Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Co-op Collection OVERVIEW: The GRAW™ 2 Co-op Collection consists of five Co-op Campaign missions that continue the story from GRAW 2. In total there are nine maps, seven of which are inspired by classic maps from Ghost Recon's illustrious history and two that are totally brand new. All nine maps (including adversarial versions of the Co-op Campaign maps) have exquisite visuals and support all of GRAW 2's thousands of customizable game modes.

ACHIEVEMENTS: The Co-op collection offers 9 new achievements for GRAW 2 totaling 125 achievement points (detailed list below).

CO-OP MAPS
Caves - (Ghost Recon®)
Azcona's squads are using the nearby caves as an operational base for raiding army convoys across the river. Detain and extract the rebel leader and recon the area for any hidden weapon caches.

Railroad Bridge - (Ghost Recon)
Intel reports the rebels are moving on a command post 60 clicks southeast of here. Protect the command post, recon the local rail line and hunt down the informant providing intel to the rebels.

Battlefield - (Ghost Recon)
The last rebel unit in the area is holed up in the village of Venta. An allied armor unit on the edge of town is pinned down by artillery. Ghosts, knock out the enemy comm transmitter. Then escort the armor through the village.

Plantation - (Ghost Recon®: Island Thunder®)
Intel shows a rebel leader's motorcade is moving through the farms south of here. Take out his convoy and destroy all of the surrounding ADATS before Sabre Seven arrives for extraction.

Swamp Airfield - (Ghost Recon: Island Thunder)
Azcona's rebels have occupied a small island airfield. Recon the area for intel on this operation and destroy all aircraft to prevent any means of escape. The landing strip is targeted for an air strike so get out ASAP.

ADVERSARIAL MAPS

Business Park - (Brand New) / Suitable for 8 to 12 players
Narrow alleys connect open courtyards with overlooking balconies in this concrete corporate paradise.

Rooftop - (Brand New) / Suitable for 8 to 12 players
Sitting on top of the world, the rooftop structure of a skyscraper has lots of cover and vertical combat.

Caves - (Ghost Recon) / Suitable for 12 to 16 players
Rolling terrain, forest and a cave structure tucked into the side of the mountains.

Railroad Bridge - (Ghost Recon) / Suitable for 12 to 16 players
A deep valley with a rail bridge spanning overhead, hilly and wooded areas nearby.

Battlefield - (Ghost Recon) / Suitable for 8 to 12 players
Open terrain with pockets of war-torn buildings, under the limited visibility of black skies and pouring rain.

Plantation - (Ghost Recon: Island Thunder) / Suitable for 12 to 16 players
Wet, foggy airfield located in the heart of a murky swamp.

Swamp Airfield - (Ghost Recon: Island Thunder) / Suitable for 4 to 8 players
A bright, sunny day overlooks the plantation fields and nearby structures, including a large warehouse.

Prison - (Ghost Recon: Island Thunder) / Suitable for 4 to 8 players
This dilapidated structure has many paths in and out.

Castle - (Ghost Recon) / Suitable for 12 to 16 players
The mighty castle walls and excavation within provide lots of cover and CQB, while thick wooded countryside offers ample stealth and sniping opportunities.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Caves (Co-op) Perfect: 15 points
Complete Caves Co-op Mission without respawning at default or hard difficulty.

RR Bridge (Co-op) Perfect: 15 points
Complete Railroad Bridge Co-op Mission without respawning at default or hard difficulty.

Battlefield (Co-op) Perfect: 15 points
Complete Battlefield Co-op Mission without respawning at default or hard difficulty.

Swamp Airfield (Co-op) Perfect: 15 points
Complete Swamp Airfield Co-op Mission without respawning at default or hard difficulty.

Plantation (Co-op) Perfect: 15 points
Complete Plantation Co-op Mission without respawning at default or hard difficulty.

2-Point Swing: 15 points
In a CTF match with 5+ players, recover your stolen flag and score in a single run.

From Downtown: 10 points
Kill exactly 3 enemies and no teammates with one grenade on a map.

Clever Retort: 10 points
In a match, get a grenade kill while you are incapacitated or dead. Minimum 5 players.

Kickin' it old school: 15 points
Complete a Co-op Mission without respawning, hard difficulty, and the Drone off.

