I was reminded of how powerful big-budget video games can be—yet how frustratingly tame they often remain—while I was playing the new Splinter Cell. This game goes somewhere I didn't expect. Spoilers ahead.

Sam Fisher is on the phone with his daughter. He's talking about his feelings. He's telling her he worries about her. "See," the game says, "This is not just another technobabble Tom Clancy military gunfest. This game has heart." Sam hangs up the phone, ready to go to… to somewhere in the Middle East and fight… some…

Since she stepped away from producing Assassin's Creed games at Ubisoft Montreal, Jade Raymond has had a lower profile in the gaming scene. This week, Raymond is back, having overseen development of the new Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the first major game from her new Ubisoft Toronto studio. She's got four answers for…

While none can doubt Ubisoft's commitment to publishing on the Wii U, that console's version of Splinter Cell: Blacklist will lack a feature the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions all have: offline cooperative multiplayer.

Here's an in-depth look at the stealthier side of Splinter Cell: Blacklist's much ballyhooed "Spies vs. Mercs" multiplayer.

Will you be a stealthy ghost? Maybe a silent, but deadly panther? Or is mowing your enemies down with a machine gun more up your alley? This new trailer, released by Ubisoft for the newest Splinter Cell, shows that there is merit to each approach. Blacklist hits Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC on August 20.

Everything that I know so far about Splinter Cell: Blacklist tells me that I should like it: it’s a beautiful, globe-trotting third-person adventure that gives you a ton of freedom to play the way you want. But, each moment I’ve laid eyes on it, I’ve been bothered by this nagging feeling in the back of my head.

Steve Hogarty of PCGamesN goes to Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Blacklist preview event for a hands-on. It doesn't work out. "I left the event early to go home to bed, where I slept for 16 hours before slithering off to a hospital. Perhaps I’m part of a Splinter Cell ARG and I’ve been shot with a polonium dart."

If Ubisoft wanted me to pay loads of money for Splinter Cell: Blacklist DLC, then they’d offer an audio track of Michael Ironside doing all the Sam Fisher dialogue. Charge me $20. I’d pay it. Seriously.

Sam Fisher, meet Isaac Briggs. He's the co-op partner on loan from the CIA in Splinter Cell: Blacklist and judging by this trailer, he seems to play well with others. Well, others on his own team.

Your cheetah speed has returned, so use it to go annex a PC and Mac copy of SimCity for $32- the lowest price so far. Prefer trying to survive the apocalypse over trying to prevent one? We've got $10 off the most anticipated not-Bioshock game this year, The Last of Us, along with the same deal for Splinter Cell:…

It's hard to know what to think about the next Splinter Cell right now. I liked Conviction but the last Sam Fisher game was a clear break with some of the series' more iconic elements. Blacklist is clearly trying to bring some of that tech/stealth feel back while also expanding the options and scope of the game.

Last week, while I was checking out Splinter Cell: Blacklist, I had a long, interesting talk with the game's creative director Maxime Béland.

The more venerable and successful a video-game series, the trickier it must be to make sequels. Fans who have been around since the beginning likely start feeling a bit put-out about changes made over the years, changes that welcomed the very newcomers who might balk at an old-school return to form. That conundrum…

Splinter Cell: Blacklist —out on 08/20—features the game's female President in a new "Inauguration" trailer.

For many long-time Splinter Cell fans, the latest trailer for upcoming Blacklist was cause for either laughter or deep concern, so distanced did it look from the series dark, quiet and stealthy roots.

This is the new Splinter Cell, subtitled Blacklist. What's the sale here in the new trailer for the 2013 console and PC game? The ability to play as an American agent who can do whatever the hell he wants. "Completely off the books, no prosecution," the President promises.

After Blacklist reared its head at this year's E3, many Splinter Cell fans feared that the renowned action game would be cutting back on its exacting stealth gameplay. There might be hope, guys.