltrate bank accounts and access surveillance systems, becoming something of a vigilante. Naturally, these pursuits earned him some powerful enemies on both sides of the law. As you play Watch_Dogs, you won’t be choosing between stark extremes on some binary morality scale, but defining where Aiden resides on much murkier spectrum of acceptability.

2. Chicago isn’t your typical videogame city. We’ve all played open-world action games where cities feel more like a collection of giant painted boxes than a living, breathing urban community. Watch_Dogs’s densely detailed Chicago feel less like a pretty façade and more like a densely populated city. Alleys are riddled with rotting cardboard boxes and detritus and parking garages are honeycombed with gloomy staircases — hack the right device and you may even find yourself peering into the living room of a Chicago citizen.

3. You can hack almost anything. Thanks to Chicago’s Central Operating System (ctOS), the city’s expansive (and invasive) technology is constantly at your fingertips. Take control of a nearby security camera to map out the positions of guards in a well-fortified area, raise a garage door or forklift to confuse and distract your would-be enemies, or — if you’re in particularly dire straits — tamper with the traffic grid and cause a multi-car pileup. These aren’t scripted scenarios, but dynamic and occasionally unpredictable events that can change the course of an escape in a nanosecond.

4. Stealth and no-holds-barred combat are viable options. Aiden is no sedentary computer geek — he’s quite capable of dispatching his enemies using lethal and nonlethal force. The stealthier player will value misdirection and surveillance, using remote cameras to tag and monitor enemy positions while skirting past trouble. Brute-force players will have a wide range of armaments to choose from, but you’ll want to keep civilian casualties in check lest your reputation suffer.

5. Multiplayer and single-player will overlap. Watch_Dogs will feature a full-blown multiplayer mode set in the mean streets of Chicago, though final details are still under lock and key. More intriguing is that multiplayer and single-player will “seamlessly” overlap, an effort by Ubisoft to demolish the wall that has divided single-player gaming and multiplayer for decades. This interconnectivity will extend to a companion experience on mobile devices, though details remain scarce.

6. Voyeurism is more fun than it sounds. Connecting to “FREE PUBLIC WI-FI” is risky business in the real world, so you can imagine what’s in store for anyone foolish enough to hop on an unsecured network in Aiden Pearce’s city. Aiden can activate Wi-Fi hotspots around the city, then hack into any device that connects to it granting him access to, among other things, a webcam on an unsuspecting citizens’ computer. This enables you to score valuable data, but also peer into the strange domestic lives of Chicago’s apartment dwellers.

7. The side quests are novel and varied. Once you hack into a district of Chicago’s ctOS, you’ll find yourself swimming in an ocean of data including the city’s crime prediction algorithms. If you want to go full-on Batman, you can use the crime prediction data to track down potential “victims” from the passers-by on the street, then intervene before their lives are cut short by a hail of bullets or a baseball bat to the head. Other side missions are less grim; one of our favorite was NVZN, an augmented-reality arcade game that tasks you with blasting marauding aliens with ray guns.

Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag on PS4: Conversations with Creators

Gabriel Graziani — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:00:03 +0000

We’re always trying to push the envelope with the Assassin’s Creed series, but with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, we have new, advanced technology to help us accomplish our lofty goals.

PlayStation 4 is enabling our teams to deliver more graphical detail, a new dimension of social connection and the kind of seamless gaming experience we’ve always dreamed of offering. Join Creative Director Jean Guesdon and Associate Producer Sylvain Trottier as they discuss advancements we’ve been able to harness for AC4 on PS4.

It’s a new generation of gaming on PlayStation 4, and the AC4 team is dedicated to pushing these new boundaries beyond anything fans have seen before!

Join us under the Black Flag of Assassin’s Creed IV!

Splinter Cell Blacklist: Spies vs Mercs Detailed

Zack Cooper — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:00:31 +0000

It feels so good to be back on PlayStation.Blog! Whether you got a chance to check out our Spies vs. Mercs trailer or not, we’re bringing some deeper insight (and a live Q&A to follow) into what we’re working with in Splinter Cell Blacklist’s multiplayer experience.

First off, if you’re not familiar with Spies vs. Mercs, I will say one thing: It is an experience like no other. Either you’re playing as a Spy in third-person perspective, trying to remain undetected and hack terminals while being quick, agile, and deadly in shadows; or you’re the Merc, in first-person perspective, a brute force with unmatched weaponry who’s trying to defend the data from the infiltrators.

