E3 2012 had plenty of highlights and contenders, and one particularly well-received moment was Ubisoft's reveal of the new IP Watch Dogs, an open-world title centred on the premise of hacking and an internal war for information. Watch Dogs producer Dominic Guay has since revealed the game will feature some level of mobile functionality similar to Microsoft's SmartGlass application.
SmartGlass in a nutshell was revealed by Microsoft during their E3 press conference. It is an application and method that allows various mobile devices and tablets of the home user to interact with the content consumed via the Xbox.
It seems that while Microsoft were developing the SmartGlass technology, Ubisoft have been trying to bring a similar functionality for Watch Dogs with mobile devices.
"I can't go into details, but what we want to do is extend the game world, so it's the same game world," Guay said.
"So if your friends are in Watch Dogs you're able to connect with them through the mobile."
"We want to have gameplay that's in the mobile, so you don't have to own the mobile - but if you want to do it, you're going to have specific gameplay that is connected to your progression and to your control of the city that you start building in the living room version, if you want."
Guay also elaborated more on the social aspect they aim to achieve. "We also want you to be able to connect with your friends playing in their living room, and have gameplay together. We want to have both of those things."
"That's definitely stuff we want to do. The plot is that every thing is connected and connection is power, so for us we're working really hard to mesh all the players of Watch Dogs together."
When asked about Microsoft's own focus on tablet and mobile functionality with the Xbox 360 and the similarities between SmartGlass and Ubisoft’s tech, Guay said believed their similarities reflect a growing trend.
"It's a coincidence, but it's more than a coincidence because a lot of people now are using that type of interface, it's something that's really promising."
"So that's where it's a coincidence, but I think it's quite interesting that a lot of people have the same idea. That typically means that it's a good one! For us we're focusing on the content now, so that's going to work on whatever hardware is best for the content."
So does this mean Watch Dogs will utilise the SmartGlass technology? If Ubisoft do implement this for Watch Dogs, it will be interesting to see if it fully confirms the title as being released for this generation, rather than the next. Check out MMGN's article on SmartGlass to find out a little bit more about Microsoft's new app.
Source: OXM UK
By Nathan Misa- Writer Bio