warcp

Just got an e-mail from UbiSoft saying this is shipping in August. Crazy- I never even heard about this. It's supposed to be a new game, not just an expansion. It's also supposed to use new XB Live features like messenging, clan stats and user-created tourneys.

MonkeyG

Wednesday 04.07.04
Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow Announced

TOM CLANCY’S RAINBOW SIX 3: BLACK ARROW TO SHIP FOR XBOX IN AUGUST 2004

After Smashing Success in 2003, Team Rainbow Returns to Save the World
from Terror

San Francisco, CA - April 7, 2004 - Ubisoft, one of the world's largest
video game publishers, announced today that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3:
Black Arrow for the Xbox™ video game system from Microsoft will launch in
August 2004. Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3:
Black Arrow improves upon the most successful Xbox Live game of all time
with new single- and multi-player missions, new online modes,
split-screen for cooperative gameplay, and a host of new features that
maximize the possibilities of Xbox Live. In fact, Tom Clancy's Rainbow
Six 3: Black Arrow will be one of the first games to deliver new Xbox
Live 3.0 features to the gaming community.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow continues in the vein of last
year’s mega-hit, which received a number of awards, including 'Console
First Person Action Game of the Year' from the Academy of Interactive
Arts & Sciences (AIAS), 'Shooter of the Year' from GMR Magazine, and
'Best First Person Shooter' and 'Best Online Game' from IGN. In the
game, players command a four-man international anti-terrorist squad
comprised of the cream of the crop from the United States, Germany,
Britain and France as they infiltrate a ring of nefarious terrorists and
halt their bloody quest for weapons and power. The popular
voice-activated command system, individual personalities of the team
members, and comprehensive Xbox Live multi- player capabilities will be
familiar to current devotees, while the new missions and features will
attract a new crop of players.

"Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 has owned Xbox Live for months now - gamers
can't get enough of the incredible online experience. We're giving them
more of what they crave, and improving Xbox Live play by integrating new
multiplayer modes and being one of the first out of the gate with the
new Xbox Live 3.0 features," said Tony Kee, vice president of marketing
for Ubisoft. "A new split-screen feature for offline co-op play will
significantly enhance the offline replay value of the game - and the
awesome online capabilities will deliver even more hours of thrilling,
intense gameplay."

About Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow for Xbox

A series of attempts to kidnap telemetry and rocket scientists pulls Team
Rainbow into a spiderweb of international intrigue. An international
cabal of renegade military officers is trying to create conflict in the
oil-rich regions around the Black Sea, giving them an excuse to swoop in
and seize control. Team Rainbow must stop the terrorists from developing
weapons of mass destruction, and prevent them from starting a
devastating war.

Key Features

New Single Player Campaign:Complete diversified and challenging objectives, use new weapons and equipment, and enjoy beautiful Mediterranean and Eastern European level environments.

Improved, Smarter AI Terrorists: Watch the bad guys call for backup when they are out-numbered or use hostages as human shields.

New Objective-Based Game Modes:
-Conquest: Teams battle to capture and hold designated points on the map.
-Capture the Flag: Teams must race to the center to take possession of the flag, and defend it as they carry it back to their compound.

Black Arrow will be one of the first games to offer the new Xbox Live 3.0 features:
-User-created tournaments
-Messenging
-Clan statistics

Direct AI Teammates in Co-op Multiplayer: Command Team Rainbow AI squad-mates during co-operative gameplay and see how you compare with new statistics for both co-op and single player.

New Tactics for Online Multiplayer: Enter Black Arrow’s new, private team lobbies and use a planning interface to develop strategies before online matches begin.

Gromit

I need to get the first game (RS3). What's the best "price watch" site for video games?

jrutz

This tells me the original R63 will go to Platinum status by the time this new one is released. I say wait!

Jeremy

Calico

I'm so excited, I don't know what to say. The current Rainbow Six 3 has eaten plenty of hours of my time, epecially online. They also released two new maps today for the current Xbox R6.

Gromit

jrutz had a very compelling reason to wait, then Calico had to post.

The Dude

Grrrr... I had just convinced myself that I should wait on this title, and I saw the last few posts. Why, oh why do I come into these threads???

Calico

Regarding the "new maps" today that I mentioned earlier. For some reason, they aren't available yet even though they said they'd be. Dang.

Still, with the maps they have now, there's tons of time to be lost in this game :-)

BizRodian

Is this coming to PC? or have we lost yet another of our franchises?

Giantrobo

I'm still getting my ass kicked on Rainbow Six 3

But I still like it better than Ghost Recon.

So when can we hook up for some games people?

warcp

Or is it that they'll charge for a full game for the X-Box, but just make it an expansion pack for the PC?

bjh_18

I really doubt it. When Ghost Recon Island Thunder came out Ghost Recon was still $50 for quite a few months aftwards. Plus RS3 is such a hot selling game, especially for Live, that they'll keep the price up on it, even with Black Arrow being released. I wouldn't anticipate seeing a drop in RS3 anytime before the holidays or possibly the beginning of next year.

As for it coming to PC, it's probably highly unlikely. RS3 on Xbox is considerably different than the PC version (they basically built it from the ground up as a completely different game). It looks as though Black Arrow is made just for consoles (and it may be an Xbox exclusive).

That said, I can't wait to have split screen for offline play!

funkyryno

Damn, I can't wait.

I hope they release a few more R6 maps before this new game comes out.

BizRodian

Is the plot and the levels different? I mean, they could make a seperate PC version this way.

Very interesting title though, for those of you who only have just discovered the series, every new full Rainbow Six game has always had a title with "R" and "S" as the intials. First was Rainbow Six, then Rogue Spear, then Raven Shield.

xlpanda

my problem is that I just dont have as much time to play games as I wish I did...I have Rainbow 6 and really enjoyed it but I never played it online yet I just picked up splinter cell 2 and am currently playing through the single player mode. I will probably play that online once I finish up the single player. So many good games to play online and so little time...

BizRodian

Ditto, which is why I doubt I'll ever pay any money to play online.

bjh_18

Well, Black Arrow isn't a "new game." It's more of an expansion of sorts, hence the title Rainbow Six 3 - Black Arrow (along the lines of the Xbox version of GR - Island Thunder. you don't have to have the original to play it, but it's more or less an extention of the original). And on Xbox, it's not called Rainbow Six 3 - Raven Shield but just simply Rainbow Six 3. It dropped the subname altogether. The reason they did this is because it is a completely different type of gameplay from the pc version. All of the pc versions of Rainbow Six have had mission planning and is very team-based. In the Xbox version, you only have one team of 4, and it's more of a run-and-gun type of game. The whole planning thing just doesn't work as well on consoles as it does on pc. I for one prefer the pc version, but the Xbox version is a lot of fun in it's own way. Black Arrow is designed for consoles, in the way that the Xbox version of RS3 was done. They'd have to completely remake the game in order to port it to pc, and I don't know that they'll do that. Chances are there will just be another pc expansion like Athena Sword (which is pc-only, so it's only fair for their to be a console-only one).

BizRodian

Ah, ok, I didn't know that.

That's cool then.