SAN FRANCISCO, CA – November 30, 2004 – Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, today announced its plans to launch the next installment in the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® franchise for the Sony Playstation®:2 computer entertainment system, Xbox® video game system from Microsoft and the PC in Spring 2005. With the Rainbow Six® franchise known as one of the best multiplayer experiences and hailed for its immersive single-player games, the next Rainbow Six® game follows Team Rainbow, the world’s most elite counter-terrorist unit, as they are called into action into unfamiliar territory as they battle a BIOTERRORIST threat. Stakes escalate as they are personally targeted by an evil terrorist organization, ultimately ending with the capture and torture of one of the team’s premier members. Used to protecting the lives of others, Team Rainbow must now embark on a mission to fight and save its own. Team Rainbow does not negotiate with terror. It destroys it. The game is being developed by two of Ubisoft’s award-winning studios: Red Storm Entertainment, the maker of the original Rainbow Six®, and Ubisoft’s Montreal Studio.

The next Rainbow Six® game will build on the ingredients that have made the Rainbow Six® franchise a runaway success, and will introduce new multiplayer elements that inject a vitality and depth into an already stellar multiplayer franchise. In addition to completely new, more ominous and groundbreaking multiplayer content, the single player will experience a new personal darker storyline, state-of-the-art equipment, and offer gamers the chance to play as two members of Team Rainbow: Ding Chavez, the fearless leader of Team Rainbow, and a new sniper role portrayed by Dieter Weber, whose must cover his team’s movement with deadly accuracy. His aim is matched only by his attitude.

“The next installment in the Rainbow Six® franchise will take the best and make it better – the Rainbow Six® franchise enjoyed an unprecedented year run as a top online title, and the next episode will deliver an even bigger multiplayer punch, with the addition of two revolutionary modes that take the game in a completely new direction,” said Tony Kee, vice president of marketing for Ubisoft. “This time its personal as Team Rainbow becomes the target. They must react in unprecedented ways to a direct threat – Tom Clancy’s gut-wrenching tension, pulse-pounding action , close-quarter battle and hallmark realism are about to get a whole lot darker.”

About the Game
Command Team Rainbow in their toughest mission yet. When one of your own is taken hostage, do you follow orders or do you break them in order to save the life of one of your own men? The next Rainbow Six® title features a thrilling single-player campaign that has you playing as either the confident team leader, Ding Chavez, who never leaves a man behind, or as the team’s arrogant sniper, Dieter Weber, who never misses a shot. The final result: a totally immersive experience – which becomes even more compelling when gamers go online to play against other fans from around the world, using voice chat to communicate with one another. Additional game features include:

• Superior multiplayer experience: One of the best multiplayer games ever returns with a revolutionary multiplayer experience for Xbox® Live and the Playstation® 2/
  
  
  • Xbox® Live: New “Career Mode” allows players to create their own operative, improve their skills and acquire extra equipment in all-new objective-based missions.
    
    
  • Playstation® 2: New Rivalry Mode pits Rainbow operatives against trained mercenaries in objective-driven team-based adversarial gameplay.
    
    
• New weapons and equipment: Complete your mission with all of the tools of the trade including new items like motion trackers, battering rams, and the deadly MTAR-21 micro assault rifle.
  
  
• Stunning graphics and ultra-realistic “ragdoll” physics deliver staggering realism and spectacular close quarter firefights.
  
  
• Tension-building sound effects: Creaking floorboards, whispers and hostages begging for their lives hint that a threat lurks around every corner.
  
  
• Increasingly intelligent enemy A.I.: With every mission, enemies get more dangerous using tactics like flanking, suppression fire and room clearing.

About Ubisoft:
Ubisoft is an international producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products. A leading company in the multimedia industry, Ubisoft’s strong and diversified lineup has grown considerably, as has Ubisoft itself. As well as steadfastly continuing to partner with several high-profile companies, Ubisoft has also confirmed its presence on the global market by developing its own exceptional properties. Founded in 1986 in France, Ubisoft is now present on every continent, both through offices in 21 different countries including the United States, Morocco, Germany and China and through sales of products in over 50 countries. The group is dedicated to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers around the world. Ubisoft generated a turnover of 508 million euros for the 2003/2004 fiscal year, up 22.5% over the previous fiscal year. To learn more, visit www.ubi.com

The long-awaited 1.6 and 1.10 patches for Raven Shield and Athena Sword, repsectively, are now available. US, UK, and CAN patches can be found at the following URL's or by using the in-game Auto-Updater:

