Dad of War now $20

Sony has just announced that seven new games will be joining its "PlayStation Hits" lineup. A collection of various popular and best-selling titles, PlayStation Hits lets late adopters get some great titles on the cheap. I know I've certainly used it in the past since I'm a cheap bastard. I also missed God of War last year, but I can't refuse it for $20.

I wouldn't say everything below is worth playing, but you can't really go wrong with these prices. You're bound to find something worth enjoying in each title, even if God of War is the clear standout. Each new game will be available for $19.99 (physically and d??igitally) st??arting on October 4, 2019.

• Far Cry 4
• God of War
• Gran Turismo Sport
• Rayman Legends
• The Crew
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Watch Dogs

God of War, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Gran Turismo Sport, and more, available at a great new price starting Oct??ob??er 4 [PlayStation Blog]

The post Sony adds seven new titles to its ‘PlayStation Hits’ lineup appeared first on Destructoid.

I am the law

It feels as if the second expansion for The Crew has appeared out of nowhere, and I say that as someone who is very fond of the open-road, multiplayer-centric racing game. Calling All Units releases today on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One for $25, and you'll need the base game in order to play it. Hope you managed to snag a free or otherwise heavily-discounted copy somewhere along the way!

The basic premise is a familiar but appealing one for the genre: street races and police chases. That style of "cops and robbers" gameplay will come about through new story missions as well as faction-specific roles for players to take on while roaming the open world. Street racers are meant to pick up and deliver crates to win "car fragments" (unlocks), while co??ps are tasked with running them down for an arrest. Both have specialized abilities at their disposal, like speed hacks, EMPs, and flashbangs.

The full feature breakdown can be seen over here, but here's the high-level pitch:

• Crates - New gameplay in Freedrive. As a Street racer, players can see and pick up crates in the world. Once a crate is collected, the player will be chased by the police. By delivering?? crates, players will be able to win car fragments, and these fragments will allow them to unlock new vehicles.

• New prologue missions -?? They introduce the police gameplay, through the eyes of a new char??acter, Clara Washington. Players will be able to learn the new gameplay mechanics from The Crew Calling All Units add-on.

• Player level increased to 60 - All players will benefit from a new progression system allowing them to reach level 60. Through any activities in the game, players will earn new par?ts to improve their vehicles through the smart loot system.

• Bounty - The crates gameplay will introduce players to the Bounty system. The Bounty value reflects the individual skill of a player as a Cop, or as a Street Racer. This Bounty value is also used to determine the reward at the end of a chase. If a player wins?? a chase against another one, he receives Bucks corresponding to the Bounty of the defeated player, and increases his own personal Bounty.

And these are t?he vehicles found in the expansion:

• Nissan GT-R (FS / Perf / Police Perf)

• Jeep Wrangler (Full Stock ??/ Street / Dirt / Raid / Polic??e Dirt)

• Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupé (Police Street)

• Lamborghini Aventador (Police Perf)

• Ford F-150 (Police Raid)

• Lamborghini Gallardo (Police Circuit)

• Abarth 500 (Police Monster Truck)

• BMW S1000R (Police Perf)

• Koenigsegg Agera R (Police Perf)

• Hummer H1 (Police Raid)

• Pagani Huayra (Police Perf)

• Ferrari F12 Berlinetta (Full Stock / Perf)

• Kawasaki GPZ 900R Ninja?? 1984 (FS / Street ??/ Perf / Circuit)

• Kawasaki KX450F (Fu?ll Stock / Street / Di??rt / Raid)

• Indian Chief Dark Ho?rse (Full Stock / Street?? / Perf)

• Ducati Hypermotard (Full Stock / Street / Dirt)

• KTM 1190 RC8 R (Full Stock / Perf) + RC8 R Track?? (Circuit)

• Mercedes AMG G??T (Full Stock + Perf)?? + GT3 (Circuit)

• M??aserati MC12 (Full Stock + Perf) + MC12 Corsa (Circuit)

What's more, Calling All Units comes with the first expansion, Wild Run, which adds motorcycles, monster trucks, and dragsters. That inclusion might make it a little easier to justify if you only have the vanilla game currently. There's also a $50 The Crew: Ultimate Edition available as of today.

From the sound of it, Calling All Units is going to be a bunch of good,? stupid fun. I'm in.

The Crew Calling All Units Notes [The Crew]

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Limited-time promo on Uplay

Before I woke up, a news tip came in today that Ubisoft has begun offering The Crew, its open-word multiplayer-centric racing game, for free on PC. It's a limited-time offer through Uplay, and it doesn't come with the worth-having Wild Run expansion, but once you secure your copy, it won't go away.

"Jordan will for sur??e want to cover this, so [secret codeword for claiming stories internally] it for hi??m haha." My hours-later response to that email thread? "It's true. It's so true."

I've become known as the Crew guy, damn it! But I'm not the only one who can get down with this flawed-but-fun racer. I'd say give it a shot, and see if impromptu events like a race against a ran??dom player across the United States at full speed, one car on each side of the highway, are for you.

Do keep in mind that, given its focus on stat-enhancing loot, The Crew? gets better the longer you play. And, getting started, it takes a w??hile to flesh out the map (you can't initially just teleport anywhere).

As for me, I think I might have already had my fill and I'm not sure the upcoming police expansion, Calling All Units, will do enough to change tha?t. I kind of wish they'd move on to a full sequel.

The Crew [Ubisoft Club]

The post You can and should download The Crew for free on P?C appeared first on Destructoid.

But not until November

I first got into The Crew after its Wild Run expansion had already come out, and good lord did I get into it. I still can't fully understand or rationalize why I like this open-world racer so much aside from "racing at top speed across a miniaturized Unit?ed States is weirdly relaxing," but there it is.

With that said, I find it surprising Ubisoft is continuing to support the game so long after its late-2014 debut as opposed to a straight sequel (not that I'm complaining). The second expansion, Calling All Units, is arrivin?g November 29, 2016, as is an "Ultimate Edition" package for you latecomers.

