From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment Software until 2003, commonly referred to as Ubisoft) is a French multinational , headquartered in , . It is known for developing games for several acclaimed video game franchises including , , , , , , ,
In March 1986, five brothers of the Guillemot family founded the video game publisher, Ubisoft, in , a small village located in the
department of the
region, in France. Yves Guillemot soon made deals with , , and
to distribute their games in France. By the end of the decade, Ubisoft began expanding to other markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. They entered the video game distribution and wholesale markets, and by 1993 they had become the largest distributor of video games in France. In the early 1990s, Ubisoft initiated its in-house game development program, which led to the 1994 opening of a studio in , France. It later became their administrative and commercial head office, even as the company continues to register its headquarters in . Ubisoft became a publicly traded company in 1996 and continued its expansion around the globe, opening locations in , ,
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ubisoft committed itself to online games by supporting , , and the European and Chinese operation of . The publisher established an online division. However, in February 2004, Ubisoft cancelled the online portion of Uru and backed out of the publishing deal on The Matrix Online.
The company is noted for its teams of female game developers/testers, known as the .
In March 2001, Gores Technology Group sold 's entertainment division (which includes games originally published by , ,
and ) to them. The sale included the rights to
such as the
series. In July 2006, Ubisoft bought the
franchise from
for a sum of EUR19 million in cash for the franchise, technology rights, and most assets. In July 2008, Ubisoft made the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, a Montreal-based studio renowned for its expertise in the creation of visual effects for cinema, television and advertising. In November 2008, Ubisoft acquired
from . In January 2013, Ubisoft acquired
for $3.265 million.
In December 2004, rival gaming corporation Electronic Arts purchased a 19.9% stake in the firm, an action Ubisoft referred to as "hostile" on EA's part.
Ubisoft announced plans in 2013 to invest $373 million into its Quebec operations over seven years, a move that will generate 500 additional jobs in the province. The publisher is investing in the expansion of its motion capture technologies, and consolidating its online games operations and infrastructure in Montreal. The significant investment is expected to generate 500 jobs in Quebec over a seven-year period. By 2020, the company will employ more than 3,500 staff at its studios in Montreal and Quebec City.
In March 2015 the company set up a Consumer Relationship Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. The centre is intended to integrate consumer support teams and community managers. Consumer Support and Community Management teams at the CRC are operational seven days a week.
In October 2015, French
bought a 6% stake in Ubisoft. In February 2016, Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot and his brother asked for more Canadian investors, to help prevent a
by Vivendi. Earlier in the month, a hostile bid worth EUR500 million on , by Vivendi's chairman
raised their stake in Ubisoft to 15%. As of September 2016, Vivendi has increased their holds to 22.8% controlling stake in Ubisoft.
— Founded in 1988, acquired in 2001.
in , Germany — Founded in 1995, acquired in 2013.
— Founded in 2009, acquired in 2013.
— Founded in 2014, acquired in 2016
— Founded in 2007, acquired in 2015.
— Founded in 1997, acquired in 2008.
in , France — Founded in 2000, acquired in 2009.
in Paris, France — Founded in 2005, acquired in 2011.
in , United States — Founded in 1996, acquired in 2000.
— Founded in 2000, acquired in 2011.
— Opened in 2011.
in , France — Opened in 1996.
— Opened in 1998.
in , Spain — Founded in 2002, acquired in 2013.
— Opened in 1992.
— Opened in 2008.
in , Canada — Founded in 2009, acquired in 2015.
— Opened in 2008.
— Opened in 1998.
in , France — Opened in 1994.
in Montreal, Canada — Opened in 1997.
— Founded in 1996, acquired in 2008.
in , France — Opened in 1992.
in Montreuil, France — Opened in 2013.
— Opened in 2016.
— Founded in 2006, acquired in 2008.
in , Canada — Opened in 2005.
in , United Kingdom — Founded in 1986, acquired in 2006.
in , United States — Opened in 2009.
in , China — Opened in 1996.
— Opened in 2008.
— Opened in 2006.
in , Canada — Opened in 2010.
in , United States — Founded in 1997, acquired in 2000, and closed in 2003.[]
in Montreal, Canada — Founded in 2010, acquired and closed in 2013.[]
Ubisoft Casablanca in ,
— Opened in 1998, closed in 2016.
in , Brazil — Opened in 2008, closed in 2010.
Ubisoft Vancouver in , Canada — Founded in 2006, acquired in 2009, closed in 2012.
