That One Time at PAX with Ubisoft

Ubisoft has shown a growing interest in PC Gaming in relation to LAN events and tournaments over the past year or so.

Partnering with Intel, Ubisoft sponsored the first official USA TrackMania 2: Canyon tournament that I organized at GEEX 2011.  I had a wonderful time working with Noemie and they were very gracious to get us on the GEEX stage as the premier Friday night tournament and supply killer prizes for our competitors ($2500 custom gaming laptop for first place, and just released 2nd-gen i7 2600k CPUs for 2nd and 3rd.)
They also supplied hundreds of limited edition TrackMania 2: Canyon t-shirts to give away at the event.

GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2: Canyon tournament

I later had the opportunity to help Ubisoft support Macduffman, a prominent USA member of the TrackMania community in organizing and pulling off another TrackMania 2: Canyon tournament at the A&G Ohio convention.

And last weekend, in an incredibly generous gesture, Ubisoft flew me (ThatOneGuy) out to PAX Prime 2012 in Seattle, Washington to assist them with their ShootMania booth.

SpeedMonger's "Cliff Jumpers" Royal map
on the big screen above the stage of the
ShootMania booth at PAX

I helped configure dedicated servers that would introduce players to the Royal and Elite modes at the booth, and helped make sure the computers were running well for the event.  I also got to talk with players and help them learn how to play the game.

My PAX Prime badge

It has always been my dream to attend a huge video game expo and was very humbled and grateful to have this amazing opportunity.  The booth was bigger than life and really awesome to finally see Nadeo games getting big USA marketing attention.  Ubisoft seems to really be backing their games now, and I look forward to what they'll do with the next release of TrackMania 2: Valley!

The greatest excitement for me, above and beyond attending the PAX and seeing Nadeo in the spotlight there, was to meet in-person and make friends with really really great people from Ubisoft and Nadeo Live.  I had so much fun spending time with them and wish I could have stayed the entire time (I had to fly home Saturday afternoon.)

From left-to-right:
Alex (Nitroguy), Josh (Ubisoft), Jeff (ThatOneGuy),
Edouard (Nadeo Live), Julien (Nadeo Live), John (Ubisoft),
Noemie (Ubisoft), Nickola (Nadeo Live), Anne (Nadeo Live)

The Ubi/Nadeo crews are passionate about their games and about the players having incredible experiences with their games; and I got the feeling after my conversations with them that they really want to support local LAN events on a smaller, more "grass roots" level.  Anne Blondel-Jouin from Nadeo Live told me (paraphrased) that doing these big shows (like PAX and E3) is fun, and great for getting the word out about their games, but they want to be involved on a much more intimate level with the players.  If you are running any ShootMania or TrackMania tournaments locally, get in touch with me and I can get you in touch with the right people there.

I got to meet Alex (Nitroguy), from TrackMania and ShootMania fame, who won the map-making contest and got himself a trip out to PAX courtesy of Ubisoft.  Nitroguy made maps for my GEEX 2011 TrackMania 2: Canyon tournament.  I have enjoyed playing TrackMania and Shootmania online with him for a couple of years, so it was great to finally meet in-person.  (And Nitro, you still need to get your winning map "Rockets and Rails" posted on Mania Exchange!)

ThatOneGuy, Nitroguy, AskJoshy(guy)

ThatOneGuy and Nitroguy watch an intense
ShootMania: Storm Elite tournament

I also made some awesome new friends from the Frag Dolls (and Cadettes): Amy (Valkyrie), Kim (Sabre) and Tracie (Miss Magitek)!  They were awesome and worked well with those attending the booth to help them understand how to play the game and get some qualified for a $500 tournament Ubisoft/Nadeo Live put on at the show.

Amy (Valkyrie), Jeff (ThatOneGuy), Tracie (Miss Magitek)

Kim (Sabre)
I couldn't find her for a pic with me
before I had to leave PAX,
so I borrowed one from their website.

Another unexpected surprise was to discover that some of the players that have graced our Team FNG ShootMania Royal server work for IGN and were there to help cover the ShootMania booth and shoutcast the tournaments.  Among the awesome were Ron (DarkRabbi), Josh (AskJoshy) and Kevin (CatsPajamas). They did a wonderful job and it was fun to get to know them in-person.