MEDIA ALERT: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter® 2 - *DLC - Throwback Pack 2 Available Now on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace!*

SAN FRANCISCO - August 28, 2007 - Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, today announced release of the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter® 2 Throwback Pack 2, a new downloadable content (DLC) package for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. This new premium content package will enrich and extend the original game by allowing players to expand their Xbox LIVE experience with an all-new game mode and seven fan-favorite maps hand-selected from past Ghost Recon® games. As a special thank you to the devoted Ghost Recon fans, Ubisoft is offering both Throwback Pack 2 and the previously released Throwback Pack 1, now available via the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for free download. Take a look below for an outline of the full contents of the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Throwback Pack 2:

Content available in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 Throwback Pack 2:

GRAW 2 Throwback Pack 2 consists of seven classic maps from Ghost Recon's illustrious history. In addition to the seven maps, there is a new game mode called Co-op Exfiltration. All of these maps have upgraded visuals and support all of GRAW 2's thousands of customizable game modes.

Game Modes:

Co-op Exfiltration:

In Coop Exfiltration mode, players must work together to protect AI officers as they escort them to a helicopter extraction zone through a map populated with enemies.

Maps:

Ghost Town

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike®

Recommended # of Players: 2 to 8

Overview:

A rural North Korean village surrounds a temple courtyard. Narrow streets and back alleys make for intense close-quarters battles.

Aral Sea

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike

Recommended # of Players: 4 to 12

Overview:

This map is a forgotten harbor village on the coast of a vast, empty sea. Grounded ships provide sparse cover on the dried seabed dividing the map. The shelter of the docks above makes this map a favorite with marksmen.

District

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike

Recommended # of Players: 8 to 16

Overview:

This map is a government district of a large Kazakh city. Open city streets make for long-range firefights, while winding alleys create flanking opportunities.

Bunkers

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon 2

Recommended # of Players: 4 to 12

Overview:

Training grounds feature several simulated bunker complexes divided by open ground with intermittent cover. Players must move quickly from cover to cover to avoid marksmen in the firing positions above.

Rocky Cove

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Recommended # of Players: 4 to 12

Overview:

This is a coastal area, featuring tidal pools and an imposing central promontory. Beaches are littered with large rocks, and long sight lines invite marksmen to test their skill.

Boneyard

Previous Ghost Recon Title: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Recommended # of Players: 2 to 8

Overview:

This is a vehicle graveyard, with rusting aircraft parts and scrap metal piled all around. Tight quarters ensure no one is ever far from the action.

River Depot

Previous GR Title: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

Recommended # of Players: 6 to 12 players

Overview:

This is an old, abandoned storage facility, overrun by the surrounding jungle and repurposed for military use. Deteriorating railways run the length of the map, connecting two gates on higher ground to a warehouse near the river.

For more information on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, please visit www.ghostrecon.com.

Olivier, can you tell us how the development was handled between the PS3 & X360 versions?

Just after the original GRAW on X360 was released, the team began to work on GRAW2, simultaneously on the PS3 & X360 versions.

As the game engine (in-house YETI) was primarily built, in GRAW for the X360, the engineer team had a lot of work to do, to gain the same level of mastering on the PS3 hardware. Just as they did on X360 for GRAW1 before.

Since then, both teams have been working simultaneously on their versions, whether it's UBISOFT Paris & Red storm on the X360, or UBISOFT Paris & Shanghai on the PS3.

How would you sum-up the specific differences between the X360 & PS3 development?

For an engineer, the two platforms are critically different, with different strengths & weaknesses. Moreover, we feel that there's a real difference in the philosophy behind it.

The very primary differences, in the way the processors are designed & combined or the way the memory is handled make them very different challenges for engineers.

This said, the GRAW engine was designed with cross-platform in mind, which allowed us to develop most of the game features whatever the platform and then, later on optimize them for a specific version.

It seems pretty difficult for the development team to port a X360 game to PS3... was that the case for GRAW2?

GRAW2 can't actually be seen as a port, as the two games were simultaneously developed.

As the hardware was so different, GRAW2 PS3 was an original development, which requires taking some time to think how you can get the most out of the console, goal being to provide the same experience for the end-users.

That time is used to come up with smart choices, most of them coming with the experience on how to use the hardware at its best.

That experience can extend depending of the platform exclusive features like the Achievements on the X360 Live or the Sixaxis controller on PS3 for instance.

How many people have been working on PS3 compared to the X360 team?

It's actually more complex than this. First, we had all the game, level & artistic design team working for both platforms, with specific task forces assigned to the aforementioned exclusives. Then on a technical point of view, a separate team has been working on the PS3 hard & software. The GRAW2 PS3 engine lead had actually already a strong experience on Playstation hardware but also was responsible for GRAW1 optimizations on X360.

