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GRAW and Splinter Cell: Double Agent infiltrate Games on Demand

by Xav de Matos { Sep 3rd 2009 at 10:39AM }

Grab your night-vision goggles and strap on your Kevlar, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Splinter Cell: Double Agent have been added to Xbox Live's Games on Demand service. While GRAW is available in nearly all Xbox Live regions, Splinter Cell: Double Agent is only available to (most) European Xbox Live users. Prices vary by region, but we're confident in saying that no matter where you live, the asking price is probably too high for games that launched in 2006.

Steamy Ghost Recon savings, 50% off the Complete Pack

by Dustin Burg { Feb 7th 2009 at 8:30AM }

This is not a drill. Keep your head low, your wallets open and your Steam account information at the ready, because this is an official weekend deal alert: The Ghost Recon Complete Pack is 50% off through Steam.

For only $19.99 or roughly the cost of Tom Clancy's Fighter Wing guide, you can be the proud owner of all five PC versions of the Ghost Recon series including the original, Island Thunder, Desert Siege, GRAW and the latest installment, GRAW2. The money savings will expire prior to Monday, so make your "should I buy?" or "should I pass" decision in a timely manner.

Please, try to keep an orderly line so the cashier can smoothly operate the checkout lane.

Russian-Georgia conflict predicted by Ghost Recon

by Ross Miller { Aug 14th 2008 at 4:00AM }

Tom Clancy might be this generation's Nostradamus. Although off by about three months, the first level in 2001's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon is eerily familiar to the past week's events, where Russia and South Ossetian rebels have been fighting with Georgia. Unlike Ghost Recon, however, there has been no signs of US special forces armed with technologically advanced firepower and controlled by a mysterious "player."

Scholars are already sifting through The Great Texts in anticipation of any potential conflicts in 2014 Mexico City.

[Via Game Politics]

Rumor: Next Halo is 'darker, grittier,' tactical and without Master Chief

by Ross Miller { Jul 13th 2008 at 11:30PM }

What's this? More rumors about another Halo? The latest Gamespot Rumor Control has a source that claims the next Halo title will be tactical, "a cross between Ghost Recon and Gears of War" and will be announced sometime this year (maybe tomorrow?). According to the source, the "darker, grittier" iteration is more akin to Neil Blomkamp's shorts. Oh yeah, and that Master Chief guy is nowhere to be found.

In terms of gameplay, you can reportedly play as an entire squad (huh?) in the entire campaign, and there will be online co-op. The mention of Ghost Recon is particularly interesting, as a former creative director from G.R.A.W. developer Red Storm joined Bungie in August 2007. Gamespot seems confident with their source, and that would make for quite a big E3 announcement.

End War & Splinter Cell sites redirect to Ghost Recon, countdown to April 2 appears [Update]

by Xav de Matos { Mar 28th 2008 at 6:00PM }

Update: At the time of this story the Rainbow Six website wasn't acting properly, however it has been reported that it too is pointing to the Ghost Recon website via a similar overlay. This story has been updated to include the Rainbow Six site.

In the early hours of the day this morning one of our readers helped us spot a strange overlay on the official Ghost Recon website. Visitors of the site were treated to a smoking dossier (which might be a black box after all) but nothing could be done other than close off the overlay and scratch your head.

Today, both the End War, Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six sites have received similar flash-based marketing treatments. Each site includes an overlay of smoking items that appear to be from a wreckage which, when clicked, redirects visitors to the official Ghost Recon website -- home of the original mystery.

While it could all end there, today the Ghost Recon site updated with new information and a mysterious countdown timer.

Continued →

Ghost Recon's smoking file teases us

by Xav de Matos { Mar 27th 2008 at 11:00PM }

One of our eagle-eyed readers tipped us off to an interesting development on the official Ghost Recon site. Users are treated to a large smoking file flash overlay when the site is loaded up. It appears that some information still marks the burning folder but as it stands the entire thing is a mystery. With the recent release of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the ownership agreement with Tom Clancy and the continued domination of Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on Xbox Live (proving gamers want more than just Halo 3) is it possible this new smoking file could contain a gun? A gun called Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3?

[Thanks, Jbarnum]

Video: GRAW 2 co-op DLC

by Richard Mitchell { Jan 30th 2008 at 1:00PM }

Hey, kids! Still playing that Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 game? Do you feel like you need something new? Maybe you saw the fancy, newfangled Co-op Collection content pack that was released yesterday, and maybe you found yourself wondering if it was worth 800 MS Points. You thought to yourself, "that's a lot of scratch," perhaps. Well, as usual, we're here to help. Ubisoft released a little teaser video that shows off all the levels available in the new content pack. The co-op campaign is comprised of 5 missions from previous Ghost Recon titles (3 from Ghost Recon, 2 from Ghost Recon: Island Thunder). The pack also includes four new adversarial maps, two of which are remakes of old favorites (Castle and Prison). Check out the video and see if it's worth opening your wallet.

New GRAW 2 DLC offers new maps, missions, weapons

by Christopher Grant { Jan 29th 2008 at 10:45PM }

For those of you still grooving on GRAW 2, grab a buddy and download today's 800 point ($10) "Co-op Collection," a DLC package for Xbox 360 featuring nine new maps (seven inspired from preview Ghost Recon games, two all new) and five co-op campaign missions that pick up where GRAW 2 left off.

If you're too cheap to even consider getting in on the action (feel free to leave your usual diatribe about why additional maps and modes should be on the retail disc in the comments), then Ubisoft has something just for you: a totally freetastic "more guns pack" that locks and loads seven new gats into the single player quick mission mode. Be honest, are you going to drop the points or hold out for a potential future pricedrop that may or may not ever happen? ... Yeah, us too.

