Hi everyone,

I am very pleased to announce that Ubisoft will be releasing a Fan Pack to all Rainbow Six fans. I am also here to give you better insight and clarification on what the Fan Pack contains:

The Fan Pack includes an Update for the game and DLC (downloadable content). The first thing that may come to mind is: "Is this free?" Yes it is, including the DLC. This pack will be available via Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network and ubi.com in July 2008. You can find out more about the Fan Pack in this video.


*** Update Features ***

New Ranks
An additional 99 Elite Ranks have been added for bragging rights. For those of you who are already Elite, you may have noticed that your XP continued to accumulate while playing. Once you have the update, your XP will automatically be applied towards the new Elite ranks, so it is possible that you have already ranked up multiple times past Elite.

New A.C.E.S.
A total of 100 A.C.E.S. are available for each category: Marksman, CQB and Assault. Each A.C.E.S. level past 20 will reward you with 5000 XP that applies to your rank. For players who have already reached A.C.E.S. 20 and continued to collect A.C.E.S. points, you will be happy to know that the update will automatically advance you to the level you have earned. For example, if you have enough A.C.E.S. points to reach Marksman 25, you will automatically be at Marksman 25 and earn 25000 (5000 x 5) towards your next Rank.

Grenade Indicator
When you are within the damage radius of a Frag or Incendiary grenade, an indicator will appear on-screen telling you which direction it is. The indicator can show multiple grenades at once.

Weapons & Gadgets Balancing
Here are a couple of notes about Weapons and Gadgets:
"¢ Explosion delay of the incendiary grenade has been increased
"¢ Detonation speed of the C4 has been slightly increased
"¢ Increased the damage of Sniper Rifles at long range
"¢ Increased the base accuracy of the Light Machine Guns
"¢ Adjusted the rate of fire for some of the Assault Rifles, Shotguns and an SMG
"¢ Sped up the time it takes to zoom in & out with weapons, making it more responsive

To better clarify: the zoom for all firearms have been significantly sped-up and you can now fire DURING the zoom transition.

Respawns in Team Deathmatch – Host Option
An added host option has been added for Random Respawns. Random Respawns OFF will play like the classic Versus style where each team spawns in their designated Alpha or Bravo base. Random Respawns ON will have your players spawn randomly throughout the map after they die the first time.

Voice Chat – Host Option
Added as a host option for Player Match & System Link, players now have the option to talk to their team mates while dead.

Score in Deathmatch
Displayed on the bottom left of the HUD in Deathmatch, players can now see their score along with the top opponent's score.

Team Leader - Spawn Change
Players now respawn next to the leader by default, unless players specifically choose to spawn back at the base.

Show Dead Players in Lobby
Players who no longer have lives remaining will now have a skull icon displayed next to their name in the pause menu.

Terrorist Hunt Spawning
Terrorists will no longer spawn right in front of you or behind you, or in a room you just cleared.


* * * * *

High Stakes Setting
High Stakes is a host option for every Versus mode that really pushes tactical gameplay to the next level. Here's a detailed description of High Stakes:

Limited HUD (High Stakes)
The Radar is disabled. Enemies will not be visible on the Tactical Map (back button on 360/select button on PS3). Grenade indicator is disabled.

Health System (High Stakes)
Health regen is disabled. If you are shot and close to death, you'll enter a visual state of critical health (screen turns monochromatic).

Cover System (High Stakes)
The cover system as been changed in High-Stakes mode to encourage players to peek instead of pop-n-shoot. The camera has been moved so your character cannot look past their cover unless they expose themselves around a corner.

Weapons & Gadgets (High Stakes)
Aim Assistance has been completely disabled. Bullet spread has also been increased when not zoomed-in (you will notice your crosshair indicators are much wider when not in zoom). Realistically, a person holding a gun would have better aim when zoomed-in than when he's walking around. This encourages players to really take aim instead of run-n-gun. Also remember that the zoom time has been sped-up and you can now fire WHILE you zoom in and out. Players now have less ammunition (1 for each gadget you choose and less clips for your guns) so you really need to play conservatively and rely on precision use of ammo.

Kill Camera & Friendly Fire (High Stakes)
Kill Camera is always disabled and Friendly fire is always enabled.



*** DLC ***


THREE FREE MAPS
There are three maps included in the free DLC: Murdertown – Dark, CQB Training – Dark and best of all the much-requested fan favourite Calypso Casino! The three map layouts have not been changed. The re-lit "Dark maps" have a very eerie atmosphere, and may require players to use night vision to spot enemies. Calypso Casino returns with updated lighting and textures. The three maps are playable in all Versus modes and Terrorist Hunt.


This Fan Pack is dedicated to all of you in the Rainbow Six community. Everything in this update and DLC comes directly from you on the forums, private messages to us and even matches the team has played with you all online. We'd like to sincerely thank you for your continued support and feedback. See you online!

Gamertag: UBI LevelUp
PSN ID: UBI_LevelUp

Update by Ubi.Vigil:

We're sure some of you are wondering when it will be available on platforms other than UK PS3s. This early release was a result of a miscommunication with Sony, we apologise for any confusion or frustration this sudden release caused. Until the release of the update in other PS3 territories, UK PS3 players will only be able to play with other UK players.