Thanks to his experience, we've been able to make choices (like assigning a specific task to a specific core of the CELL) that tend to use the hardware to get the most out of it.

During the project, the teams exchanged best practices, at the code level. Some original decisions on the PS3 code actually made it through X360 and added a lot to the X360 version performances.

On the AI specifically, how different it is between the PS3 & X360 versions?

The code written for AI is actually exactly the same on both platforms. The differences lie in the way it's compiled & handled by the hardware. When we've made different choices, depending on the compared strengths of the components of each platform (using the CELL or one of the X360 core for specific tasks), it was just to secure high performances and will be totally invisible for the players.

AI has been a great area for improvement between GRAW & GRAW2, whether it's the team mates AI (which uses voice feedback to highlight enemies in the surroundings very precisely) or the enemy AI, which uses height & covers to surprise the player. This is a key to a tactical shooter experience success, and we really enjoyed the brute power offered by both platforms!

Anyways, the best to test it is to play the demos, already out for X360 & PS3 or to wait for the PS3 game release (with exclusive maps, weapons & Sixaxis support) next week!

PlayStation Store's passive side features trailers for Michael Clayton, Get Smart and The Game Plan. That's twice The Rock!

A Resident Evil 5 wallpaper has also been added as has a cheaper Super Rub-A-Dub. The duck steering game has dropped from $6.99 to $2.99 as of today.

Each new addition should take you no more than a few hours to download, now that the PlayStation Store data center has added a second modem.

Occasionally a feature comes along that makes you think, "Why didn't I think of doing that." Popular Mechanics' Ghost Recon 2 Vs. Land Warrior is just such a piece.

In it writer Erik Sofge compares the futuristic support and weapons of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 to the real world gadgets and weapons of the Pentagon's Land Warrior System upon which the game is loosely based. It helps that a contributing editor for the magazine got some hands on time with the real-world technology.

Specifically, the magazine looks at three things, the weapons camera, the heads-up display and enemy and friendly unit tracking.

What the magazine found, not surprisingly, was that the real-world tech isn't quite up to GRAW2 snuff. In particular, the map tracking of units isn't as responsive as in the game, with as much as a one-minute delay in relaying locations. The magazine also notes that a heads-up display that can differentiate between enemies and friendlies isn't just impossible now, but most likely impossible in the next decade or so.

The real world gun camera is also unresponsive, with sluggish focus, and the other weapon add-ons requires exceptionally heavy equipment that made them almost unusable.

It's a really interesting read and includes some cool photos of the real deal. I couldn't help but think, while reading through the article, how making the real world problems with the tech part of the game could lead to a more interesting experience.

What if you had to choose between high-end tech that was occasionally sluggish and misidentified units or being able to sprint, or at least run, in battle? Wouldn't that make for some fun battles? Brian Crecente

Ghost Recon Vs. Land Warrior [Popular Mechanics]

Somehow this game managed to sneak up on me.

Ubisoft just announced that Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 has gone gold and will be hitting store shelves on March 8, as in one week from tomorrow.

The game will have this spiffy new achievement tracking system too, letting you see how close you are to unlocking any of the achievements. Brian Crecente

Ps. Crap, that was a fast month. Sorry about the date confusion.

Major Nelson reminds us that you can download the multiplayer demo of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 on the Xbox 360 today. This reminds us that you're really going to want to. Brian Crecente

Ubi just confirmed that the multiplayer demo for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 will be hitting this coming Monday.

The demo will come with a map called Outpost and supports both adversarial and co-op modes of play with up to 16 players.

Better still, if you download the demo on Feb. 26 you might get a chance to play against the developers:

Gamers who download the demo on February 26th will also have the incredible opportunity to be among a select group to challenge the developers to some multiplayer action. All one needs is to submit their Microsoft gamertag, have a ubi.com account and some luck. Sweepstakes will determine the winners who will be invited to play with Red Storm on the Multiplayer Xbox 360 demo on February 28th, 8-10pm EST. To sign up for this please visit http://ghostrecon.uk.ubi.com/graw2/match.php. The registration will stay open until, Monday the 26th, 6pm and winners will be informed after this. The gaming session will be in English. For more information on how to participate please visit www.ghostrecon.com.

