“We don’t take the decision to retire services for older Ubisoft games lightly, and our teams are currently assessing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games’ online services are decommissioned on September 1st, 2022,” Ubisoft told GamesRadar+ in a statement. 

“We are also working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts, so players will be fully informed about the removal of online services at the point of purchase as well as via our support article where we shared the news,” the company continued. 

“Only DLCs and online features will be affected by the upcoming decommissioning,” Ubisoft elaborates. “Current owners of those games will still be able to access, play or redownload them. Our teams are working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts and are also assessing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games’ online services are decommissioned on September 1st, 2022.”

Original: Multiple Ubisoft games on Steam have either been delisted, or will be delisted come September.

Just earlier today on July 11, social media users reported that Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD would be removed from Steam later this year. A new notice on Steam stated that the game would be entirely delisted from the storefront on September 1, and would no longer be available to purchase or play after this date.

Now, the same thing appears to be happening to multiple other Ubisoft games. Both Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (opens in new tab) and Splinter Cell Blacklist (opens in new tab) have both been amended with the same tag on Steam, notifying players that their Deluxe editions and all corresponding DLC will be delisted on September 1.

In fact, some Ubisoft games have already been delisted from Steam. Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic (opens in new tab) and Space Junkies (opens in new tab) have been entirely taken down from the PC storefront, with a notice reading “At the request of the publisher, Space Junkies/Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic is no longer available for sale on Steam.”

Right now, there’s zero information as to why these five games in total are being delisted on Steam. However, the notices for Space Junkies and Silent Hunter 5 make it clear that it’s Ubisoft themselves, and not another third party, that are behind the delistings. We’ve reached out to Ubisoft for comment, and will update this article with any further information received. 

Head over to our new games 2022 guide for a complete look at what Ubisoft and every other developer has on the horizon for the near future. 

The post Ubisoft confirms only DLC and online features will be affected by Steam delistings appeared first on Game News.

“We don’t take the decision to retire services for older Ubisoft games lightly, and our teams are currently assessing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games’ online services are decommissioned on September 1st, 2022,” Ubisoft told GamesRadar+ in a statement. 

“We are also working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts, so players will be fully informed about the removal of online services at the point of purchase as well as via our support article where we shared the news,” the company continued. 

“Only DLCs and online features will be affected by the upcoming decommissioning,” Ubisoft elaborates. “Current owners of those games will still be able to access, play or redownload them. Our teams are working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts and are also assessing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games’ online services are decommissioned on September 1st, 2022.”

Original: Multiple Ubisoft games on Steam have either been delisted, or will be delisted come September.

Just earlier today on July 11, social media users reported that Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD would be removed from Steam later this year. A new notice on Steam stated that the game would be entirely delisted from the storefront on September 1, and would no longer be available to purchase or play after this date.

Now, the same thing appears to be happening to multiple other Ubisoft games. Both Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (opens in new tab) and Splinter Cell Blacklist (opens in new tab) have both been amended with the same tag on Steam, notifying players that their Deluxe editions and all corresponding DLC will be delisted on September 1.

In fact, some Ubisoft games have already been delisted from Steam. Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic (opens in new tab) and Space Junkies (opens in new tab) have been entirely taken down from the PC storefront, with a notice reading “At the request of the publisher, Space Junkies/Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic is no longer available for sale on Steam.”

Right now, there’s zero information as to why these five games in total are being delisted on Steam. However, the notices for Space Junkies and Silent Hunter 5 make it clear that it’s Ubisoft themselves, and not another third party, that are behind the delistings. We’ve reached out to Ubisoft for comment, and will update this article with any further information received. 

Head over to our new games 2022 guide for a complete look at what Ubisoft and every other developer has on the horizon for the near future. 

The post Ubisoft confirms only DLC and online features will be affected by Steam delistings appeared first on Game News.

The origins

Mechner was still at college when Karateka, his first solo hit, clocked up half-a-million sales on the Apple II system. An itch to write screenplays almost deprived us of a gaming encore, but with a little nudging and a job offer from publisher Brøderbund, Prince Of Persia leapt into elegant life. In slow motion. Over a period of four years.

The Persian theme stemmed from a determination to do something with games that hadn’t already been done to death as early as 1985. As sole designer, programmer and animator, Mechner had the luxury of experimentation. That was how rotoscoping came into it – animation traced from real human movement, way ahead of the days of full motion capture, using only handheld footage of his brother David running and jumping around a car park dressed all in white. And not even an ancient Persian car park. The nerve!

The legend

While the one-on-one match-ups and princess rescue plan were carry-overs from Karateka, Prince Of Persia also pushed hard on the increasingly decrepit Apple II hardware. It looked stunning, played like an opulent desert dream, and even managed to imbue its farty 8-bit tunes with an Eastern vibe. Of course, with the Apple II being about as much use to us Brits as a jug of iced tea and a fanny pack, the Prince might have passed us by entirely if his adventure hadn’t travelled the world in ports from PC and Mac to Mega-CD and TurboDuo.

Finally, here was a hero able to do everything we could do and more. But even as the leaps and ledge-grabs made us feel like high-performance athletes and the fencing turned us into swashbuckling action stars, the realistic inertia ensured that these gauntlets of collapsing floors, gnashing steel jaws and pits of spiky murderousness never lost their punch. And always ticking down was a 60-minute deadline for vengeance on the Vizier, every fatal slip resetting the level but not the timer. Harsh.

The legacy

We can look back on Prince Of Persia as a triple threat: strong enough to succeed on its own merits, strong enough in its core concepts to spark off a series, and strong enough in its innovations to galvanise others. Cinematic platformers from Another World through to Deadlight can trace core mechanics back to this death-dodging dungeon run.

Buoyed by its hero’s agility, POP ran fast and free to high esteem, a graceful Greyhound that made other ’80s platformers look like lumbering bulldogs. And without Ubisoft Montreal’s later experience in reinventing the Prince as a wall-scaling, mob-brawling ninja, a certain Creed may never have found a foothold at the same studio.

They’re different enough – that time-probing conspiracy and this time-focused fantasy – that the Prince and Assassin sharing the shelves seems an eventual inevitability. And the rich track record of our royal dynamo means we welcome that day with open arms.

Click here (opens in new tab) for more excellent GamesMaster articles. 

The post Remembering the Prince of Parkour (and Persia) appeared first on Game News.