With all of the comic book news lately, you'd think Comic-Con was right around the ... oh. Well, Ubisoft has another comic book based on one of its properties ready to roll out at this week's event, this one based on the upcoming Driver: San Francisco. Unlike its Assassin's Creed book, which will just be shown and discussed at a panel, issue 0 of Driver will be given away at the booths of Ubisoft and DC Comics (under whose WildStorm imprint it's being published).
The series -- no word yet about its planned duration -- is being written by Stray Bullets scribe David Lapham and Illustrated by Greg Scott (Gotham Central). Its covers artist is Mark "Jock" Simpson, who's probably best known as co-creator of The Losers, a comic which was adapted into a motion picture released back in April. Jock will be signing copies of issue 0 tomorrow through Saturday. We've got the whens and wheres for you -- along with super-sized cover images, in case you can't make it -- just after the break.
Though Ubisoft never officially declared a release window for upcoming Driver reboot, Driver: San Francisco, it appears that the title has been pushed back to early 2011. The company declared as much in today's quarterly earnings report, citing "the competitive market at Christmas" as the reason for the apparent delay. Driver: San Francisco is now scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2011 (January-March). And just like that, once again, we've got an increasingly busy first half lined up for the coming year.
Nope, you're never, ever, ever gonna catch up on that backlog. Ever.
#ubisoft
Driver San Francisco, the body-hopping reboot of Ubisoft's popular driving action series, won't be hitting stores and your consoles this year after all. More »
- prequel to the original
- take part in John Tanner’s early years on the force
- go undercover to take down a crime syndicate
- Tanner is looking to avenge the death of his partner
- Detective Tobias Jones and criminal Solomon Caine are also playable characters
- Jones is a straight-and-narrow cop
- Jones protects the innocent and chases [...]
Formed in the mid-1980s, Reflections Interactive has been making games for longer than you might remember. While the studio has franchises like Shadow of the Beast and Destruction Derby under its belt, its longest standing franchise is Driver. This fall the wheelman returns in Driver: San Francisco, and Reflections -- now owned and operated by Ubisoft -- is once again steering the ride.
Also returning to the series is Reflections founder Martin Edmondson who, in March 2005, walked away from Reflections Interactive and filed suit against former publishing partner and company owner Atari for "constructive unfair dismissal" before settling in 2006. We spoke with Edmondson regarding Driver's return to the streets and the finer points regarding the upcoming game's "Shift" car jumping system.
While a lot of people have share an affinity for the Driver series, most would agree that the franchise has stalled. Although that's a hilarious pun in reference to cars, it's also the best way to say the series has failed to capture the respect it received when the first and the second games (depending on who you ask) were released.
After taking a long hiatus to build a new, completely proprietary engine, the franchise has returned in Driver: San Francisco and brings with it a few new ideas.
#e3
The big new twist in DRIVER San Francisco is that the entire game takes place inside the comatose hero's head. What's that mean? Car swapping! More »
No, not car repossession. John Tanner hasn't gotten himself a job working for the city impound. Rather, due to his comatose state, Driver: San Francisco's protagonist can literally jump between dream cars with the push of a button -- a power that proves to be handy in more ways than one, as the video walkthrough posted after the jump can attest.
#rumor
A Dutch listing for a Driver: San Francisco Collector's Edition gives up more details on Ubisoft's car-chase sequel with out-of-body experiences. More »
