Battle Tag
Battle Tag is a laser tag-shooter hybrid game developed and published by Ubisoft. The game was revealed at E3 2010 at the Ubisoft press conference.[1] The game was released on November 2010 in Texas and Canada.
Battle Tag | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Ubisoft |
Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
Director(s) | Frédérick Raynal (Creator) |
Producer(s) | Gael Seydoux |
Designer(s) | Guillaume Drapier |
Composer(s) | Dominique Voegelé |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Laser tag |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Gameplay
Battle Tag shares similarities with laser tag. Players wear harnesses with sensors and shoot at other players with wired guns that are attached to their harnesses.[2] As the game progresses, the players' scores are uploaded to their Windows-based PC which tallies the scores and declares the winner.[2] The game contains a multiplayer leaderboard component so players can compete with others by high scores online.[2] Battle Tag uses an Ubiconnect sensor, which allows the players to play in a range of 1,000 feet from the sensor.[3] Matches are allowed to have a maximum of eight players at a time per ubiconnect device with a maximum of 5 ubiconnect devices or 40 players.[4] Players can use plastic markers to create parameters and requirements for their games.[5] The game will ship with two harnesses, two guns, and other accessories that add to the gameplay.[6]
Development
The game was presented by the game's producer Gael Seydoux as a "real live shooter that you could play at home with all your friends."[6] The game follows the trend of E3 2010 games to focus on more non-traditional aspects of gaming.[6]
Reception
Gaming critics were mostly confused by the game's presentation at Ubisoft's E3 2010 press conference.[5][7][8] Models and game developers armed with harnesses and laser guns began playing the game and running around the auditorium during the press conference.[7] The introduction of Battle Tag won GameSpot's "Biggest What the...?'" special achievement award from E3 2010.[7] G4's Andrew Pfister thought that presentation of the game was poorly thought through.[8] The Guardian's Keith Stuart stated, "I'm not sure I entirely understood what was going on".[5] Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson called it "Laser Quest for your house."[9]
Release/Pre-release
Finally after months of little to no advertising (only an official site was up) on November 20, 2010 a limited test release of 15 Toys R US stores in Texas and all Zellers stores in Canada was announced.[10] The three initial available sets are The Starter pack (US$129.99/CDN$169.99: two "sensor vests", two "t-blasters", two different "ammo packs", two "bases", the "UbiConnect" RF Rx/Tx device, install CD and manual), T-Blaster Expansion Kit (US$70: one "sensor vest", one "t-blaster") and the Med-Kit Expansion Pack (US$20: two "med-kits", two "t-bases"). The November 15, 2010 Ubisofts official US & Canada store websites opened The Starter Pack for pre-order (US$129.99/CDN$169.99) with shipment slated for November 30, 2010 "the official release date" according to pre-sale receipts.
Support
No longer supported by Ubisoft, http://www.battletagforums.org is a good source for new game modes and hardware mods created by the user community and is still supported to this day despite a previous incorrect wiki stating that this forum was dead.
References
- Watts, Steve (June 14, 2010). "E3 2010: Ubisoft Presents Battle Tag". 1UP.com. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- Burt, Andy (June 14, 2010). "E3 2010: Ubisoft Press Conference Highlights". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2010-06-19. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- Balkin, Adam (June 30, 2010). "Find Adventure Through Laser Tag, At Hogwarts". NY1. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- Joystiq (June 15, 2010). "Ubisoft Battle Tag Video". Joystiq. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
- Stuart, Keith (June 15, 2010). "E3 2010: Ubisoft reveals Michael Jackson dance game – and more". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 June 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- Chapman, Glenn (June 14, 2010). "Ubisoft getting videogame players off the couch". Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on 19 June 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- GameSpot staff (June 25, 2010). "Biggest 'What the...?' Best of E3 2010". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 30 June 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- Pfister, Andrew (June 14, 2010). "E3 2010: Ubisoft Press Conference Wrap-Up Report". G4. Archived from the original on 18 June 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- Gibson, Ellie (June 15, 2010). "Ubi unveils Laser Quest-style shooter". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 18 June 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
- Yoon, Andrew (November 11, 2010). "Ubisoft's Battle Tag launches assault on Texas tomorrow, Canada next week". Joystiq. Archived from the original on November 20, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2010.