With E3 2013 less than a month away and after re-watching last year’s press conferences (mostly to get them off my DVR), let’s recap the claims that were made by each of the Big Three companies (plus EA and Ubisoft) and see how they did almost one year later! Five conferences will be reviewed for not their content quality, but the truthfulness of the claims that were made, between now and Episode 135 of SMYN. Up next is Ubisoft at E3 2012, after the break!
CLAIM: Just Dance 4 will be released on October 9, 2012 on Xbox 360 and PS3. It will be released in Holiday 2012 on Wii U.
RESULT: True. The game launched on Xbox 360 and PS3 on October 9, 2012 and met the Wii U’s launch date of November 18, 2012.
CLAIM: Far Cry 3 will be “coming soon.”
RESULT: True. Even though “coming soon” is a bit wishy-washy for a claim, the game launched on December 4, 2012.
CLAIM: Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth will be released in Fall 2012.
RESULT: True. The game launched on Xbox 360 on October 30, 2012 and on Wii U on December 4, 2012.
CLAIM: Rayman Legends will illustrate the potential of the Wii U’s new features when it arrives near the system’s launch.
RESULT: WRONG! This was kind of a disaster this year for Ubisoft, from the perspective of Wii U owners. Not only did Rayman Legends get intially pushed back to early March 2013, it got delayed again until Fall 2013, just so it could be changed from an exclusive to multi-platform.
CLAIM: ZombiU (formerly Killer Freaks from Outer Space) will also be another title that arrives near the Wii U’s launch.
RESULT: True. The game met the Wii U’s launch date of November 18, 2012.
CLAIM: ShootMania illustrates Ubisoft’s involvement with eSports. Players can register for the BETA now.
RESULT: True. The beta was right there during E3, which was the only claim made. The game is now called ShootMania Storm, it was originially delayed from January 23, 2013 and launched on April 10, 2013. Also, for the amount of time spent on the game in the conference, it has made very little splash in the eSports community.
ADDITIONAL TOPICS with no outright claims: Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Assassin’s Creed III, Watch Dogs
CONCLUSION:
True: 5
To be determined: 0
Shaky: 0
Wrong: 1
Are you surprised at the lack of overall claims? While this was the best conference in terms of content during E3 2012, this was a very demo and trailer-heavy conference. Ubisoft wasn’t about to talk much in terms of release dates, and when they did, they were either hidden in trailers or spoken in vague terms. The one claim they missed, Rayman Legends, was botched so completely that it just hurts to watch it being discussed amongst what Ubisoft was doing for the Wii U’s launch. This, combined with the small number of overall claims, drops it from a possible A- to the following grade.
CLAIM GRADE: B+
What would you give Ubisoft?
