Ubisoft relies on old favourites at Ubidays event in Paris

Only a handful of new titles were announced at Ubisoft's Ubidays event in Paris today, as the company rolled out it's most high-profile developers complete with high-definition footage and demo's of the latest Prince of Persia, Far Cry and Brothers in Arms franchises.

New titles included Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, the latest in the Wii series, and the return of extreme sports athlete Shaun White to videogaming, with Shaun White Snowboarding, both due later in the year.

The big reveal was saved for the closing stages of the presentation, with Yves Guillemot introducing a trailer for the next project from Michel Ancel, showing CG footage that seemingly confirms a sequel to fan-favourite Beyond Good & Evil is in development.

The company's casual line-up also got a boost with the announcement of four new titles to the Imagine range - Secret World by Imagine, Imagine Fashion Model, Imagine Teacher and Imagine Girl Band all set to join the four million-selling series later this year.

Introduced by TV presenter Vernon Kaye and after some scripted banter with Alain Corre, executive director of Ubisoft's EMEA territories, the event kicked off properly with trailers and demos of the publisher's big titles for 2008.

Grouped under the heading of 'emotion in games', it was Ubisoft's best-known titles that got centre stage for the first thirty minutes.

Clint Hocking, creative director of Ubisoft Montreal demoed a high definition movie of Far Cry 2, followed by a short live demo of the game.

Prince of Persia director Ben Mattes discussed the latest Prince of Persia, "a restart of the franchise, a new universe for a new generation of consoles," which introduces a new female accomplice, "a revolutionary AI character," while Colonel John Antal briefly introduced a trailer for Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway.

Following the core brands came a chat with Pauline Jacquey, executive producer of Ubisoft's casual titles, who declared that the company's casual games were for the entire family, adding, "we're just scratching at the surface of what games can be."

And then it was back to the big sellers, with a compilation of Tom Clancy titles to mark the franchise's ten year's on the market, complete with live demo's of the forthcoming Tom Clancy's HAWX and Tom Clancy's EndWar games.

With Rayman Raving Rabbids, Ubisoft showed canny incorporation of Nintendo's Wii Balance Board and declared the party title as "the first game you can play with your ass."

With a trailer for Namco Bandai's Soul Calibur IV completing the list of titles due this year, it was then left to Guillemot to tease the crowd with the Beyond Good & Evil short, a title that got genuine applause and cheers from the attending press.