Ubisoft releases games for free, ad-supported

Laughing Mechanicus · Post by **Laughing Mechanicus** » 2007-09-01 11:05am

Evil Avatar wrote:Much like EA is giving away C&C Gold, the folks at Fileplanet are also giving away four completely free full version games.

However, there is a catch: the four games are ad-supported.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Far Cry
Rayman Raving Rabbids

I have no idea how pervasive the ads are in these versions, but it's still kind of a nice deal if you haven't played these games before.

This is a good time to pick up those titles, if you never got around to playing them. Apparently the Ads only appear in the loading screens, but I haven't confirmed that myself. Here's hoping we see more back catalogue releases this way.

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2007-09-01 11:20am

How the hell are they going to find a place to put ads in a Persian castle? Billboards in the harem room?

EDIT: Ah. Loading screens. That'll teach me not to read all of the OP. I don't remember PoP having much in the way of loading screens, though.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-09-01 11:45am

That's an awesome idea. Hell, I wouldn't particularly mind more conspicuous ads considering I'm getting the game for free.

As for the overall issue of advertisements in games, I can't say I really have any issues with them, as long as they are incorporated in a way that doesn't make them stand out to the point of distraction. Though I would hope there would be some kind of compensation for consumers, like lower prices and/or more frequent updates. I think it would be kind of amusing to see, for example, Nike ads done period style and in tapestries in games with an older setting.

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2007-09-01 12:15pm

Drooling Iguana wrote:How the hell are they going to find a place to put ads in a Persian castle? Billboards in the harem room?

EDIT: Ah. Loading screens. That'll teach me not to read all of the OP. I don't remember PoP having much in the way of loading screens, though.

Well, either they'll add long loading screens, or maybe they'll alter the story just a little bit. The princess might be called Fanta, and there could be a short cameo by "Coke" Zero from the Megaman series. They could change the title of Vizier to "Vista", and add a scene where the Vizier is standing by a window and someone asks him: "Don't you just love windows, Vista? Don't they make you feel secure?" Small things like that.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-09-01 02:02pm

YES!

Who did I talk to about this at E3? I remember getting into a conversation with someone and telling them about how I watch ads on TV because I get the show for free, and if I am going to get ads in games I'd expect the game to be cheaper at least...

I'd like to take credit for this

But I don't think it was someone at Ubisoft...

Anyway, go Ubisoft!

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-09-01 07:06pm

Finally, i've always wanted to play Far Cry.

The placement of the ads will be, interesting, no doubt. But hey, i'm a sucker for free stuff.

Manus Celer Dei · Post by **Manus Celer Dei** » 2007-09-01 07:12pm

I'm surpised to see Rayman in there, considering how new it is compared to the others.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-09-01 07:57pm

Damn. This is actually going to give me an incentive to subscribe to fileplanet come next payday.

Post by **weemadando** » 2007-09-01 08:50pm

Bastards. I already own all of those!

Johonebesus · Post by **Johonebesus** » 2007-09-01 09:04pm

Am I being paranoid if I fear that this is a scam to spread malware? I couldn't find any reference to this on Ubisoft's website.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-09-01 09:08pm

I'd be interested to see how these versions are different. The D2D versions available on FP are a pain in the ass to patch.

And hey except PoP those games all suck.

Duckie · Post by **Duckie** » 2007-09-02 12:16am

Prince of Persia appears to be nice banner ads for McDonalds above all menus, and occaisional (before cutscenes and every time you die/reload) McDonalds advertisements.

Nothing in-game, thank god.

Unfortuantely, I'm having rendering problems with vertices, as usual for every single 3d game ever. Is crazy texture problems a symptom of overheating, or is the new graphics card I bought shit for the 2nd time in a row?

Steven Snyder · Post by **Steven Snyder** » 2007-09-02 08:41am

It's an absolutely brilliant idea...

Nobody was going to buy those old games anyway, why not make a buck off them like this? It's adding commericals to video games, DVDs and TV have had them forever, why not here?

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-09-02 01:09pm

The only problem I have so far is the Far Cry loading ad. It actually stops the level load for a little while so it can play. Although this may be for good reason, since my computer loads the whole level in 2 seconds.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2007-09-02 01:20pm

MRDOD wrote:Unfortuantely, I'm having rendering problems with vertices, as usual for every single 3d game ever. Is crazy texture problems a symptom of overheating, or is the new graphics card I bought shit for the 2nd time in a row?

Fucked vertices and textures sounds like the exact same problem I've had. You don't happen to have a 7900GT(X) or similar card, do you?

Duckie · Post by **Duckie** » 2007-09-02 03:49pm

Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:
MRDOD wrote:Unfortuantely, I'm having rendering problems with vertices, as usual for every single 3d game ever. Is crazy texture problems a symptom of overheating, or is the new graphics card I bought shit for the 2nd time in a row?
Fucked vertices and textures sounds like the exact same problem I've had. You don't happen to have a 7900GT(X) or similar card, do you?

7700 GT something-or-other, if I remember correctly. I've just given up since it's twice in a row now.

It makes Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, Rome: Total War (especially BI but not RTR), Silent Hunter III, Prince of Persia, Galactic Civilizations II (especially), yet not any game by Paradox Interactive (due to having less sophisticated graphics, I'd wager) go to unplayable, if that helps describe which ones if works on.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2007-09-02 03:51pm

I don't see Ghost Recon actually mentioned on the Fileplanet site. What's the deal?

salm · Post by **salm** » 2007-09-02 03:54pm

Meh, commercials are one of the reasons why i threw out my TV. I´d rather pay money and get the stuff without ads.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2007-09-02 05:19pm

Instead of those radioactive monkeys that ruined Far Cry, no doubt you'll be forced to fight something more creative.

Like Mascots for EA's thousand sports games.

Laughing Mechanicus · Post by **Laughing Mechanicus** » 2007-09-02 05:22pm

Hotfoot wrote:I don't see Ghost Recon actually mentioned on the Fileplanet site. What's the deal?

Looks like they pulled it for some reason. It's the oldest one on the list, Ghost Recon was probably in development at Red Storm (just) before Ubisoft bought them, though it was released after the acquisition. Maybe they ran into a legal problem of some sort?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-09-02 05:46pm

Manus Celer Dei wrote:I'm surpised to see Rayman in there, considering how new it is compared to the others.

Because the PC port sucked.

Laughing Mechanicus · Post by **Laughing Mechanicus** » 2007-09-02 10:04pm

Not related to this directly, but EA has just released Command and Conquer Gold for free. It's not ad-supported or anything like that, and it's the full game. Provided for download as a couple of ISO files of the game discs (made compatible with XP). Find it here.

Now if only I didn't have about 8 different copies of the original it might be useful to me, but I guess there's a chance someone here hasn't played it yet.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2007-09-02 11:27pm

Brilliant idea.

Consider it, they've found an acceptable way to add Commericals into video games.

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2007-09-06 03:41am

I have PoP on my Xbox, so I just went for FarCry. Now to upgrade my computer so I can play it.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2007-09-06 11:18am

Aaron Ash wrote:Not related to this directly, but EA has just released Command and Conquer Gold for free. It's not ad-supported or anything like that, and it's the full game. Provided for download as a couple of ISO files of the game discs (made compatible with XP). Find it here.
Now if only I didn't have about 8 different copies of the original it might be useful to me, but I guess there's a chance someone here hasn't played it yet.

This is fucking awesome. I don't know what happened to my copy so this is fantastic. This couldn't have come to me at a better time since I'm downloading at my university.