1080-pocalypse: Assassin’s Creed Unity creators respond to resolution accusations

By Will Fulton Published November 17, 2014

Ubisoft has responded in a lengthy blog post to the many PlayStation 4 owners that have worked themselves up into a frothy fit over the announcement that Assassin’s Creed Unity would be locked into 900p and 30fps on both PS4 and Xbox One.

The gist of the complaint is that Ubisoft has forced an artificial parity between the consoles by limiting the demonstrably-better PS4 hardware to match the Xbox One, rather than pushing it up to the next-gen gold standard of 1080p. Anger was stoked by comments from the game’s senior producer Vincent Pontbriand to Video Gamer claiming that the developers “decided to lock them at the same specs to avoid all the debates and stuff.” His statement seemed to indicate that the decision to lock in the pixel count was made in order to just sidestep the so called “Resolutiongate” debate about which hardware is better. Ironically the move only threw gasoline on the fire.

Recommended Videos

Related: PC Modder unlocks questionably-hidden Watch Dogs graphics settings

Ubisoft has since swooped in to clarify Pontbriand’s remarks. The statement opens with the sweeping proclamation that “Ubisoft does not constrain its games. We would not limit a game’s resolution. And we would never do anything to intentionally diminish anything we’ve produced or developed.” Pontbriand himself elaborates that the decision to limit resolution was based on a desire to push gameplay and depth of simulation further. While the post explains at length in general terms the trade-offs between graphics and performance that drive development, it does not specifically address the disparity between the consoles’ capabilities.

BioWare has thrown more fuel on the fire with an ironically (or deviously) timed tweet about the resolution of Dragon Age Inquisition:

Confirmed: #DAI resolution is 1080p on PS4, and 900p on Xbox One. We maximized the current potential of each platform.

— Dragon Age (@dragonage) October 10, 2014

The Dragon Age Inquisition team has embraced the well-documented consensus that PS4’s hardware is currently stronger than the Xbox One, and scaled the different editions accordingly to squeeze the most out of each platform. That second sentence could be read as a snide dig at Ubisoft’s predicament.

Regardless of resolution, Assassin’s Creed Unity arrives on PS4 and Xbox One on November 11.

Former Staff Writer, Gaming

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Topics

Action Games

Gaming

How to get Knowledge Points and what they do in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

One of the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

By the time we get to Assassin's Creed Shadows, most of us will be familiar with how the games work. Since transitioning more towards RPGs than stealth games, the titles have not only gotten longer but also embraced skill trees. Naoe and Yasuke each have unique progression paths to work through, but right away you will notice that most of the best abilities are gated off. Like Scouts, Knowledge Points are a new feature that you will need to master if you want to be the best assassin possible. We'll share all our knowledge about Knowledge Points with you.
How Knowledge Points work and how to get them

Knowledge Points are a separate system to XP that allows both Naoe and Yasuke to unlock the better and more powerful skills in all their skill trees. Unlike XP, you can't earn them by performing normal tasks or taking out enemies. Instead, Knowledge Points are rewarded for doing specific non-violent activities in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Gaming

How to get and use Scouts in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Naoe perched on a spire in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

There are plenty of familiar mechanics returning in Assassin's Creed Shadows, such as fast travel and earning XP to level up both Naoe and Yasuke. One of the many new features you will be introduced to early in the game is the Scouts. Once you unlock the Hideout and are given your initial Scouts, they will become an essential tool for finding your next objective and gathering vital resources needed to upgrade your Hideout. However, how to use them or get more isn't very clearly explained for how essential they are. Let us fill you in on all the details about how Scouts work in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
How to get and use Scouts

Scouts have several primary functions, the first and most important being to scout areas on the world map. Very often, your next objective will not be placed on the map, but instead, you will have directions on the rough location of where it will be. This is where Scouts are necessary. By following the game's directions on the map, you need to put your cursor over the area it is describing and assign one or more Scouts to reveal the area. You do this by pressing Square or X to bring up the dispatch menu and then deploying them at that area. You can see how many Scouts are available on the bottom left of your screen and can assign multiple to an area by pressing the right trigger. The more Scouts you use to scout an area, the larger the area they will reveal.

Gaming

How long is Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.

It's no secret that the Assassin's Creed games have gotten longer and longer over the years. This is typical for Ubisoft open-world titles, but many are hoping that Assassin's Creed Shadows has scaled back on the bloat a bit. There's always fast travel and finding the fastest ways to earn XP to cut down on the grind, but there's only so much time that can be saved. If you're worried that this game might be another 100-hour time investment to fully complete, let's use our Eagle Vision to scout out how long Assassin's Creed Shadows is before you start playing.
How long is Assassin's Creed Shadows?

As you would expect, the amount of time you could put into Assassin's Creed Shadows will vary wildly based on how you approach it. You can focus on just the story and nothing else, tackle a handful of side missions and activities, or attempt to complete anything and everything the game has to offer.