After much information leaking out beforehand, Splinter Cell: Blacklist has finally been confirmed for the Wii U by Ubisoft, with the publisher also having revealed its release date. It will be hitting store shelves for Nintendo’s newest console on August 20 in North America, while its European and UK launch is planned for August 22 and August 23, respectively. These are the same dates on which it will be arriving for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
The title’s existence was almost confirmed prior to this, as a number of retailer listings as well as other goof ups had occurred before. Of course, enhanced gameplay optimized for the console’s GamePad controller will form part of it. Among the activities players will be able to perform using the touch-based controller include operating the snake camera as well as managing weapons.
Ubisoft’s efforts to keep this Wii U version of the game a secret have been coming a cropper ever since October last year when a listing of the same was spotted on GameStop. But that’s not all, for in February this year, some LinkedIn profiles of Ubisoft employees came to the fore, again giving away the existence of the port. And a couple of days back, Amazon France had also started listing it, before Ubisoft finally decided to unveil this version.
The game’s official debut had come at last year’s E3 which saw it being revealed through Microsoft’s press conference. Kinect integration for its Xbox 360 version was one of the game’s highlighted aspects, apart from its Kill in Motion mechanic which lets the protagonist execute multiple enemies in one fluid motion.
The game’s story involves the President of the United States forming a new team of elite operatives drawn from different agencies, and naming it the Fourth Echelon. Sam Fisher is appointed as the commander of this group. He and his team are now faced with hunting down terrorists and putting an end to their evil plans of an escalating series of terrorist attacks on US assets.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist can currently be pre-ordered for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC through all major retailers. Standard as well as special editions are available for gamers to choose from.