beyond-good-and-evil-2 posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Gamersyde told Beyond Good and Evil 2 is 'on hold' - Ubisoft won't comment

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 26th 2009 at 9:29AM }

Bad news for you Jade and Uncle Pey'J fans out there: Gamersyde was apparently told last week at GamesCom that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is currently in the freezer with no thaw date. Staff writer Colin Solal Cardo tweeted that he received "confirmation" from Ubisoft that the title was "on hold for now." Joystiq's attempts to receive comment from Ubisoft have been met by either silence or a statement that the company will not comment on "rumors and speculation." Well, if no one at Ubisoft told Mr. Cardo that the game was "on hold for now" then why not say as much?

Ubisoft's noncommittal aloofness doesn't end there: a couple months ago the company's North American president didn't seem to recognize a sequel was in production; Ubisoft has yet to simply confirm active production of the game it chose to close out its Ubidays 2008 event with. So, Ubisoft gets fans riled up and now won't even offer a simple update on the status of the game's development. Classy!

Ubisoft NA prez missed memo that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is totally confirmed

by Randy Nelson { Jul 23rd 2009 at 7:45PM }

Ubisoft North America president Laurent Detoc admits that the publisher is "working on some some Beyond Good and Evil stuff," but tells IndustryGamers that the decision on "whether there's going to be a new game or not" is "something for the future."

Wait a second. Shouldn't that have been "something from the past" ... ?

Series creator Michel Ancel has flat-out talked about the sequel and some of his plans for it. More importantly, Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot himself debuted the game to the world's gaming press at last year's international Ubidays event -- which was also streamed live worldwide via the web, no less. (Oh, and Guillemot also spoke more about it later, as well.)

Mr. Detoc, if you're reading this, here's a handy link you can click before your next interview -- which is almost certain to include more questions about Beyond Good & Evil 2 (a.k.a. that game your company is so making).

Gallery: Beyond Good & Evil 2

Beyond Good & Evil 2 likely skipping E3

by Richard Mitchell { May 14th 2009 at 12:45PM }

According to UGO, it looks like Beyond Good & Evil 2: Pey'j and Jade's Bogus Journey (working title*) will not be appearing at E3. When booking E3 appointments, UGO was told by Ubisoft, "We're not doing any BG&E stuff at E3." Furthermore, Ubisoft even said not to expect a showing of the game during its press conference.

So, there you go, don't expect any BG&E 2 news or hands-on sessions. Rest assured though, if we hear anything different when we touch down in LA, we'll be clawing our way to the front of the line for a chance to play. Not because we're dying to play it. No, we'll do it for you.

[Via VG247]

*By "working title" we mean "completely fabricated title."

Rumor: Beyond Good & Evil 2 footage leaked and lovely

by Randy Nelson { May 8th 2009 at 6:30PM }

Video of what appears to be Beyond Good & Evil 2 gameplay (or a target rendering of such) has made its way online via Kotaku. The one minute clip depicts a character who either is -- or looks incredibly like -- series heroine Jade escaping pursuers in a crowded marketplace using parkour moves a la Mirror's Edge's Faith.

Of course, this could very well be an elaborate -- and well-executed -- fan project and the character might not be Jade at all, but she certainly appears to reflect the updated character design seen in the all-too-short teaser for the game Ubisoft released last year. Oh, and Maybe-Jade, is that a sword on your back?

Perhaps someone in France -- Ubisoft's home turf, and where the site Kotaku says the video originated is located -- just had to slip this out oh-so-very-close to E3. If it is BG&E 2 and is actual gameplay, then wow. If someone's toying with our emotions? Totally. Not. Funny.

Ancel says 9/11 influenced Beyond Good & Evil

by Ben Gilbert { Apr 4th 2009 at 12:30PM }

Thanks to the fine French-speaking folks at Eurogamer France, Eurogamer has a more thorough translation of Michel Ancel's interview regarding his upcoming game for Ubisoft, Beyond Good & Evil 2. According to their translation, Ancel reveals inspiration in "the theme of September 11 - the CNN show with army messages and the fear climate," among other, totally different things, like Hayao Miyazaki for instance.

He also revealed that this sequel will be a direct continuation of the story from the original BG&E, saying, "The story continues and we'll react on important events of the first." We've still got no good information on platforms or release date but hopefully the upcoming re-embiggened E3 Expo will shed some light on the game. "Players who like the first should like the second," Ancel left the interviewer with. We're keeping hope alive.