[Via X3F]

GRAW silently released to public, footage captured

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 24th 2007 at 7:00PM }

Wait. This game came out?

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 silently released to PSP systems, with no advertising and no coverage. Perhaps Ubisoft was too afraid to send review copies? (As of writing, there are no published online reviews of the game.)

Without the help of critics, we can only look to you, our readers, for sage advice on this game. PSP GadgetZ has once again captured some of the first footage of the game. Does it still look like a N64 game to you?

GRAW developer: PS3 not harder to code for than 360

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Aug 17th 2007 at 5:15PM }

Despite the steady hiss of internet pundits that suggests otherwise, Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter development team doesn't believe that it's harder to code games for the PlayStation 3 compared to the Xbox 360. Yann Le Tensorer, who co-created the graphics engine powering GRAW and the upcoming Beowulf, re-ckons that any uphill development battles are to blame on the learning curve associated with newer hardware. "It's wrong to say it's harder to code on the PlayStation 3, it's just something that needs to be learnt," he told GamesIndustry.Biz. He goes on to stun the less observant by pointing out that "it's just a different console."

Le Tensorer isn't the first to comment on the hardware's perceived difficulty. In June, Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi engaged in less subtle commentary by simply telling complaining PS3 developers to "get out of the ring." The GRAW developer goes on to state, "Developers might says [sic] it's harder because it just takes time to understand the technology, we're still early in the lifecycle."

In other words, it is tougher to program for the system, but only while you're still learning the technological ropes. It seems a fair explanation for the publisher's poorly received Splinter Cell: Double Agent port and EA's lack of frames in Madden NFL 08 -- at least from a developer's point of view. Consumers may feel otherwise as they await the PS3 arrival of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2.

GamerTV reveals foggy footage of GRAW 2

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 11th 2007 at 8:00PM }

The N64 was home to a ton of brilliant classics, but it was notorious for one crucial flaw ... fog, and lots of it. Having just watched footage of the PSP version of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, we'll admit we haven't seen fog this bad since the days of Superman 64.

Of course, we jest (somewhat). Let's hope the graphics are indicative of the way this game plays.

[Via PlayStation]

Ubisoft's Ghost Recon team developing Beowulf game

by Ludwig Kietzmann { May 23rd 2007 at 10:15AM }

Let's face it, the only way an epic English poem is going to make the jump to video game form is if there's a movie adaptation in-between. Beowulf is quite the lucky (or unlucky, depending on your level of cynicism) piece of literature then, as Ubisoft has announced the development of a game based on the upcoming Robert Zemeckis film of the same name. MCV notes that the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter team is behind the poetic adaptation of the poetic adaptation, with the voice talents of Beowulf stars Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins expected to feature.

Speaking at the ongoing Ubidays conference in Paris, Ubisoft Europe chief, Alain Tascan, promised that Beowulf would "reinvent the hack and slash genre." Perhaps the publisher plans switch things up, defy convention and craft a slash and then hack game instead? Let's aim for another King Kong and not another TMNT, shall we?

PS3's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 delayed again

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 21st 2007 at 4:28PM }

Following an announced delay back in January, it looks like the PS3 version of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 is being moved again from June to a (tentative) August release. The Xbox 360 version of GRAW 2 released in March. No explanation is given for the delay.

It's no secret now that Ubisoft has not been happy with the PS3's sales. The delay doesn't mean they are adding extra content -- although given the extra time sitting around it'd be nice. All PS3 owners can do now is hope this game does eventually come out and, with any luck, won't just be canceled like the PS3 version of THQ's Saints Row.

[Via PS3Fanboy]

GRAW 2 gets 'Throwback Pack' for $10

by Justin McElroy { May 9th 2007 at 9:05AM }

We imagine it's not uncommon for soldiers to long for the battlefields of their youth, the place where they grew up and became part of a tightly-knit fighting force. Despite the adage, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 players feeling those pangs can actually go home again, thanks to the 800-point ($10) "Throwback Pack" which whisks them from their modern battleground of Mexico on a nostalgic trip to Kazakhstan, the Korean Peninsula and ... well, other parts of Mexico.

There are seven "remastered" Ghost Recon maps in the pack, which is available now. That's all the information we get from the blade description but IGN says that they're drawn from Ghost Recon 2, GR 2: Summit Strike and GRAW 1. So, how about it GRAW fans? Is a trip down Memory Lane and a fresh hit of tactical action worth a ten spot?

Ubisoft fourth quarter sales pushed up by warfighters, turtles

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Apr 27th 2007 at 4:04PM }

Leading to the obvious conclusion: Ubisoft needs to somehow combine the gritty realism of the Tom Clancy franchise with the anthropomorphic antics of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Politically charged yet irresistibly adorable properties like Tom Clancy's Splinter Shell and Tom Clancy's The War on Terrapins are sure to tap into hitherto untapped fountains of marketability and financial prosperity. Not that Ubisoft is currently in dire need of money, mind you. Gamasutra's detailing of L'Ubi's most recent financial report suggests that the publisher is already exceeding analyst expectations by exchanging one type of green for another.

The company's fourth quarter sales saw an increase of 37% to $267.5 million, largely instigated by the one million unit success of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 on Xbox 360, as well as the TMNT film-based game which dragged in 1.1 million units in its eight platform-wide net. Sales for the full 2006/2007 fiscal year stand at $923.4 million following a jump of 24.4%, with earlier titles such as Red Steel, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas and Petz being key contributors.

Ubisoft expects profitability to increase further in the coming year by supporting new-gen consoles and expanding their presence in "the casual market on the Wii and Nintendo DS systems." Oh! We've yet to add casual games into our bubbling cauldron of cross-franchise success! So, that'll be Tom Clancy's Krang Age, then?