The explorers from Ubisoft sent out an expansive press release today stating that their exploitation and extermination series The Settlers will continue to increase its horizon come spring 2010 with The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom.

Developed by Blue Byte, the game will contain the usual fine-tuning of settlements to optimize transport and production as well as three paths to victory – military, science and trade – and a new victory points system.

Also, it will have a new graphics engine for you graphics whores and improved AI that will offer “unique behaviors”. Multiplayer is not ignored either, with new modes being added along with leaderboard and DLC support.

Planned future releases include Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Far Cry, Heroes of Might and Magic and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.

Run by Polish publisher CD Projekt, GOG offers DRM-free downloads of classic games with bonus features typically such as downloadable soundtracks, manuals and avatars.

Following Midway’s chapter 11 filing for bankruptcy protection, Kotaku reports a rumor that the rights to Wheelman, the action-driving game starring Vin Diesel, has shifted to Ubisoft.

While it hasn’t been officially confirmed, the game’s listing on GameFly has been updated to show UBisoft as the publisher and “TBD” as the release date. Kotaku additionally notes that the game might be integrated in the Driver franchise, as Ubisoft has the rights to the series, and since the concept of the game fits in so well with the series.

An official statement from Midway is yet to come.

A listing on Xbox’s official website reveals that a playable demo for Ubi’s upcoming flight-action game Tom Clancy’s HAWX is set to hit Xbox Live Marketplace on February 11.

The Xbox 360-exclusive demo will offer two missions and include co-op support for up to four players. The full game is due out on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 next month.

Ubisoft has announced that the upcoming patch for Far Cry 2 will introduce a new “hardcore” multiplayer setting to the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the shooter.

"The hardcore mode has been designed as an answer to a community request," wrote Ubisoft community developer Atmon on the game’s official forums. "Some players were seeking and expecting a more realistic experience."

Other changes in the patch include a new damage model with increased damage for all weapons, rebalanced weapons, spawning time being tweaked, and more.

No release date for the patch was given.

A new developer diary for Prince of Persia has been released, showing off footage from the upcoming action-adventure game. Developers talk about the open-world nature of the game, on-demand dialog system, story and other aspects of the title.

The game is due out December 2 on PS3 and Xbox 360; a PC version is expected on December 9.

Audiophiles listen up: Sumthing Else has announced that they will release the original music score composed by Ed Lima and Duncan Watt, offering all of the music from the game in one conveniently packed CD. It is due out November 25 via retail stores and through digital download and iTunes.

The score has been composed by Ed Lima (Prey, Doom 3) and Duncan Watt (Need for Speed: ProStreet). Interestingly, no music had been featured during gameplay, but the score was composed to support the story, accompanying cut-scenes and menus in the game. It was recorded with the Filmharmonic Orchestra and Choir at the Dvorak Hall of Rudolfinum in Prague. Below is the track list:

• Main Theme
• The Story So Far
• Baker’s Dozen
• Double Time
• The First Bad News / Letters To Loved Ones
• For Matthew
• We Happy Fewer
• Eindhoven/Roadblocks/Frankie’s Choice
• Those We Lost
• Farewell Is Goodbye

Keeping in mind how downloadable content has become popular and how developers want to monetize their games further, Ubi producer Ben Mattes confirmed that “significant” DLC for single-player title Prince of Persia is in the making.

“We certainly have plans for downloadable content, [but] we can’t really say more than that right now,” said Mattes.

Thankfully, the content won’t simply be new skins or weapons, but actually something “significant” in the form of a “new story, a new experience, maybe a prequel, maybe a sequel,” according to the producer.

“We’re going to do something that really offers a lot of value for the player. In terms of when: sometime next year – I’m not sure of exactly when, it’s all still in discussion.”

The new Prince of Persia title is due out December 5 on PS3 and Xbox 360; PC is due out the following week.

Following up from news that Ubisoft has acquired Massive Entertainment, Kotaku carries a quote from Ubisoft president and CEO Yves Guillemot saying Massive will play a key role in the publisher’s MMO strategy. However, their efforts will be less than massive, noting that they will first focus on “light” MMOs that are very popular in Asia.

Said Guillemot: "We just bought it from them since those guys have Blizzard so they didn’t need that studio as much as we do, and those guys are extremely strong in RTS (real-time strategy), so they are going to help us also get closer to the MMO space. Our goal there is to go first with light MMOs…that have been extremely popular in China but are also coming in the U.S. and Europe and are generating lots of good revenue, so our goal is first to start with light MMOs, and then in the future also come with RPG and RTS, also in the MMO space."

Ubisoft today announced the soundtrack for Shaun White Snowboarding, a new upcoming game built around the X-Games and Olympic gold medalist Shaun White.

