In 2010, a company called OnLive believed that game streaming was the future. The problem was that they believed that this future would come sooner than what ended up happening. The company (or rather, its IP) would end up being bought by Sony instead. The Japanese company then launched PlayStation Now later, which in itself is a cloud gaming platform that finally brought us closer to that future.

They weren't the only ones hedging this bet, however, and soon the cloud gaming fever spread to other companies and manufacturers. NVIDIA's GeForce NOW is one of the clearest examples of that venture, with its own pros and cons. But now we have a new, promising competitor in this field: Google, which announced yesterday the birth of the so-called "Project Stream". As the name suggests, this initiative is intended to offer end users the possibility of playing any game from any device and with only one requirement: to have access to the Google Chrome browser.

Ubisoft released v1.11 patch for "Far Cry 5." The patch introduces a large number of new cross-franchise in-game items, some cosmetic such as masks, others functional, such as new weapons. A number of bugs and under-the-hood stability improvements were also introduced. Perhaps the biggest change is the new "HD textures pack," for the PC version, which makes the patch bigger in size than the one console gamers are getting. The pack increases texture resolutions across the board, which improves visuals, but can be much heavier on your video memory. The feature is recommended for graphics cards with over 4 GB of memory.

Update: I bought my copy directly from UPlay, while W1zzard got his via Steam (i.e. launching the game on Steam spawns UPlay, which then launches the game; updates are Steam's responsibility). We noticed something curious. My copy has the 29 GB HD Textures Pack (being distributed as a DLC) available as an "owned DLC," whereas although W1zzard's copy got patched to v1.11, the HD Textures Pack is not available. There are no in-game settings to enable it, nor was W1zzard's patch download as heavy as mine. This leads us to believe Steam users (i.e. people who bought the game on Steam) don't have access to the HD Texture Pack yet, whereas those who purchased it directly on UPlay do. Tell us your experience in the comments below.The detailed change-log of Far Cry 5 patch 1.11 follows.

We are less than a month away from when the latest installment of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed (AC) series comes out. It may have seemed only months ago that Assassin's Creed Origins came out, probably because that is indeed the case, but this has not stopped the hype machine from building up fervor as players get to explore the anticipated ancient Greece era done Ubisoft-style. As with AC Origins, Ubisoft says the PC version of AC Odyssey is not a straight port of the console versions and received a dedicated team at Ubisoft Kiev who worked hand-in-hand with Ubisoft Québec.

This is all great news to us, although memories of AC: Unity still linger around to ensure caution before pre-ordering this. As it stands, Ubisoft says the PC version of AC Odyssey will include exclusive features not found in the console versions, including uncapped framerate toggles and an in-game benchmarking tool. Read past the break for PC system requirements as well as more information based on previews from other media outlets.

We went to Ubisoft's floor space at Gamescom 2018, and it was easily one of the biggest ones (only really comparable to Blizzard's, in both size and apparatus). Naturally, the focus was on the heavy hitting franchises, like Assassin's Creed, where Ubisoft had at least three people dressed up in a thematically resonant way with the title's Greek setting, alongside a Spartan statue. Everywhere you looked there were people holding paper Spartan shields or pretending to be fighting with the Ubisoft employees; it was like a budget version of 300 was assaulting you from all sides. Like with almost all games, there was hands-on time for those willing to wait in-line.

Today, Ubisoft released its sales figures for the first quarter of fiscal 2018-19, i.e. the three months ending on June 30, 2018.

Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, stated "We had a record first quarter, which exceeded our expectations. This performance was fueled by steady growth for our back-catalog and an excellent momentum for PRI, once again confirming the increasingly recurring profile of our business and the ever-greater success of our digital transformation.

Our teams are continuing to deliver on our strategic plan of ramping up our franchises. Assassin's Creed Odyssey and The Division 2 were very well received at E3, confirming their full potential in a highly competitive environment. Our new creation, Skull & Bones, also made a very good impression due to its innovative gameplay combining naval battles with a multi-player experience.

