Tax breaks are a great way to get developers interested in Canada, according to minister of economic development and trade for Ontario Sandra Pupatello, but they may not be the best way to keep them there. Pupatello worries that while trying to entice devs, competing provinces could drive tax breaks to an untenable position. She says that nuturing a talent pool should be the bigger focus, an approach that has worked in Ontario.
“We knew that Ubisoft establishing a significant footprint in Ontario would in itself would help tell the story of what’s available,” Pupatello told Develop. “Why would Ubisoft come unless they knew that they were going to get absolutely the best talent?”
Uh, free health care and the staggering availability of Tim Hortons?
Some of those eager to immerse themselves in Altair’s portable crusade in Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines have allegedly been denied entry into the Animus. This has, in turn, led to animosity being expressed on Sony’s message boards and our tips line. According to complaints, the downloadable version (the game is also available on UMD) freezes during its initial loading screen, regardless of PSP model.
Based on user comments, the hobbled file originated from the European PlayStation Store and has since been bumped off — to be replaced with a working version soon, hopefully. We’ll keep an eye on things (and your comments below) while we await a response from Ubisoft.
Source — Official PlayStation Forums Source — EU PlayStation Blog comments Source — Youtube video [Thanks, Gian]
Okay, if you want honesty: we can’t usually tell the difference between Xbox 360 and PS3 clips when put side-by-side. We’ve been gaming since characters were less detailed than gingerbread men, so comparison clips always look like two gateways to the future chugging along next to each other. But if DigitalFoundry tells us there’s juddering, then we’re inclined to believe them, no matter what juddering actually means.
Luckily, the team seems to be pretty happy with the PS3 version of Assassin’s Creed II, following the original iteration’s disappointing performance on the platform. That said, though the two consoles versions are much closer to each other this time, the site still leans towards the Xbox 360 version of the game for its sharper picture and smoother performance.
For what it’s worth, we think they’re both winners.
Okay, okay – we’ll admit that the transparent dry erase board thing is a bit on the “too much” side of things, but Avatar’s third dev diary contains enough interesting information about the game in it otherwise that we feel okay forgiving the clip’s director. The emphasis here is on the game’s many choices, and, more specifically, the one major choice which mirrors the movie’s plot. Will you choose the path of the human and murder a tall blue alien … thing, or stand up for all that is righteous and good in the world? The choice is yours (you monster!).
Fans who picked up Assassin’s Creed 2 may have noticed a little something extra with the game. That little extra surprise would be some info directing them to the new Uplay service from Ubisoft.
The Uplay service will comprise of four primary components: Uplay Win, Uplay Help, Uplay Share, and Uplay Shop. Currently, Uplay Win is the first service to enter the beta stage. Uplay Win will allow players to collect “units” based on their gaming actions. These units can then be exchanged for rewards such as in-game content. These units can also be gathered cross-platform. This will be nice, as people who own a PS3, PC, and 360 are not locked into one system.
Assassin’s Creed 2 is the first game to take advantage of this system. In-game content such as an Altair costume, or access into the Auditore Crypt, can be acquired through the new Uplay Win service. Players who accumulate units, but don’t want to spend them on items for Assassin’s Creed 2, can hold onto these units and splurge on items for the upcoming Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction.
For more information on the new Uplay service, hit up the website here! It is worth a look as right now the service is FREE! We like FREE.
Talent, not just tax breaks, drawing devs to Canada originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
