Going gaming at the Louvre

Editor’s note: John Gaudiosi covers the interactive game industry from Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com.

PARIS—One of the cool fringe benefits of my job is that it takes me to fun locales. Although this is my seventh trip to Paris, this is the first time I've ever experienced the Louvre. And it was quite an experience.

After the museum shut down at 10pm, French game publisher Ubisoft opened it up for the 1,200 international journalists who attended their annual Ubidays event at the Carousel (just across from the famous museum's entrance). Having seen the museum in countless movies, including The Da Vinci Code, it was very cool to walk through it at night in a mostly empty environment. I went right at 10pm while many of the Europeans were still drinking at the bar.

The fact that there were black cloaked Da Vinci Code breakers at key locations in the museum (to point out references from the film), added an extra air of excitement to the tour. And while she's behind thick bullet proof glass in a massive room that makes her portait seem very small, seeing the Mona Lisa up close and personal was very cool.

As for the game event, Ubisoft rolled out playable versions of key fall franchises, including two new Tom Clancy games—Tom Clancy’s HAWX and Tom Clancy’s EndWar - at the event. This marks the 10th Anniversary of the Tom Clancy franchise, which Ubisoft acquired with its purchase of Clancy’s game development studio in Morrisville, NC, Red Storm Entertainment, in 2000. After 50 million units sold in a decade across all of the brands, Ubisoft acquired all rights to the Tom Clancy name for use in new games, like the two mentioned above, and for new novels, movies and other merchandising opportunities moving forward.

EndWar will have playable Ghost Recon units and HAWX jet fighters, moving forward, there will be more crossover with the Tom Clancy brands. Another example of this crossover was on display in HAWX, in which players get to experience a level of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 from the perspective of the jet pilots early in the new air combat game. The new game, which is in development at Ubisoft’s Bucharest studio, focuses on an elite jet pilot’s adventures through the unfriendly skies. Set in 2012, the game offers a 15-level single-player mode that allows up to three friends to jump in online any time they want and dogfight too. The game utilizes 50 licensed jets from around the globe and offers photorealistic visuals.

The level shown in Paris took place in Rio de Janeiro. In order to appeal to a more mainstream audience, HAWX offers an assistance mode that streamlines the fighting experience. Once graduated, pilots can turn this off and engage in realistic battles (with an arcade take) from a multitude of cinematic camera perspectives.

In Shanghai, a team that once numbered 200 is finishing up work on Tom Clancy’s EndWar, the first real-time strategy game that can be played from start to finish without a controller. The entire game can be experienced with voice commands, allowing gamers to control the action just as a general would in the real battlefield. Using about 80 words, which can be combined for over 6,000 unique commands, players can engage in World War III in major cities across the globe, including Paris.

Set in 2020, the game pits the U.S., Russia and Europe in a final conflict in which long-range nuclear weapons have been deemed useless. This battle takes place on the ground and in the air with conventional weapons, opening up gameplay to a more fast-paced, and less predictable, series of engagements. With 40 territories across the globe, EndWar offers a multitude of multiplayer game modes, including Theater of War, which allows groups of eight players engage in four-on-four battle in a persistent online world.

Ubisoft also showed off combat in the present day, as well as in the past. Far Cry 2 takes the action to Africa and puts players in a virtual world that measures 50 square kilometers. (It literally takes 45 minutes to hop in a dune buggy or any assorted vehicle and drive from one side of the world to another.)

The objective of this completely open game is to take down The Jackal, an arms dealer who provides weapons to both sides of an on-going war that has ravaged the country. To do this, the player must work both sides against the other by establishing relationships with non-playable characters that will become allies and even save your life from time to time. Of course, while relationships are nice, the meat of this game remains combat and there are tons of upgradable weapons (which will actually experience wear and tear as you use them), vehicles (including boats, jeeps and a hand glider) and gadgets to help you along the way.

During World War II, the Allies attempted to end the conflict early in September 1944 with Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne invasion in history. That attempt failed miserably, which challenged developer Gearbox Software to create a game experience in which history has already written the failed ending. Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway puts players in the thick of battle as Sergeant Matt Baker and his squad of U.S. Airborne soldiers. Players will engage in real battles that take place on meticulously recreated battlefields. The game features a lot of new weapons and vehicles that were not available to soldiers, or players, at Normandy. In addition, next generation consoles allowed for more realistic cover, which disintegrates as it takes fire. And more intelligent German foes will try to take you out this time around.

Ubisoft enters the extreme sports genre with Shaun White Snowboarding, a new franchise that was created with the help of the world-famous, red-headed U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist. Developed in Montreal, there are actually two unique games. One aimed at next gen consoles, which will feature photorealistic mountain scapes in Japan, Alaska, Utah and Europe, and a separate Wii game that can be played with the new Nintendo Balance Board. Both games were playable in Paris and the Wii game showed why making that $80 Wii Fit investment will be worthwhile for a long time to come. While both games will feature Shaun White, the Wii game has a more mainstream focus as players partake in the ultimate snowboarding road trip around the globe to places like Chile, Canada and Japan. The next gen version offers a robust trick-based system (not unlike Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise) and gives the player huge areas to play in both on half-pipes and in the wilderness. A mountain will take 10 minutes to ride from top to bottom, so these are expansive playgrounds for pulling off tricks.

It wouldn’t be a Ubisoft event without a Rayman game. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party for Wii was billed during the presentation as the first Wii game you can play with your butt. There’s a Beestie Boarding level that requires you to sit on the aforementioned Wii Balance Board and guide your Rabbid, who’s on top of a wildebeast, through snow and ice. Other mini-games, like the four-player Dancing with Dweebs, require players to use the Remotes and Nunchucks to dance to licensed tracks like “Jungle Boogie.” This sequel to last year’s hit party game takes plenty of swipes at TV and provides a lot of laughs along the way.

Although there was only a short trailer shown, Ubisoft did talk about the new Prince of Persia game. The Sands of Time game franchise has been left behind—although Jerry Bruckheimer and Walt Disney Pictures are working on a new trilogy of films starring Jake Gyllenhaal to debut in summer 2009. Ubisoft will introduce a brand new prince—who actually doesn’t start off the game as royalty—and the ability to travel through time has been replaced by a new interactive companion, Elika, who will work with the player to enhance all aspects of gameplay, including tag-teaming with combat. The new prince will still have his acrobatic maneuvers, but Elika will add a new dimension to the game, according to the game’s producer, Ben Mattes. In development in Montreal, the game ships this fall.