Ubisoft has revised the release date  of their forthcoming arcade flight sim - it’s now set to arrive at the beginning of next year. With ‘real’ planes including the F-22, Eurofighter, MIG-29, Su-37 and F-16 we’re keen to see quite how this dog-fighting combat game is going to stack up. Do you really want it or should arcade-style shooters stay in the console domain? Get on our forum at www.totalpcgaming.com/forum and let us know!
“The setting is 2012. As the era of the nation-state draws quickly to a close, the rules of warfare evolve even more rapidly. More and more nations become increasingly dependent on Private Military Companies (PMCs) – elite mercenaries with a lax view of the law. The Reykjavik Accords further legitimize their existence by authorizing their right to serve in every aspect of military operations. There goes the neighbourhood”

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 orders to your wingman without smashing into the ground.

Total PC Gaming fully opposes the unnecessary use of ‘X’, ‘Z’ or any other characters that may be used to make a game sound ’street’ for ‘da yoof’.

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 exciting video games, films and books,” said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, “The most recent example of such value creation through brand management is the EndWar book, based on the video game story, which has been in the NY Times top 10 Paperback Mass Market Fiction best-seller list for the last four weeks.”

Financial wisdom aside, the move by the French publisher signifies an unofficial severance from the man behind the brand, as the amount of input Tom Clancy had into every game created under the name was questionable anyway.