— Opened in 2011, closed in 2013.[]
in , United States — Founded in 1999, acquired in 2004, and closed in 2006.
Main article:
Ubisoft stall at
Besides publishing their own games, Ubisoft is also publishing famous franchises produced by other important studios for some specific platforms.
Main article:
Uplay is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications service created by Ubisoft.
Ubisoft had, for a time, used the controversial
copy protection technology that installs drivers on a system and is known to cause hardware and compatibility issues with certain operating systems. On 14 April 2006, Ubisoft confirmed that they would stop using StarForce on their games, citing complaints from customers.
In January 2010, Ubisoft announced the online services platform , which forces customers to not only authenticate on the first game launch, but to
while playing, with the game even pausing if network connection is lost. This makes it impossible to play the game offline, to resell it, and meaning that, should Ubisoft's servers go down, the game will be unplayable. In 2010, review versions of
for the PC contained this new DRM scheme, confirming that it is already in use, and that instead of pausing the game, it would discard all progress since the last checkpoint or save game. However, subsequent patches for Assassin's Creed II allow the player to continue playing once their connection has been restored without lost progress.
In March 2010, outages to the Ubisoft DRM servers were reported, causing about 5% of legitimate buyers to be unable to play Assassin's Creed II and . Ubisoft initially announced this was the result of the number of users attempting to access their servers to play, but later claimed that the real cause of the outages were . In August 2011, Ubisoft released
with DRM protection, contrary to previous statements that the game would not have any DRM related restrictions. After several months, the DRM had still not been removed from copies of the game.
In the February 2008 issue of , editor-in-chief Dan "EGMShoe" Hsu asserted that Ubisoft had ceased to provide Ubisoft titles to EGM for coverage purposes as a result of prior critical previews and negative reviews. Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft, was quoted in the company's third-quarter 2008–09 sales report as saying "as some of our games did not meet the required quality levels to achieve their full potential, they need more sales promotions than anticipated." The company's use of Aaron Priceman, also known as Mr. Caffeine by the internet, as a spokesman at
was criticized for his reliance on popular internet references, inability to pronounce Tom Clancy (he pronounced it "Tom Culancy"), sexual innuendos and imitations of video game sound effects with little to no response from the audience.
On 2 July 2013, Ubisoft announced a major breach in its network resulting in the potential exposure of up to 58 million accounts including usernames, email address and encrypted passwords. Although the firm denied any credit/debit card information could have been compromised, it issued directives to all registered users to change their account passwords and also recommended updating passwords on any other website or service where a same or similar password had been used. All the users who registered were emailed by the Ubisoft company about the breach and a password change request. Ubisoft promised to keep the information safe.
After revealing
at , Ubisoft came in for criticism from the gaming community shortly after revealing that the game would not support female characters in co-op gameplay. The criticism was inflamed after they explained the absence of a female co-op or playable character in : according to Ubisoft Montreal, they were close to making it possible when the decision was taken that they didn't have the right animations for a female character. Among the responses were comments from developers that the explanations given were not valid. Among them were the fact that the protagonists of
and its spin-off game
shared a large amount of movement animations. There were also statements that characters in video games tended to move in a similar fashion regardless of gender. An animation director for Assassin's Creed III also said that the stated reasons of workload and animation replacement didn't hold up, saying that it would be "a day or two's work" to create a female character model.
In 2008, Ubisoft sued Optical Experts Manufacturing (OEM), a DVD duplication company for $25 million plus damages for the leak and distribution of the PC version of Assassin's Creed. The lawsuit claims that OEM did not take proper measures to protect its product as stated in its contract with Ubisoft. The complaint also alleges that OEM admitted to all the problems in the complaint.
In April 2012, Ubisoft was sued by the author of the book Link, John L. Beiswenger, who alleged a
for using his ideas in the Assassin's Creed franchise and demanding $5.25 million in damages and wanted to stop the release of Assassin's Creed III that was set to be released in October 2012 along with any future games that allegedly contain his ideas. On 30 May 2012, Beiswenger dropped the lawsuit. Beiswenger was later quoted as saying he believes "authors should vigorously defend their rights in their creative works", and suggested that Ubisoft's motion to block future lawsuits from Beiswenger hints at their guilt.
In December 2014, Ubisoft offered a free game from their catalog of recently released titles to compensate the season pass owners of Assassin's Creed Unity due to its buggy launch. The terms offered with the free game revoked the user's right to sue Ubisoft for releasing an unfinished product.