The full Fan pack, including all maps, fixes and changes, will be available on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in early July.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ubi.Vigil,

Thank you!!! and good job! This will please me...

thanks for the official news.

i'm glad to hear all about High Stakes mode.

i really hope this is a good step forward for Ubi to realizing there are so many of us out there that really WANT a more realistic gaming approach for rainbow.

hopefully you guys will further take this into the next game on the design level, and not just as a "patch" or afterthought.

It'll be funny to see how quickly some of you will change your tune about Ubisoft now.

For those who don't realize, they're just FIXING their previously "finished" product that passed all their "stringent" Quality Assurance program requirements a few months ago. I will admit, however, that I'm definately surprised to see the "extra?" maps and the price (free).

HOPEFULLY the update works EXACTLY as advertised and is not more "hype".

Chris

Wait, who is this called a "Fan pack"?

You're implying that people created the content themselves. That's what "fan pack" implies.

Is this a direct French-to-English translation, like Extras (French) = Options (English) ?

so i wanna make sure i get this, we, usa, don't get this, the update, till july? how do we play with our friends in europe who already got the update? i ask this because half of my clan is in europe.

i think the update (features) is different from DLC (maps only)

update should be happening soon (already happening for PS3 users)
and DLC should be up in july

Was there anything in the latest update that wasn't addressed that still needs to be ?

List here

1. Fix ammo count in G3K rife to 20 rounds instead of 30 and L85A1 from 25 to 30

2. Make Thermal vision only available to players who wear Thermal Goggles.

3. Add Host Migration

4. Make players Trueskill Rank visible in ranked lobbies

5. Add High Stakes difficulty for story mode and terrorist Hunt


This is for feedback purposes only

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Graw_owns_R6V,

Wow! For the most part this is very good news!

I would have liked to see Breaching charges put back in multiplayer, the color black for custom camo, and everybodys ping in the lobby as well but I guess we cant have everything the first vegas had.

Anyway Thank you ubisoft and ubilevel up for addressing some of our/your problems with this game.

Chronic out.

quote:

Originally posted by AntiPersonnel:
i think the update (features) is different from DLC (maps only)

update should be happening soon (already happening for PS3 users)
and DLC should be up in july

i just played on ps3 in michigan, usa, & didn't get the patch. my system is upto date with 2.36. so what am i missing?

quote:

Originally posted by Ubi.LevelUp:
Hi everyone,

For the Commentary Video, click: http://www.rainbowsixgame.com

I am very pleased to announce that Ubisoft will be offering a Fan Pack to all Rainbow Six fans. Click on the above link if you haven't already to check out the very informative video. I am also here to give you better insight and clarification on what the Fan Pack contains:

The Fan Pack includes an Update for the game and DLC (downloadable content). The first thing that may come to mind is: "Is this free?" Yes it is, including the DLC. This pack will be available via Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network and ubi.com in July 2008.


*** Update Features ***

New Ranks
An additional 99 Elite Ranks have been added for bragging rights. For those of you who are already Elite, you may have noticed that your XP continued to accumulate while playing. Once you have the update, your XP will automatically be applied towards the new Elite ranks, so it is possible that you have already ranked up multiple times past Elite.

New A.C.E.S.
A total of 100 A.C.E.S. are available for each category: Marksman, CQB and Assault. Each A.C.E.S. level past 20 will reward you with 5000 XP that applies to your rank. For players who have already reached A.C.E.S. 20 and continued to collect A.C.E.S. points, you will be happy to know that the update will automatically advance you to the level you have earned. For example, if you have enough A.C.E.S. points to reach Marksman 25, you will automatically be at Marksman 25 and earn 25000 (5000 x 5) towards your next Rank.

Grenade Indicator
When you are within the damage radius of a Frag or Incendiary grenade, an indicator will appear on-screen telling you which direction it is. The indicator can show multiple grenades at once.

Weapons & Gadgets Balancing
Here are a couple of notes about Weapons and Gadgets:
"¢ Explosion delay of the incendiary grenade has been increased
"¢ Detonation speed of the C4 has been slightly increased
"¢ Increased the damage of Sniper Rifles at long range
"¢ Increased the base accuracy of the Light Machine Guns
"¢ Adjusted the rate of fire for some of the Assault Rifles, Shotguns and an SMG
"¢ Sped up the time it takes to zoom in & out with weapons, making it more responsive

To better clarify: the zoom for all firearms have been significantly sped-up and you can now fire DURING the zoom transition.

Respawns in Team Deathmatch – Host Option
An added host option has been added for Random Respawns. Random Respawns OFF will play like the classic Versus style where each team spawns in their designated Alpha or Bravo base. Random Respawns ON will have your players spawn randomly throughout the map after they die the first time.

Voice Chat – Host Option
Added as a host option for Player Match & System Link, players now have the option to talk to their team mates while dead.

