My New Year's day hangover was mercifully shorter than my fading fond memories of 2009, but looking back through that skid-tinted pane and with the aid of a little perspective from M2 Research, I've realised just how bloody awful 2009 was for many people in the games industry:

Ubisoft has revealed new details for the next chapter of one of the most popular games in the Prince Of Persia series, Sands Of Time. The Forgotten Sands chronologically sits between The Sands Of Time and Warrior Within and sees the prince aid in the rescue of his brother's palace. This time he will have control over both time and nature, using an updated version of the Anvil engine. Check out the forums on the ...

Everyone knew it was coming, but a Ubisoft scriptwriter has let slip the fact that Far Cry 3 is in development. In an interview with Official Playstation magazine Kevin Shortt denied working on the new title himself, but then added, "the team are and what I've seen looks pretty exciting." Far Cry 3 will likely feature an upgraded version of the Dunia Engine used in Far Cry 2 (a heavily modified CryEngine 2, licensed from Crytek) and it has been suggested ...

Another PC title slips momentarily out of sight as Ubisoft confirms that while the console version of Assassin’s Creed 2 will still launch on 20th November, the PC game won’t see the light until the first Quarter of 2010. The news first officially came via Ubisoft’s Twitter, explaining that the developer needed “a bit more time to deliver the best quality game to you” - and we’ve since confirmed the delay with Ubisoft’s UK PR.  No ...

Ubisoft have confirmed a release date for Assassin's Creed 2 at  their E3 briefing in LA, promising you'll be able to slip into the new Assassin's boots on November the 17th.  Set in 1486 at the height of the Italian Renaissance , with all new Assassin Enizio plying his trade, Assassin's Creed 2 is easily shaping up to be one of the years most anticipated titles.  We'll bring you more soon, but if you're looking for ...

Ubisoft has signed up with classic game on-demand platform Gog.com. The partnership immediately brings Beyond Good and Evil, Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time and IL2-Sturmovik: 1946 to the Gog.com collection at $9.99 each, DRM-free and optimised for modern operating systems, as per Gog.com standard. It brings the Gog.com catalogue past the 100-game milestone, with more games added from the Ubisoft back catalogue over the coming months, including titles from the Rainbow Six, Heroes Of Might & Magic, and ...

Ubisoft has acquired the Swedish developer of World In Conflict, Massive Entertainment. The studio was closed following the Activision-Blizzard merger, though there was never much doubt over the future of the successful development team. The rights to the World In Conflict franchise also pass to the publisher, and follows a trend of cuts and acquisitions by publishers including Atari picking the rights to Ghostbusters and THQ dropping several of its studios to focus on core titles.

Ubisoft has officially announced the sequel to the popular 2003 action-adventure game, Beyond Good & Evil. The long-awaited Nietzsche-inspired title, Beyond Good & Evil 2 was revealed at Ubisoft's recent Ubidays expo alongside a couple of screenies and a teaser trailer - enjoy!

The official name of Ubisoft's air combat game has been unveiled: Tom Clancy's HAWX. That's High Altitude Warfare X. Presumably Ubisoft was waiting until they'd acquired the rights to Clancy's name before revealing this nonsensical title. HAWX is a flight action game that bares a resemblance to Ace Combat, with a touch of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare. Set in 2012 there's a jump-in co-op campaign, online battles with 16 players and simplified flight model that will make it easy to fight and issue ...

Ubisoft announced today that it has acquired full intellectual property rights to the Tom Clancy name from Mr Tom Clancy. The acquisition means Ubisoft can create future Tom Clancy titles including films, books and merchandise as well as games, completely free of any royalty payments. While the sum involved was undisclosed, it is likely to be in the region of £15 million, based on Ubisoft's previous 2007-2008 financial year cash position of €150 million, compared to its current €130 million estimate. "The Tom Clancy brand is recognised around the world for offering ...

Ubisoft has released new footage demonstrating the capabilities of Far Cry 2's 'Dunia' engine. There's no combat, but the three vids show off environmental features including mutilated trees that regrow their branches. Name aside, Far Cry 2 is unrelated to the original CryTek game, and is this time set in Africa rather than a tropical island. It's being developed by Ubisoft's Montreal studio and promises to offer an open-world FPS with some of the most realistic physics and AI yet. Far Cry 2 is currently slated for release ...