[Via GamePolitics]

Gallery: Beyond Good & Evil 2

Beyond Good & Evil 2 to be bigger, better ... more badass?

by Ben Gilbert { Apr 3rd 2009 at 10:18AM }

Developer Michel Ancel allegedly told All-Gamers.fr that Beyond Good & Evil 2 would "be bigger, more immersive and include more investigations," directly challenging ~~Cliffy B~~ Young Clifford for the "Greatest Self-Promoter" award. In a video interview conducted last week, Ancel (again, allegedly -- all this stuff's in French!) talked about the current development process for BG&E2 (still in pre-production), the return of the first game's characters ("lots" will be returning), and the problems his development team had with the first game (PS2 "didn't live up to their expectations").

Confirming what we've heard before about the sequel, Ancel also apparently notes that the gameplay will be different this time around, as the team's looking for ways to distinguish it from the original. Though he didn't go into more detail (at least, as far as we know) regarding controls, we can't help but worry after what Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said last year. Interestingly, during the interview, the developer remained cagey regarding the possibility of a Wii version, though he apparently didn't deny the possibility of a port in the future.

French-speaking Joystiq readers should feel free to confirm or deny Mr. Ancel's interview statements in the comment section below.

Gallery: Beyond Good & Evil 2

[Via Gamezine.co.uk. Thanks, Mr. V!]

Ubisoft programmer lists 'Rabbids Go Home' on (raving) resume

by JC Fletcher { Feb 19th 2009 at 9:20AM }

Back in October, a trademark appeared in the US trademark database for a piece of "game software" called Rabbids Go Home. According to the résumé of programmer Julien Delezenne, it's -- surprise! -- a Wii game from Ubisoft. Apparently, it's also still in the works, at least as of whenever this document was compiled: Delezenne has been working on it from "November 2007 - Present."

Delezenne describes his duties on the title as relating to the "Engine and Tools on the LyN technology ... " Now here's where it gets a bit interesting. He said that he works on that technology "for Rabbids Go Home (Wii) and Beyond Good & Evil 2 (360/PS3)." Shared technology between a super-silly Wii minigame sequel and the high-profile 360/PS3 adventure title? It's promising for the state of Ubisoft's budgets, but also kind of hilarious.

Born for Wii: Beyond Good & Evil

by Wesley Fenlon { Jul 8th 2008 at 10:15AM }

When Friedrich Nietzsche wrote his famous philosophical work Beyond Good and Evil in the late 19th century, odds are he didn't think that it would be a source of inspiration for video games over a century later. Namco proved him wrong with their trilogy of Xenosaga RPGs, each of which had a subtitle referencing a Nietzsche work (such as "Jenseits von Gut und Böse"). But it's another wannabe trilogy that owes its moniker to Nietzsche that's up for recognition.

Beyond Good & Evil was published at the height of the Christmas rush in December 2003, and despite its war-on-all-fronts release on the GameCube, PS2, Xbox, and PC, it simply failed to sell. The game received widespread critical acclaim, but competition from other games caused it to be given a jarring price drop mere weeks after its release. Even so, those in the know played Beyond Good & Evil and saw it for what it was -- a fantastic adventure with a unique world and an appealing cast of heroes. And though it took four years, Ubisoft finally gave a sequel the green light -- so it's time to show the original game some much-deserved love.

Gallery: Born for Wii: Beyond Good & Evil

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Get all the Ubidays 08 content at Big Download

by Xav de Matos { May 30th 2008 at 3:30PM }

By now you've undoubtedly seen the trailers for Beyond Good & Evil 2, Prince of Persia and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., but more than likely you've only witnessed the Ubisoft library in standard def blurriness. Well our little brother site , Big Download has you covered with high-def downloads for all of Ubisoft's upcoming games.

Head over to Big Download now, or click on each title below to bring you to its respective download page.

Beyond Good & Evil 2
Teaser

Prince of Persia
Teaser
Speed Drawing (Prince)
Speed Drawing (Elika, the Prince's new ally)

Shaun White Snowboarding
Intro
Trailer

Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
Trailer

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Trailer

Beyond Good & Evil 2 'done for the new generation'

by Ludwig Kietzmann { May 29th 2008 at 7:00PM }

Did the long-awaited dream suddenly become an inescapable nightmare? Speaking to Next Generation, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot describes the recently announced Beyond Good & Evil sequel as a game done "for the new generation that's come into videogames." That's not you or me, folks, that's the person over there doing yoga on a Wii balance board. Yves notes that the game will be made "more accessible," a supposed improvement from a title that was "probably a little too difficult for the general gamers at that time."