One of the cool aspects of Spies vs. Mercs in Blacklist is that you will be playing both sides before a game is done. There’s a very applicable quote from “The Art of War” (by Sun Tzu) that I like to use: “Know thyself; know thy enemy.”

By that, I mean that you can’t truly master the Spy until you fully understand how to eliminate one. The same thing goes for playing as (and neutralizing) the Merc. A game of Spies vs. Mercs isn’t done until you play as both classes — which also helps prevent the ‘rage quit’ (added bonus!).

Now… that’s the overview. Going under the hood, today we’re revealing two of the multiplayer modes: “Spies vs. Mercs Classic” and “Spies vs. Mercs Blacklist”

Two VERY different games, played in VERY different ways. ‘Classic’ is a mode that was designed specifically for our fans. Gunther Galipot was the creator of the original concept of Spies vs. Mercs from Pandora Tomorrow. He’s returned for Blacklist as a Game Director, and he’s bringing his baby back just like it was in PT and Chaos Theory.

It’s 2v2… and very much an intense game of ‘cat and mouse’ meets ‘hide and seek,’ in which you and your partner need to be in constant communication to outsmart your opponent(s). Spies have no lethal weapons, and rely on vertical navigation, shadows, night vision goggles, and smarts. The Mercs have heavy weaponry, a flashlight to track the Spies, their own set of tools, and force… but also need to play intelligently, themselves.

What you can’t see is your greatest threat.

It’s also worth mentioning that the maps played in Classic are lit differently, to further push the core elements of light and shadow.

Spies vs. Mercs ‘Blacklist’ is a new and refreshing take on the original Splinter Cell multiplayer experience. It supports a maximum of eight players (4v4) and, while many core principals return, there’s an incredible amount of customization that comes into play.

It’s really all about creating your own playstyle. You can do so by configuring loadouts with different weapons, gadgets, vision modes, and armor parts with both active and passive abilities – which are specific to each of the sides.

Spies now have access to lethal weapons and gadgets – adding an entirely new dynamic to Spies vs. Mercs. Despite the uptick in speed and pacing, strategy and teamwork remain at the heart of the gameplay.

There’s SO much to obviously talk about with Spies vs. Mercs (both Classic and Blacklist), and there’s still more to reveal down the line…

…but for now, what’s on your mind? I’ll be here for an hour to take your questions.
HIT ME UP, PLAYSTATION.BLOG!

Watch_Dogs on PS4: Conversations with Creators

Nik Schmidt — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:02:18 +0000

Today we’re pleased to debut a Watch_Dogs developer diary as part of PlayStation’s “Conversations With Creators,” an ongoing series that focuses on PS4 game development with some of the most accomplished game studios in the world.

In this video, you get to meet two of the driving forces in the Watch_Dogs dev team: Dominic, our senior producer and Jonathan, the creative director. Together, they discuss the vision of Watch_Dogs and ultimately, some of the development details for the PlayStation platforms.

By working in close collaboration with PlayStation, the team is working to harness the full power of the PS4. This gives them the opportunity to create a truly no-compromises experience with high-resolution environment textures and advanced special effects. The game experience, much like the city you’ll get to play in, will be rich, deep, and detailed.

As Jonathan and Dominic explain in the video, connectivity is at the heart of the Watch_Dogs experience. We already know Aiden is connected to his own environment, but we also want to give the players new and different ways to connect with each other, and working with PlayStation makes this possible.

In the end, we want to let you experience what it truly feels like to be in a hyper-connected world, whether it be in single player, multiplayer, at home, or even on the go.

Remember, you can always visit the Watch_Dogs Facebook page and Twitter account for great content and conversation. You can also pre-order your copy on the official website.

Watch_Dogs on PS3 November 19, Out of Control Trailer

Nik Schmidt — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:17:58 +0000

Nik here, it’s nice to get another opportunity to chat with you guys. Today we’re digging a bit deeper into the human puzzle that is Aiden Pearce by launching our World Premiere Gameplay Trailer. Here you’ll get to know Aiden a bit better, and most importantly, you’ll discover what drives him to do the things he does. You’ll get a good picture of how he uses the city of Chicago against those who crossed him… and you’ll see how far he will go to make them pay.

We’re also happy to announce that Watch_Dogs now has an official launch date — the game will be available on PS3 starting November 19th. (We’ll be back to talk about the PS4 version and its release timing at a later date.) In addition, those of you who pre-order at GameStop will also get an exclusive Watch_Dogs poster, designed by the legendary comic book artist Alex Ross. The poster’s design is the inspiration behind the game’s box art and captures the essence of our hero, Aiden Pearce.