Roquette, Jean-Beno?t (11 February 2016).
(PDF). Ubisoft 2016.
(PDF). Ubisoft. February .
Willey, Andre (March 1989). . . Vol. 3 no. 8 2016.
Quemard, Christine (January 1994). . . No. 54. . p. 174 2016.
Vogel, Cassie (1 March 2007). . .
Lawton, Adrian (10 November 2008). . .
Feldman, Curt (20 December 2004). . .
Chapple, Craig (30 September 2013). . .
. . 13 March .
Hussain, Tamoor (15 October 2015). . .
Van Praet, Nicolas (25 February 2016). .
Chalk, Andy (26 February 2016). . .
Schreier, Jason (26 February 2016). . .
d'Hauteville, Laure (18 February 2016). .
Yin-Poole, Wesley (September 28, 2016). .
Makuch, Eddie (9 June 2016). . .
Graft, Kris (29 September 2010). . .
Reilly, Jim (17 January 2012). . .
Sinclair, Brendan (29 March 2006). . .
Thorsen, Tor (13 April 2006). . .
Reilly, Jim (18 February 2010). . .
Yam, Marcus (5 March 2010). . .
Chalk, Andy (8 March 2010). . .
Bramwell, Tom (8 March 2010). . .
McElroy, Justin (18 August 2011). . .
Plunkett, Luke (9 January 2008). . .
Hsu, Dan (9 January 2008). . .
Roquette, Jean-Beno?t (22 January 2009).
(PDF). Ubisoft 2016.
Sterling, Jim (14 June 2011). . .
. . . 3 July .
Goldfarb, Andrew (2 July 2013). . .
Ray Corriea, Alexa (11 June 2014). . .
LeJacq, Yannick (6 November 2014). . .
Sung, Lydia (7 August 2008). . .
Magder, Jason (25 April 2012). .
Orland, Kyle (19 April 2012). . .
Makuch, Eddie (23 December 2014). . .
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Requires 3rd-Party Account:&Uplay&(Supports Linking to Steam Account)
Requires agreement to a 3rd-party EULA
Languages:
Full Audio
Portuguese-Brazil
Bad Language Violence
Title: Flashback
Genre: , ,
Publisher:
Release Date: 1 Oct, 2013
Buy Flashback
About This Game
20 years after the original game’s launch, Conrad is enlisted back to active service for the triumphant return of one of the most acclaimed franchises in gaming history.
It’s not a reboot. It’s Flashback re-imagined. The original Core-Team revamped their own creation, leveraging the best of today’s technology while remaining true to the classic side-scroller that set the standards of the genre in the 90’s.
One of the best adventure-action games ever created re-imagined by its creators. It’s the same team. It’s the same passion. Only this time, they have had much more firepower at their disposal to recreate the legendary classic!
Gorgeous graphics, amazing animations. It’s the Flashback you’ve always dreamed of. True to the original spirit but made a million times better by using modern engines such as Unreal and Havok. The makeover is completely stunning.
It’s all about Gameplay. The team modernized gameplay mechanics, making the game more reactive, offering new features, like gadgets and an experience progression system. But the developers kept the original formula in mind: a fine balance between rolling and shooting, exploring remote space stations and obliterating hostile alien planets.
Bringing back new memories. The story was revamped to speak to 21st century gamers. Most of the cast of the original game is still here – Conrad, the Morphs – but you can expect new characters and a few twists you’re definitely not going to forget… this time.
System Requirements
Minimum:
OS: Windows(R) XP SP3 / Windows(R) Vista SP2 / Windows(R) 7 SP1
Processor: Core 2 Duo EGHz or Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB DirectX(R) 9 / Radeon HD 2600XT or GeForce 7600 GS
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 3 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0-compliant sound card
Recommended:
OS: Windows(R) XP SP3 / Windows(R) Vista SP2 / Windows(R) 7 SP1
Processor: Core 2 Duo EGHz or Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: 512 MB DirectX(R) 9 / Radeon HD 3470 or GeForce 8600GT
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 3 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0-compliant sound card
(C) 2013 VECTORCELL. Art Assets excluding VECTORCELL elements (C) 2013 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Based on the Flashback franchise created by Paul Cuisset, owned by VECTORCELL and used by Ubisoft Entertaiment under license granted by VECTORCELL. Flashback is a trademark of VECTORCELL and is used under license. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries.
