Ubi Soft Signs Criterion Studios

Best known for publishing games like POD and Rayman here in the US, Ubi Soft is getting into 3-D strategy as the first step in a publishing agreement with UK-based Criterion Studios. As of tomorrow, Ubi Soft will be responsible for publishing Criterion titles in the global market (except in Japan).

Sub Culture, the first game to be released under the agreement, takes place in a miniature underwater 3-D strategy adventure world where players must navigate a single-person submarine through the waterways to restore peace between two battling tribes and to save them all from subterranean pollution.

Criterion Studios is probably best known on this side of the Atlantic as the developer of last year's hit Scorched Earth and of the RenderWare real-time 3-D graphics development library.

The PC CD-ROM is scheduled for a fall release. The title features real-time 3-D graphics, underwater special effects, a physics-based dynamics model, and story driven gameplay.