US RVS v1.6 & AS v1.1

US RVS 1.0 -> 1.6
US RVS 1.56 -> 1.6
US AS v1.0 -> 1.10
US AS v1.02 -> 1.10

CAN RVS v1.6 & AS v1.10

CAN RVS v1.0 -> v1.6
CAN RVS v1.56 -> v1.6
CAN AS v1.0 -> v1.10
CAN AS v1.02 -> v1.10

UK RVS v1.6 & AS v1.10

UK RVS v1.0 -> v1.6
UK RVS v1.56 -> v1.6
UK AS v1.0 -> v1.10
UK AS v1.02 -> v1.10

RVS 1.6 Server Update
AS 1.10 Server Update

The Combat Zone Network has recently opened leagues to support Raven Shield. Registrations close September 10, 2004. This will allow teams to know in advance who they are matching, on what map, and when. This will allow them to place the focus and effort on strategy and winning rather than scheduling and finding matches. What makes the TCZ Raven Shield League even more special is it does not allow CMAGS. Getting back to basics and making it happen! Simply sign up your team at http://www.thecombatzone.net and add the leagues to your profile. You can read more about the leagues at: http://www.thecombatzone.net/modules.php?name=Leagues

PC Gaming Team Honors Fallen Teammate With Tournament to Benefit Young Daughter He Left Behind.

The MacDaddy Invitational Tournament is being held by Shawn "MacDaddy" Meyer's teammates and friends to honor him and to raise money for a trust fund to benefit his 8-year-old daughter, Nicole. This online Raven Shield 5v5 Team Survival event starts Saturday, September 18th with an entry fee of $30 per team. "Every dime raised goes directly into a trust fund," says Scott "BigJake" Moore, friend and teammate of Meyer’s who is spearheading this tournament. Sponsors will be donating prizes.

Moore explained, "Mac was very close to his daughter. He would go on and on about how much she meant to him. Her future and her life were his primary concern and we made that our main concern as well."

TeamWarfare is volunteering competition staff for this event as a service to the Raven Shield community. Registration went live today. Click HERE to sign-up.

Patch v1.6 is still in the works despite recent rumors that it had been abandoned. Check in here for updates on its status.

Bullet

TCZ (The Combat Zone) is hosting a charity fundraiser tournament. Please see below for details.

Bullet

Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword 4 v 4 Tournament!

TOURNAMENT HAS BEEN DELAYED UNTIL v1.6 RELEASE

The Combat Zone Network is proud to announce an online fundraiser on behalf of The American Cancer Society. The American Cancer Society is making a difference every day in the lives of people touched by cancer. Your contributions to this event will help fund the programs of research, education, advocacy, and service, which are leading them towards the ultimate goal—the elimination of cancer. Every donation counts. By donating to participate in this event, you not only have an opportunity to compete for prizes but you make a personal statement as this donation goes to a worthy cause. Everyone in their lifetime will be affected by Cancer in one way, shape, or form. Now is your chance to help out, feel good and have fun in the process!

All the individual donations of $5.00 a player or $20.00 per team (4 v 4) goes to the American Cancer Society to fight this disease.

Some of the sponsors for this event: Crucial, Best Buy, NVIDIA and more!

Either donate as a team or individually. Please contact acs@thecombatzone.net when you are all set so we can coordinate your donation with your team. You will receive a receipt for this event so you can apply to your taxes and write it off. We will also be making a permanent graphic and banner page to recognize those who gave to this worthy event.

Get all of the info HERE

Get the patches here:

ThePlatoon
FilePlanet
3dGamers
MultiplayerMods
FileShack
WorthPlaying
ActionTrip (RVS)
ActionTrip (AS)

RVS v1.56
-Locked the debug commands that were left unlocked in the previous patch.

AS v1.02
-Fixed a bug in the meta data of certain maps that caused operatives of opposing teams to have similarly colored uniforms.

-On Siberia, the armor levels of the two opposing teams were set at different levels. This has been resolved.

Hopefully, these patches will resolve these issues and everyone can start to enjoy the games as they were intended.

Bullet

Season 2 of the Cyberathlete's Amateur League (CAL) Raven Shield League was completed this past weekend, with the Pacific Conference champion Auphan Clan facing the Central Conference Champion Chronic Insanity in a winner takes all match for bragging rights and prizes donated by Ubisoft which included 6 copies of Athena Sword to the CAL RvS champions and 6 Rainbow 6 T-Shirts to the Runner-Ups.

After a long season and harrowing playoff schedule, both teams met on Oil Refinery and City Streets to determine who would walk away with the Championship. In a match where luck factored into the match as much as skill and timing, Auphan Clan walked away the winner with the final score being 6-2.

