Review of the Week

Let's see what's been happening this week:

Shared Universe Theory - Ubisoft

So with nothing really big to talk about this week (in my eyes anyway) I decided to give you guys a theory. Now we all love shared universes, don't we. I mean it is quite possibly the best way to do a crossover without even realising that its a crossover. The MCU was able to show snippets of the possibility of a shared universe and then BAM!! we get the ultimate crossover that proves that all the films are in the same universe and that came in the form of The Avengers. Now in the case of games, many developers like to throw in a few Easter eggs and references to their other games. Rockstar, Insomniac, Naughty Dog and even Nintendo have done this for years, though sometimes it feels like they do it just to prove something. But in the case of Ubisoft, its a bit of an interesting one. When I was playing their newest IP Watch Dogs this year, when you profile people, some of them will come up with saying that they either worked or used to work for Abstergo who as we all know are the Templar run organisation in the Assassin's Creed games. This proves that these two games share the same universe and that the whole Templar VS Assassin war is still going on while other events take place. However, as seen in Black Flag, Abstergo now have a software development company who have attempted to make experiences that allow people to explore their ancestors world as proven in the above screenshot (though why the boxart still says Assassin's Creed is another mystery all together). So if Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed share the same universe, what about Ubisoft's other franchises? Well throughout the game, you come across Rabbid toys which means that Rayman and the Rabbids serve as nothing more than just an established franchise in the universe meaning that they do not exist in the universe, but are there in some form. Its not known if any of Ubisoft's other franchises exist in the same universe, but as most of them generally have a modern day setting (for the most part anyway), its entirely possible. I personally don't know what Ubisoft have planned for their games, but its nice that they like people to find little references and Easter eggs which can in a way, blow people's minds just by what they can be.

So for the highlights of this week, the Disney film Hocus Pocus could get itself a sequel, The Simpsons will be having a 27th season while its terminally ill co-creator donates his £62.5 million fortune to charity, BioWare make a Mass Effect level for one of its fans to propose to their fiancee (first Portal and now this. I wonder who will do it next), turns out that a lot of maths is used for the characters in Pixar films, LEGO Batman 3 hints at the possibility of a Jurassic Park game to tie in with the upcoming 2015 film Jurassic World, LEGO green light Big Bang Theory sets with Doctor Who also being a possibility and while Studio Ghibli may not be making any more feature films one of its biggest contributors Hayao Miyazaki is hopeful that the animators will have a future if not start anew.

Now for the week's film and video game releases in most areas:

Films:
Dumb and Dumber To (Most areas with more to follow and yes I will be reviewing this at some stage)

Video Games:
Assassin's Creed Unity (PS4, Xbone and Win) (Worldwide. Review coming soon)
Assassin's Creed Rouge (PS3 and 360. Coming soon to Win) (Worldwide. Review coming soon)
Digimon All-Star Rumble (PS3 and 360) (NA and EU only. Coming soon to JP)
Halo: The Master Chief Collection (Xbone) (Worldwide)
Shape Up (Xbone) (NA and EU only)
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (Wii U) (NA and JP only. Later this month for EU and AU)
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (3DS) (NA only. Later this month for everywhere else)
PES 2015 (All current Microsoft platforms, PS3 and PS4) (NA and EU only)
WoW: Warlords of Draenor (Win and MAC) (Worldwide)
This War of Mine (All current computer platforms, iOS and Droid) (Worldwide)