Ubisoft finished their E3 conference this year in a big way – by debuting the first look at a brand new IP called Watch Dogs, that has been in development at Ubisoft Montreal for the past two years.
The presentation began with an elaborate narration detailing power and hacking in recent years. It then shifted into a third-person, open-world city block, where the protagonist, Aiden Pearce, calmly walked himself over to a building packed with civilians, guards, and newscasters at the front door. An ingame menu was pulled up, and with a single command, Pearce hacked all nearby devices and disabled them, causing mass confusion and distraction that allowed him to sneak in. There, he met up with a cohort, discussed his goals, and was given a gun. He then hacked into a nearby woman’s phone and listened in on her conversation, and then headed back outside.
This is where things got really interesting – Pearce began by hacking nearby traffic lights and causing a massive pile-up, and was then spotted by some goons. A shootout started, with Pearce making use of cover mechanics by ducking behind cars, and enabling a slow-motion bullet time-like effect to efficiently take out his enemies.
Afterwards, he pulled out his targeted person from one of the cars and shot him, declaring that he was “delivering a message”. Right after this, a police helicopter spotted Pearce and he made a run for it. It was here that the camera shifted to a totally different character on top of a skyscraper who was watching the whole incident. They were then given the objective of protecting Pearce.
What was shown of Watch Dogs looked incredibly intriguing. The idea of an open world for you to hack opens up all sorts of possibilities and it will be interesting to see how the character-switching elements work. The presenter who introduced the game did mention that they were trying to make a game for players to connect like never before, so perhaps there will be a multiplayer element.
Right now, details like release dates and which consoles the game will be on are scarce and everyone’s open to their own theories about the plot and gameplay, but the secret is out. Watch Dogs has been revealed and it looks incredibly intriguing.
The gameplay demo can be watched here:
More details can be found in the following press release from Ubisoft:
UBISOFT® DIVULGES DEVELOPMENT OF GROUNDBREAKING NEW IP “WATCH DOGS™”
MONTRÉAL – June 4th 2012 – Ubisoft® unveiled Today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Ubisoft debuted its new, ground-breaking intellectual property, an open-world action-adventure game called Watch Dogs.
Development of Watch Dogs is being led by Ubisoft Montreal, with a team comprised of industry veterans from blockbuster franchises like Assassin’s Creed®, Rainbow 6® and Far Cry™. Watch Dogs blends cutting-edge technologies and sophisticated game design into a realistic and living open world where players must use any means at their disposal to take down a corrupt system.
In Watch Dogs, players enter the dangerous world of Aiden Pearce, a new class of antihero whose ability to hack into any connected system could be his most powerful weapon. Whether it’s triggering a 30-car pileup by manipulating traffic-lights to trap an enemy during a downtown shootout or tapping into the city’s omnipresent security cameras to access anyone’s personal information, Pearce is capable of coercing and controlling almost every element of the world around him.
“Watch Dogs goes beyond the limits of today’s open-world games by giving players the ability to control an entire city,” said Jonathan Morin, creative director, Ubisoft. “In Watch Dogs, anything connected to the city’s Central Operating System becomes a weapon. By pushing the boundaries, we can provide players with action and access to information on a scale that’s never been seen in a video game before.”
About Ubisoft:
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2011-12 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1,061 million. To learn more, please visit: www.ubisoftgroup.com.
