Far Cry, Sands of Time free News
PC News by Games Industry.biz
Ubisoft has made three of its classic titles downloadable for free, by using an ad-supported format, GamesIndustry.biz reports.
Far Cry, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Rayman Raving Rabbids are the games in question, although no details have yet become available on the specifics of how or where the ads will be seen.
The news follows research that seems to indicate a general acceptance on the part of gamers that advertising in games is acceptable if realistic in full price titles.
But the differences with these titles are much older games that they are now free, so the players' impression is likely to be even more lenient.
There is no indication currently as to whether or not this is an idea that Ubisoft is trialling, or whether it's the start of a regular release of back-catalogue titles, and maybe a wider embracing of ad revenues as a whole.
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Comments: 1-30 of 30 in total
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Nice idea. Shame I've already got Far Cry and Sands of Time (and not really interested in Rayman), but if they continue to do this, there are quite a few Ubi games I'd put up with some ads to play for free.
I'd be interested to know if the ads just appear on loading screens and things like that, or whether they crop up (intrude upon?) the actual game itself. I'm not sure how you'd get banner ads for modern consumer products into Sands of Time without spoiling the ambience of the game... |
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Der_tolle_Emil
03/09/07 @ 09:21
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Too bad I already have Sands of Time for the PC :/
Far Cry could be interesting though. |
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Fitzmogwai
03/09/07 @ 09:23
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Now this seems realistic and - more to the point - fair. Advertising gets you a free (old) game.
I'll see what the smallprint says before I download, but I missed Sands of Time the first time round, so this is appealing. Potentially. |
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Ads in the startup movies and on the main menu screen according to NeoGAF.
The Far Cry main menu has a bright yellow McDonads strip advert alongside the main menu and there's a 10 second add during loading screens that can't be skipped and the game doesn't load in the background either, so there's a delay to the level load times. Prince of Persia isn't so bad, Far Cry is a bit worse and Raving Rabbits has "pop-in" ads during gameplay, haven't seen them myself but that's what the forums are reporting. edit: Some are saying that the games are U.S. Only too but that may be that you need to find a European mirror or it was a slip up early on that has been fixed. All hearsay though.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 03/09/07 @ 10:29
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crazyhorse174
03/09/07 @ 09:39
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Anything for free cant be bad! A couple of decent titles there as well.
Maybe they should just include products in the game as adverts - things like characters drinking famous brand soft-drinks, eating well known products or vans with adverts on the side - stuff like that. Wouldnt be too intrusive and would also be realistic as well? |
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@crazyhorse174 - they did. Sam Fisher (of Splinter Cell) chews airwaves in an FMV in one of the games. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Fisher#... |
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S.J.Rogers
03/09/07 @ 09:44
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Never played any of these, so i will have to get them later...
But will my PC run them...??? |
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Like mentioned as long as the adverts don't impose on your system outside of the game then this sounds like a great idea, hopefully one they will extend to consoles too.
Just think all of the Wii VC could be free with ad support and as if you require the game to be online (come on if its free i'm sure we can cope with having to be online) then they could keep the ads up to date and relevant, all seems like a fairly logical evolotion really, similar to films. Life of a film Cinema -> DVD -> Sky Movies -> TV Life of a game Bought Game -> cheap download (with small about of ads) -> Free with ads Ever one wins, |
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I downloaded Prince of Persia last night and it works fine provided you create a US UbiSoft account (no need to enter a full address, just set the country to United States). The adverts are extremely irritating though, they pop up before you can load your profile and obscure the screen so you HAVE to watch it - a nauseating ad for hamburgers - and sometimes pop up between level loads too. Still it's a small price to pay for a free game I suppose.
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Hurleybird
03/09/07 @ 10:19
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Ubisoft already do in game product placement in Rainbow Six. Personally I find it more immersive if anything when you're playing in the real world (with billboards). FIFA/PES could easily do the same thing on the boards around the ground.
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Bad news (imho anyway) guys. This is from rockpapershotgun.com
"Also, it keeps playing one, awful, McDonalds ad over and over again. *Between cutscenes*. Oh no. And most unpleasantly of all, it starts with this really patronising lie about the game being provided as a “courtesy”." ... also you have to lie and say youre american to get the download |
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Artemis_Matsas
03/09/07 @ 11:13
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Well, as long they don't install any "funny" programs to your PC (gator, etc) i think that it is a good move.
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MisterSlimm
03/09/07 @ 11:50
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I've downloaded and installed Prince of Persia and mention where the ads are on my blog: http://misterslimm.wordpress.com/
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Cheers - that doesn't sound too bad, and I don't think it would matter much in Far Cry and RRR, but PoP: SoT is such a wonderfully atmospheric game that I can't imagine playing it with McDonald's ads when a level loads. Especially as the game can be picked up for less than a fiver these days, it really isn't an alternative.
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From what people have described, I wouldn't want my gameplay experience spoiled by that kind of advertising. But as long as people know what they're getting when they choose to download a free game, I guess nobody can complain.
POP: Sands of Time is already quite useless on the PC since it doesn't support any controllers (besides one official brand). |
Comments: 1-30 of 30 in total
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