Calling All Units does what so many other racing series have done before -- the poli??ce-chase fantasy -- but it's tried-and-true and I can see it fitting well with the open-ended map and multiplayer design. "[E]ach side will rely on a set of special abilities and a great variety of vehicles as they race across the US. As a member of the police, players chase street racers across the US in frantic, high-risk pursuits. They will perform successful arrests and get their hands on a wide range of exclusive cop vehicles, from exotic supercars to legendary motorbikes or indestructible SUVs, fully tuned up with police livery and light bars. Players who prefer to hit the roads as a racer will take off with cargo for heart-pounding rides and high rewards. Chases can be triggered anywhere, anytime, bringing even more intensity to the multiplayer experience, already enjoyed by more than nine million players."

There's a new 12-mission story, more cars and parts, and a higher level c?ap and max car rank, too.

The post The Crew is getting a police-centric expansion appeared first on Destructoid.

Surely it should've been 5,000,000 free credits?

Ubisoft’s The Crew, released in December 2014, has hit fi?ve million players.

Though the developer didn’t specify how this translates into sales, it’s celebrating the milestone with a 50,000 Crew Credit giveaway for all who log int?o the game at any time, on any platform &m?dash; and in any timezone — on May 28, 2016.

"On December 2nd 2014 we embarked on a new journey, and 16 months later 5 million players have joined us!" states the official game blog. "Our vision for the game has alway??s been to create a long-lasting adventure, and today we’d like to cel??ebrate this amazing milestone with the community!"

The Crew is one of three years available for?? free as part of next month’s?? Games with Gold promotion, so even if you miss out on the f?ree credits tomorrow, don&?rsquo;t miss out on the game!

HAPPY FRIDAY! <3

The post The Crew hits five million players appeared first on Destructoid.

Plus some new Wild Run stuff

After getting The Crew and its Wild Run expansion on sale a few weeks back, the racing game has slowly become a night-devouring obsession. It has problems, ??definitely, but I'm loving it as something I can play while listening to podcasts or audio books or whatever the case may be.

A new update went out today that, among other things, adds a photo mode. It's terrific. You can activate it by holding down on the d-pad, at which? the action freezes and you're able to roam around in a 3D space, tinkering with things like weather effects, time of day, blur, focus, and?? filters.

I think most games would benefit from giving players tools to take cool in-game screenshots -- The Last of Us Remastered and inFamous: Second Son both immediately come to mind -- but The Crew is a particularly good candidate given its strange,? scaled-down model of the United States.

Also, I have to imagine there's lots of po??tential for intricate group shots. This game is online only, so you might as well incorporate multiple players in your photography.

If you're a Wild Run owner, look out for a new challenge type, Speed Trap, in The Summit on January 25, 2016. In the mean time, expect to find the Hummer H1 Alpha for the Monster spec and some game improvements / fixes. The patch notes can be found over here.

The post Oh cool, The Crew now has a photo mode appeared first on Destructoid.

Start your engines

The Crew is getting its first expansion come November 17 with Wild Run, Ubisoft just announced.

The new content revolves around an event called "The Summit," a gathering where thousands of mechanics and dri??vers come together to do crazy stuff like have a monster ??truck derby in the Yosemite Valley or break speed records in dragsters out on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Here's a map of some of ??the other iconic locations and challenges Ubisoft has ??in store:

The post Ubisoft announces ??The Crew: Wild? Run, coming Nov. 17 appeared first on Destructoid.

Go hit the hoad

Starting this week, both PS4 and Xbox One owners can go grab a free version of Ubisoft's new open-world racer, The Crew. It's a two-h??our trial of sorts, and if you want to buy the full game you can continue your progress.

While the story elements and character development is highly questionable, I enjoyed the free roaming bits. It's really fun to just drive around the ridiculously proportioned US map and get into trouble or race random players online. In other words, it's worth dicking around in for tw??o hours.

The post ?The Crew is getting a two-hour trial, upgradable to the ??final version appeared first on Destructoid.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft's open world racer The Crew launched in December with a bug that the team couldn't fix over the holidays or also the month of January. It was a big bug, too, what with it randomly erasi??ng players' stats. 

With the patch, due out February 12, "Previous data will not be restored, but new statistics should not be lost anymore." The rest of the patch notes are here.

The Crew’s upcoming patch w??ill finally fix lost stats bug [VG24/7]

The post The Crew patch fixes months-old lost stats bug, doesn’t return lost stats appeared first on Destructoid.

Me and my crew, we swaggin' in the room

A great racer to me doesn’t focus on an abundance of customization options or entire garage??s of cars. It doesn’t even serve up solid multiplayer modes or an interesting soundtrack. It keeps me playing.

And let me tell you, unless it’s Mario Kart or a? stupidly solid racer that entrances me from its opening credits, that doesn’t happen very often. I don’t care about winning a tournament and I have no interest in being a professional race car driver like Jerry. 

The Crew (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 4 [reviewed])
Developer: Ivory Tower, Ubisoft Reflections
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: December 2, 2014
MSRP: $59.99

The Crew was arresting ever since I became entangled within its narrative, wh??ich is sur??prisingly gripping for the genre. Its deliciously cheesy and lightweight criminal protagonist’s plight gave me something to shoot for: revenge.

Kyuss’ “Demon Cleaner” blared from my television a??s I b?urned rubber to tail the dirty FBI agent who murdered Alex Taylor’s brother, years after his being framed. With the law on my side, I was absolutely ready to exact my sweet, sweet revenge by working my way to the top of the gangs who put me away and took my brother from me.

Sure, it’s cliched. You’ve heard this story before, namely within the realm of Need for Speed and its ilk, but I didn’t care. I related to it. I probably would have done much of the same given the situation. So I couldn’t have cared less who I was playing as after The Crew motiva??ted me to drive cross-country in-game, winning races, delivering cars, and taking out leaders in the name of justice along the way.

That’s why with all of its shortcomings I was able to genuinely sit back, relax, and enjoy The Crew. Most importantly, I did it with?out the influence or necessity of other people. And looking back on my time with the game now, like in real life, other people would only have tainted what I was able to accomplish.

