Ubisoft videogame hero 'Rayman' hits new game consoles

Ubisoft's captivatingly colorful Rayman videogame hero hit new-generation consoles on Tuesday. "Rayman Legends" for play on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One videogame consoles is the latest installment of the popular franchise where "rabbids" debuted as zany adversaries that grew so popular they were spun into a separate series. Ubisoft customized unlockable characters for each of the rival consoles, with one inspired by a villain from "Far Cry" and another based on the hero in "Assassin's Creed IV." Ubisoft continued its pattern of pouncing on hardware innovations, enhancing graphics and loading speeds to take advantage of greater power and building in exclusive game-play features. Touch pads on PS4 controllers can be used to scratch "lucky tickets" during game play, and scenes from play can be captured and shared using a camera mode. "Legends" also takes advantage of the ability to continue game play on PS Vita handheld devices if consoles are turned off, or put to other uses such as watching a streamed film. The videogame was priced at $40. Ubisoft and Sony Pictures Entertainment last week announced they are working together on a full-length feature film based on the Rabbids, the irreverent, wacky characters that star in a TV series and videogames. "There is an infectious quality to the Rabbids," Sony-owned Columbia Pictures production president Hannah Minghella said in a release. "Their simple joy and absurd, anarchic behavior inadvertently causes you to look at the world afresh." Since their start as wacky villains in 'Rayman' videogames, Rabbids have become fodder to comic books, collectibles, mobile games, and television. French theme park Futuroscope boasts a Rabbids Time Machine attraction. "Sony Pictures has tremendous experience developing hybrid live-action-and-animated blockbusters for audiences around the world, which makes them a natural fit for what we want to achieve with a Rabbids film," Ubisoft Motion Pictures executive director Jean-Julien Baronnet said in a release. Ubisoft Motion Pictures was opened three years ago to extend successful videogame franchises to film, television, and online viewing audiences.