Today, AMD and Ubisoft have raised the bar for fluid, vivid HDR gaming thanks to a new patch from Ubisoft bringing FreeSync 2 HDR support to Far Cry 5. Radeon gamers with supporting FreeSync 2 HDR monitors can select the option for FreeSync 2 while fighting to save Hope Country. FreeSync 2 HDR brings the content displayed on compatible monitors one step closer to the artistic vision of the developer by targeting the display's brightness, contrast and color gamut capabilities directly.

To take advantage of FreeSync 2 HDR technology, gamers must choose a FreeSync 2 HDR-branded monitor, which ensures at least twice the perceivable color gamut and dynamic range than an SDR display.

Lionel Rainaud, Executive Vice President of Creative for Ubisoft's Canadian studios, shared via a blog post an interesting, albeit not novel idea, for games. The aim is to end the disparaging of resources that is the finite game experience: as in, the game that you experience once or twice, but that once you've seen the campaign's completion and finished all the end content, goes back on the shelf never to see the light of your interest again: all the development time (measured in years) and effort (and dollars) for what amounts to an 8-hour experience (or less). The goal, then, seems to be to take online experiences to a whole new level, where a game's content can be constantly updated so as to keep the credits from rolling.

"(...) the will to not give finite experiences. The idea was that you have this conflict, and the resolution, and then it's finished - you've killed the bad guy, for instance. We build a strong nemesis, and the goal of the game is to kill him or free the country, we've done that a few times in our games. But when you succeed, you have to leave the game, because there is nothing else to do. So the goal was to break this, and say that you will be the hero of a region or population many times, not just once. And if you get rid of a dictator or an oppressor, something else is going to happen in the world, and you will have a new goal.

AMD at E3 2018 announced its commitment to powering the ultimate gaming experiences via partnerships with game publishers and developers, to bring fantastic 3D realms to life. In line with AMD's cooperation with Ubisoft in Far Cry 5, which saw the usage of AMD Vega-centric technologies (such as FP16 Compute on some water and lighting scenarios, Rapid Packed Math, and Shader Intrinsics) across the title, the company has announced it will help Ubisoft deliver a DX12-driven experience with The Division 2. It remains to be seen if more technologies than were used in Far Cry 5 will be in play here.

Alongside its Ubisoft/The Division 2 announcement, AMD also established partnerships with Capcom, for the upcoming Resident Evil 2 remake, and with Rebellion for their Strange Brigade title. The partnership with Capcom is a novel one, but AMD had already worked with Rebellion on Sniper Elite 4, for some stellar CrossFire performance. These partnerships join AMD's long-standing, long-reaching partnership with Bethesda Softworks, in order to fight NVIDIA's entrenchment with the videogame industry via its GameWorks program.

Today, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Ubisoft announced a new chapter in one of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling franchises, Tom Clancy's The Division 2. Developed on an updated version of the Snowdrop Engine, the game will be released worldwide on March 15, 2019, on the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X, PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. Players can register for beta access now for a chance to play at thedivisiongame.com/beta.

Set seven months after a deadly virus was released in New York City, The Division 2 raises the stakes for players by launching them into a fractured and collapsing Washington D.C. - built as a one-to-one recreation of the city. In the wake of the virus, storms, flooding and subsequent chaos have radically transformed the city. From flooded urban areas to ravaged historic sites and landmarks, players will plunge into a dynamic open world with a wide variety of environments and biomes. As veteran Division agents, players are the last hope against the complete fall of society as enemy factions vie for control of the city. If Washington D.C. is lost, the entire nation falls.

Today, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Ubisoft announced a new installment of the Assassin's Creed franchise, Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The game will be released worldwide on October 5, 2018, on the Xbox One family of devices including the Xbox One X, PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. In addition, Assassin's Creed Odyssey has been enhanced with additional features for Xbox One X and PS4 Pro systems.