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3 people found this review funny
No idea why anyone is giving this a bad review then claiming they were &a big fan of the original&. I suppose they were remembering it better than it actually was, kinda like when I tried to rewatch Blakes 7 a while ago. Loved it whilst it was on, but now I realise it was utter cack. Anyway, to me, this is a fitting tribute to a game I have very fond memories of. Its still fun to play and a damn site prettier than the original. Yes, there's too many signs telling you what to do, but the absence of those signs in the original was sometimes a royal pain in the colon when you were trying to figure out the next bit.I got this for two quid at sale price. Two Quid!!! You'd have to be a right po-faced ???? to complain about a nice wee game like this for two quid. I have to recommend this game, despite it being associated with Ubisoft. Get it, and even if you only play it through once, you've got more than your money's worth! C'mon you miserable sods, let yourselves go and enjoy a bit of nostalgia!
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I remember that I loved the original on the Amiga. Going to refund this one. I don't remember having to get a job in the original, no thanks.
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I dont know why there is so many negatives on this game. I loved the original and I love this game as well.Just remember this is a remake not a remaster. Would recommended this game
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I don&t why everybody who claims to be a fan of the original claims that the new version is so bad. It was great in its time and I enjoyed it very much back in the day, but, have you played it recently? The new Flashback seems a really close to identical copy of the original with modern graphics which give you a good Bladerunner-ish atmosphere. Controls and gameplay are perfect for a PC plattformer both with keyboard/mouse or with gamepad.
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Just played a few minutes into it to take a look. So far its nice and I like it.The best point so far is, it includes the original. The worst point so far, its displayed on a mini-ingame-display in mud-color. Tell me, if there is a pos to zoom it fullscreen.We will see how awefull the changes and bugs will be. However, since it has build-in thumb down (Uplay), what can I vote other than thumb down, no matter how i recommend it?! ;)
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DO NOT BUY THIS GAMEI loved Flashback when I was a kid but this..It's a total let down. I don't know where to start. Terrible voice acting. Terrible animations . Terrible gameplay.I stopped playing after a short time because it was just that bad.Even if it was free I wouldn't recommend it.
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Bought it for the classic version.... it?s crap.
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16 people found this review funny
I loved the original. I have many fond memories of it. I loved the soundtrack of the original. This game isn't even worth the effort of shovelling it on my lawn and I'm fairly certain if I did it would kill it. This game isn't necissarily bad if you've never played &Flashback: The Quest for Identity& but if you're seeking the nostalgia of your childhood, this game will ???? you off very quickly. The only thing this game has in common with the original is that the levels are very slightly similar and the main character's name is Conrad. The end. The game felt very &dumbed down&. There are popups on the hud EVERYWHERE that say, &Go here. You can climb this. Talk to him. There's only one path you can take but we're going to tell you to take it anyway!& Luckily, those can be turned off. I decided to play the game on medium and found out immediately that the difficulty settings were made for console ?????. There's a health bar, light falling damage, enemies attempt to tickle you to death, and healing stations are closer together than Starbucks. They also tried to add an RPG aspect by allowing you to gain experience, level up, and spend points in different skills. In a few ways this is good but mostly makes me ask, &Why the hell would anyone add RPG aspects to a Prince of Persia like?&The controls feel similar to the original but they added an extra jump button and an arc style aiming system. The controls were definitely made for dual thumbstick controllers and then (horribly) modified for pc. Aiming is done by moving the mouse up and down to adjust angle and then moving the mouse left and right to switch sides. This gets annoying when you're trying to adjust your angle and accidently move your mouse too far to one side, causing Conrad to turn around and take it in the butt. If you have a controller to use with the game then it might not be that bad but mouse and keyboard controls get frustrating.Bug time! This game contains bugs. There were a few times while aiming that the mouse would become locked in one place and I had to right click furiously to get control back. There are also times when grabing onto a platform would cause Conrad to get stuck and stand in mid air next to the platform. I only encountered this a few times and it did not deter me from the game but then again it never happened during a part where it actually mattered.Playing this game does bring back warm nostalgic memories in the sense that I want to go dig out my old SNES and play the original game. Overall I feel like someone who played through the original once when it released is attempting to remake the game on age old memories. The only consolation I have is that I purchased this game during a Steam sale and didnt pay full price.