Kevin (CatsPajamas) and Josh (AskJoshy)
playing some Royal on setup day

Ron (DarkRabbi) and Kevin (CatsPajamas)
shoutcasting an Elite tournament

ThatOneGuy and DarkRabbi

AskJoshy in pro form

You can watch for the Frag Dolls and IGN/IPL players online in ShootMania (and maybe even play with them on our Team FNG ShootMania servers sometime.)  I know the FragDolls have some ShootMania servers of their own as well.

I also had the pleasure of becoming friends with Anna Prosser who helped with announcements and interviews for the ShootMania booth.

Anna during a ShootMania interview at PAX

Anna Prosser and ThatOneGuy

I had an incredible time.  It was electric being at PAX and I can't thank Ubisoft enough for bringing me out there and letting me have this opportunity to help make their ShootMania booth a success.  I hope it will help begin making the title as well-known in the USA as it is in Europe, and that we will start seeing more LAN events and tournaments happening across the country.

I hope in turn it will bring more TrackManiacs to the scene and that we will see an even bigger/better booth next time with the release of TrackMania 2: Valley!

Keep up the great work Ubisoft and Nadeo!  Keep ManiaPlanet awareness surging through the USA!

Finally, one last shout out to my good friend Noemie, who is the reason all of this happened for me.  She's amazing and I appreciate all she has done for me and the ManiaPlanet community.  You rock!

ThatOneGuy and Noemie (Ubisoft)

Reason to Love Ubisoft Again! DRM Getting Toned Back Down

I've had somewhat of a Jekyll/Hyde relationship with Ubisoft for a few years now.  I love them because there is a division within that is really focused on making gamers' experience awesome for LAN events, tournaments, etc. (you'll find many articles here about their support for our GEEX TrackMania tournaments in the past couple of years; and my next post will feature an incredible thing the Ubisoft/Nadeo crew did for me last weekend.)

However, you will also find many articles discussing my disgust and disappointment about their Online Services Platform always-on DRM.

I'm pleased to announce that I hopefully can abandon the DRM hate and just return to love for Ubisoft after a fantastic announcement on the "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" website was made yesterday morning.  The website  announced that Ubisoft is "scrapping always-on DRM for PC games."

"Rock, Paper, Shotgun" published a full interview 2 hours later where they spoke with Stephanie Perotti, Ubisoft's Worldwide Director for Online Games and Michael Burk, Ubisoft's Communications Manager.

According to Perotti: "We have listened to feedback, and since June last year our policy for all of PC games is that we only require a one-time online activation when you first install the game, and from then you are free to play the game offline."

I will test this very soon, as I boycotted several games that I'd wanted to purchase, but was unwilling to put up with their always-on DRM... titles like "Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands" and the "HAWX" series.  I was awarded a copy of Forgotten Sands at the end of last year, but haven't installed it because of said boycott.  I'm excited to see if what they said is true, because I'd really like to play the game.

However,  it was unclear to me in the article (someone please comment if you can confirm) if older games would have it removed, or if the DRM decision was only being applied to releases from that June date forward.  I hope it will be removed for these other games I've wanted to play.

Regardless, this is a huge step in regaining faith in Ubisoft for PC gamers, as well as faith that other publishers in the industry will follow suit.  Those of us that have been voting with our wallets now need to do the same and support this move.  I hope I will find out I can go back and buy the games I missed because they chose to remove the DRM from them as well; and look forward to future titles from Ubisoft that will allow me to play my games whenever, however and wherever I like.  Let's hope it keeps for a very long time!

Thanks, Ubisoft!  Here's to a bright future.

ShootMania: Royal and Elite - Open to the Public at Launch!

Nadeo Live and Ubisoft made a killer announcement at PAX Prime.
When ShootMania is released, their Elite and Royal modes will be open to the public; much like Nadeo did when they released TrackMania Nations for ESWC.

There will still be the pay-for version that will have many more modes and other extras; so for those that have already ordered the beta, there is no need to fear.  :)

It was so fun to meet so many cool players there and I hope to see you online with us on the Team FNG servers in the USA | Utah zone.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a release date revealed at PAX Prime, but we hope it will be within the next month or two.  But don't wait... go pre-order at a discount today (heck, get 3 or 5-packs and get your friends playing too!  They are discounted even more.) and get in on ALL the fun action this family-friendly FPS has to offer.

