Ubisoft

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簡介

Ubisoft

Ubisoft Entertainment (formerly Ubi Soft) is a computer and video game publisher and developer with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has facilities in over 20 countries, including development studios in Montreal and Quebec City, Canada; Barcelona, Spain; Shanghai, China; North Carolina, USA; Düsseldorf, Germany; Sofia, Bulgaria; Bucharest, Romania and Milan, Italy, amongst other locations. As of 2004, it is the third-largest independent video game publisher in Europe, and the seventh largest in the US. The "Ubi" in Ubisoft is sometimes pronounced 【juːbi】 or more often 【u'bi】, in French it is pronounced 【y'bi】. (See IPA phonetic notation.)

History

The five brothers of the guillemot family founded Ubisoft as a computer game publisher in 1986 in France. Yves Guillemot soon made deals with Electronic Arts, Sierra On-Line, and Microprose to distribute their games in France. By the end of the decade, Ubisoft began expanding to other markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
In the early 1990s, Ubisoft initiated its in-house game development program which led to the 1994 opening of a studio in Montreuil, France, which later became their headquarters. That same year, Michel Ancel created the Rayman character, a character which still stars in new video games as of 2006. Ubisoft became a publicly traded company in 1996 and continued to expand to offices around the globe, opening locations in Shanghai and Montreal.
In 2000, Ubisoft acquired US-based Red Storm Entertainment, the game development studio founded by techno-spy novelist Tom Clancy, famous for games based on Clancy's books. In 2001, the company purchased Blue Byte Software, known for the Settlers series. By 2003, Ubisoft reported operations in 22 countries, nine of those containing production or design offices. Ubisoft had a number of successful and award-winning games that year, including Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, XIII, Rayman 3, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and Beyond Good & Evil.
Ubisoft's revenue for 2002-2003 was �453 million; for fiscal year 2003-2004, this grew to �508 million. As of 2004, Ubisoft employs more than 2,350 people, of which over 1700 are classed as working in production. Yves Guillemot, a founding brother, is the chairman and CEO.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ubisoft committed itself to online games by getting behind Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, The Matrix Online, and the European and Chinese operation of EverQuest. The publisher established ubi.com as its online division. But in February 2004, Ubisoft cancelled the online portion of Uru and backed out of the publishing deal on The Matrix Online. Regardless, only a week later the company announced its acquisition of Wolfpack Studios, developers of fantasy MMORPG Shadowbane, and in July 2004, its Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow was released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 with what some considered a revolutionary online multiplayer feature.
On December 20, 2004 Electronic Arts (EA) purchased a 19.9% stake in the firm. At the time, Ubisoft released a statement saying they considered the purchase "hostile" until they had further information on EA's intent.
In March 2005 Ubisoft acquired MC2-Microïds (Microïds Canada) and integrated it into Ubisoft's Montreal studios.【1】
Ubisoft also bought the Driver franchise from Atari in July 2006, for a sum of �19 million (USD million) in cash for the franchise, technology rights, and most assets. Additionally, though Ubisoft is not acquiring the studio outright, the 80 members of Driver developer Reflections Interactive will become employees of Ubisoft.
Starforce Controversy
Ubisoft is known to use Starforce copy protection that installs drivers on a system and is suspected to cause problems with some hardware and compatibility issues with certain operating systems, starting with the game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory which as of the time of writing (February 2, 2006) is not compatible with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. On April 14, 2006 Ubisoft confirmed that they will stop using Starforce on their games citing complaints from the customers.【3】
【edit】 PRegScheduler MFC Application
Ubisoft is known to install an application called "PRegScheduler MFC Application" as a file named "powerreg scheduler.exe" outside of it's specified installation directories. PowerReg Scheduler.exe may show up as "PowerREGISTER" in your task list. It is a product registration application used by companies including Ubisoft, MicroProse, IOmega and PowerQuest (Partition Magic). This application is not installed to the user specified directories for a given Ubisoft product, rather it is placed directly in the Startup folder, which is a common tactic for rogue software such as spyware and malware. Examination of the programs properties shows the "Company Name" to be blank, even though the rest of the property information is available. This has caused many people to become alarmed that an unknown program by an unidentified company has been placed in their startup folder for unknown purpose.【2】【3】
Upcoming games published by Ubisoft
2007
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway (360, PS3, PC)
Assassin's Creed (PS3, 360, PC)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (360, PC)
Haze (360, PS3, PC)
Untitled Naruto Project (360)
Lost
Blazing Angels: Secret Missions (360, PC)
Shaun White Snowboarding (Working Title)
Far Cry 2 (Working Title)
Surf's Up (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, GC, DS, GBA, PC)
Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East (PC)
Games developed/published by Ubisoft
This is a partial list of games developed and/or published by Ubisoft.
Advance Guardian Heroes (2004) — GBA
Alexander (2004) — PC
America's Army: Rise of a Soldier — Xbox
Ape Escape 2 (2003) — PS2
Pumped & Primed (2004) — PS2
Asphalt Urban GT (2004) — DS.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (2004) — GBA
Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (2003) — Xbox, PS2
