Ubisoft promises seven for Wii launch

Blazing Angels, Far Cry, Open Season, and more join Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids as day-one games for Nintendo's console.

"J'aime le Wii-Wii!"

In mid-July, one unnamed hedge fund manager told TheStreet.com that there was one publisher well prepared to reap success from the launch of the Nintendo Wii. Citing the high-profile game Red Steel, the source said only Ubisoft correctly tapped into the crowd-pleasing potential of the Wii, while other publishers were caught flat-footed by the console's successful stint at E3 2006.

Apparently the source's comment was an understatement. Ubisoft today revealed exactly how prepared it was for the Wii's launch--the publisher has seven launch titles prepped for the Wii's first day in stores. Previously, Ubisoft only revealed that Red Steel and Rayman Raving Rabbids would be available at launch. In comparison, the most prolific publisher for the Xbox 360's launch was Electronic Arts, who boasted five games.

"Media and analysts agree that Ubisoft has the greatest potential for reward with the new console's launch because we believed in it from the beginning," said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America.

The five new titles should sound familiar to many gamers. Blazing Angels lands on the Wii after battling it out on the Xbox 360, Xbox, and the PC earlier this year. A game based on the Far Cry franchise will allow Wii owners to control hero Jack Carver with the Wii-mote. Also confirmed was a Wii version of Open Season, based on the movie of the same name, which also hits several other platforms. Ubi will also bring over a pair of racers--Monster 4X4: World Circuit (previously released on the Xbox) and GT Pro Series, from the developers of the GT Advance series.

None of the new games have been rated or priced. Ubisoft also revealed that it has many more titles scheduled for release on the Wii in 2007.

223 Comments

  • Wolverine77

    Posted Sep 17, 2006 7:59 pm PT

    "I don't see how a regular gamer is going to have to choose between Mario Galaxy, Far Cry, Metroid Prime 3, Red Steel, Elebits, Blazing Angles, Zelda Twilight Princess and the many others coming out at launch. " uhh, dude, cross out mario galaxy and metroid first of all. they arent till 07. besides zelda, what else is there? Besides gimmicks and remakes in your list?

    im not singin praises to ubisoft until they make new games for the wii that work well. red steel is still shaky, rayman might be good, and the rest are either ports or licenced junk. They are getting a lot out for the little kids though, so they will still make money.

  • unfreak-believ

    Posted Sep 16, 2006 6:56 pm PT

    To zero52: I guess it will be another remake. Look how Instincts turned out compared to Evolutions, not that either are bad.

    Wow. Seven games. GO UBISOFT!!! This is indeed going to help the Wii sell very well, since everyone knows Ubisoft is the best third-party publisher (and developer) out there.

  • last2no

    Posted Aug 9, 2006 5:42 pm PT

    I think ubisofts new announcement is gonna help the wii sell very well also people going for the ps3 cant even realise that sony were that intimidated by the wii that they copied the wiis motion sensing ability, another awesome thing is farcry on the wii think how cool it would be to stab someone with the wii remote

  • ZERO52

    Posted Aug 9, 2006 2:24 pm PT

    Farcry? is it going to be another remake or will it be a hole new game.

    if its a completly new game im in!
    otherwise this is good for the wii now its more likely that the other 3rd party compenies will come 2.l

  • TensiNothing

    Posted Aug 9, 2006 1:54 am PT

    ""Wii Seven" .....that must also mean the age that most people will be that will be getting a wii the first day"

    and you couldn't make a good joke if your life depended on it...

    "With Ubisoft bringing so much support to the Wii I can only dream of the possibilities: Rainbow Six franchise, Ghost Recon franchise, Splinter Cell franchise and amazingly the Prince of Persia franchise. Holy Crap!!"

    A Rainbow Six title on the Wii would be awesome, just like a Ghost Recon game..

  • cal_hooper

    Posted Aug 8, 2006 5:36 am PT

    Go Ubisoft! Why isn't anyone else following their example?! Rock on, Wii like it!

  • aoitakuma

    Posted Aug 7, 2006 7:10 pm PT

    With Ubisoft bringing so much support to the Wii I can only dream of the possibilities: Rainbow Six franchise, Ghost Recon franchise, Splinter Cell franchise and amazingly the Prince of Persia franchise. Holy Crap!!

  • NFunspoiler

    Posted Aug 6, 2006 2:38 pm PT

    Wow 7 games. I think that Ubisoft is pushing too many games into the launch of the Wii. They should spread them out to fill the game drought after the launch that consoles usually go through. Also it would probably make the game better at the same time. I don't see how a regular gamer is going to have to choose between Mario Galaxy, Far Cry, Metroid Prime 3, Red Steel, Elebits, Blazing Angles, Zelda Twilight Princess and the many others coming out at launch.