You can listen to the Shoutcast of the CAL Season 2 final match, by Ti's own Ninjaboy, HERE

The CAL Raven Shield League would like to congratulate Auphan Clan on becoming the CAL RvS Season 2 champions, as well as Chronic Insanity and all of the other teams in the league for their continued excellence in competition.

For those that don't know about CAL, they would like to extend an invitation to you and your clan to be a part of Season 3 of the 6 vs 6 CAL RvS League. Is your clan looking for short, set match times and set schedules with flexible match days? If so then we believe that CAL is the league for you. We offer two divisions; an east and west coast, for your convenience on what times you would like to match.

Please drop by our site at http://www.caleague.com/?div=rshie. If you have any questions please drop by our forums at http://forums.caleague.com at or visit us on irc.gamesurge.net in channel #caleague-raven

Announcing the Counter Terrorism Classics bundle being brought to you by Ubisoft. For those of you that hadn't played or had copies of the original Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear, now is your chance to make up for lost time! Also included is The Sum of All Fears to help you complete your Tom Clancy collection. All of them have been updated for Windows XP compatibility. Get all three (3) of these games for an MSRP of just $19.99!

Patch 1.53 is now available. The patch includes:

RVS patch 1.52 is now available. Please visit the following sites to acquire it. The following sites should have the US, UK, & CAN 1.0 -> 1.52 & 1.51 -> 1.52 patches as well as the 1.52 server update:

Fileshack
3dgamers
ThePlatoon
Actiontrip
ebdisfiles
Games Fusion
Worth Playing

BulletTooth

1.52 will be available on Tuesday, January 27th, 2004. The main focus of this patch is to fix the wall-peek glitch introduced in 1.5 & 1.51. However, some other optimizations and tweaks were also aimed at fixing some other gameplay issues, notably frag and ladder lock. Check-in here for links to download direct from Ubisoft and from mirror sites for the US, UK, & CAN patches. Release will be at approximately 10:00am US PST.

BulletTooth

Forums are back up as of 1:00pm US PST, but are running really slow. Please be patient as we try to rectify the problem.

BulletTooth

OK, OK, I know the SDK is not yet released for RVS. BUT, I do know that there are many talented modders of other games within the community and I wanted to let you all know that Multiplayer Mods has opened their site. Please read on...

We have been compiling the links and hosting the releases of mods, custom maps, and more importantly, the tutorials and utilities needed to make them. Our main focus is to support the community and ensure their hard work is recognized and have a central location where it can easily be found. We can host at no charge your hard work as well as patches and upgrades to all the active multiplayer games. Our other focus is to host the hard to find and rare releases of the past, present and future.

We encourage modders to register so they can get active in getting their work released!

A major undertaking? Sure is. This project is huge and the scope of it has yet to hit. The best part is the operators of the site are currently involved or have been involved in the gaming industry from a news side and development side who have a love for the games and the potential they have to be customized.

We allow registered uploads and link submissions to all accounts along with forum access. If you have any work you want noticed, even if its already out there, feel free to register here and upload it or get us the link.

The new forums are now live and you should be able to post. There are still some kinks and what not to be worked-out, so please continue to be patient. They should be near 100% functional. I hope you enjoy the new software and find it to be an improvement to your community experience!

The Raven Shield 1.51 patch is now available. This patch fixes the incompatibility issues with Raven Shield and various virtual drive software programs introduced in the 1.5 patch. There are two patches available: 1.5 -> 1.51 & 1.0 ->1.51

Get 1.5 -> 1.51 US HERE

Get 1.0 -> 1.51 US HERE

TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX 3: RAVEN SHIELD v1.50

Added an Operative SDK.

CD-Keys stored in the registy are now encrypted.

Enhanced support for Athena Sword and future mission packs.

Fixed some problems related to the “Immediate Firing Animations” option. Including the 3 round burst animation that was not exactly representing the shooting of three rounds and the pump shotgun empty reload sound that was missing.

When connecting to PunkBuster enabled server, cancelling the connection then immediately re-trying to connect will generate various error messages.

Modified Raven Shield codes so that it won’t time out as easily when waiting for CD-Key authorisation.

Solved some problems related to switching players in coop mode that most often would result in crashes or other strange behaviours.

PunkBuster messages that are too long to fit on one line will wrap at the end of line to the second. Before they were simply truncated.

Fixed a bug where the camera could get stuck in a certain position from time to time, usually at the start of a round.

Fixed the case where "RavenShield" was displayed instead of the name of the map in the server list.