For the last three years, the team at Ubisoft Quebec has been creating an exciting new chapter for the Assassin's Creed franchise. In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the action takes place in Ancient Greece, a world rich with myths and legend, in fifth century BC during the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens. Playing as Alexios or Kassandra, a mercenary of Spartan blood sentenced to death by their family, players will embark on an epic journey from a young outcast to a legendary hero and uncover the truth about their mysterious First Civilization lineage.

Assassin's Creed has been one of the staples in gaming ever since the original's debut way back in 2007. Since then, there's been a steady stream of new main entry Assassin's Creed games every year, except in the year leading up to 2018's Origins: the first time the series took a hiatus for some much needed time to reinvent itself. Whether or not it succeeded, though, is another matter entirely.

That said, a new entry in the series was always to be expected, and a 5-second teaser has already been released, leading up to an almost certain full E3 reveal. The games' title, Odyssey, alongside the iconography of a Spartan helmet, likely places the game in the 6th to 4th century BCE, in Greece. A parallelism has been made - and really must be - between the games' title and Homer's titular "The Odyssey", an epic recounting the events following king Odysseus' return to Ithaca following the fall of Troy.

Today, Ubisoft announced Far Cry 5: Hours of Darkness, the first post-launch adventure, will release on June 5th across all platforms. The first DLC will transport players back in time as they play Hope County's Wendell "Red" Redler, who must find and rescue his fellow squad members from hostile forces during the Vietnam War. Hours of Darkness can be purchased as a standalone DLC or as part of the Far Cry 5 Season Pass and Gold Edition.

Far Cry 5: Hours of Darkness transports players into a war-torn Vietnam as they relive the harrowing experience of Wendell Redler from the main campaign of Far Cry 5. Playable in solo or online co-op, Hours of Darkness transports players from rural Montana to a dangerous jungle where they must rescue imprisoned squad mates, wreak havoc on the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, and fight to get back home. This first DLC adventure will feature new gear and abilities as well as two different playable modes that will be unlocked after completing Hours of Darkness: Survivor Mode, giving players a limited load out for a more challenging play through, and Action Movie Mode, where a generous load out delivers over-the-top action.

Today, Ubisoft announced the full details for Operation Para Bellum, one of the largest content updates yet for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. Operation Para Bellum introduces two new defending operators, Alibi and Maestro, alongside an all-new map, Villa, set in the Italian countryside. Year Three Season Two also brings a breath of innovation, including a new intel gadget, operator speed adjustments, various other gameplay improvements, and the all new Pick & Ban setting - a feature that evolves the way players engage with multiplayer. Operation Par Bellum will be available in June 2018.

In Operation Para Bellum, two Italian G.I.S. Operators join Rainbow as the unit raids a luxurious Tuscan villa, Rainbow Six Siege's 20th map. The land belongs to the Vinciguerra, a dangerous crime family known for their smuggling activities. The house is their retreat, where they lead a lavish lifestyle and collect rare art pieces. Players will arrive at Villa during a key moment: Vinciguerras are burning documents and transporting their holdings before the big raid. But they've got wind of Operation Para Bellum and fled, leaving everything in disarray with vital information ready for the taking.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced a new digital distribution platform for PC games - the Razer Game Store - which goes live globally today. The Razer Game Store offers instant access to thousands of digital games and rewards customers with every purchase. Games are delivered in the form of Steam or Uplay product keys. With Razer's global leadership in gaming peripherals, laptops and software, the Razer Game Store is the next step in its expanding ecosystem for gamers.

Get Games, Get Rewarded
When gamers buy games from the Razer Game Store, they get access to exclusive offers, Razer Game Store vouchers, discounted Razer peripherals on the RazerStore or other perks. In addition, gamers will also earn zSilver loyalty rewards credits with each purchase on the Razer Game Store, including credit card transactions. Paying instead with zGold grants even larger zSilver rewards. With its unique rewards system , buying a game from the Razer Game Store grants more value than in any other digital store as gamers are then able to redeem their rewards for other Razer products and more each time they checkout.

