All Articles: E3 2016

Hack the Planet! Hack the Planet!

I’m getting a distinctly Hackers vibe from Watch Dogs 2, which was officially announced by Ubisoft this morning. Hackers is a tad ridiculous, but its concept of “hackers as superheroes” clearly lives on in Watch Dogs 2. The second game in the series is heading for the coast, and Ubisoft has confirmed that Watch Dogs 2 will take place in San Francisco. It’s new location also paves the way for a new main character, Marcus Holloway, though players won’t just be limited to “The City by the Bay.” They’ll also be able to explore the surrounding area including Oakland, Marin County, and (of course) Silicon Valley.:

Players will explore the birthplace of the tech revolution as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker who has fallen victim to ctOS 2.0’s predictive algorithms and is accused of a crime he did not commit. In Marcus’ quest to shut down ctOS 2.0 for good, hacking is the ultimate weapon, and players can not only hack into the city’s infrastructure but also every person and any connected device they possess, to trigger unpredictable chains of events. With the ability to take control of drones, cars, cranes, security robots and much more at their disposal, players can choose whether to use stealth hacking to complete missions without killing a single enemy or go guns blazing for a more ferocious approach.

Prospective players won’t have to wait long to try out Watch Dogs 2… it’ll be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 15. As part of their big marketing push, Ubisoft will release Watch Dogs 2 in three different versions including a Deluxe Edition (the game plus a Deluxe Pack of in-game customization items), a Gold Edition (everything in the Deluxe Edition plus the Season Pass), and a Collector’s Edition which includes a Wrench Junior robot that’s controllable through a mobile app. Everyone who pre-order Watch Dogs 2 will receive the exclusive “Zodiac Killer” bonus mission.

But in the more immediate future, Ubisoft plans to bring Watch Dogs 2 to next week’s E3 Expo in a big way, starting with an informative dive into the game’s new features on the UbiBlog and a “World Premiere” livestream, which has been embedded after the break. (more…)