EndWar Launches Private Beta

Ubisoft's voice-command real-time strategy game EndWay is getting a private beta this summer. A site set up for those invited into the beta says that it will take place for three weeks in June and July and only be in English.

The three gig download will feature three maps for 1v1 and 2v2 matches, but no offline play.

I hope they launch a public beta as well. As with most new ideas, the concept of voice-command mixing with real-time strategy isn't easy to wrap your head around without trying it first hand.

As I mentioned in my preview of the game earlier this year, it seems to work quite well and despite the reduced unit types, I think there's enough depth in the game to keep things interesting.

EndWar [Via Joystiq]

I got a chance to sneak over to Ubisoft's San Francisco office during the Game Developers Conference and sit down with Michael de Plater, creative director Tom Clancy's EndWar, to talk about the upcoming voice-command strategy game. Better still, I also got a chance to actually play it—and what I saw impressed me.

De Plater said that part of the impetus for the game was the fact that, as real-time strategies have evolved, the genre has left a lot of people behind. People like my dad, even people, in some cases, like me. People, basically, who aren't interested in dealing with a Zerg rush five minutes into the game and instead want to play something a bit closer to, say, a detailed and realistic game of chess.

"One of the things we hear a lot of us is 'I used to love real time strategies, but it's gotten too complex'," he said. "So we decided to make a tactical game, slow the pace down. We call this game strategy at the speed of thought."

EndWar Gameplay

While the choice of hosts is...regrettable, those able to withstand the obtrusive chit-chat may see instances in this video where console RTS EndWar's much-hyped speech command system actually works. There aren't many of them, but those precious few there are, well, they're enough to give you the chills. After all, real generals don't tap buttons on a controller, they say stuff, and stuff gets done.

Packed in with the retail version of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is this neat little surprise: A Sneak Preview disc for upcoming, voice-command, real-time strategy game EndWar.

My excitement was quickly deflated when I realized that while the disc does have some neat EndWar stuff, it doesn't include a demo. Dammit! You do get the announcement trailer, a GameTrailers special about the game called "the future of war" and an EndWar sneak peek preview, featuring the Frag Dolls.

Sucks about the demo, but it's free and still a neat idea.

Far Cry 2, EndWar, Hell's Highway Delayed

Ubisoft's news today wasn't all good. Sure Assassin's Creed is doing amazing sales and the company as a whole is picking up, but it appears they've decided to push back three of their triple-A titles.

Or as Ubisoft puts it they've "strengthened its line-up of games for next year..." EndWar, Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway and Far Cry 2 are now all scheduled for release in fiscal 2008-09 rather than the fourth quarter of 2007-08.

This will let them push the expenses of developing those games into next year's fiscals and push up sales for that fiscal year, from what I make of the press release. Good news for investors, but boo for gamers.

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Ubi Announces Tom Clancy's EndWar