Fixed the intro videos that would still play even when the game was started through a game service like Ubi.com, GameSpy or the All Seeing Eye.

On a minimal install the intro Ubi logo was not played.

Hello RvS Community,

I just wanted to drop by to give you a quick heads up.

PunkBuster has been silently tracking the PB GUIDs of punks using a certain private hack for some time. This hack has claimed to be undetectable even from before PB was out for RvS (which is quite humorous). There are no undetectable hacks once we have a copy (and we have had many copies of this hack sent to us over the past months).

• RVS Gaming
• The Platoon
• Aggression
• RSOceania

• FilePlanet
• FileShack

Hi, I'd just like to announce the release of a small fan-movie for Raven Shield now available for download that might interest some avid RVS players. Something that seems to be lacking out on the web game movie scene, the movie focuses and aims to promote the cooperative aspect of Raven Shield.

This fairly short movie follows a team of human players as they take on a Raven Shield cooperative mission to rescue hostages held in a London bank. Demoing dynamic entries, grenade cover, teamwork and storming accompanied by a pumping background track, this 1st movie by The Firm Productions looks to promoting the joy of cooperative play. It also features a brief 'matrix lobby scene' parody.

- TeeCee
(The Firm)

Get it HERE.

In keeping with our dedication to create excellent products, the mission pack for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword, will now be releasing in Q1 2004. The later release will allow us to deliver the quality product we know our fans expect.

-- Geiger out...

• If you join a game through The All Seeing Eye (ASE) game service and you press the ESC key during the introductory video playback, Raven Shield will crash.
  
  Workaround: If you don't want to wait for the introductory videos to end when joining a game on The All Seeing Eye (ASE), you can rename your video directory to something else. Doing so will prevent the logo intro videos and the spinning RAINBOW in the map loadin menu from being played. Don't forget to rename it to its original name if you want to play a single player campaign.
  
  
• If you try to join a game through The All Seeing Eye game service (ASE), you need to have PunkBuster Installed and Activated whether the server you are joining has PunkBuster activated or not. To activate PB, go in the option menu.
  
  
• If you join a game through a game service (UBI.com, ASE or GSA) you won't get any early messages concerning PunkBuster activation/inactivation. PunkBuster will handled it directly at the start of the game. Make sure to have your PK activated in your option menu to avoid being quick out.When not using a game service to join a server, Raven Shield will give you the incompatibility messages before you can join.

We are very sorry for the delay and thank you for your support.

-- Geiger out.

--Geiger out.

• US Patch 1.30 to 1.31 (2.41 MB)
• US Patch 1.00 to 1.31 (9.97 MB)

• UK Patch 1.30 to 1.31 (2.41 MB)
• UK Patch 1.00 to 1.31 (10.1 MB)

Click here to download it.

-Volkan

• Much improved framerate during firefights
• A new multiplayer "Ban" system linked to individual user CD Keys (more details on that soon).
• Full ASE support
• And of course, the usual batch of bug fixes, etc...

TOM CLANCY'S RAINBOW SIX® 3: ATHENA SWORD™

Command the world’s most elite, multinational squad of counter-terrorist operatives in their latest mission. In Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® 3: Athena Sword™, Team RAINBOW tracks the desperate remnants of Gospic’s terrorist organization into the exotic regions of the Mediterranean to prevent their agenda of international anarchy and devastation. In beautiful locations ranging from downtown Milan, Italy, to an outdoor market in Athens, Greece, lead your team against dangerous tangos in 8 all-new single player missions and 5 new multiplayer maps.

The Clan World Network's Ravenshield Tournament begins this evening on IRC. There are over 110 teams registered at the chance to win $2000 in prizes. View the brackets, rules, and how to get to the tournament chat here.

The Raven Shield Platoon has released version 2.0 of the "Raven Shield Community Map Pack" This pack contains 20 new single and multiplayer maps for Raven Shield. Download it now and see the best that the modding community has to offer.

Raven Shield US v1.1 to 1.2 Patch
• Mirror 1 - Fileplanet/@WAR
• Mirror 2 - DesiredFX
• Mirror 3 - RvSRecon 1
• Mirror 4 - RvSRecon 2
• Mirror 5 - 914-Clan
• Mirror 6 - SilverMods
• Mirror 7 - FileShack
• Mirror 8 - [LTK]-clan

Raven Shield US v1.0 to 1.2 Patch

• Mirror 1 - FilePlanet/@WAR
• Mirror 2 - [LTK]-clan
• Mirror 3 - Hk-Clan

Thanks goes to The Raven Shield Platoon for the list. More updates coming later today.