  • jingwa

    Posted Aug 5, 2006 1:11 am PT

    When people buy a Wii they will probably want to pick up a few games, specially since the console will be cheap as chips, ubisoft will certainly take its share of the profits on that day. Other developers arent interested in something new and diferent because it costs money to develop new concepts, they prefer the same old same old with minor improvements, no creative thought required or money spent on people to think new stuff up.

    Take prey for example, diferent style of fps, with some new creative concepts...im sure they would of prefered a 10/10 but hey getting creative normally doesnt mean u get it right the 1st time does it, so u got to expend some mula to get that 10/10, which developers dont seem to interested in, 8/10 seems to make them happy and thats all there going for these days it seems.

    At the end of the day publishers go oh look its the Wii, um we have to get creative, that costs money...lets let someone else figure it out 1st and then copy their idea and make it better. take E3 being downsized, all about money, nothing else, the gamers were put last even though we make them that money there being so stingy about.

    Ubisoft will make some good sales on the Wii's launch and will already have a lot of experience under there belt with developing games on the Wii, so anything after should be nothing less then good, were as everyone else will be going, now thats a great idea on how to use the WIi controller...howd they do that? wish we had of spent more money on Wii development, now ubisoft will be raking in the cash. Ubisoft atleast as the inteligence to see were some good money is to be made and the Wii has some golden oportunities to make some developers wallets grow extra thick.

  • igl

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 5:35 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • ssjtrunks6

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 5:12 pm PT

    "Wii Seven" .....that must also mean the age that most people will be that will be getting a wii the first day

  • OfficialBed

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 4:14 pm PT

    wow, i never would of thought that they would of brought farcry to the wii...all these games seems pretty cool in my books

  • Bear-Max

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 3:34 pm PT

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Quote from classic_rocker:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    im sorry but the caption for the pic is so funny!lol it reads "j'aime le WII-WII!" (i took french) it means i love the WII-WII! lol funny gs (ahh its fun to be imature sometimes)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It actually means "I like the Wii Wii" because the Wii is an object, but yeah

  • dgroundwater

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 3:11 pm PT

    Farcry!!! Yes!

  • classic_rocker

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 2:48 pm PT

    im sorry but the caption for the pic is so funny!lol it reads "j'aime le WII-WII!" (i took french) it means i love the WII-WII! lol funny gs (ahh its fun to be imature sometimes)

  • generic_user123

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 2:24 pm PT

    the good news just keeps comin 'an comin'
    Wii

  • LINK2K9

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 2:15 pm PT

    As much as I like the Wii, this news doesn't excite me. Far Cry for the Wii sounds great, but I could buy it for the PC(Which I rather would) or X-Box. Red Steel looks....Meh, and Rayman looks okay. Other then that, the news just doesn't interest me. Ubisoft needs to spread out their release dates. If they all come out in the same day or week, I'm betting 4/7 won't sell very well.

  • Rated_R_Gamer

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 1:32 pm PT

    Wow as days go by new reasons keep commin out to purchase a Wii. I knew I was getting one back when It was called Revolution

  • _sean_05

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 1:31 pm PT

    computers are good for typing papers, consoles are good for gaming. Its WiiS3 for me though, cant wait for Dragon Quest: swords and FF XIII.

  • mattxavier

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 1:10 pm PT

    Whatever. PC gaming rules.

  • gorillaz_13

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 12:39 pm PT

    Go Wii!!!

  • goat2001

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 12:22 pm PT

    This news is mixed at best for Ubisoft. While I'm sure Red Steel will do well along with maybe a couple others, this launch is a little different from other consoles. Reason being Zelda will launch and I believe so will Metroid. There are 2 extremely solid launch titles and you'll also have the virtual consoles titles to choose from. Meaning people will not be forced to buy those launch titles that would have normally done well because of the lack of quality games at launch. Hopefully more 3rd parties follow suit for Nintendo's sake.

  • dungeonboss

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 12:11 pm PT

    Wii will conquer! Smart decision on behalf of Ubisoft.

  • urluckyday

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 11:46 am PT

    Another reason it is going to rock the world...first place is up for grabs, but Nintendo is in the strongest contension...bye bye Sony...

  • SolidTy

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 11:40 am PT

    I don't trust this....it seems like Ubi is cranking them out, I wonder if there is any stinkers in there.

  • Panzerfaust1014

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 11:32 am PT

    EA needs to step up and do like Ubisoft

  • messin18

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 11:26 am PT

    The picture for this article is EXACTLY why Wii will be in last place in the US... mabye 1st or second in japan.

  • barrett_rob

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 11:19 am PT

    I'm not saying that it cannot be made to run on the wii, but I would hate to see farcrys visuals reduced for the machine, compared with the pc even the xbox version sucked, don't get me wrong it still looked and played well, but it just wasn't the same, hopefully they can work something with the wii, but we really don't want the same game again, make us something new.

  • thefutureofball

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 11:11 am PT

    IM going to get one HOOORRRRAAAYYY!!!!!!!!!!!! i love you once again nintendo

  • Stevio

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 10:57 am PT

    Long live NINTENDO!!!

