PTD@Ubidays

Paris might not be the first place that springs to mind when you think of games, but it was here, a stone’s throw from the Louvre, that Ubisoft held their ‘E3 for Europe’ also known as Ubidays.

After a day on the Eurostar travelling from the UK, there was little time to rest or even drop bags at the hotel, despite proceedings being delayed by almost an hour as journalists fought to get in.

Ubidays kicked off with a mammoth press conference which saw everything from ex-army officers to Mantel troopers and even ‘Raving Rabbid’ rabbits take the stage. Ubisoft was keen to impress with their line up of titles for 2007/08. Between each interview, silhouetted Raving Rabbids took over the huge screens, playing with power cables and launching themselves into the air.

Jade ‘Assassin’s Creed’’ Raymond was one of many guests to take a few minutes to talk about their game.  This included the irritating bombshell that we wouldn’t get to play the actual AC game until E3, odd given the ‘E3 for Europe’ moniker that was being bandied around.

Despite being hosted by a French startlet who knew absolutely nothing about games and had obviously not learnt her lines, the two hour conference covered every title in Ubisoft’s line up. Each game was given its own segment including mini-interviews with the brains behind the title, trailers, and demo footage.  They even announced a new title, Beowulf, a tie-in for a movie due to be released this Christmas.

After the conference, the party began properly with champagne flowing and not a games console in sight, but by the following morning the Carrousel du Louvre had been transformed. Chief amongst the titles that Ubisoft was keen to promote was their new Casual Games line, designed to appeal to kids, OAPs and non-gamers alike. This saw the creation of several show-rooms – which were very similar in style to those used by Nintendo at their event last year - in one corner of the exhibit area with Wii consoles and DS Lites scattered around pre-loaded with demos of various odd and interesting titles.

The centre of the hall was dominated by a giant Raving Rabbid statue, complete with plunger. At either side were booths guarded by Ubigirls.  Some could be snuck into and others, such as the Assassin’s Creed booth, were locked down tightly for private interviews.

Much of my event was spent sneaking into Q and A sessions and booths that certain members of the media weren’t informed about or allowed into. It began getting surreal when I was sitting at a table only to realise David Doak of HAZE was being interviewed less than two feet away. HAZE was one of the show’s biggest titles with mock Mantel guns propped up next to Nectar energy drinks, many of which were drunk by brave members of the media.

Perhaps the best thing about Ubidays was the chance to get up close and personal with various developers and see early builds of this year’s top titles like Splinter Cell: Conviction, Surf’s Up and Naruto: Rise of the Ninja. Unfortunately, due to their early pre-alpha and buggy state, most of the games were only playable by the Ubisoft development teams themselves. It was certainly interesting to pick their brains and see what the next twelve months heralds for Ubisoft titles and there’s certainly lots to look forward to!