Apparently, his love for classic rock played a role in inspiring the final list of songs for the game. Some of the artists include Kasabian, Audioslave, Heart, Blue Oyster Cult and Bob Dylan.

Below’s the full list:

• “The Press Corpse” – Anti-Flag
• “Gasoline” – Audioslave
• “Berlin” – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
• “Weapon of Choice” – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
• “Don’t Fear the Reaper” – Blue Öyster Cult
• “Hurricane” – Bob Dylan
• “Someday Baby” – Bob Dylan
• “Acceptable in the 80s” – Calvin Harris
• “Clean My Wounds” – Corrosion of Conformity
• “Time to Fly” – Dunk
• “We Come 1” – Faithless
• “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” – Gil Scott-Heron
• “Counting the Days” – Goldfinger
• “Jump into the Fire” – Harry Nilsson
• “Barracuda” – Heart
• “The Fashion (Do or Die)” – illScarlett
• “Anna Molly” – Incubus
• “White Rabbit” – Jefferson Airplane
• “Reason Is Treason” – Kasabian
• “Stuntman” – Kasabian
• “Cult of Personality” – Living Colour
• “Working for the Weekend” – Loverboy
• “Control” – Metro Station
• “Of Moons, Birds & Monsters” – MGMT
• “Time to Pretend” – MGMT
• “Dashboard” – Modest Mouse
• “Stompbox” – Overseer
• “Rock Box” – Run DMC
• “Ill Placed Trust” – Sloan
• “Ring of Fire” – Social Distortion
• “Save Yourself” – Stabbing Westward
• “The Ballroom Blitz” – Sweet
• “Perfect Wave” – The Beautiful Unknown (Formerly Barlow)
• “Keep Loving Me” – The Draytones
• “Waiting for Go” – The Dykeenies
• “Alive & Amplified” – The Mooney Suzuki
• “Great DJ” – The Ting Tings
• “Every Inambition” – The Trews
• “Animal I Have Become” – Three Days Grace
• “Play That Funky Music” – Wild Cherry

The game is due out November 14 for PC, PS2, PSP, PS3, DS, Wii and Xbox 360.

Ubisoft today announced that it has acquired Massive Entertainment from Activision Blizzard. The Sweden-based studio is best known for its excellent strategy title World in Conflict which won several awards in the year it was published.

"We are delighted to welcome the talented team of creators at Massive into the Ubisoft family," said Christine Burgess-Quemard, executive director of worldwide production studios at Ubisoft. "Ubisoft is growing at an intense pace and our strategy is to ensure the strength of our global creative teams. Massive has put together a group of some of the most confirmed and recognized creators in the industry and I know that their talent and innovation will allow them to seamlessly integrate into our worldwide network of production studios."

The studio is yet to reveal the project it is working on.

Following rumors that Splinter Cell: Conviction had been pushed back for a major redesign, Ubisoft has commented on the matter, dismissing said rumor with two words – “pure speculation”.

The rumor originates from a report in Xbox World 360 magazine that claimed the game wasn’t groundbreaking enough and was already outdated by Assassin’s Creed, hence the redesign.

Conviction has Sam Fisher stripped of his gadgets, instead relying on old-school techniques such as crowd blending and the like. More information is expected from the upcoming Ubidays event.

Serving as an insult to SCi, Reuters reports that Paris-based Ubisoft no longer has any interest in buying the Eidos parent company. Apparently, the purchase would be too expensive, according to an Ubi representative.

“Ubisoft has no intention of making an offer for SCI-Eidos,” said an unnamed Ubi spokesperson. “We are looking at other opportunities for external and internal growth which can create more potential value for shareholders.”

Though Ubi may no longer be interested, SCi is still courting two possible suitors – Time Warner and an unnamed Chinese corporation.

Strategy Informer reports that Ubisoft has cancelled Killing Day, an awesome looking FPS shown at Sony’s pre-E3 2005 conference. No reason for the cancellation was mentioned, though the site does speculate that Ubi’s recent love affair with the Wii might be the cause.

The PSP will be getting some love from Ubisoft later this year in the form of two new games: Rainbow Six Vegas and a new Prince of Persia title. The French publisher announced that Rainbow Six Vegas, previously announced only for PS3 and Xbox 360, will also be making its way to the Sony handheld and will feature parallel its next-gen versions, though it will also include new content and all-new characters. Detailed information on the title can be found just after the jump.

Pipeworks Software, which delivered a port of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within to the PSP last year, is working on Prince of Persia Rival Swords, a conversion of Prince of Persia The Two Thrones. As expected, the PSP game will feature the same content as the original, but will also include a new multiplayer mode, allowing players to race against one another as the Prince and the Dark Prince. It will also include new single-player chariot race menus that exist outside of the game’s story. Rival Swords is set for release this Holiday season in Europe; North America will receive it sometime next year.
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