Let’s get down to brass tacks, though. The bread and butter of any racer is of course car mechanics, and there’s a comfortable mix of arcade-style handling with simulation-styled controls. You can alter the controls to your liking so it feels more fa?miliar and workable, but for the most part the game is quite forgiving, even if you tend to bump into that car in front of you or the signpost on the side of the road. This actually tends to work in your favor, especially during timed events where clipping a guard rail and spinning out in another game could mean the difference between starting the race over ent?irely and losing a couple of seconds.

All of the cars have a very basic “stock” feel to them in the beginning, which you can liken to the very sam?e feeling arcade racers pack. You’ll need to tune them accordingly before they begin to feel more like wieldy vehicles, and this is done by purchasing additional upgrades with points earned throughout the game as you progress. There’s a robust if uninspired system in place to ensure your earnings are tracked in every way they can be, so there are plenty of opportunities for you to earn additional points here and there to make your muscle car or humble sedan roadworthy.

But without somewhere to drive, where would we be in a racer? The vast open world of The Crew is its biggest asset, and despite the dozens of missions and races you can drive to from the start of the game, you’ll undoubtedly spen?d most of your? time checking out the U.S. countryside, just like a virtual road trip. You can hit up Manhattan and check out the Rocky Mountains with no loading times between, spending hours upon hours exploring every little nook and cranny the game has to offer.

Sprinkled throughout the countryside are a smattering of missions you can complete, ranging from a couple of minutes long to a few hours. You might spend some time speeding through gates for experience. In another area you might be charged with delivering a car as a gift for one of the gang members&rsq?uo; contacts. There’s always something to do, even if a good part of it consists of single-player missions that are best enjoyed alone.

That’s where things get a little confusing. Unfortunately, Ubisoft opted for the boneheaded decision to force The Crew player?s to remain online at all times to play this game. Effectively, that makes it a racing MMORPG, given the fact that experience is earned through said missions and whatnot. That also means other players are sharing the map with you at any given time.

Luckily, you aren’t forced to get buddy buddy with others in order to complete missions and progres?s, though if you want to reach out, you can form your own crews to conquer instances you just can’t best. You can even reach out at any time to complete a mission with a second player, which can get you through some pretty tight spots. If either player wins, both participants receive experience, which makes playing with others a lucrative offer.

But what really happens is a flood of notifications declaring that RiffRaff420blAzEiT wants to race against you, or YesImAGirlPlayingAVideoGame wants to complete a mission together. In more congested ar??eas you’ll find that everyone just wants in on the multiplayer experience, which only got worse as the days piled up after release date. Some might find this an alright problem to have, given the fact that online-only games need their players to participate. But as someone who prefers to play solo, period, it was tiring and jarring, especially since I wished only to spin the narrative of my choosing, and that was being a lone wolf on a cross-country journey to avenge my brother. I didn’t want anyone getting in the way.

Of course, for the review’s sake, I had to participate in multiplayer events, which worked quite smoothly. It can still be difficult at times to find players for races or assistance (if that’s your kind of thing) but I didn’t have any issues establishing or maintaining a connection once I made the decision to. It’s a helpful addition when and if you choose to take advantage of it, but if all you’re concerned with is a solo career as a driver, you’ll want t?o turn notifications off and spee??d through the desert on your lonesome.

Unfortunately, sometimes the solo grind can be difficult. Unless you challenge nearly every mission you come across and rack up the experience points, you won’t have reached the best level at which you can best your competition. This will call for an abundance of experience farming, which does tend to give a “homework” sort of feel to the game at some points, but with so many?? places to explore, you can take it one play session at a time. No need for rushing — you’ve got the whole of the the States ?to explore.

With an insanely large world it had to be assumed there would be at least some sort of hit in visual fidelity as well, and while the?? game looks competent at least in the current-gen department, it’s not as great-looking as it could have been. The trade-off for minimal load times and such an expansive world more than makes up for it, however, and visually impressive cut scenes prove time was spent on making characters and cars impressive where the effort could be more concentrated.

The Crew offers you the entire countryside to explore solo or with friends (or strangers), plenty of cars, customization options, and a narrative that extends a purpose beyond &??ldquo;being the best” to get your motor running. Ubisoft’s familiar structural pitfalls like microtransactions, online-only play, and other trappings hinder rather than enhance, but those things have become par for the course by now. Thankfully, they don’t mar the overall experience, and that was an overtly positive one for me. I don’t need a crew to cruise downtown Chicago or the west coast. I was just fine going it alone. And if you settle in for a few hours and let ?the game take you, I surmise you will be, too.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: The Crew appeared first on Destructoid.

Our review is coming later

Ubisoft recently notified the press that it wasn't going to send out early copies of The Crew. Instead, critics would have to experience everything at launch and beyond, meaning there?? would ??be no reviews for the game at release. That's a bummer for anyone who pre-ordered and has no idea of what to expect.

But fear not, as Brittany Vincent and I have obtained copies of The Crew, and while she's hard at work giving you t?he full rundown in the future, I'm here to give a few quick thoughts for all ??of you who haven't picked up your pre-orders yet.

In essence, The Crew is an online-only, open-world racing game. Yep, good old Ubisoft and its predictable open-world formula is at again -- right down to the outpost/radar buildings (called "data stations" here, haha). Once you're done with the prologue you can basically just roam around the world, which, in this case, is the entire United States. This is easily my favorite part The Crew, as developer Ivory Tower nailed the wa??y the map works.

First of all it's presented in a seamless manner with very little loading time on the actual map. But the real kicker is that everything is connected perfectly, so you can actually drive around the US at a reasonable pace. For reference, take a look at this map -- to get from Detroit to New York City, it would take roughly 15 minutes. Add in a ton of distractions along the way (including arcade-oriented challenges that can instantly?? spring up while you're driving down a highway) and an open world full of players and it starts to feel a lot bigger.

You start off in Detroit, but the main hubs are Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami -- with some smaller locations like Washington D.C. and New Orleans in the mix. Each area has a distinctly different terrain type, and yo?u can modify your car accordingly in every city to adjust for dirt, street, or highway conditions. Again, this is a massive game just by world map standards, and there is a fast travel option if you don't want to drive everywhere.

