Author: Trafficblast

A listing for what could be a new Ubisoft streaming service has emerged online ahead of E3 2019 next month. Members of the Resetera forum (via VG247) spotted a placeholder listing for something called “Ubisoft Pass.”

The listing has since been removed, but VG247 reports that the Ubisoft Store also had a page dedicated to subscription services that has also since been taken down. That is curious since Ubisoft does not currently operate any subscription services.

The original placeholder image was for a “Premium” version of the Ubisoft Pass. This wording suggests that the service, if it is real, may be available in different tiers.

Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, is a big believer in streaming as a technology that will be a huge deal for gaming going forward.

“With time, I think streaming will become more accessible to many players and make it not necessary to have big hardware at home. There will be one more console generation and then after that, we will be streaming, all of us,” Guillemot told Variety in 2018.

For a streaming service to have success, you need content. As one of the biggest publishers in gaming, Ubisoft is not lacking in content, as its back catalog is deep and rich with major franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Splinter Cell, Rabbids, Watch Dogs, and many others.

Ubisoft worked with Google on that company’s streaming platform, Stadia, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ubisoft be announced as one of Stadia’s third-party partners this summer.

We’ve contacted Ubisoft to see if the company has any comment on the Ubisoft Pass listing.

If not a streaming service, it’s possible that Ubisoft Pass could be an EA Access-style offering where people can pay a monthly fee to get access to a variety of titles. This is only speculation, however. For now, you should take all of this with a grain of salt, as Ubisoft has made no announcements.

Ubisoft’s E3 2019 briefing takes place Monday, June 10, beginning at 1 PM PT. GameSpot will have all the big news from Ubisoft’s E3 briefing and all the other ones, so keep checking back for more.

Battlefield V is adding a new map very soon, and now DICE has released a trailer for it. The new map, Mercury, is coming to Battlefield V on May 30 through a free update.

As you can see, Mercury is set in Greece in the Mediterranean. The map is part of Battlefield V’s Chapter 3: Trial By Fire Update. “Based on the events of Operation Mercury in 1941, this map lets you deploy on the coast of Crete where the British take on the invading German forces,” reads a line from the map’s official description.

In a blog post, DICE said the gameplay for Mercury is focused on “verticality, all-out war, and asymmetrical vehicle forces.” The British side have tanks and only a small number of plans, with the German side commanding the skies with more planes.

DICE says Mercury has been designed for a number of different playstyles, and the map itself borrows characteristics from maps like Guadalcanal (Battlefield 1942), Altai Range (Battlefield 4), and Monte Grappa (Battlefield 1).

“Due to the size and verticality of the map, tempo will vary. Find holes in the defense to flank or engage in a hot firefight around one of the flags,” DICE said. “There’;s a place in the map for SMGs to clash with shotguns, while Recon players can snipe at Support players, who in turn suppress enemies with their LMGs.”

You can read this in-depth blog post to learn more about Mercury and how to see some tips for have the most success on the battlefield.

Battlefield V launched in October last year and it was one of the year’s biggest games with more than 7 million copies sold in two months (though that was below EA’s commercial expectations).

DICE has steadily supported Battlefield V with numerous free updates adding a variety of things like new maps and modes, including the uber-popular battle royale mode Firestorm.

The next patch for Nintendo’s mascot fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will arrive this week, the company has announced. The update brings the game to Version 3.1.0.

The full patch notes do not appear to be available at this stage, but Nintendo says players can expect things like unspecified “fighter adjustments.” It’s unknown what changes are coming but Nintendo did confirm that the update will make previous version replay data incompatible. Nintendo advises that players convert their replays to video by visiting the Vault and selecting Replays then Replay Date and the Convert to Video prior to updating.

With more than 13.8 million copies sold, Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of the best-selling Nintendo Switch games ever, only behind Super Mario Odyssey (14.44 million) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (16.69 million).

For more on the Smash Bros. series, you can check out GameSpot’s feature, “Super Smash Bros. At 20 — Celebrating Two Decades Of Punching Pikachu.”

To mark the 10th anniversary of Sucker Punch’s action game Infamous, the studio shared a number of fascinating behind-the-scenes secrets and insight from the game’s development.

In a Twitter thread, Sucker Punch revealed all manner of things, including how the game at one point had motorcycle parkour (see in action in the GIF below), that it had the working title True Hero, and that the team wasn’t sure if they would legally be allowed to call it Infamous so they created a second trailer with a different title for E3 2007 where the game was officially unveiled for the first time.

Sucker Punch also shared that, earlier on in development you could change into civilian clothing in phone booths throughout the city and that a feature where the player could use super-powers to create new types of shops in the city to keep inhabitants happy.

Sucker Punch also toyed with the idea of adding “light” character customizatin to allow players to change things like clothing and hair and considered adding the ability to basically become super-Tony Hawk and skate through the city by riding an invisible energy field.

These are just some of the cool takeaways from the Twitter thread–you can see them all here.

Infamous was released in 2009, and it was followed up with Infamous 2 in 2011 and the standalone game Infamous: Festival of Blood that year. The franchise moved to PlayStation 4 in 2014 with Infamous: Second Son. The standalone game Infamous: First Light was also released in 2014.

Game development is an iterative process; things change all the time, and it’s fascinating to see how Infamous changed over the course of its development. This information is only just coming out now, 10+ years after the game’s release, and that might be due in part to the industry’s culture of secrecy.

Sucker Punch’s new game is the samurai action game Ghosts of Tsushima. The title is in development for PlayStation 4 but no release date has been announced.