According to this Gameranx report some hackers in Russia are already playing Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, despite the fact that it isn't quite out yet. Apparently a group of Russian hackers have discovered an exploit in Ubisoft's uPlay digital distribution service that allows them to download the game without paying for it.

In response to a statement from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) earlier in the week about whaling in Assassin’s Creed.

As it is wont to do sometimes People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is targeting another video game for its depiction of cruelty towards animals, though this time it was induced to do so by GamesBeat who asked the organization for its comment. While I can assure PETA that no animals were harmed in the making of this video game, the organization sometimes has trouble differentiating between what is real and what is not (video games, for example).

Speaking to MCV recently Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated the obvious: the Wii U needs to sell more units. The topic came up because Guillemot was talking about all the resources his company has green lighted for Ubisoft Montreal - the studio developing Watch Dogs. That game will also be coming to the Wii U, amongst other platforms.

"We think Wii U is a great machine. But it just has to sell more," Guillemot said.

In an interview with MCV Ubisoft’s worldwide Uplay director Stephanie Perotti acknowledges that the company doesn't have the best relationship with the PC gaming community because of past issues (namely its strong support for "always on DRM" in several of its major PC titles), but that the company is listening to the feedback and reacting accordingly - most notably getting rid of its much-hated DRM-scheme.

It's not an evil alliance, but some (those that don't like Uplay and Origin) might view it that way. It looks like Uplay and Origin are doing a little foreign exchange action, with Ubisoft's digital distribution platform getting select EA titles and EA's digital distribution platform getting games from Ubisoft. Ubisoft's Uplay service is also offering games from other third-party publishers including Warner Bros., Focus Home Interactive, Freebird Games, Paradox Interactive, Telltale Games and more.

Rayman creator Michel Ancel and staff members from Ubisoft Montpellier have joined fans in protesting the delayed release of Rayman Legends on the Wii U in order to simultaneously release the former Wii U exclusive on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Apparently the Wii U version is ready to go, but parent company Ubisoft wants to keep it locked down until the other versions of the game are done. Our pal Andrew Eisen shared his thoughts on that yesterday in this amusing video...

Look! It's a new video with Andrew Eisen complaining about something. There's no keeping this guy satisfied! Not only is he upset with the delay of Rayman Legends for all platforms (hey, wasn't this supposed to be a Wii U exclusive?), but he also wants to make us listen to him complaining about it. I'm sure he uses some kind of rapier wit to describe his current angst against Ubisoft (usually he'd be complaining about U Play or "always on" DRM), but will it make his message palatable enough for us to listen? The jury is still out.

Ubisoft announced that it has shipped well over 12 million units of Assassin's Creed 3 and well over 4.5 million units of Far Cry 3. That number includes all platforms the games are available on - as well as digital sales of both games. Ubisoft's total sales for Assassin's Creed 3 have now passed the 12 million mark worldwide, while Far Cry 3 sales are up over 4.5 million units, the French publisher announced today in its third-quarter financial report.

To paraphrase that Fresh Prince song, "there's no need to argue gamers just don't understand..." the Wii U. So says Xavier Poix, Managing Director of Ubisoft's Annecy, Montpellier, and Paris studios. Speaking to GameSpot, Poix says that the reason the Wii U has had such a slow start is that gamers don't get what the system is really capable of.

A torture mechanic in Splinter Cell: Blacklist has been removed following a negative reaction (according to GameSpot based on a Eurogamer report). The gameplay mechanic let Sam Fisher drive a knife into an enemy's clavicle in an attempt to extract information. During the scene players can press a button to twist the knife as a means to get the information that want from the target.

According to a report on Japanese gaming web site 4Gamer (as translated by Kotaku), the Japanese version of Ubisoft's Far Cry 3 had to be edited for content before it was released in the region.

According to an MCV report, Ubisoft is considering buying troubled games publisher THQ. Earlier in the week the publisher announced that it had filed for bankruptcy and would be sold to Clearlake investments. This 'stalking horse bid' process with the investor allows THQ to write off the company's debts but keeps its business going to make it ready for an acquisition. According to MCV one of the companies that might be interested in buying THQ is Ubisoft.

No matter what you think of Uplay (PC gamers know it as a future digital distribution platform and as facilitator of horrible always-on DRM masquerading as something else - particularly for PC gamers), what Ubisoft is trying to do with it on Wii U is interesting because it adds a number of features to its games on the platform.

Ubisoft is apologizing to Far Cry 3 players for issues with the company's Uplay online gaming service. Some players have reported that they were unable to play the game because of Uplay server issues. Apparently setting the Uplay client to offline mode allows players to play part of the game, according to Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Ubisoft says that when Far Cry 3 is released on PC in Europe and North America, players will have to download what they categorize as a "critical" day-one patch for the game. The version 1.01 patch fixes a number of single and multiplayer bugs, promises improved stability and performance in multiplayer, adds options to the game's online leaderboard, fixes a voice chat issue that mutes players by default, fixes graphical issues on loading screen hints, and a bug that prevents maps from showing up the first time a user enters Public co-op play.