CORSAIR , a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced the early access launch of its new unified software, iCUE. Bringing together the full range of CORSAIR products into a single intuitive interface, iCUE powers everything from CORSAIR keyboards, mice and headsets to fans, coolers and PSUs.

iCUE users can instantly synchronize RGB lighting across all their compatible CORSAIR products with a single click, monitor system performance from a customizable dashboard, and control hardware temperatures with in-depth fan and pump speed adjustment. At the heart of everything CORSAIR, iCUE offers intelligent control, with unlimited possibilities.

Adding to today's Ubisoft-related news, a report via Polygon has placed the company as having finally bested Vivendi's hostile takeover attempt. if you'll recall, this is an on-again, off-again "love" affair from Vivendi towards Ubisoft, and was based on the fact that vivendi controlled the biggest stake in Ubisoft shares than any other shareholder, at 27.27%.

I say was, because Vivendi's share of Ubisoft is being divested by the former, following a deal that was signed between Vivendi and Ubisoft. The way this was done was as follows: Ubisoft itself is buying back as much as 8.1% of its shares from Vivendi from 2019 through 2021. Guillemot Brothers SE - which represents Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family - is buying an extra 2.7% of the company in a cash transaction with Vivendi. The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan - an independent organization that administers pensions for about 318,000 teachers in Canada - is acquiring a 3.4% stake, and Tencent (the Shenzhen, China-based company that is the world's largest gaming company by revenue) is buying an additional 5% of the company.

Ubisoft is holding a special Spring sale over at their Ubi Store. The French video game publisher is offering discounts up to 75% on some of their games, DLCs, and other merchandise including clothing and collectibles. Titles from the Assassin's Creed, Tom Clancy, Far Cry, Splinter Cell, and Watch Dog franchises carry some juicy discounts. Some might find the Assassin's Creed Origins deal quite tempting as the game is currently at half-price. The Ubisoft Spring Sale isn't exclusive to the PC crowd. Console owners can get in on the fun as well. The majority of the discounts should be valid worldwide, although some might be restricted to certain regions. Here are a few of our recommendations.

Today, Ubisoft announced that The Crew 2, the newest iteration in the revolutionary open world driving franchise The Crew, will launch on June 29th, 2018, for PlayStation4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices and Windows PC. In addition, The Crew 2 has been enhanced with additional features for PS4 Pro systems.

Developed by Ubisoft Ivory Tower, a studio based in Lyon, France, The Crew 2 will let players experience the thrill of American motorsports inside a fully redesigned USA. The game's playground pushes physical boundaries to let driving and open world fans test their skills, solo or with friends, in nonstop competition and exploration. From coast to coast, drivers will explore America and compete to become the greatest motorsports champion, by collecting a wide variety of exotic cars, bikes, boats and planes, and dominating the motorsports scene on the land, on the water and in the air. Players will find challenges and inspiration among four different motorsports families: street racing, off-road, pro racing and freestyle, and will be given a broad set of options among a wide selection of vehicle types.

(Editor's Note: The original "The Division" launched to a warm reception from users that were looking towards another shared world, persistent shooter experience. However, some issues with the games' design and endgame content meant that after the initial interest, the games' playerbase rapidly dwindled. However, Massive Entertainment went through a myriad of patches and iterations on their formula for The Division, which ultimately landed the game on a position that Destiny 2 could envy. Here's hoping that The Division 2 will actually build upon the lessons learned with The Division, delivering the definitive shared-world shooter experience. The Press Release follows.)

What an incredible few years it's been for the team here at Massive! When we first began work on Tom Clancy's The Division, we knew we had something special and something we believed in so strongly that we wanted to make sure we got it right. We also knew we couldn't achieve that goal without your help.

CORSAIR, a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced a strategic partnership with leading video game publisher Ubisoft, bringing custom PC and peripheral lighting integration to Ubisoft's highly anticipated Far Cry 5.

