I Am Alive evidence builds

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 23 August, 2011

Ubisoft updated its rating yesterday.

An age rating for mysterious Ubisoft game I Am Alive has been modified, suggesting the game is still very much alive.

The Australian government lists a modified entry for multiplatform game I Am Alive - made only yesterday, 22nd August.

The original entry, made in June, still exists.

The game, which sees you attempting to survive in a Chicago laid to ruin by a cataclysmic earthquake, was first announced way back at E3 2008.

We'd heard barely a peep about it since, save for news back in 2009 that original developer Darkworks had handed over the reins to Ubisoft Shanghai, before last week's leak of a trailer and screenshots.

The trailer is no longer available, due to a copyright claim by Ubisoft.

A day after the leak, the LinkedIn profile of a senior game designer who worked at the publisher's Shanghai outpost for seven months in 2009 was discovered.

The developer worked on Ubisoft Shanghai's "reconstruction" of Darkworks' I Am Alive, listing some ambitious gameplay innovations the studio was attempting.

His responsibilities apparently included developing "a non-kill oriented FPS shooting system involving group AI behaviours where threats and wounding were promoted over murder as the most effective gameplay mechanic".

I Am Alive was originally intended as a full retail release, but a report earlier this year stated it had become a download title for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • obiadekanobi #1 9 months ago

    oh well annother awsome game demoted to the slop of the store pity really this is what the games industry needed a disaster game but now itll use some 10yr old engine and be a letdown typical dev logic

  • MarketZero #2 9 months ago

    I Am Not Interested.

  • Mr_Brown #3 9 months ago

    I still think the report stating this has become a XBLA and PSN game is completely wrong. Just looking at the leaked trailer makes this obvious, there is no way that is a XBLA game, they wouldn't meet the file size limit. It would be like releasing Uncharted 2 as a PSN download game.

    That is unless they have radically changed and scaled back the game since the trailer. But that to me wouldn't make any sense as the trailer looked superb and anyone who would can that would have to be out of their mind. Then again that would fit with Ubisoft these days...

  • Nephirion #4 9 months ago

    I Am Not Vapourware

  • gm914 #5 9 months ago

    I wasn't aware this was PSN/XBLA.
    I assume the price won't be that of a full retail title.
    But this is Ubisoft. I'm sure they have myriad ways to scrwe this up.
    We'll see...

  • mrlaurentisdead #6 9 months ago

    "I Am Alive was originally intended as a full retail release, but a report earlier this year stated it had become a download title for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade."

    Can I be the first of many to point out that this rumour came out of nowhere was dismissed as not true by Ubisoft and the game is still intended for disk release.

    EDIT: No I can't. Damn.
    Edited by mrlaurentisdead at 23/08/11 @ 14:00

  • L0cky #7 9 months ago

    Those are pretty broad assumptions there obiasdhfdgjgfd.

  • MattyD #8 9 months ago

    XBLA doesn't have a size limit any more, Mr_Brown. They took it off ages and ages ago. The limit was supposed to ensure people who bought the el cheapo Xbox with no HDD could still buy games and keep them on memory cards, but that's superfluous now since you can use flash drives, and all hardware models since about late 2007 come with either a HDD or built-in flash drive.

  • Kazzahdrane #9 9 months ago

    MattyD: XBLA does indeed have a size limit, it's 2Gb. It's a technical limitation, IIRC.

  • metalangel #10 9 months ago

    Hang on, isn't that the old trailer when this still had the ridiculous 'Chicago earthquake' story?

  • scuffpuppies #11 9 months ago

    I really want Ubisoft to make a success of this. As I've mentioned before, 'I Am Alive' could have been at the forefront of a new breed of game....the 'Disaster Game' genre. A perfect blend and selection from 'Uncharted', Tomb Raider', The Day After Tomorrow', 'Earthquake, 'The Towering Inferno' etc....that I'd like to see.

    Escaping collapsing buildings, while tornadoes rip through a city...tilde waves crushing everything in its path, earthquakes on a global scale reshaping the playing field. Could've been great....perhaps its still can.

    Ubisoft Shanghais have a pretty good rep, so if Montreal aren't available, they can pull it off (correct me if I’m wrong about the dev team working on this). Fingers crossed guys.

  • kassmageant #12 9 months ago

    and not a single fuck was given that day

  • Architect_z #13 9 months ago

    I'm on a boat