Score in Deathmatch
Displayed on the bottom left of the HUD in Deathmatch, players can now see their score along with the top opponent's score.

Team Leader - Spawn Change
Players now respawn next to the leader by default, unless players specifically choose to spawn back at the base.

Show Dead Players in Lobby
Players who no longer have lives remaining will now have a skull icon displayed next to their name in the pause menu.

Terrorist Hunt Spawning
Terrorists will no longer spawn right in front of you or behind you, or in a room you just cleared.


* * * * *

High Stakes Setting
High Stakes is a host option for every Versus mode that really pushes tactical gameplay to the next level. Here's a detailed description of High Stakes:

Limited HUD (High Stakes)
The Radar is disabled. Enemies will not be visible on the Tactical Map (back button on 360/select button on PS3). Grenade indicator is disabled.

Health System (High Stakes)
Health regen is disabled. If you are shot and close to death, you'll enter a visual state of critical health (screen turns monochromatic).

Cover System (High Stakes)
The cover system as been changed in High-Stakes mode to encourage players to peek instead of pop-n-shoot. The camera has been moved so your character cannot look past their cover unless they expose themselves around a corner.

Weapons & Gadgets (High Stakes)
Aim Assistance has been completely disabled. Bullet spread has also been increased when not zoomed-in (you will notice your crosshair indicators are much wider when not in zoom). Realistically, a person holding a gun would have better aim when zoomed-in than when he's walking around. This encourages players to really take aim instead of run-n-gun. Also remember that the zoom time has been sped-up and you can now fire WHILE you zoom in and out. Players now have less ammunition (1 for each gadget you choose and less clips for your guns) so you really need to play conservatively and rely on precision use of ammo.

Kill Camera & Friendly Fire (High Stakes)
Kill Camera is always disabled and Friendly fire is always enabled.



*** DLC ***


THREE FREE MAPS
There are three maps included in the free DLC: Murdertown – Dark, CQB Training – Dark and best of all the much-requested fan favourite Calypso Casino! The three map layouts have not been changed. The re-lit "Dark maps" have a very eerie atmosphere, and may require players to use night vision to spot enemies. Calypso Casino returns with updated lighting and textures. The three maps are playable in all Versus modes and Terrorist Hunt.


This Fan Pack is dedicated to all of you in the Rainbow Six community. Everything in this update and DLC comes directly from you on the forums, private messages to us and even matches the team has played with you all online. We'd like to sincerely thank you for your continued support and feedback. See you online!


Gamertag: UBI LevelUp
PSN ID: UBI_LevelUp

when will this come out, cause i cant get the patch?..........

i think the gernade indicator is going to ruin the game.. it makes it like call of duty and a alot of people dont play call of duty and they ppaly this game.. please take that into consideration of not having that availible it takes away from what the game really is

Come on guys didnt you read the original post ?

quote:

This pack will be available via Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network and ubi.com in July 2008.

quote:

Originally posted by Jak3y_V:
i think the gernade indicator is going to ruin the game.. it makes it like call of duty and a alot of people dont play call of duty and they ppaly this game.. please take that into consideration of not having that availible it takes away from what the game really is

I only watched the video once, but I think it said if you play High Stakes mode with the new cover system, then the grenade indicator is automatically turned off. It's also an option anyway, I think.

quote:

Originally posted by Jak3y_V:
i think the gernade indicator is going to ruin the game.. it makes it like call of duty and a alot of people dont play call of duty and they ppaly this game.. please take that into consideration of not having that availible it takes away from what the game really is

I like that that (grenade) indicator is disabled in HS mode. I'll probably start looking into these type matches to see if it delivers the tactical element that is missing from this game.

Sounds like what we've been asking for, if it is then thank you.

I can't get it yet though so I'll have to wait and see. It will be out for PC won't it?

i just hope that High Stakes has its own filter in the search games function

or else its going to be a problem if people who are looking for team deathmatch or whatever game mode, to have no indication if the game is HS or not.

If they really REALLY fixed TH spawn, I mean so it resembles reality, then everything else is icing on the cake for me! But I'll wait to give Ubi my formal apology until I see it work for myself....

As I understand it the updated features will download automatically as a title update and the maps will be available as a free download from the Xbox Live Marketplace/PSN Store.

I'm not 100% sure of the delivery process of the PC items (as one download or two and from where), but everything will be available for all 3 platforms.

One thing I noticed in the video was the "fixed" terrorist spawns were not demonstrated in the video, might have been nice to see a clip of place which were notorious for spawning terrorists on top of you instead not do that in a few video clips (we all know of certain places where it just ALWAYS happened)

Something tells me this isn't as fixed as they'd like us to believe, sorry Ubi but now I'm a skeptic instead of a true believer, Vegas has burned me too many times.

I must admit I DO love the High Stakes mode we have INDEED been asking for this, so thank you. I must ask though, why not make High Stakes mode work for campaign modes and terrorist hunt? I disgree with firing your weapon while zooming in to scope view and being able to do it faster, that was a slight step backward. But kudus to you for more realistc bullet spray and improved 3rd person cover. Step in the right direction anyway.