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Ubisoft excited about Wii 2, plans to revive franchises with yearly sequels

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ubisoft-logo-largeUbisoft had a good sales year, but its finances don’t show it. The French publisher posted a net loss of $74 million on sales of $1.4 billion for the last year–its second yearly loss in a row. However, out of the financial wreckage, CEO Yves Guillemot gave us a few hints at Ubisoft’s strategy going forward. The plan: yearly sequels to major franchises, more casual games, and a secret PC game. Guillemot is also very excited about Nintendo’s next console, which will be officially debuted at this year’s E3.

Assassin’s Creed for all

Publishers are always looking for reliable, easy, cheap hits. Assassin’s Creed has proven to be a cash machine for Ubisoft, continuing to sell strongly despite the fact that the company has released nine versions of it since 2007, with Assassin’s Creed: Revelations on the way later this year. Looking to replicate the massive success EA has with sports titles and Activision has had with Call of Duty, Ubisoft will attempt to turn more of its franchises into yearly endeavors, reports GiantBomb.

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“What is impressive with the release year after year of Assassin’s Creed is our ability to deliver every time with a high level of innovation and creativity in a large and very diverse open world,” bragged Guillemot. “There is no other open world console game that is coming on a yearly basis. This is achieved through great execution by providing more resources and by putting in place a very compelling network of leads and associate studios…We are applying the very [same] product template to our other strong franchises to bring them back to Assassin’s Creed blockbuster profitable status.”

Ubisoft has already stated that it is not planning to develop any new IPs (Intellectual Properties) until the next generation of consoles (although it will still act as publisher for several), so it looks like we can expect a lot more Just Dance, Prince of Persia, Rayman, Far Cry, Driver, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and Rainbow Six titles in the near future.

bunnies-creed-ubisoft
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Casual games and a secret

Guillemot also reaffirmed Ubisoft’s commitment to casual games, claiming that sales of its dance titles have helped boost revenue significantly. It also revealed a number of upcoming online releases, reports GameSpy: Beyond Good & Evil (PSN), Child of Eden (Kinect), Cubic Ninja (3DS), The Michael Jackson Experience (Move and Kinect), Might & Magic Clash of Heroes (PSN and XBLA), and Outland (PSN and XBLA).

The CEO also spoke about a secret PC game Ubisoft plans to reveal soon. “In the coming days, we will officially announce an ambitious project on PC based on one of our top gamer franchises that will illustrate our capacity to take advantage of new business models,” he said. Any idea what this game could be?

Nintendo Wii 2 / Project Cafe

Finally, in an investor’s call later in the day yesterday, Guillemot spoke highly of Nintendo’s upcoming console, reports Eurogamer.

“The platform Nintendo is coming with is really a fantastic platform. We think it will be extremely successful,” said Guillemot. “What we see is that we will be able to leverage a lot of the work we do for Xbox 360 and PS3 while we create games for the platform. So we will not have to redo completely the games that we create. We’ll be able to use all the capacity the console is giving but also use all the work we do for the other platforms.”

This suggests that the Wii 2 is on par, or even slightly more powerful than the PS3 and Xbox 360. Nintendo may also be taking steps to smooth the porting process so that, unlike the Wii, developers can easily bring multiplatform titles to its next console. Though development is much cheaper on Wii than the PS3 and X360, due to their difference in power and the Wii’s motion control, many developer’s have had to spend considerable resources making unique experiences for the system. This strategy has made the Wii, like most Nintendo systems before it, into a console where only games developed by Nintendo itself, sell excessively well. There aren’t a lot of notable 3rd party Wii games to get excited about.

If only he could tell us how many screens the controllers have.

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Jeffrey Van Camp
Jeffrey Van Camp
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: all Vatican Medicine Bottle locations
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There are dozens of notes, items, weapons, and artifacts to pick up while touring the world in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Most of these collectibles are good for earning Adventure Points or solving some puzzles, but there's only one that you can trade for a permanent boost to Indy's stats. Specifically, the Medicine Bottles hidden in Vatican City can be traded in for Adventure Books that either raise your HP or stamina bar permanently. That makes these little hard-to-find vials even more valuable than the ancient treasures you will find. If you want to get as much HP or stamina as possible, then you will need to find every last one. Here's the location of all the Medicine Bottles.
All Medicine Bottle locations
There are 15 Medicine Bottles in Vatican City in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. They will only pop up once you begin the A Remedy for All side quest, but you will also need to do the A Nun in Trouble and The Mad Priest quests to access some of them. We have marked all the bottle locations on the map below, as well as more detailed instructions below if you are having trouble reaching any of them.

1.
Once you finish the A Nun in Trouble mystery you will get Guiliana's Key. Take it down the Borgia tower and find the gap you can swing over with your whip and unlock the door with your new key. The bottle is just ahead on a box in the corner.
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While you're doing The Mad Priest side quest you will be given the Sewer Key and sent down below the city through the Tower of Nicholas V. Once through the locked gate, climb up and swing across the upper area onto a ledge leading to stairs going up into the palace. The bottle is at the base of these stairs.
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Go behind the Post Office building and look for the bottle resting on a wooden bench.
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Starting from the Belvedere Courtyard, head down the street toward the Post Office, and take a right into the short alleyway. The bottle is on the table next to a set of closed doors at the end.
5.
At the entrance to Via Di Belvedere, go into the Blackshirt's tent. There is a Medicine Bottle among the belongings on the long table.
6.
Climb up the scaffolding of the church being constructed near the Borgia Courtyard. Use the chandelier to swing to a window and onto a balcony, then platform to the left onto a rooftop where a single guard is posted near the bottle.
7.
From the Borgia Courtyard, go east from the entrance toward the Apostolical Palace. Find the area where the construction workers are stationed and locate the bottle on one of the barrels on the ground floor.
8.
Sneak or wear a disguise to enter the Blackshirt Barracks. Once inside the upper floor, the bottle is in a room just next to the staircase leading from the first floor.
9.
Head to the southern side of the Tower of Nicholas V and find a staircase up to the Passetto di Borgo. Take it all the way to the Castel Sant'Angelo and up another set of stairs to a dead end with this Medicine Bottle.
10.
Go through the main doors of the Apostolic Palace via the Borgia Courtyard and sneak or fight the many guards inside to get to the center of the room below the staircase. The bottle is on the little working area set up here.
11.
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12.
Back outside in the construction site outside the palace, go into the wooden storage shed and grab the bottle on the bench below the bulletin board.
13.
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14.
Putting that disguise to good use, infiltrate the restricted area to the north of Belvedere Courtyard and hug the south fence until you find a hole you can sneak through to get into a tent. The bottle is on the table in the middle of the room.
15.
For our final bottle, you must have the Blackshirt Uniform, so take a second to change. Now that you look the part, head to the Blackshirt Barracks and find the tent that needs the Blackshirt Key to open. Open it up and snap up the final bottle.
How to use Medicine Bottles to upgrade HP

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Yesterday's Wordle answer
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