Set in America, a first for the franchise, Far Cry 5 offers players total freedom to navigate a serene-looking yet deeply twisted world as the new junior deputy of fictional Hope County, Montana. Players must join the local resistance to take down a fanatical cult by any means necessary, be it shotgun, slingshot, or semi-truck. Far Cry 5 players on PC will be able to experience a whole new layer of immersion via their CORSAIR RGB products, which will dynamically adjust to more than 35 in-game lighting interactions. Whether you're exploring, being spotted by enemies, fighting for your life, fishing, or just watching the world go by, your entire CORSAIR setup will reflect the actions in-game.

Ubisoft's Discovery Tour by Assassin's Creed: Ancient Egypt is a new educational and entertainment tool, which lets anyone explore the entire interactive 3D recreation of Ancient Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins, free of conflict, time pressure or gameplay constraints. The Discovery Tour by Assassin's Creed: Ancient Egypt releases on February 20th, 2018 on PS4, Xbox and PC, at no cost for all owners of the Assassin's Creed Origins game, and it will also be available independently from the game on PC via the Uplay and Steam platforms for £15.99.

From Alexandria to Memphis, the Nile Delta to the Sand Sea, the Giza plateau to the Faiyum Oasis, the Discovery Tour by Assassin's Creed: Ancient Egypt lets visitors either explore the rich world of Ancient Egypt at their will or follow the 75 themed tours devised by Ubisoft's creative teams in collaboration with History experts and Egyptologists.

It was no coincidence that Assassin's Creed Origins was one of the most difficult Ubisoft titles to crack. The company learned from their past mistakes and was one step ahead of the pirates this time. Instead of just implementing the usual Denuvo and Uplay protections like in previous occasions, Ubisoft slapped VMProtect on top of both for good measure. The added security proved to be a great solution as the game remained intact for a little over three months which is a crucial time for sales. However, Ubisoft's triple-threat protection started to crumble when CPY discovered a way to bypass Denuvo 4.8 two weeks ago. The latest news from the Italian scene group confirmed that they've now bypassed Assassin's Creed Origins' last line of defense as well.

Assassin's Creed Origins has been widely criticized for being a CPU hog. Ubisoft claims that VMProtect has little to no perceptible effect on the game's performance. However, many still believe it to be the culprit. Now that the keys to the kingdom are out there, there's little to no point for Ubisoft to keep VMProtect in the game. This would be the perfect opportunity to prove the doubters otherwise. That is, unless they have something to hide.

Ubisoft has seemingly taken the "no holds barred" approach to the Season Pass and DLC packages for its upcoming Far Cry 5 game. Building upon one of its most well recognized franchises, Ubisoft has apparently (if allegedly, for now; we'll see when the actual content drops) for a CD Projekt Red-esque approach to DLC. Whereas before DLC options were relatively mundane and wouldn't set anyone's world on fire (except for Far Cry 3's expansion Blood Dragon), the company today announced that the Season Pass for Far Cry 5 will include three distinct environments for players to do battle in, alongside access to a digital copy of Far Cry 3 Classic Edition (the one with Vaas and the definition of insanity, yes).

Today, Ubisoft announced an Advanced Edition, a Gold Edition and a Complete Edition for Rainbow Six Siege to support the start of brand new content for Year 3. Players can purchase these editions starting February 13th, 2018 and can purchase the Starter Edition from now. Additionally, Rainbow Six Siege introduces the limited-time Outbreak Collection. Outbreak Collection Packs will be obtainable in-game during the Outbreak Event or in the new Advanced, Gold and Complete editions with no time limit.

As we near the launch of Far Cry 5, Ubisoft has decided to reveal the minimum and recommended system requirements for the PC version. They've also detailed the necessary hardware required to achieve a 30 FPS and 60 FPS experience at the 4K resolution. Additionally, the development team has generously implemented a built-in benchmark to aid users in analyzing their systems and calibrating the different visual options. Nevertheless, the game also comes with an auto-detect feature that chooses the best quality preset for gamers who don't want to fiddle with the different graphic options. Far Cry 5 is slated to launch on March 27 on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. The standard edition costs $59.99, while the Deluxe and Gold Edition cost $69.99 and $89.99, respectively.

Is your PC ready to tackle the latest installment in the Far Cry franchise?