E3 2012: Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs Unveiled

In addition to Ubisoft making some waves at Sony's E3 press conference with Assassin's Creed: Liberation for the Vita, the French publisher had other big news:

It's the unveiling of a brand new IP, Watch Dogs , which is slated to arrive for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC…sometime in the future. The buzz is that this new project might actually become a next-gen title.

In development at Ubisoft Montreal, Watch Dogs features a story emphasis on cyber-crime and hacking; it's a futuristic setting where a central operating system run by private companies is going haywire. The gameplay clip (watch it below) includes protagonist Aiden Pierce, who is a master hacker and capable of dealing with just about any electronic obstacle. Towards the end of the demo, though, there's the obvious hint that other players are involved in the adventure in a multiplayer element, which remains a little hazy for now.

Said creative director Jonathan Morin:

"Watch Dogs goes beyond the limits of today's open-world games by giving players the ability to control an entire city. In Watch Dogs, anything connected to the city's Central Operating System becomes a weapon. By pushing the boundaries, we can provide players with action and access to information on a scale that's never been seen in a video game before."