ShootMania at PAX Prime 2012

SpeedMonger's "Cliff Jumpers" map,
bigger than life
on 9 monitors at the
Ubisoft ShootMania booth at PAX

Ubisoft was kind enough to allow me to snap this shot of SpeedMonger's map on the huge spectator screens they have at their ShootMania booth at PAX.

I can't wait to see what's in store tomorrow.  Rumor has it there will be some big news for ManiaPlanet fans revealed sometime tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

TrackMania 2 Canyon Nominated for Best Racer

Hey TrackManiacs!

Nadeo's freaking awesome racer, TrackMania 2 Canyon, has been nominated for Best Racer on the Golden Joystick Awards.

We can help vote it in as the winner at the Golden Joystick Awards web site.

The other nominated games are:

• Dirt Showdown
• Driver: San Francisco
• F1 2011
• Forza 4
• Need for Speed: The Run
• Need for Speed: Unbounded
• Twisted Metal

We all know who the winner is... Vote TrackMania 2 Canyon in as Best Racer today!

Steam: Mirror's Edge for $4.99 today!

For those that haven't played it yet... Mirror's Edge is on sale for $4.99 on Steam today.

The fantastic thing about buying it through Steam is that you don't have the EA DRM with it.  As far as I know it's the ONLY version that doesn't have it (I haven't heard of EA pulling it out of their own digital distribution yet; but I will happily stand corrected if someone will let us know.)

Anyway, run get it today if you haven't.  It's a fantastic concept and I hope they'll release a sequel with multiplayer tag.

There is a lot of mild language in it, so be warned there, other than that, it's a riot to play.
Enjoy!

ManiaPlanet (TrackMania and ShootMania) Servers Going Down Temporarily

Hey all ManiaPlanet players that play on our Team FNG servers.  I need to take the server computer down for a little while today while I rearrange the office the server is located in.  It should only be down for an hour or two at the most.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

Blizzard User Account Breach

Blizzard announced recently that their "security team found an unauthorized and illegal access into our internal network".

North American players are being urged to change their passwords, secret questions and Mobile Authenticator serial numbers.

You can find more information at their Important Security Update FAQ.  I wasn't notified by them yet, I tripped on an article reporting it while looking up something else video game related.  I hope others of you found out earlier about this from Blizzard.

Hopefully those of you actively playing Blizzard titles have been notified in-game.  I launched Starcraft II to confirm, but was met with patches that require an "installation optimization" that will take 15-60 minutes.

At the very least, Blizzard should send email notifications to the addresses listed on your account, but I don't know when they will do this.

Regardless, it will be in your best interest to log in and update your account's security info.

ShootMania Map Competition for PAX Prime Starts Today!

Ubisoft announced today on the ManiaPlanet blog that they are holding a map creation competition to generate maps for the ShootMania tournaments that will be held at PAX at the end of the month.

Up to 25 maps will be selected for play during the tournament in 5 different game modes that will be shown off to the attendees of the expo.  The game modes include:

• Siege
• Elite
• Battle
• Heroes
• Speedball

Each participant may submit up to 10 maps (ALL need to be submitted together in one email to Ubisoft!!!  See official rules for more information.)

If your map(s) is/are selected for PAX, you will be recognized at the show when your map is played.  The one most interesting map (first place winner) will be brought to PAX to help show off his/her map!

These maps are being made exclusive for PAX, and thus, Ubi has set some specific rules, including making sure your playtest group only includes the author and enough people to max what the mode supports.  For example, if you decide to make an Elite map (which is 3 vs. 3) -- your playtest group will consist of the map author and 5 other players.  Play on a passworded server, and the author and all playtesters agree to be under non-disclosure agreement; meaning you won't discuss or share the map in any way.  (This includes not posting to ManiaExchange until after the PAX tournaments take place.

So wait no more... go check out the rules and start pumping out the maps... Good luck!

(I will post more about the tournaments themselves when I get more info... in case some of you out there want to try to play in them!)

This Contest is open to legal U.S. residents (excluding residents of Rhode Island and residents of Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and other United States territories) and to legal residents of Canada (excluding residents of Quebec), who are thirteen (13) years of age or older at the time of entry.  Other restrictions apply; see official rules for more information.

TrackMania 2 Canyon: That One Platform Fail

When life hands you lemons...
you won't be finishing that race with zero respawns.

Those of you that have played "D01 - Narrow Minded" know exactly what I'm talking about.