With the Wii U launch less than a week away, many game publishers have strong opinions about Nintendo's newest platform. In an upcoming interview with GamesIndustry International, CEO Yves Guillemot offers his. While Ubisoft is one of the biggest third-party supporter of Wii U at launch, the company's CEO Yves Guillemot acknowledges that Nintendo may have to lower the price of the console.

Ubisoft says that everyone who bought Assassin's Creed 3 should download the "day-one patch" because it "optimizes player experience and is highly recommended." Not exactly an inspiring message for a product that you just bought. The day-one patch fixes bugs and other glitches that shipped with the game, apparently. Ubisoft has a list of fixes here in the patch notes, but you probably won't want to read it because it is chock-full of spoilers.

Publisher Ubisoft has filed a $1 million lawsuit against BEP Music LLC in Superior Court claiming that it created an iOS versions of a popular Wii game, which its client refused to acknowledge as per a licensing agreement the two companies entered into in June of 2011.

Earlier in the month Ubisoft announced that it would turn its Uplay game community hub into a digital distribution platform, and with last week's news that it had toned down its DRM scheme for PC releases, today's news is really a no brainer. The company said today that - at some point - it would like to bring third-party titles to the platform.

E. Zachary Knight makes a triumphant return in Episode 19 of the Super Podcast Action Committee. After a near-death experience (we might be slightly exaggerating) last week, he rejoins host Andrew Eisen to discuss getting older (be sure to wish him a happy birthday today!) Steam Greenlight's early hurdles, the latest GamePolitics poll, and Ubisoft's new DRM policy. Download it here: SuperPAC Episode 19 (57 Minutes).

An interview with Chris Early, vice president of digital publishing at Ubisoft, and another interview with Ubisoft's Stephanie Perotti reveals that the company is finally starting to turn the corner on its "always-on" DRM schemes for PC games.

The last time we reported on Ubisoft's Uplay, the company was denying that its program installed a rootkit on consumers' computers. From that media buzz, the company thought it would be a great time to announce that it is rolling out Uplay as a full-fledged digital distribution platform not unlike Steam or Origin.

Ubisoft calls yesterday's story about a rootkit being found in Uplay false and blames "a coding error" for the security hole. Ubisoft denied the whole "rootkit" angle altogether. After quickly patching the Uplay software yesterday, the company issued a statement saying that a coding error was the cause of the software being able to launch any executable on a remote computer - a fact hackers demonstrated as a proof of concept this week.

Update: The BBC is reporting that Ubisoft has rushed to patch the exploit unearthed by a Google engineer in its Uplay DRM. The company also issued instructions for Uplay users:

"We recommend that all Uplay users update their Uplay PC application without a Web browser open," Ubisoft said. "This will allow the plug-in to update correctly. An updated version of the Uplay PC installer with the patch also is available from Uplay.com."

If you bought an Ubisoft game available as part of Steam's massive Summer Sale, you may experience what users are feeling right about now: angst and rage. Apparently some players who bought Ubisoft games have found that they cannot play them because of uPlay, the online service in charge of validating DRM in many of Ubisoft's titles.

When it was revealed earlier this year that Clint Hocking had left LucasArts, people speculated where he would be going to next. Yesterday it was revealed that the former creative director at both Ubisoft and LucasArts, has joined Valve Software, though what his role will be there was not determined. Hocking is best known for his work on such titles as Far Cry 2 and the Splinter Cell series.

Oops! An email meant to promote Ubisoft's promising techno-thriller Watch Dogs inadvertently revealed the email addresses of thousands of fans who signed up to receive updates on the game. Publisher Ubisoft sent out an update on a fictitious character named Joseph Demarco who runs an art gallery called dotconnexion. Players were urged to sign up for dotconnexion updates on the official site, and one of those first updates went out today:

 A lawyer representing the novelist who filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft last month for allegedly infringing on his book "LINK" is defending her client publicly for the first time in this Eurogamer story. The author of the book, John Beiswenger, claims in his lawsuit that Ubisoft violated his copyright in the plot of Assassin's Creed.

Link, the 2001 sci-fi fantasy book at the center of a lawsuit filed against Ubisoft and GameTrailers, is getting review bombed by angry gamers. Beiswenger, who is also a research engineer that holds over 20 U.S. utility patents, published his novel Link in 2002. The first Assassin's Creed video game was released in 2007. In his lawsuit against Ubisoft and GameTrailers, he alleges that Ubisoft stole core ideas from his book and used them in their games.