Says Guillemot: "We had a different audience at that time. We had more core gamers than casual gamers than we have today." Let's not be dense about this -- Beyond Good & Evil was a beloved, abysmal commercial failure that caused the industry to bust a gut whenever a continuation was mentioned. We can hardly begrudge Ubisoft for wanting loads of people to actually buy it this time around. However, it's is a very fine line to walk, and the desires of core and casual gamers don't necessarily agree. Guillemot himself admits that "so many customers were extremely happy with the game," and we can only hope that he doesn't see Fit to pull their pants down just because it'll make the casuals giggle.

For now, we'll have to trust in series (OMG it's a series now!) creator, Michel Ancel, being able to deliver the game as he envisions it. Heck, the man's paid his dues in Rabbids by now, hasn't he? Ubisoft owes him.

Gallery: Beyond Good & Evil 2

Where to find Beyond Good & Evil

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 29th 2008 at 12:59PM }

We realize that with yesterday's announcement of "Beyond Good & Evil 2," some folks may have tragically missed out on the first entry in the series. We've put together a quick list of places where those not familiar to the series can get the game and meet up with Jade, Pey'j and -- our favorite personal assistant -- Segundo.

Steam (PC) -- $10
GameTap (PC) -- $1 for the first month, $10 after that.
GameFly (Xbox, PS2 and Gamecube) -- Various rental plan prices, but currently copies are subject to availability.
GameStop -- Currently, we can only find the somewhat dodgy PS2 version available online for $8. Check your local shop and you may get very lucky.

Those who find a GameCube version can rely on the Wii's backwards compatibility to play the game, and PS3 owners can pop in the PS2 game if their systems support BC. The Xbox 360 currently does not offer backwards compatibility for the Xbox version of BG&E. We're sure there are more corners of the internet to find Jade & Co., but it appears that $10 is what you're likely to pay.

Download the Ubidays 2008 trailers here

by Ross Miller { May 29th 2008 at 10:30AM }

If you're interested in owning an HD copy of the Beyond Good & Evil 2 teaser trailer (and really, who isn't?), our file sharing friends at BigDownload (Update: and GameDaily) are offering all the HD trailers from yesterday's Ubidays 2008 event as, erm, big downloads. Check out all the trailers below, including two Prince of Persia speed sketches of the Prince and Elika (here's a game: count the number of times the artist changes brush settings).

Beyond Good & Evil 2 teaser (217 MB)
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway trailer (111 MB)
Prince of Persia teaser (62 MB)
Prince of Persia speed drawing: Prince (9.4 MB)
Prince of Persia speed drawing: Elika (13 MB)
Raving Rabbids TV Party gameplay trailer (59 MB)
Raving Rabbids TV Party teaser (55 MB)
Tom Clancy's EndWar trailer (111 MB)
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. trailer (181 MB)
Shaun White Snowboarding intro (150 MB)
Shaun White Snowboarding trailer (110 MB)
Soul Calibur IV Yoda gameplay trailer (25 MB)
Soul Calibur IV Darth Vader gameplay trailer (31 MB)
Soul Calibur IV cinematical trailer (106 MB)

Rabbids, Persian Princes and Beyond Good & Evil 2? Check out all our coverage (and a bountiful amount of screenshots) from Ubisoft's Ubidays 2008 event.

Ubidays 2008 screenshot roundup

by Ross Miller { May 28th 2008 at 5:00PM }

More rabbids! More abso-freaking-lutely gorgeous new Prince of Persia screens! More Beyond Good & Evil! There's been a lot of great eye candy coming out of Ubisoft's Ubidays 2008 Event. Check out all the new screenshots below (also after the break).

Gallery: Prince of Persia (2008)

Gallery: Beyond Good & Evil 2

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Beyond Good & Evil 2 announced

by Majed Athab { May 28th 2008 at 3:13PM }

Click for high-resolution image.

Saving the very best for last at Ubidays 2008, CEO Yves Guillemot had a final note to reveal. That would be Beyond Good and Evil 2. A platform hasn't been announced yet, but we're hoping it comes our way. It just looks absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you check out Joystiq's gallery below and watch out for the debut trailer that's up at Joystiq.

Gallery: Beyond Good & Evil 2

Beyond Good & Evil 2 revealed [Update]

by Xav de Matos { May 28th 2008 at 3:00PM }

At the end of the Ubidays 2008 conference today, CEO Yves Guillemot left the audience stunned with a final teaser--Michel Ancel's Beyond Good & Evil 2. We've heard rumblings of BG&E2's development in the past and Ubisoft has finally come clean on the sequel to the critically acclaimed title.

We will have the official teaser trailer, showing off the ragged Uncle Pey'j and an older Jade, as soon as its mad available.

Update: Check out the teaser trailer starring everyone's favorite hog, Uncle Pey'j and a glimpse at an older Jade after the break.

Gallery: Beyond Good & Evil 2

[via Joystiq]

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