The story and characters are bad in a Fast and the Furious manner, and that's not a compliment (most of those movies are fun popcorn flicks). Even with a bit of cheese, the actual plot is just plain awful, and serves as a basic setup to drive around the country. In short, your brother was murdered, and after you've been framed by the gang who did it, you have to serve the FBI and bring down the bad guys. It's by the books and could have worked, but the flat and laughable characters make it worse than it has to be. I'm half expecting a gritty Vin Diesel impersonator to pop out and say "I live my life a quarter mile at a time" at any point. In fact, it may have already happened, but I was half-asleep during most of the? cutscenes.

Gameplay-wise my experience has been mixed. I love the cool touches like the overhead GPS trail when you are pursuing an objective, and the RPG-esque level-up/part acquisition system always ensures that you feel like you're earning something. However, the controls, uninspired perk mechanic, and car options fall flat in many ways. The main problem with the handling is that it feels lik??e a weird mix of simulation and arcade controls, which is a problem without going in and tinkering with the options menu.

It's weird, because at first cars feel like they're perpetually on ice. It's not until you tweak some stuff and get better equipment that you feel like you're really driving a car. Collisions also have a strange feel to them just like Watch Dogs, where you sort of "bounce" off things rather than feel like you're naturally hitting them. The bar has been raised by games like Forza, so it's disappoi??nting to ??see that Ubisoft hasn't gone all in on car handling.

So far I'm pretty happy with how the actual overworld turned out, but everything else in The Crew hasn't wowed me yet. That's not to say it's bad, though. So long as you're looking for another chance to get your exploration on??, I think there's plenty to like here -- but I still have to test out the mechanics and get further in the story to make a full decision.

Stay tuned for our review f??rom Brittany in the? future.

The post Here are some day-one thoughts on The Crew appeared first on Destructoid.

Just be patient

Only a few weeks removed from the kerfuffle surrounding both the Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Rogue reviews and embargoes, Ubisoft is opening up about exactly how The Crew's review process will go. The transparency is welcomed, but the methods are alm??ost exactly t??he same.

In a post on the UbiBlog, Ubisoft states that members of the press will be free to begin playing The Crew on December 2 -- right when it launches for everyon??e. The publisher's reasoning behind this is that the massive online component necessitates that it be played ?alongside thousands of other players.

Reviews of The Crew aren't embargoed (apart from the fact that the non-availability is an embargo in and of itself), but Ubisoft recommends that reviewers put 40 to 50 hours into the game to get the full experience. It also warned consumers of early reviews, saying that "While we fully anticipate that you might see some reviews immediately at launch -- largely built around the preview sessions we faci??litated during the past months or the limited content of the closed and open betas -- they won't be based on optimal conditions or reflect the finished game."

All of that put together should be more than enough to keep info?rmation away from some unsuspecting consumers until it's too late. Just remember -- be smart and patient when it comes to buying videogames. Wait until you have the opinion of someone that yo??u trust.

The Crew - Road Tested [UbiBlog]

The post Ubisoft informs everyone of The Crew’s review process and it’s not great appeared first on Destructoid.

PC only, duh

Deals brought to you by the crew at Dealzon. FYI: sales from certain retailers go toward supporting Destructoid.

One got a release date confirmed, and the other is finally on schedule to be released after being delayed. Creative Assembly's Total War: Attila heads to the PC on February 17, 2015 while Ivory Tower's The Crew shows up on most platforms on December 2, 2014.

Bonus DLC packs are the standard draw these days for pre?-ordering games, and these two titles are no exception (details below). But the added bonus for PC gamers is cold-hard cash d?iscounts.

Today GMG launched a new 25% off coupon slashing $11.24 off the new Total War. The same coupon also works on The Crew, along with its "Gold Edition."

Use Coupon: 20PERO-FFDIGI-GAMESX

• Total War: Attila — $36 (list $45)
• The Crew Limited Edition — $48 (list $60)
• The Crew Gold Edition — $68 (list $85)

Note: The code is set to expire on Monday, January 26th at 11am Eastern. The same coupon will also work on most games at GMG.

Total War: Attila's Pre-Order DLC

Along with the release day announcement, Creative Assembly launched a new trailer for the "Viking Forefathers Culture Pack," the included DLC freebie if you pre-order Total War: Attila. As is customary with Total War DLC, this p??ack unlocks three factions, all of which were historically known to raid Br??itain and northern Gaul:

• The Danes
• The Jutes
• The Geats

Like all other DLC releases for Total War: Rome II, the "Viking Forefathers Culture Pack" will cost $7.99 on Steam Store if purchased separately. The new DLC will be available on Day One (yay?) of Total War: Attila's launch. You can watch the trailer here.

The Crew: Limited vs. Gold Edition

The "Limited Edition" of Ubisoft's The Crew merely refers to the base game plus its pre-order bonuses. The bonuses include early unlock?s for the BMW Z4 sDrive35is, MINI Cooper S, and Dodge Ram SRT-10 vehicles.

Furthermore, Limited Edition buyers? get a bonus 10,000 Crew credits - sort of a in-game currency that's helpful for customization. While we haven't looked at the in-game currency deeply, we doubt the 10,000 credit will ??make any meaningful impact after a day or two of game time.

The "Gold Edition" comes with all the "Limited Edition" pre-order bonuses PLUS the Season Pass of the game. If you're dead set on The Crew and know you'll want the extra content in the Season P?ass on Day One, this is a r?espectable way to go with the 25% discount.

The Season Pass is $24.99 on Uplay Shop rig??ht now and gets you some in-game extras on the December 2nd la??unch, along with extra content down the road:

• At launch: Two exclusive cars – McLaren 12C and Ferrari 458 Speciale.
• One-week early access to all add-on car packs.
• Four packs, with 12 more cars:
  • Extreme Car Pack available January 2015 (high-octane performance cars)
  • Speed Car Pack available February 2015 (speed racing sports cars)
  • Vintage Car Pack available March 2015 (fashionable vintage rides)
  • Raid Car Pack available April 2015 (off-road vehicles)
• Official paint jobs and rims for each car.
• Exclusive stickers delivered with each pack.