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If you played old Flashback and liked it, the only thing why you can check this game, to remind storyline and watch cutscenes in 3D. All other aspects of the game will disappoint you greatly. If not, just pass, because it just ugly mutant pretending to be a good game.Don't want to compare it with old game, it's like compare Alexander the Great with bum Alexander, just because they have same names.So, just pros and cons.Pros first, not many of them, really:+ UE3 doing it's job well, so graphics there not bad+ Customisable interface+ Few cutscenes, not perfect, but may be watched onceand cons:- controls, devs tried to make hybrid between old scheme and modern, ummm, they failed- aiming, you can turn your gun only in few angles- difficulty, it's easy as hell (if do not count controls) , you can easily go face to face with 2 or more enemies and kill them all- stupid air drones-enemy placement and respawning- useless levels and skills system- Too talkative Conrad, he spam stupid phrases too often- All other cutscenes, especially ending in the Death Tower- Changes in story (lost and found girl for example)- Even empty jungle looks more alive, then futuristic &should-be-overcrowded& city- Level design- Awful voiceover, I tried english and russian, it's like choosing between bad and
worse- Interface, overloaded with not needed information (at least most of it can be turned off in settings)- Old version of Flashback included in the game, looks more like a joke in this arcade machine frame and without sound at all- SFX...enough?nah, add also Uplay client as 3rd party DRM. (You need to install game, install uplay, update uplay, close it and
finally run the game again)
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1 person found this review funny
I was warned/told point blank not to buy this game, but being hard-headed I did anyways on the most recent sale. It was a huge mistake. There is pretty much nothing redeeming about the product. Let me break it down for you: the area design is bizarre and exploring is both frustrating and tedious. The combat is imprecise and the enemies (on Normal difficulty) rapidly become bullet sponges. The platforming is even worse. The jumping animation is downright laughable and is hard to predict. I ended up skipping the cutscenes due to the painfulness of of the story, writing and voice acting. Some of the level art is nice, but it isn't worth suffering through the rest to see it.I regret purchasing the game and I wish I had listened to the recommendation to avoid it. The demo doesn't really reveal many of the issues of the game so considered yourself warned.
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I was a big fan of the original on the SNES, so I was expecting a straight up butchering of a classic. What I found though was that this game isn't as bad as a lot of people were making out. Sure, it holds your hand a LOT, but you can turn pretty much all of the assistance off.
The voice acting is absolutely horrible though and just pure cringeworthy at times - 'let's party!' when using a health restore machine. Seriously, Ubisoft? I bought it for 1.99 on sale and I'd say it definitely was worth that price. I'm only up to the first level where you return to Earth, and as stated, it's not a straight up remake, more an re-imagining of the original title. It definitely has it's issues though, like in the Death Tower levels, I couldn't use the health/grenade machines to refill, unless I moved the camera to be dead centre - if you didn't do that, pressing X did nothing.
So yeah, it has a few bugs and quirks and the voice acting is dreadful, but it's worth picking up on sale if you're a fan of the original.
I have played the original Flashback on my SNES and loved it very much. I hoped this
game was the 2016 version of that original game... but sadly it isn't. Graphics are oke, but gameplay is a little bit unresponsive and repetitive. Main storyline is very short, finished it in 4 hours.
And most important, it does not have the vibe of the original game.I bought the game in the steam sale for a few EUR, so won’t complain too much. Overall wouldn’t recommend to buy it for the full price.
Aaahh, a game from the dark ages, where 640kb was more than enough RAM, the CPUran at 25(50) or 33(66) MHz depending on whether the turbo button was activated or not and the graphics had 256 different colours.This game also reminds me about the fabolus music score, originaly tracked in MOD by Audiomonster (aka Rapha?l Gesqua)Flashback was originaly an old dos game, published in 1992 by Delphine Soft./US Gold. But VectorCell made a remake of it in 2013 (published by UbiSoft) So, the main genre of this old game is action. If anyone mentions the term 2D platformer from the 90's, to me immediately come to mind the following three titles: Prince of Persia, Another World and Flashback. The game is situated into the 22nd century, when a scientist Conrad B. Hart, finds strange machinations with human DNA in a IEG (former United Nations) - a company that rules the whole world. Each power is based on a herd of docile sheep that go to where it should be and whoever falls outside of this instrument becomes a little uncomfortable and the problem affected even our otherwise very sympathetic scientist, who is also the hero of this game. To fight with enemies you use your gun, but you can also use objects from the environment, such as stones, which you can use to hurt your enemies.All in all, great game, great remake, great timewaster (as all games), but i might be a bit over nostalgic about this game (it was my youth)
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