Check back here around 5:30pm BST today where we be running a strange new concept in live blogging. Yes that’s right were going to live blog our virtual attendence at the Ubidays 08 press conference! You won’t have experienced a live blog like this before, that I can guarantee! Look forward to the “hilarious” outcome from 5:30 BST. Please feel free to comment on how bad good the coverage is at the bottom of the page. You can watch along with us at uplay.com, but you need to keep this page open in another window of course so you can follow our fantastic coverage of the event.
(The event is now over. Take a look at what happened below)
12:30: -We’ve arrived at the venue nice and early. The website site still looks the same as it did yesterday, meanwhile the building itself looks stunning. We’re looking at it right now and the pictures look very good. We’re all very pleased they decided to hold it here, it should really add to the whole experience.
17:28: - There’s been some activity, Uplay.com has a still image up saying “The Ubidays 2008 Live Event will begin shortly!”. Ubisoft say they are proud to welcome us to the conference. Not a problem guys, just make sure you start on time, this seat is very uncomfortable. The site itself is working 100% perfect at the moment but let’s see how it goes at 6.
17:41: -Ubisoft have failed to deliver any food or drink to us for the event so we have been forced to use our own supplies from the fridge, meanwhile dinner is cooking away in the oven. The giant bottles of Stella have been cracked open while everyone sits around complaining about the lack of freebie’s were all used to being treated to at these kinds of things.
17:47: -The setting for the event is somewhat strange, there’s a cat sitting on a window cleaning itself, a 2 seater sofa with no legs, a curtain rail leaning up the wall and finally a load of washing drying on hangers. People are not impressed.
17:55: -People are getting excited as the start gets nearer! The cat has had enough though and has wondered off to look for some birds to play with. Eagle eyed viewers have spotted that the supposed video saying it begins shortly on Uplay is actually just a static image. People feel cheated and now expect even more illusions to be put in front of their eyes such as CGI footage made out to be actual gameplay.
17:59:- The F5 presses begin but nope, it’s still just a static image made out to be video. The sites also taking longer to load with each press of the F5 key. Not a good sign for things to come…
18:01: - Nothing happening…
18:03: - Still nothing… Uplay site getting slower.
18:07: -People are getting bored and wondering if this is going to run over into the England game build up. Meanwhile kotaku have posted a preview of Far Cry 2. Still no sign of life.
18:10 -Refresh!!. video has gone live!!. It’s being hosted by Vernon Kay!
18:11: LOL ROFL LMAO unfunny jokes ahoy! Games are apparently almost as popular as the Mona Lisa
18:12 - Outrage erupts as the french guy announces there is free beer! Not here there isn’t mate! Where’s ours?
18:14: - Uncomfortable silence in the audience as Vernon makes a suggestive joke about incest. I kid you not! (I don’t think this was intentional but it came across all wrong and sounded really bad)
18:17: -A guy wearing a stripey shirt starts talking about how Far Cry 2 has beautiful open natural landscapes.
18:17: - Another joke that no-one laughs at.
18:18: - A guy wearing yellow goes on about the art on show at the venue while talking about Prince Of Persia. There talking fast and I’m missing most of it. All new revolutionary AI. combines to make a game where they hope we really care about what happens. Were told by Vernon to write down support character and all will be revealed later.
18:20: - Deep deep stuff says guy wearing black and white going on about brother In Arms. Exclusive trailer being shown soon. Strange format there going from one game to the next. Confusion reigns.
18:22: - A far Cry 2 trailer is shown. It’s this one that can been seen here:
18:23: -Live demo of far cry 2 on stage now. can’t really see much as the video is so small and low quality… A map is being used held by the player in the game rather than in a menu. We’re told you can no longer use the map to nip off and get a cup of tea. This feature will be missed by many.
18:25 - Realistic Zebras can be found in the game. Looks a bit like the AFRIKA game that will not be released in Europe. Far Cry 2 will be which should please wildlife enthusiasts.
18:27 -The grass and trees aren’t fake, their real erm… “simulations”
18:29: - We watch an attack on a village and are told nothing is scripted or fake. Fire spreads in the wind. an enemy uses a truck. Nothing is written in concrete we’re told.
18:30: - The stripey shirt guy invites us all to try it out in the cinema room. We look and cannot find it. only a bathroom and a couple of bedrooms. Confusion reigns.
18:32: - We’re onto Prince Of Persia now. A guy in a white polo shirt is going on about the game, it’s a heroic action adventure. We’re told there is a special treat in the game, the time element has been removed from that we saw in sands of time, instead we are getting a new story but he’s taking his time to actually tell us what it is….