This is the first time we've seen a significant discount on The Crew, and to be honest, we won't be surprised if GMG pulls the coup??on from this title in North America without warning. It'll be interesting to see how the game fares next week following America-spends-money day.

The post Total War Attila & The Crew: 25% off Pre-order deals appeared first on Destructoid.

F4r Cry, Assassin's Creed Unity, and The Crew

Last week, Ubisoft pulled its upcoming games--F4r Cry, Assassin's Creed Unity, and The Crew--from Steam. This allowed me to roll with a headline, "Going hard in the Uplaynt," a play on "going hard in the paint" and Ubisoft's own, bad storefront/DRM, which I am thankful f??or.&nb??sp;

I am more thankful, however, that the games are back up on Steam at this time. This reinstating is seemingly worldwide, excep??t in the UK, the region where the games were first pulled. This is assuming that Steam still considers Scotland, where we've checked in, part of the UK, and that it didn't get too excited about the pos??sibility of the wealthy nation extricating itself from the soul-sucked conglomerate that keeps the Queen alive, God save.

Ubisoft has yet to comment beyond the initial, "We've been in discussions with Valve about Assassin’s Creed Unity but for the time being the game is not available via Steam in the UK. In the meantime, UK customers wishing to purchase the game digitally can do so by visiting the Uplay store, our retail partners or othe??r digital distributors."

The post Ubisoft’s upcoming releases back on Steam (except in the UK) appeared first on Destructoid.

Going hard in the Uplay-nt

Ubisoft's biggest three upcoming releases, F4r Cry, Assassin's Creed Unity, and The Crew have been pulled f??rom Steam, the place where a lot of people?? buy and play their PC games. 

PCGamesN got this statement from Ubisoft after noticing the three had been removed from the UK Steam store: "We've been in discussions with Valve about Assassin’s Creed Unity but for the time being the game is not available via Steam in the UK. In the meantime, UK customers wishing to purchase the game digitally can do so by visiting the Uplay store, our retail par?tners or other digital distributors."

The three games' pages on the North American Steam store have all been pulled as well, so it seems the three are universally off of Steam at the moment. Aside from Ubisoft's own, bad Uplay, the th??ree are still available for purchase on other digital distribution sites, like Green Man Gaming and Amazon. 

Ubisoft’s?? new games aren't available on Steam in the UK [PCGamesN]

The post Hard in the Uplay-nt: Ubi??soft pulls upcoming PC games from ??Steam appeared first on Destructoid.

Delayed to December

Ubisoft is pushing The Crew back a few weeks to December 2, 2014 where it will release simultaneously on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox 360??. I'm not sure what kind of sales the company is expecting to generate here, but I'd be nervous. December can be tough.

There have already been a few closed beta tests for the open-world racer and yet another one is planned for November now that there's extra time. "We are now scrutinizing all of the player feedback so we can ensure that The Crew delivers the seamless open-world experience that meets everyone'?s high expectations," said creative director Julian Gerighty.

Game looks okay. The fact that you can drive across the United States seamlessly is neat.

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Good thing your friends will keep you company

As if a coast-to-coast roadtrip across the United States wasn't enough to keep you preoccupied, The Crew has plenty of activities planned to ensure that there will never be any downtime. Racing, wrecking, collecting, soaring, and exploring are all on the docket, but there's surely more. Maybe you could even do some sightseeing; it sounds low-key, but sometimes you just need to make tim??e for you, ya know?

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But why? They'll tell you why

The Wii U still isn't in a good spot with third parties. There's a r?unning gag in the industry that someth?ing is coming to "every console ever...except!" and everyone chimes in "the Wii U." It's a shame, because it's currently my favorite console, hardware and controller-wise.

Strangely enough the PS3 has been snubbed recently as well from Ubisoft, as the racer The Crew is now slated to arrive on November 11 on Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, and PC. When asked why, Ubisoft responded, "The Crew is or??iginally built for the new generation of consoles so when we made the decision to port it to the previous generation of consoles, we decided to focus solely on the platform closest to the new-gen's techni??cal infrastructure, which is the Xbox 360."

I always knew Microsoft had better infrastructure (Activision has made many comments on this in the past -- where do you think that Xbox Live money goes), but it's interesting to see it still benefiting the platform holder years later in a new generation. Assuming The Crew is good, you can enjoy it on a past-gener??ation system come November.

Ubisoft explains why The Crew isn't on PS??3?? or Wii U [VideoGamer]

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Miami to LA

By videogame standards, The Crew features a fantastically massive open-world to drive around. As you can see in this video that was captured from the PC beta, getting from Miami to Los Angeles takes about forty m?inutes, and that doesn't account for all the northern regions that never get touched.

It might not take months and years to fulfill your Manifest Destiny in The Crew, but th??at doesn't mean you won't get lonely. The trip is probably better if you bring a few friends along?. Ubisoft would like that, too. After all, it's one of the major premises of the game.

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Roadtrip

Ubisoft's closed PC beta for The Crew will begin ??a couple days earlier t?han previously announced. It's now set to take place from July 21 - 25. What's going to be playable, exactly?

A decent amount, considering The Crew's map is a scaled-down United States. All missions and skill challenges will be open in the Midwest, while the East Coast will just have skill challenges ?enabled. Every other region will offer free-roam driving.

Sign up for the beta over here. Not too late. Although this is for PC on?ly, the full game, out on November 11, will also be playable on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

On July 21st, the roads are yours! [Ubisoft]

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And roadtrips are meant to be fun

Any ?fan of racing games will tell you that all titles in the genre aren't created e??qual. Far from it, in fact. It's a nuanced category, as the more realistic games that strive to be simulators often appeal to different types of people compared to the ones that are drawn to arcade-like racers. They're worlds apart.

Ubisoft's The Crew deftly spans that gap. And, while it may not be crossing worlds, it literally travers?es the United States, which feels like ??an appropriately big adventure.

Let's jump right into the nitty gritty: With regard to in-game racing mechanics, The Crew would be classified by most as arcade-like, especially given the competing titles in the racing space. The cars have a "floaty" feel about them. There's a skill points system for executing maneuvers such as drifting and J-turns. Honestly, I saw a lot of Forza Horizon in it during my hands-on demo.