I loved GRAW for quite awhile, can't wait to see if GRAW 2 pushes the envelope further or just looks purdier. Brian Crecente

Sure it's no Gears of War meets Mad World, but...yeah, that's all. Sorry, Frank Black just doesn't do it for me. Brian Crecente

OMG, I want to play this game, but could they have made this developer's diary any less interesting? It was like watching some bad science film in high school. Ambient Occlusion, object translucency, depth sprites, dynamic fire and smoke... whatever just show shit blowing up.Brian Crecente

The title still appears to be on schedule for an early March release for the Xbox 360 and PC, with a PSP version hitting a couple weeks later. Michael McWhertor

Ubisoft Delays GRAW 2 on PS3 [1UP]

Hit the jump for two more. Man, I just can't get enough of this stuff. And that airstrike video (number three). Holy shit! Brian Crecente

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is officially in the works, Ubisoft announced today.

The game is in development for the 360, PS3, PSP and PC by Ubisoft's Paris and Red Storm Studios and set to hit in spring 2007.

While I'm a big fan of the original GRAW, this one doesn't sound like it's going to change much besides the plot. GRAW 2 carries on the plot from the original game and has you defending the U.S. and Mexico from rebel attacks. I was intrigued to read that the game will include some firefights in El Paso, Texas, where I went to high school.

That should be interesting.

Ubi says the game will have new "groundbreaking" visuals, improved artificial intelligence, more ground and air support and a tweaked Cross-Com system which will allow you to expand that tiny real-time picture-in-picture video to take up the whole screen.

Hit the jump for the full release. Brian Crecente

SAN FRANCISCO - December 8, 2006 - Today Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announced that Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter(TM) 2, the next installment in the popular squad-based action franchise, is currently in development for the Xbox 360(TM) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system and Windows PC. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is being developed by the award-winning teams that created the original Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter(TM) in Ubisoft's Paris and Red Storm Studios. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is scheduled for worldwide release in Spring 2007.
"Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter set the standard for what we know as the next-generation gaming experience," said Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. "With Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Ubisoft is taking all the successful elements in the original to an unparalleled level of quality - the sophisticated technology, weaponry, graphics, story and online gameplay will heighten the intensity and bring gamers an even more amazing experience."

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter received critical acclaim and quickly became one of the best-selling games on Xbox 360 and one of the most played games on the Xbox Live online gaming service. Recently, the prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awarded Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter with "Best Game of the Year" and "Technical Achievement" honors.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 builds off of the events in the first game and places gamers in control of the U.S. military's elite fighting unit, the Ghosts. In the year 2014, the rising conflict between Mexican loyalists and insurgent rebel forces has thrown Mexico into full-scale civil war. Under the command of Captain Scott Mitchell, the Ghosts are called upon to face an imminent threat to the United States. The fate of two countries now lies in the hands of the Ghosts as they fend off an attack on U.S. soil. Equipped with the most cutting-edge weaponry and technology, the Ghosts must battle on both sides of the border to neutralize the escalating rebel threat.

Key Features:
Groundbreaking Visual Experience: The war zone in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter comes to life as you navigate through trash-strewn streets and pick off enemies from behind bomb-scarred structures. The cutting-edge physics and particle systems will show you some of the most intense and realistic explosions, smoke, and environment destruction ever seen in a video game. Dynamic lighting and shadows will morph as real-time day/night cycles and a constantly changing weather system require you to adjust to the changing conditions on the fly.
All-New Battlegrounds: For the first time ever, the Ghosts will defend U.S. soil from a cross-border attack, taking the fight to all-new locations. The Ghosts will battle enemies in mountain terrains, barren deserts and even on their home turf in El Paso, Texas. Each environment presents its own benefits and challenges and will call for fresh tactical approaches.
Vastly Improved Artificial Intelligence (AI): Watch your back as rebels send their own team members to flank your position or gain vantage points by utilizing vertical gameplay to pick you off from the rooftops above. Improved squad-mate AI will now feed you more of the information you need with descriptive commands like "enemy spotted behind red truck ahead."
Improved Cross-Com: The revolutionary new Cross-Com 2.0 will give the player more information than ever before. You will be able to see what your friendly forces see in the top left display and the click of a button will expand that to full-screen view for a clearer and more precise picture. This will give you a more comprehensive view of the entire battlefield. The new Full Command View will allow unprecedented precision in developing and issuing tactical plans on the battlefield.
Expanded Support: Command lethal air strikes with jet fighters, gain mobile cover for otherwise impassable situations and replenish armaments on the battlefield using an unmanned artillery MULE. Players can now heal their team on the battlefield, including squad leader Scott Mitchell, with an all-new Medic class of soldier.