  • CrazyGameLover

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 10:32 am PT

    Take that Ps3 mmmmm how does defeat taste like


    LONG LIVE NINTENDO

  • Nosferatu220

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 10:10 am PT

    Awesome news! The Wii is sounding better and better.

  • Andron666

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:57 am PT

    Looks good. Hope the Wii gets lots of good games so it doesn't have the same fate as gCube.

  • death919

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:53 am PT

    WOOT! Far Cry is amazing! I play it at a friend's house for Xbox all the time! Good to hear it's coming to Wii! =D

    So many good games coming out for Wii... I honestly think it could end up at #1 next gen. I know I'll be picking one up on day 1! (Though my first game is gunna be one from Nintendo itself . Yes, you know which game I'm talking about. The game I've been waiting for 2 and a half years for. Zelda: Twilight Princess!).

  • PatchMaster

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:47 am PT

    Rumor Control says new PoP in 2007 is probable as well!

  • Mirren

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:27 am PT

    Besides Red Steel, I don't think I'll pick any of them up for quite some time, but this is a great thing for Wii nonetheless. Not only does it strengthen the launch, which has been looking awesome for some time, but the variety of games presented here will help to attract more customers. Open Season and Monster 4x4 might grab a few casual gamers, and for people that only like mature or hardcore games, there's Red Steel, Far Cry and Blazing Angels. And hell, a brand new racing game certainly can't hurt, and Ubi could probably make a great game out of it.

  • QuoBi

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:21 am PT

    barrett_rob said: "can the wii handle farcry graphics? I really don't think so as I haven't seen anything for it yet that compares."

    ... has anyone actually read any of the info on the wii? its true that the graphics arent as good as ps3 or xbox 360, but that doesnt mean it isnt a powerful console. perhaps nintendo pulled a curtain over your head when they said that they werent going for graphics, but if you look at some of the titles that have come out on game cube (im hinting at pikmen two, RESIDENT EVIL 4, and the upcoming zelda game) those graphics kick some major arse. Nintendo boasts at 3 times the graphics for the wii. Three times. That sounds like it should be able to provide a very good looking game to me.

    not to mention if your going to make a game for a system, usually you change the graphics so that the game will be runable for it. most of the time mind you...

  • j_sparks777

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:19 am PT

    Quake with fear, disbelievers.
    The Wii's only going to get better, as more and more publishers and game studio's start to realize the Wii's potential. Ubisoft's support is gonna be a BIG message to other game companys.

    Keep on rockin' in the free world, Wii. Rock on.

    Oh yeah, and hold on: lgoldberg, how is the Wii terrible for RTS?! It's essentially a mouse to use on the screen, just like ...wait - ALL RTS's for PC. It's the CONSOLE controller that's a bane for all RTS's. Remember Command And Conquer for N64? As compared to PC?
    The Wii-mote certainly isn't as great as a real mouse in terms of RTS play, but it beats the sh*t out of a normal console controller.

  • LinkLovesWii

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:13 am PT

    Ubisoft loves wii and is gonna make a bundle

  • PatchMaster

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:11 am PT

    YES! Who else sees Assassin's Creed coming to Wii now?

  • DS_fan_atic

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:06 am PT

    It doesn't matter if the graphics are up to par, it's the fact that you'll feel like you are actually the character, thats the appeal of the Wii controller.

  • barrett_rob

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 8:45 am PT

    can the wii handle farcry graphics? I really don't think so as I haven't seen anything for it yet that compares.

  • Inferno636

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 8:14 am PT

    Oh FarCry... I hope it's like Instincts were you're like a predator. Imagine stabbing people in the back with the Wiimote. =)

  • LIMEBOB

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 7:58 am PT

    i agree, sony has had its day its time for the Wii and Xbox 360 bring on the console wars.

  • DreganMK

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 7:44 am PT

    Wii rocks the party. Bye bye Sony!!!

  • Tuffg

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 7:33 am PT

    I wasn't sure if i wanted to buy the Wii or not but the more i look at the thing the more i want it.

  • mr_squibble

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 7:21 am PT

    V. cool. I'll maybe buy one of those games at launch, but it's nice to see the Wii getting some support. People will buy more of Ubi's Wii launch titles when there aren't more games to compete with them. That's why it's always good to have launch titles. People will buy them because it's the time in a system's life when there are the least game choices.

  • Scottydooo

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 7:20 am PT

    i used to hated EA until bf2 came out, and then i started hating them when they started charging ppl for "booster packs"

  • lgoldberg

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 6:44 am PT

    If you think about it, the Wii remote has a weak spot: it will probably be the worst controller ever seen when it comes to RTS games. So you should probably buy both the remote and the classic controller.

  • barJerubsheol

    Posted Aug 4, 2006 6:44 am PT

    I don't know why you would want EA to make games for anything....EA sucks...besides, EA wouldn't touch the Wii because it requires innovation, imagination, and originality, none of which has EA displayed in the past 8 years.

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