But, The Crew is built around a deeper premise than just racing. It wants to be a racing MMO RPG. The MMO component comes from the group that Ubisoft hopes you form and r?ace alongside. Players can assemble in teams of four to progress through the story as a unit, while simultaneously competi??ng against one another. 

For instance, in our demo, we accepted a race challenge where someone in our group had to finish in the top three. As long as anyone in our crew succeeded, we won. However, we were still trying to best each other, because individual rewards that could be used for upgrades were at stake. I was outfitted in a Lamborghini Aventador and took home the checkered ?flag (either because I'm great, or more likely because the video team at The? Escapist wasn't very good).

It doesn't seem as if all of the enjoyment from The Crew will come from challenges, though. A good chunk will come from just driving across the United States -- with or without friends. The map, which? developers said will take about 90 minutes to span from coast to coast, offers new major cities with relative frequency. The level of detail is fantastic, too. Peering at the map, I saw a ton of real world landmarks that players will be able to drive to and "unlock," so to speak -- each a new checkmark on a virtual roadtrip bucket list.

Maybe more alluring than the prospect of metropolises, Americana landscape, and famed attr??actions are the sheer number of events littering the map. These aren't all races, either. There's some variation in the gameplay to keep things for growing stale. One such example was a chase-em-down challenge where my crew had to ram a getaway car to inflict damage. As long as we did that within an allotted timeframe, we were all winners. However, whoever did the most damage was the true winner.

There's a lot of incentive to perform well in these challenges, because it's the fast track to unlocking new cars and upgrading the ones in your garage. That's where the RPG element comes in, and it's where The Crew shows its depth. The level of customization is fantastic for both the experienced and layman, alike. Gearheads have a ridiculous number of opti??ons to tinker with to trick their vehicles out exactly the way they like them. The inexperienced can rely on a color system between the components (bronze, silver, gold) to guide them to quickly maximizing their cars' potential. It's clear that Ubisoft is trying to appeal to looters by offering plenty of cars and upgrades, and there's no reason to think it won't work.

The Crew doesn't look as if it'll be the most challenging of racing titles, but that doesn't mean it won't be a damn good time. Ubisoft would probably like it for people to make good use of the "socially connected" feature of the game, but it looks as if it'll be enjoyable no matter what approach is taken. In terms of gameplay, the most hardcore of simulation racer fans might find this to be too far of a slant toward the arcade side, but it seems as if general fans of the genre will have plenty of fun sitting in The Crew's driver's seat.

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Racecar is my favorite palindrome

Ubisoft's social racer The Crew hits the pav?ement on November 11. However??, you and friends can get a head start if you're so inclined.

On July 23, Ubisoft's launching a closed beta for The Crew on PC. How do you get in? You have to sign up now. The Crew's website is the spot to apply, altho?ugh, at the time of this post, the site's down. Keep an eye on it though if you want to go on an early roadtrip with some buddies.

The Crew beta [The Crew]

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Server? I hardly even know her!

Ubisoft's upcoming "MMO RPG of racers" holds up to that comparison. If you lose your internet connection, even if you're playing solo, you'll be booted out to the title screen, creative director Julian Gerighty told VideoGamer. "It's one of those things tha?t the game needs to work with an internet connec??tion so I think you're going to lose the race you're in," he explained.

"It's not the most elegant of solutions. It's not good news, I'm afraid, but it's just part and parcel of...You know, you're doing an instance on World of Warcraft, you lose your internet connection and that's ?it.

"I've got to admit though that I think our connection is a little bit more elegant than the Origin/EA server thing, but I'd have to get more d?etails to give you a complete rundown." Servers handle most of the game, but there's also some peer-to-peer, which will rely on host migration should someone dip?.

This all might be? less annoying than microtransactions in a $60 game.

The Cr?ew kicks you to the title screen whenever you lose your int?ernet connection [VideoGamer]

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The newest evolution of racing games

The developers of The Crew have an unusual take on their new IP that features fast cars, deep customization, and miles and miles of the United States to traverse across and race within. Ivory Tower and Ubisoft Reflections insist that despite its trappings that would suggest an open world racing game in the same vein as the latest in the Need for Speed series or Forza Horizons, The Crew is actually an MMO RPG.

When first presented with this concept at a recent Ubisoft event, I was a little skeptical that a racing game could be classified as such, given that it doesn't necess??arily involve giant monsters and upgradeable weapons, and certainly bears no fantastical setting. However, after getting an hour long hands-on with the new game and witnessing the number of ways that this separates itself from its ilk, I could definitely see how it could be deserving of this different classification.

In The Crew, your vastly upgradeable and customizable car is your weapon. The giant monster you perpetually battle is the road, in several different kinds of events and spanning a seemingly large storyline across five en??ormous regions o??f the United States.

And like all MMO RPG's, The Crew is so much better with friends.

The Crew (PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
Developers: Ivory Tower and Ubisoft Reflections
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: Fall 2014

Previews so far have shown that the "world" for The Crew is incredibly vast, as it spans across the entire continental United States. During a small presentation, we were shown the actual, virtual space of their version of the United States easily dwarfs many other open world games. To put it into perspective, the entirety of Red Dead Redemption fit easily inside one or two states. Their virtual version of the United States includes five r?egions, such as the West Coast, the South, and a mountain region that includes the Rockies.

Importantly, virtual world space is worthless if it's not implemented in a way that engages the player, especially in a vehicular game with miles of scenery (Fuel comes to mind as one failed example.) Fortunately, the developers of The Crew are making sure that your mileage matters. When in the game's free roam mode, you can easily access an overhead map that is pretty much like looking at a Google maps version of the virtual United States. You can even zoom down close and see terrain, ind??ividual buildings, and cars on the road. When you zoom out, hundreds of little symbols appear all over -- on just about every area of the map. These symbo?ls represent varied missions, short skill challenges, and collectables. 