Batman Vengeance (2001) Xbox, GC, PS2, GBA, PC
Battle Realms (2001) — PC
Beyond Good & Evil (2003) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood Xbox, PS2, PC
Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 (2005) — Xbox, PS2, PC
Blazing Angels (2006) — PS3, PC)
Capitalism 2 (2001) — PC
Catz 5 (2002) — PC
Chessmaster (2003/2004) — Xbox, PS2, PC
Chessmaster 9000 (2002) — PC, Mac
Chessmaster 10th Edition (2004) — PC
Conflict Zone (2001) — PS2
Conquest: Frontier Wars (2001) — PC
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2003) — Xbox, PS2, GBA
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2004) — Xbox, PC
CSI: Dark Motives (2004) — PC
CSI: Miami (2004) — PC
Cold Fear (2005) — PC, Xbox, PS2
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (2006) — PC
Destroyer Command (2002) — PC
Devil May Cry 3 (2006) — PC
Dogz 5 (2002) — PC, GBA
Driver: Parallel Lines (20072) — (PC and Wii)
Driver 76 (2007) — (PSP)
Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern (2001) — DC, PC
Enchanted Arms (2006) — Xbox 360
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) — PC, Xbox
F1 Racing Championship (2001) — PC, PS1, N64, PS2, Dreamcast
Faces of War (2006) — PC
Far Cry (2004) — PC
Far Cry Instincts (2005) — Xbox
Far Cry: Vengeance (2006) — Wii
FLOW: Urban Dance Uprising — PS2
Fred (1989) — Atari ST520
GT Pro Series (2006) — Wii
Heritage of Kings: The Settlers (2005) — PC
Heroes of Might and Magic V (2006) — PC
Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate (2006) — PC
Heroes of the Pacific — PC
Hype: The Time Quest (1999) — PC
IL-2 Sturmovik (2001) — PC
Forgotten Battles Ace Expansion Pack (2004) — PC
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1993) — NES
Iron Lord (1989) — Atari ST520
Jimmy Connors Pro Tennis Tour (1993) — NES
Lost Magic (2006) — DS
Lock On: Modern Air Combat (2003) — PC
Lunar Legend (2001) — GBA
Lunar: Dragon Song (2005) — DS
Monster 4x4: Masters of Metal (2003) — PS2, GC
Monster 4x4 World Circuit (2006) — Wii
Myst Masterpiece Edition (2000) — PC
riven: The Sequel to Myst (1998) — PC
realMYST (2000) — PC, Mac
Myst III: Exile (2001) — PC, Mac
Myst IV: Revelation (2004) — PC, Mac
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst (2003) — PC
Myst Uru: The Path of the Shell (2004) — PC
Myst V: End of Ages (2005) — PC, Mac
Night Hunter (1989) — Atari ST520
Open Season (2006) — Wii
Pacific Fighters (2004) — PC
Paradise (2006) — PC
Peter Jackson's King Kong — PC, PS2, GCN, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP, NDS
Kong: The 8th Wonder of the World — GBA
Planet of Death (1996) — PC
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (2001) — PC
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC, GBA, (2005 DS)
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (2004) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (2005) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Prince of Persia: Revelations (2005) (PSP)
Battles of Prince of Persia — (2006) (NDS)
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords — (2007) (Wii)
Puffy's Saga (1988) — Atari ST520, Commodore Amiga
Rayman (1996) — PC, PS1, GBC, Jag
Rayman Gold (1997) — PC
Rayman Designer (1997) — PC
Rayman Forever (1998) — PC
Rayman Collector's Edition (1999) — PC
Rayman Advance (2001) — GBA
Rayman 2: The Great Escape (1999/2000) — PC, N64, DC, PS1
Rayman Revolution (2000/2001) — PS2
Rayman DS (2005) — DS
Rayman M (UK Release) (2001) — PC, PS2
Rayman Arena (2002) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (2003) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC, GBA, MAC, N-GAGE
Rayman: Hoodlums' Revenge (2005) — GBA
rayman raving rabbids (2006) — Wii, GBA, PS2, DS, PC, Xbox 360
Red steel (2006) — Wii
Resident Evil 4 (2007) — (PC)
Rocket: Robot on Wheels (1999) — N64
Rocky Legends (2004) — Xbox, PS2
Secret of the Silver earring (2004) — PC
Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos (2003) — PC
Silent Hunter III (2005) — PC
Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific (2007) — (PC)
sprung (2004) — DS
Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force (2004) — GBA
Star Wars: Lethal Alliance (2006) —(PSP, Nintendo DS)
The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee (2004) — Xbox, PS2
The Political Machine (2004) — PC
The Sum of All Fears (2002/2003) — GC, PC, GBA
tmnt (2007) — 360, PS3, PSP, DS, GCN, Wii, GBA, and PC
Ghost Recon series
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (2001) — PC
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (2003) — Xbox, PS2, GC
Desert Siege (2003) — PC
Island Thunder (2003) — Xbox, PC
Jungle Storm (2004) — PS2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 (2004/2005) — Xbox, PS2, GC
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, (2006) — Xbox, Xbox 360, PC, PS2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, (2007) — Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Rainbow Six series
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (1999) — PC, Mac, DC, PS1
Urban Operations — (2000)
Black Thorn (2001) — PC
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (PC) (2003) — PC
Athena Sword (2004) — PC
Iron Wrath (2005) — PC
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield (console) (2003) — Xbox, PS2, GC
Black Arrow (2004) — Xbox
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown (2005) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (2006) — Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PSP
Splinter Cell series
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (2003) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Pandora Tomorrow (2004) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Chaos Theory (2005) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Essentials (2006) — PSP only
Double Agent (2006) — Xbox, PS2, PC, Xbox 360, GC, PC, Wii
Sub Culture (1997) PC
Tonic Trouble (2000) PC, N64
Tork: Prehistoric Punk (2005) — Xbox
Trollz: Hair Affair! — GBA
Twinworld (1989) — Atari ST520
Warlords Battlecry II (2002) — PC
Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria (2003) — PC
Will Rock (2003) — PC
XIII (2003) — Xbox, PS2, GC, PC
Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates (2005) — PC