Features// Ubidays Paris Nights - 2008

Then, of course, there was the Brothers in Arms shouting incident. As SPOnG already reported, skins crawled somewhat when he tried to get all assembled crying out with military fervour. Personally, I wanted to crawl under my chair and, if possible, into my own bowels to avoid the whole thing. I think my embarrassment about it all could have driven me to defy physics to do it, but I already felt a bit conspicuous. And I was wearing a clean shirt.

Afterwards the assembled press and trade representatives were treated to finger food, copious amounts of free booze and a private tour of Le Louvre. The rooms in which we were stashed were adorned in various Rabbids decorations (take a look at some of the pictures) and I got to eat some beautifully-crafted Rabbids' faces marked out on chocolate. Ubisoft clearly loves its Rabbids, but I do feel pretty sorry for Rayman's fading star.

The following day saw us ushered back into Le Louvre to be met by booths for each of the main titles mentioned above.

Far Cry 2 was hands down the star of the show, with flocks of journos hovering patiently around the couple of machines set up to allow hands on time.

The flocking and subsequent waiting around was not, alas, restricted to Far Cry 2. There was a spot of grumbling about the lack of consoles and PCs made available for us to get stuck in. I managed to get at everything I wanted to see, but not without a lot of time spent loitering (like the smell of hundreds of games hacks crowded into one place) and watching several people potter through the same levels I was about to tackle myself.

Also a little disappointing was the lack of exposure given to Prince of Persia. Only the trailer shown in the presentation was there to look at, with no hands on time or demos available. Similarly, the developer presence for the game was limited to the opening presentation and a scripted group Q&A with Ben Mattes for most of those assembled.

The afternoon also saw a round table discussion on the crossover between games and other media. Representatives from Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft Montreal and Jupiter research were all on hand to discuss how the nature of licensing games has changed, how Hollywood wants a bigger piece of the gaming pie and how a lot of people don't even realise Tom Clancy writes books any more.

Grumbles aside, the overall feeling of those coming away from the event was a positive one. It was well put together and managed and there were some good games on show. I, for one, was pleasantly surprised by a couple of the titles on display. Keep your eye on SPOnG for more on the individual games...