The first race I had a chance ??to check out took place in Detroit, and included a few key shortcuts, including one that cut along a train track and returned to the road just as a train came to nearly clip my car. The race wound through an old factory ground, and mostly on a dirt road. I first played it solo against AI opponents, and then played with my "crew" of other journalists, who really played dirty and soon pushed me into second place (and themselves into dead last, fortunately? for me and unfortunately for our team.) I could quickly see how playing with a trusted friend or two would be a much more profitable affair.

At any rate, upon completing the mission I was awarded a car part and sent it back to my garage, since it wasn't at the same "level" of my car. The attainment of car parts upon completing missions and challenges is what makes The Crew have an RPG feel as you're constantly upgrading the overall level of your car while juggling the stat?s of each part you're given. This is especially important in terms of the chassis and engine, as every part you gain for those respective vehicle sections will help improve the overall speed and durability of your car. Usually, a gold part of a lower level might actually give you a better boost than a bronze part of the level you're currently at.

The race in Detroit was a more standard race, though soon after completing it I was introduced to the other "missions" that varied the gameplay quite a bit. One mission that made me nostalgic for Rockstar's Smuggler's Run involved chasing down an off-road vehicle over scenic hills and dunes. The game automatically switched my vehicle to a more off-road-friendly (Raid) vehicle in order? to keep up in the race.

Another mission involved a checkpoint race where the police caught on and forced me to evade their presence and road blocks as I sped across highways. A couple of the missions I played seemed to be for the sole purpose of advancing the storyline, such as one where I was tasked to bring a character to a specific location within the time limit. After completing this particular mission, I was given a cutscene that continued the whole "illegal street racer taking on the United States" storyline that The Crew seems to be going ??for. The story itself doesn't seem yet to be entirely memorable, but the gameplay that leads into cutscenes is certainly solid. Granted, I was only given a brief taste of the actual underlying story of the game, though no one I know plays a racing game? for a unique and engaging story. It's all about the adrenaline.

Driving from mission to mission could get boring easily if you were forced to just look at the pretty scenery. In The Crew, you're likely to encounter several skill challenges along the way. These are events that are triggered simply by driving through them at spots along the map. Some skill challenges task you with careful driving, forcing you to smash through small glass barriers placed closely together and leading you off the beaten track, while others demand you to speed through a certain area of the map while avoiding traffic collisions and ob?structions along the way. Interestingly, time of day can really matter for both challenges and missions, as the flow of traffic in a given area changes? during certain points of the day, such as during evening and morning rush hours. Although I didn't get a chance to see it, weather such as rain or snow can also play a factor, especially in regions like the Rockies that face heavy snowfall.

In terms of online gameplay, at any given time you'll be playing with seven other players,? and three of those other players can be your constant crew. The game's server will host eight players in near vicinity while also showing all other players on an overhead map. As players drift in and out of your region, they also disappear from your server, so that gameplay is constantly fluid and fun. Of course, this changes if you're rolling with your crew, who stay on the same persistent server with you.

Your crew is also an important component of the game, as you can roam around ??????????????????????????with them or take on any challenge or mission at any time, and you all benefit from winning. The crew leader usually chooses which events you'll all be playing, and notifications appear that allo??w you to immediately fast travel to the location where everyone is to race. If you're not the crew leader, you can still run an event by the leader to approve so that everyone can have the option to play the missions they want to play.

The vehicles themselves are an incredibly enjoyable part of The Crew, as they should be. At your garage you can apply all sorts of performance and cosmetic changes, including decals, paint jobs, and racing stripes. Of course, some licensed vehicles limit your use of these cosmetic "upgrades" -- so you'll never see pretty pink butterfly stickers plastered all over an Aston Martin, for e?xample. For shame.

As you apply upgrades, you're able to take your car porn to an entirely new level. At any time during your customization process, you can manually run the car and steer in "demo" mode. The coolest aspect of this is that if you're working on the engine, the car strips away the outer elements and shows you only the parts of?? the engine you're working on, and you can actually watch the pistons working away. This is al??so a great educational tool if you're not a car buff, as it gives actual meaning to different car parts -- especially where they are and what they do within the car.

The best part of the cars in my personal opinion is that the developers were thoughtful enough to add a realistic cockpit view, and it's quite nice to use as you race or roam freely around. Some might remember my contentions with a certain game for taking away this feature from its original incarnation. When done well, cockpit view is such a ?great way to further immerse the player, and I can imagine ??it becoming a standard feature of all racers as we wade into VR territory. For me, if a racing game allows for a good cockpit view, that's the only way I'll race.

A few other features include "collision tolerance" that keeps the game from ruining your experience in traffic so that clipping another vehicle doesn't take down your car, and damage modeling that smashes up the car in realistic detail. I do have to note that in the version of the game I played, there were some collision glitches that caused another car to go spinning off erratically, and graphically the game is still needing a bit of polish as I noticed some pop-in and a couple of ugly textures here and there. However, one thing PlayStation 4 owners might be happy about is that reportedly, anti-aliasing will be used in that version of the game?, making for a possibly prettier and smoother version over the Xbox One.

Small graphical concerns aside, I came away excited for the fall release of The Crew. I know I will spend several hours with the game, whether roaming around to simply explore iconic areas such as The Rockies or Las Vegas, taking on skill challenges and racing against other players or my own ghost, forming my own four person crew to take down others in races or skill challenges, or progressing through the missions of each region and taking on racers throughout the entire United States.

The Crew is truly shaping up to be the MMO RPG of racers, and it will possibly ta??ke up more than a hundred enjoyable hours of your time.

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Social online action racing

Making its debut at E3 2013, The Crew is Ubisoft's attempt to create a new and fast-paced racer for the next-gen consoles. Although the publisher has definitely?? got some stiff competition from other racing titles, what separates it from the rest is its ambitious take on open-world racing with competitive and cooperative gameplay.

While it's currently making the rounds at gamescom, Ubisoft allowed us to take the game for a spin at its San Francisco office. Developed by Ivory Tower, The Crew intends? on giving ?racing fans a nation-sized playground to explore and test their prized vehicles against other players in style.

