Ubi on Pandora cast and rumours
Old and new faces, multiplayer, bot and demo issues, and a seal of Presidential approval.
Michael Ironside will reprise his role as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell sequel Pandora Tomorrow, while '24' star and confirmed Tom Clancy fan Dennis Haysbert will play NSA operative Irving Lambert, Fisher's control at the Agency. To give their words some spirit and vigour, Ubisoft has also hired Lalo Schifrin, the composer of the Mission: Impossible TV theme, to create an original piece of music for the game.
In other Pandora Tomorrow news, 1UP has compiled a list of prominent rumours and thrust them at Ubisoft's US brand manager for the game, confirming first of all that Splinter Cell 2, Pandora Tomorrow and "Shadow Strike" are effectively all the same project; that the PC version will include the multiplayer mode and headset support for voice chat, and will hopefully be preceded by a demo; and that there will be no bots in multiplayer.
Unfortunately even with the game due out next month on Xbox and PC, Ubi is still reluctant to discuss some details. For example, concerning the postponed Cube and PS2 versions. Ubisoft's Xavier Fouilleux, dealing with the queries, said he couldn't comment on whether the Cube version would have online play, or whether either PS2 or Cube owners could look forward to exclusive content or perks - although he did admit that that strategy was a success when applied to the first title. One thing he did discuss outside his Xbox/PC remit was the Game Boy Advance version, which will apparently be based on the original game's storyline, and won't include any multiplayer options despite their presence in the N-Gage version of the original.
You can catch up with Fouilleux's comments in more detail here. David Haysbert, meanwhile, compared Pandora Tomorrow to a movie - "it's a conspiracy-ridden storyline that explores the shadowy world of international espionage," he said. He's not wrong about the shadows. Haysbert also admitted that he couldn't wait to play the game with his son, or with Jack Bauer.
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is due out on PC and Xbox in late March (26th presumably, as originally planned), with PS2 and Cube versions to follow at an undisclosed date.