18:33: - The revolutionary feature is revealed as… A female character. WOW how original. a revolutionary new gameplay feature there.. Were told she can do acrobatics and can help you solve puzzles! A guy next to me just fainted, looks like he’s overwhelmed with amazement.
18:36: - Trailer for Prince Of Persia. Can’t find this one on Gametrailers sorry. Looked like it might have been CGI footage. Not sure with video quality on offer.
18:37: - a guy in a suit tells us we’re going to see a Brothers In Arms trailer we’ve never seen before. I’m guessing it’s going to be this one:
(Gametrailers have removed the video so we have removed it from this page also)
18:38: - No jokes from me here, the guy in the suits talks about sending a message to a war hero. Much respect. The only problem is he’s addressing a European audience and trying to get them to do American style shouting and cheering which people don’t really do over here. Still it was a nice thought.
18:42:- The trailer is shown. It is an exclusive after all. It looks decent enough but probably not going to be a COD4 beater.
18:45:- A woman walks on stage and tells us about the games for everyone line. Vernon makes unfunny jokes about the audience being full of men.
18:46: - Pets are very costly and they all eventually die we’re told.
18:48: - To be honest I’ve no idea what this woman is going on about.
18:50: - We’re told a game called (Something) Secret Diary is nothing like Far Cry. It’s fun she says. O are you suggesting Far Cry isn’t then?
18:51:- we get told to watch a trailer showing off the games for everyone line. There’s zero gameplay footage, only videos of girls running around holding a DS and Jumping followed by people holding dogs and stroking them.
18:52: -Today is a celebration of the Tom Clancy franchise. HAWX is probably coming up next this means. Look out for the lack of references to the delayed Splinter cell game in the next few minutes like it doesn’t exist.
18:55: - A man talks about the Tom Clancy brand. Now we’re seeing some footage of HAWX. Looks a little like Ace Combat. It has planes in it just like that game.
19:00: - Game looks quite good actually. Will look out for some decent quality video footage to post up later. Would be nice to get a demo of this at some point to try it out.
19:01: - Game will be released this fall. Or Autumn as it’s known over here.
19:02:- Tom Clancy’s End War is now getting a live demo. The game is controlled totally by voice. Personally I’d rather just us the controller. Sounds like a lot of effort. Still it’s probably quite immerse.
19:06:- The presenter tells the guy to stop playing, he carries on then dies. Presenter looks pissed off. Were told we can get Hands on and mouth on tomorrow. LOL.
19:08: -End War is all about the third and final world war. Everyone acts like the new Splinter Cell doesn’t exist as predicted. But oh no!! Vernon just mentioned it in a reference about dressing up as characters to go to a party. It’s quickly glossed over and we’re now going to move on to Raving Rabbids.
19:10: - There’s an over enthusiastic guy now on stage in a white shirt. He’s going to introduce a game we can play with your ass we’re told. He says you name it you can play using/with it. A guy comes on and their going to use the Wii balance board to play.
19:15: - A guy dressed in red plays the game using the board while sitting on it. We’re told it’s very sensitive but the character on screen barely seemed to moved from what I could see. Just seemed to go in a straight line with little deviation.
19:18: Vernon tells us all to stand up. We all do.
19:20: - We get to look at shots of the audience apparently having a whale of a time joining in. Jokes on them because we lied. We’re still sitting down. They again invite us to play the game tomorrow. Presumably they must be flying us all over there. After all, they did say the show was aimed at gamers.
19:21: - A snowboarding game is now on show endorsed by Shaun White. Never heard of him personally. He’ says he’s really excited about the game. We see footage of the game. It looks decent enough. We’re told it uses the Assassin’s Creed game engine so the graphics are really amazing. We will be able to play the game tomorrow we’re told. Everyone be on the look out for it in your post tomorrow I guess then along with all the others games they say we can play.
19:26:- Soul Calibur 4 now on show in a new trailer. Looks impressive. Released 31/07/08. We got a sneak peak at this at Play.com Live and it did play well.
19:28: - Some guy says join him for a drink later but doesn’t tell us where he’s going to be the swine!
19:30:- It’s ending now, Another guy in a suit is on stage. He’s going on about business stuff. He says their line up is very good for this year. It did look good and we will cover them seriously once there’s some information put out about them.
19:31: - It’s ending with one final trailer but I can’t tell what it’s for and didn’t hear. There’s a pig on screen with a fly by it.
19:33 :- I must have missed something as I’ve no idea what the trailer was about and it was a bit of an anticlimax to be honest. It’s over, we see the crowd leaving, all off to get drunk for free and play games ages before they come out. We’re all off to watch the England friendly . Toodle pip, run along now.
Hey, they havn’t sent any food to me either, this is an outrage!
rofl!
i love live blogs like this… very informative but bloody funny!