The Crew: (PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One [previewed])
Developer: Ivory Tower
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: Q1 2014

The Crew is an open-world driving game set acr??oss the United States. From the get go, players can freely explore the 2000-square-mile game space, take part in races and unique challenges, and meet other players online to either team up with or race against. Sectioned across five different zones -- from the West Coast, mountain states, Midwest, the East Coast, and the South -- players can race across a variety of different landscapes. In the process, you'll build up your own collection of vehicles, resources, and influence in the online space.

Dubbed a "social action driving game" by the developers, the intent was to create a world that allowed for seamless online integration with other players around the world. When racing with other drivers, the player can choose to join up with new drivers and form their own crew to take on races and challenges, and pull together resources for body work and customization. While it's totally possible to play the game offline within single-player mode, doing so would mean missing out on a major part of The Crew's living and active game world.

To help realize its vision for an open-world racer, Ivory Tower utilized the new next-gen technology and developed a graphics ??engine that minimizes loading and keeps things seamless. Players can fast travel across the map at anytime to meet up with friends and engage in active challenges, with little to no loading whatsoever. While in the map you can zoom in and out and analyze the different tracks located in the cities and countryside. You can also use this to observe races in progress and see what new challenges have popped up.

Speaking with online producer Tristan Lefranc, the developers at Ivory Tower have been hard at work on The Crew for more than four years. While they've done some additional work on the Test Drive Unlimited series, this is the developer's first game built from the ground up. Their goals for this title were to craft a richly detailed game world, while designing the innovative networking s?ystems that will bring players together.

"We very much wanted to be able to m??ake a racing game for everyone," LeFranc said while going over the car customization. "We believe that with the size of the world and the content we placed in it, there would be a variety of different play styles that we players could use." During my time playing, it was clear that the developers wanted both gear-heads and casual racing fan?s engaged.

There's usually two schools of design when it comes to whom the developers are catering to. Arcade racers focus on over-the-top action with pick-up-and-play mechanics, while simulation racers emphasis realistic driving physics and fine tuning your vehicle. For The Crew, Ivory Tower is focused on delivering a title that blurs the lines between the action of arcade style racers in the vein of Burnout and Fuel and the attention to detail and planning that comes from racing sims like Gran Turismo.

A key part of the player's experience with The Crew is customization. With dozens of brand named vehicles and vehicle types, such as compacts, convertibles, street raci??ng vehicles, and off-road cars, the developers want players to find a car that suits them and their personality. To take things even further, every car in the game is fully customizable from the ground up.

Your own custom vehicles will come in handy in the various missions and challenges across the U.S. These mission?s range from standard street and off-road racing, to the more peculiar stunt racing tasks like Follow the Line, and even time trial challenges against other players' scores. I spent much of my time in the mountain states and southern zones, where I took advantage of transforming my street-racing vehicle to a more off-road-friendly version to take on the ch??allenges. I do have to say that I got kick out of seeing a muscle car being turned into a decked-out off-road vehicle with massive tires.

An aspect of the game that was clear was its usability. The Crew is an easy game to get a handle of, as it seeks to bring in players of all interests. Controls a??re very smooth, and getting a feel of new cars comes very quickly. One element I particularly enjoyed was how it keeps players engaged and always in the action. With the exception of yo?ur map and car customizations, player/crew networking and communication is all done in real time and not in separate menus. Your character has the use of an in-game smartphone, which allows them to access your collection of vehicles on the fly.

From the engine parts, chassis, tires, and the decal, you can stick with your favorite car for the long term or alter it in anyway you see fit. When completing missions, you're reward cash and a random vehicle part. At first it felt a bit overwhelming, but the car customization? becomes much easier to handle once you've got a feel for the system. Changing a street-racing vehicle to a fully functional off-road vehicle is not only an effective strategy for some missions, but a necessity. Some challenges call for taking advantage of different car types during races, and mixing and matches parts is a vital strategy for winning.

The developers wish to give the game somewhat of an MMO feel. Specifically in the sense of players having their own identity in the game space. This is not only reflected in the cars they drive, but the skills they employ. The Crew also introduces a perk and comfort system, whi??ch will give players an edge during challenges.

When players complete miss??ions, they'll come across NPC characters from different fields -- such as FBI agents, businessmen, and stuntmen -- that will offer their services to your crew in the form of perks and comforts. Perks allow for players to have various types of bonus abilities; such as easier police evasion, better braking, driftin??g, buffs to nitrous, etc.

Comforts function somewhat like perks, but are far more specific. When completing challenges and missions, you'll gain points which can be used to spend on comforts that can lower costs of jail time, less ex??pensive car customization, etc. More points that you put into a specific comfort, the more useful it will become.

I came away largely impressed with Ubisoft's new racing title. I'm actually not too interested in the genre outside of a few exceptions, but this particular game managed to impress me in ways that I didn't expect. The Crew expresses a lot of thought in its de??sign, and the sheer amount of content on offer is simply staggering. In a way, it feels like racing title that isn't afraid to walk ride that fine line between staying traditional, and knowing when to take an unorthodox approach for giving what players want.

Currently, The Crew has been scheduled f?or a Q1 2014 release, and the developers at Ivory Tower still have much more fine tuning to complete. But judging from my time with the game, t?his ambitious and thoughtful racing title has got all the right moves.

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A realistic racer being position with the likes of Forza and Gran Turismo

The Examiner is reporting that Ubisoft Reflections, the studio behind Driver: San Francisco,  is working on a new racing game called The Crew. A source details that the project is a "realistic title, possibly being positioned against Forza and Gran Turismo." The Crew is expected to hit the Xbox One?, PlayStation 4, and current generation consoles.

According to Eurogamer, The Crew may be a co-production with Ivory Tower, the France-based studio made up of a team that's worked on games such as Need for Speed, V-Rally, and the recent Test Drive Unlimited.

All rumors for now, but I expect we'll be hearing something on all this during Ubisoft's E3 press conference. The real question is, do we need yet another simulation racer? Forza 5, Gran Turismo 6, DriveClub, Need for Speed: Rivals, and more are all coming down the road already.

Rumor: U??bisoft revealing new racing IP called 'The Crew' at E3 2013 [The Examiner]
Driver: S??an Francisco dev reportedly working on a racing game called The Crew [Eurogamer]

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