That’s the last of our announcements for now, but you can look forward to even more exciting info soon. Until then, you might want to watch the new trailer one more time… there are a lot of intricacies you may have missed. And for those of you who just can’t wait for more Watch Dogs content, we also have a brand-new set of wallpapers for you to use on your PS3 and PS Vita!

960×544 (PS Vita) | 1,280×720 | 1,920×1,080

For more details on Watch_Dogs, check the game’s Facebook page and Twitter account. You can also pre-order your copy on the official website.

Splinter Cell Blacklist Trailer Emerges From the Shadows

Zack Cooper — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:30:30 +0000

I’m stoked to speak with you guys about our latest trailer for Blacklist, which we’re calling “Stalk. Strike. Silence.” If you’re a Splinter Cell fan, you know that there’s a rich history to the franchise. The idea behind Blacklist is to embrace those roots by bringing back most of the core elements and merging them with the advanced gameplay and graphical evolution of the more recent Splinter Cell games.

We’re also bringing back that sweet, dark, geopolitical drama that Tom Clancy fans are familiar with. In Splinter Cell Blacklist, the high-level storyline centers on a group of rogue nations coming together to create an ultimatum; they’ve had enough of the American occupancy on their land. This collective institutes a countdown, warning the United States to back off… or else.

That ‘or else’ involves specific threats to American interests. That’s where Sam Fisher, now the leader of his newly formed Fourth Echelon unit, their mobile command center, the Paladin, and the classic Splinter Cell globetrotting come into play.

Looking at this trailer in particular, we wanted to re-establish Sam for both our existing fans and those who may not be as familiar with the character. You may already know that the core objective for a Splinter Cell is to get in, handle business, get out and leave no trace of their presence.

The way of ‘the ghost’ is still very much still a part of Blacklist; that tense, no-contact, no-detection way to play. But there’s also something incredibly satisfying about getting your hands dirty as well. Splinter Cell fans can attest to the first key element of this trailer, and likely, correlate that to why they responded so well to the classic games in the first place. There is really nothing quite like the ‘Stalk.’ Seeing your target… and planning how you want to deal with it.

Sometimes you want to be quick and efficient; other times you drag it out a little more, just for the thrill of it. Do you bring the fear to their doorstep by letting them know you’re there, or do you put them down, without them having any knowledge of your presence or what happened?

The ‘strike’ is that execution phase. Lethally or non-lethally, Sam Fisher is a deadly weapon. He’s got all the tools to do what needs to be done, often before the enemy even knows what hit them. The ‘silence’ is the soothing hush as the dust settles with your threat now in the past tense – one way or another. That is the sound of Sam Fisher.

We hope you liked the trailer… and with that being said… I’m happy to stick around to chat for a bit. Hit me up with any questions you may have in the comments below, and I’ll answer what I can!

Assassin’s Creed III: The Redemption Out Today

Gabriel Graziani — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:00:01 +0000

The final chapter of Assassin’s Creed III‘s three-part Tyranny of King Washington single-player DLC series is nearly upon us! The mad King George Washington has retreated within his New York stronghold and Ratonhnhaké:ton must prepare an assault against Washington’s incredible fortress.

As the stakes continue to rise in Ratonhnhaké:ton’s pursuit of Washington, so too must his strength and ferocity. Calling on an ancient source of might, Ratonhnhaké:ton must once again risk his sanity to embark on a mysterious and dangerous Sky Journey in order to release the Power of the Bear.

The Power of the Bear enables Ratonhnhaké:ton to strike the ground with such immeasurable force that all nearby enemies will be hurled into the air or crushed into the ground. Even more remote enemies will be staggered by the concentration of will and raw power, making the Power of the Bear an effective method of crowd control.

Like Ratonhnhaké:ton’s other abilities (Eagle and Wolf), the Power of the Bear can even be used from rooftops, unleashing a devastating surprise aerial attack that will leave his foes nothing but broken heaps on the ground.

The Tyranny of King Washington – Episode 3: The Redemption will be available for Season Pass-holders or for $7.99 today! For more information please visit www.assassinscreed.com/dlc.

Remember, you can save on all downloadable content for Assassin’s Creed III by purchasing a Season Pass. You can learn more about the Assassin’s Creed III Season Pass at: www.assassinscreed.com/seasonpass.

Release the bear to stop the tyranny, Assassins!