Ubisoft disregardz Nintendo at Ubidays eventz
Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 2:38pm by Derek
Gaming juggernaut Ubisoft held its annual Ubidays press event this Wednesday and Thursday at the Louvre museum in the heart of Paris.
A bit extravagant, eh? But for the most part, the ostentatious Parisian pomp was only the frosting over a delicious presentation from Ubisoft. The publisher revealed a compelling new Prince of Persia title, some interesting new Tom Clancy games and a new Far Cry title from its famous Montreal studio. The show was stolen, as they say, by the announcement of an upcoming sequel to 2003’s critically acclaimed Beyond Good and Evil.
Unfortunately, unless you own a 360 or a PS3, you can forget about playing those promising games. But don’t despair, Nintendo ownerz; Ubisoft has prepared a lineup of awesome new gamez for you, too!
Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking
“Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking echoes the philosophy of Allen Carr’s Easyway method, enabling players to be entertained, challenged and to stop smoking at the same time. Players are actively participating in the game’s content as they input the details of their smoking habits and even select their own Allen Carr’s Easyway coach to take them through the process of quitting.”
Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking is being developed by Ubisoft for Nintendo DS with a tentative Nov. 2008 release.
My Secret World by Imagine
“My Secret World by Imagine allows young girls to express themselves in a fully customizable diary. They’ll learn more about their own personality with dozens of fun quizzes, socialize with friends via Wi-Fi, trade customization items, share secrets and play mini-games together.”
My Secret World by Imagine is being developed by Ubisoft for Nintendo DS with a 2008 release date to be determined.
Imagine: Teacher
“Imagine Teacher allows players to become a teacher at a brand new school. Teach your class a variety of subjects and increase your students’ knowledge. Become a successful teacher, recruit new students and develop your school into one of the very best.”
Imagine: Teacher is being developed by Ubisoft for Nintendo DS with a 2008 release date to be determined.
Imagine: Party Babyz
“Party Babyz is a minigame collection based on the popular Babyz game franchise. Instead of feeding, changing and bathing your baby bundles of joy, players act as the babysitter and play games with the kids they’re looking after. Party Babyz is designed to be multiplayer, with four babies competing in each game.”
Imagine: Party Babyz is being developed by Ubisoft for Nintendo Wii with a 2008 release date to be determined.
Dogz 2008
“In Dogz 2008 (working title), players can adopt a dog from 18 different breeds, train their dog to compete in races, dress him or her in more than 100 outfits, and engage their dog in different activities including jump roping and playing catch at the park. A new feature will also allow dogs to travel to other Wii consoles and interact with other dogs.”
Dogz 2008 is being developed by Ubisoft for Nintendo Wii with a tentative Q3 release date.
That isn’t exactly a blockbuster roster for Nintendo systems. But to be fair, as Blake posted Wednesday, Ubisoft is bringing a version of Shaun White Snowboarding to Wii with Balance Board support. According to Ubisoft, developers are creating the game as an entirely different experience from its 360/PS3 counterpart; levels, visuals and controls will all be different on Wii, for better or worse.
But unfortunately, in terms of Ubidays 2008, there isn’t much else to report. What happened to Ubisoft’s promise of games with “Nintendo-like quality” coming to Wii? Your guessez are az good az mine…z.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
blah- too bad bg&e wont be multiplatform like last time. it ran great on the cube…
May 30th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Um…they also demo’d Rayman: Raving Rabbids TV Party as well, which is exclusively for Wii.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Ubisoft’s “Nintendo like quality” games continue. Barf.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I second Joltman’s remark. Ravings Rabbids has been receiving fair amoutns of coverage in other parts of the gaming news world. Why is it omitted from mention here?
May 30th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Ouch! Looks like we’re screwed and there’s nothing we can do.
May 30th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Then when the shitty Dregz they give us don’t sell they blame Nintendo, and the cycle continues in a downward spiral. Screw you Ubisoft.
May 30th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I don’t care about any of this. The fact that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is coming out has officially made me overjoyed by the fact that I have an Xbox 360. That will be the first non-Nintendo game I will have preordered.
*Pees in pants* I can’t wait!
May 30th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Joltman and Soup: I only wanted to cover new announcements from Ubidays in this post, so I didn’t mention games we’ve already known about, such as the new Raving Rabbids game or even My Weight Loss Coach.
But all things considered, when Ubisoft’s best Wii/DS efforts are more rabbit-infested minigames (from a series that has already faltered since the original) and a Wii Fit clone on DS…things aren’t looking very good.
May 30th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Why can’t Nintendo just revoke Ubi’s licence?
Let’s see how well they do on PS3 / 360 when their revenue from the market-leading DS and Wii are removed.
May 30th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Ubisoft is fastly becoming a number one shovel-ware contributor.
May 31st, 2008 at 5:45 am
correction -
Ubi is fast becoming the no.1 ++Wii & DS++ shovel-ware contributor.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:31 am
I’m surprised that we didn’t see or even hear anything on the rumoured sequel to Red Steel.
May 31st, 2008 at 12:39 pm
correction again -
Ubi is the no.1 ++Wii & DS++ shovel-ware contributor.
May 31st, 2008 at 12:54 pm
HOLY CRAP!!!
Did you guys see a close up on VOMIT, I mean DogZzzzzzzz.
http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/877/877321/dogz-wii-pics-20080528005520329.jpg
May 31st, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Wow, ubishit strikes again.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Sad to see the developer that initially supported the Wii with apparently great new franchises is now doing nothing but rehashes and hideous titlez.
I hope Ubisoft gets a kick in the crotch from poor Wii & DS sales while other 3rd parties rake in the cash.
May 31st, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Liraco: The sad thing is, I’m not sure how “poor” those sales will be.
I don’t want my post to give people the wrong idea. I wholly appreciate Ubisoft as a developer and publisher. Its 360/PS3 support is great, and its software portfolio speaks for itself. But Ubisoft seems to take an even more neglectful, second-tier mentality to Wii and DS software than most other developers.
I mean…this is all they have in store for the market’s hottest selling console? That’s it?
May 31st, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Derek: Ah! I see the point you were making, and I upon further thought I agree. I might debate about the quality of the Rabbids series (I find it to be on par with Mario Party personally), but that would also need to involve further discussion about whether Mario Party can be held as a Nintendo standard-bearer (which I shrink away from doing).
There is definitely a lack of good adventure/platforming being offered. Sure, maybe BG&E will be graphically pigeon-holed onto the PS360, but give us a new, true Rayman, at the least!
Hopefully the AAA titles are in preproduction right now and thus aren’t ready to be revealed. But if the recent kotaku article is true, they probably don’t even exist.
http://kotaku.com/5012051/ubi-forum-moderator-wii-games-are-not-amazing-new-aaa-games