E3 is a special time for any game developer, when the entire industry descends upon the Los Angeles Convention Center for the biggest week of gaming for the year. It's especially close to our hearts because we announced Siege there last year to a warm reception after a long hiatus. We were back again this year with an announcement about the expanded Terrohunt experience. It's a crazy week with a lot going on so for those who couldn't follow, here are some of the highlights of Rainbow Six Siege's E3 2015:
**NEW CONTENT**
E3 2015 was a big moment for us because it was the first time we announced the return of Terrohunt, something we've been very eager to do. Terrorist Hunt is a classic Rainbow Six game mode that we brought back for Siege and expanded into four different modes, with an added Siege Generator for extensive replayability and multiple, formidable enemy AI archetypes. It can be played solo or with up to four other friends. Check out the Terrohunt blog post for the trailer, more info, and a cool behind-the-scenes video about the AI Strategy Manager.
"Building up to E3 I think I was most excited to show what we've done with AI in Terrohunt" said environment artist Chris Hendry. "We have this impressive system with enemies doing everything humans can do in PvP - barricading, rappelling, flanking, et cetera. They're very challenging to play against and seeing how much work went into that system made me appreciate it even more."
Angela Bassett was announced as the new "Six"
We also shared a little more info on the setting and characters. Academy Award-nominated actress She's reactivated the team to take on these tough enemies, who take on the form of the
Concept art of the new Hereford Base and Consulate maps
Beyond the narrative setting and PvE, we were also happy to give a sneak peek at the Russian Spetsnaz Counter-Terrorism Unit, with two Spetsnaz operators playable in the demo at the show. Two new maps were also featured at E3, the classic Rainbow headquarters Hereford Base was playable in PvP, and Terrohunt was demoed on the new Consulate map.
**UBISOFT PRESS CONFERENCE**
That's a lot of new stuff to show and of course we usually kick this off with a big reveal during the Ubisoft Press Conference. Last year's big moment was Aisha Tyler and Yves Guillemot introducing the announcement video to wild applause, and this year we wanted to come back with a little more. About a week before the press conference, we made the risky decision to do a live demo of Terrohunt on stage rather than just run a pre-recorded video. This had the team a little nervous but everything .
"We were scared sless because so much can go wrong," said Hendry, "But the second we got on stage and Gen said 'Terrohunt is back' I heard a couple people in audience say 'f yeah!' and I knew it was going to be just fine."
**SHOW FLOOR**
Once the press conferences are over, the convention center doors open on Tuesday as press and other show attendees make their way around to try out the games. We give demos constantly throughout the day and occasionally take over the Ubisoft stage to do them for the larger crowds. It's meant to show the game off to those who will be critiquing it, but for us it's another invaluable chance to see people playing in real time and get their feedback. Plus, you never know who might show up to play.
Confirmed: Steven Spielberg plays with mouse and keyboard
Yes that's right, Steven Spielberg came to the Rainbow Six booth along with Yves Guillemot for a test run of the game. Everyone was a little nervous to have an entertainment juggernaut like Spielberg in the room but it was a lot of fun, and he played well.
Marc-Andre Clermont, assistant director of level design and booth captain, said "He was pretty good, and he finished his first round of Terrohunt with something like 10 kills. The first thing he said to me was "How do you rappel in this game? I want to rappel."
NBA player Roy Hibbert, and actors Janina Gavankar, Aisha Tyler and Rick Malambri also swung by the booth to give Terrohunt a shot.
**STAR PLAYERS AND THE UPLAY LOUNGE**
It's always fun to meet celebrities who want to play the game, but at the end of the day we're focused on delivering a great game for Rainbow Six fans. We've built a close relationship with many of them in our official subreddit, and have worked closely with our community's feedback to improve the game.
For E3 2015, we flew 7 of our top community leaders out for the event as part of the Ubisoft Star Players program. They spent the week with us at the Uplay Lounge, an off-site fan-only event we throw to bring Ubisoft E3 to those who care about it most, and were treated to things like Q&A time with the dev team and getting front row seats at the press conference. After having known these people online for months, it was an incredible opportunity to meet them in person.
Jason "Deosl" Jughdharree hangs out with Thom Clancy
"I think I talked to nearly everyone involved with Rainbow Six at E3," said Jason "Deosl" Jughdharree, admin of the longest running R6 fansite agr-s.com. "It was a surprise for me because as soon as I said my nickname, they all recognized me from the subreddit. They really know their community and it was great to finally meet the people you interact with online."
One of our community leaders and subreddit administrators Lucas "The Lucarian" Reid added, "Talking to the devs was awesome, especially seeing their passion about the game and the franchise in general. I think Siege is in good hands. The amount of research and thought they've put into it clearly shows when you talk to them!"
Star players Petra Cat, Deosl, and VicenteProD team up in the Uplay Lounge
Some YouTubers we're big fans of came by the Uplay Lounge too, in order to capture some game footage to use in videos after the event. For starters, you can check out the vids from , and . They played in the Closed Alpha and gave us a lot of great feedback and it was great to meet with them again.
Finally, to close out the week we hosted a that was livestreamed to Twitch. It was a demo of Terrohunt on realistic mode where once the again the dev team failed to win (it's really hard!), followed by a live Q&A with art animation director Scott Mitchell and game designer Andrew Witts.
"In my experience it's always been nice to interact directly with fans like that," said Mitchell. "We've tried to take an approach with Siege that brings us closer to the community, and our fans have been really supportive and inspire us with their ideas and debate."
**THANK YOU**
We were lucky and humbled to take home several Game of the Show award wins last year after the big announcement, but this year we weren't even thinking about awards and just wanted to show off a strong PvE. Still, we ended up with three nominations from the Games Critics Awards, and we're grateful. More importantly, thank you to everyone who followed along, watched the videos, played the game, and gave us your feedback. Closed Beta is only a couple of months away and we're very excited to see you then.
Until then, if you happen to be at GamesCom or one of the events for the recently announced Siege Games, please stop by to see us. We'd love to meet you.
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Chase “Electr1cPanda” Straight - Community Developer, Ubisoft Montreal
Chase is a goofy American ex-pat living in Canada who loves music, DJing, blogging, and obviously gaming for hours. No discrimination here, Chase loves consoles as much as playing on his homebuilt gaming rig. Say hi and send cat pics (bonus points if they're wearing R6 gear) on Twitter at @R6ComDevs.
Genevieve "Livinpink" Forget - Community Developer, Ubisoft Montreal
Gen goes by the handle Livinpink in the gaming industry. She is known for her involvement in multiple competitive gaming communities through her work as eSports media and personality. She participates in weekly livestreamed Dungeons and Dragons sessions. She also tweets from @R6ComDevs.
