You would have thought that Ubisoft given the resources they have, would try and minimize the need for mandatory installs as much as possible. However, Future Soldier on PS3 comes with arguably one of the biggest mandatory installs seen since the PS3 launched in 2006.

The exact install needed is 6.35GB, so make sure you have the space saved on your HDD before inserting the game disc. For those that are wondering, the Xbox 360 version of the game also has a pre-game HDD install, but unlike the PS3 this one is optional so you don’t need to install it if you don’t want to.

If you want to pick up the digital version of this game instead and happen to have a subscription to PSN+, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s a 15% discount in place which is nice – otherwise it is available for a whopping £50 for buyers in the UK.

For those that have already spent some time with the game, is it meeting your expectations? In other words, is it a welcome break from Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3, or have you already gone back to those games? We’ve seen some early criticisms of the A.I in campaign mode, so let us know your thoughts on this aspect as well.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier is a promising addition to the veteran franchise and after originally being scheduled for a release sometime in March this year, we can tell you that the game will be releasing on home consoles in May instead.

The good news, is that Ubisoft has given a solid date for when the game will arrive, and that’s May 25th in the UK and May 22nd in the US. This applies to both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, as if you have been following updates for GRFS, you’ll know that a PC version was initially thought to have been canned in favor of Ghost Recon Online, a free-to-play micro-transaction game which Ubisoft were offering as an alternative. Now though, Ubisoft has made a complete u-turn, confirming that a PC version will come after all, but it will ship at a later date to the console versions.

We doubt that the slight launch delay will be seen as a major blow for fans, as it is only a few months extra that you’ll have to wait. On the plus side, you’ll be able to play the multiplayer beta instead, as Ubisoft has also confirmed that the beta will kick off in April. It was originally intended to be exclusive to the Xbox 360, but a report over Game Informer confirms that PS3 users will also be able to join the beta as well.

Hopefully there will be plenty of ways to get into the beta, we’ll try to get some codes for you from Ubisoft if we can. If you have been looking forward to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, let us know your thoughts on the news. PC users should definitely have reason to celebrate after thinking the game wouldn’t be coming out.

We have informed you about one recent DRM-related problem involving Skyrim which rubbed PC gamers up the wrong way, and now this latest move from Ubisoft is going to be a huge talking point in build up to the game’s release.

The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game are unaffected, as they will still release as planned during March of next year. As for the PC version though, Ubisoft has decided not to release a PC version, and will instead offer Ghost Recon Online as a full alternative. Ghost Recon Online is a free-to-play game which offers a similar experience to Future Soldier, but is tailored fully around microtransactions such as renting a gun for a few days for a set price. Ghost Recon Online is also set to release on the Nintendo Wii U at some point next year.

As for Ubisoft’s decision on not releasing Future Soldier for the PC, it seems particularly harsh on legit gamers, as producer Sébastien Arnoult had this to say in a recent interview with PC Gamer:

“We are giving away most of the content for free because there’s no barrier to entry. To the users that are traditionally playing the game by getting it through Pirate Bay, we said, ‘Okay, go ahead guys. This is what you’re asking for. We’ve listened to you – we’re giving you this experience. It’s easy to download, there’s no DRM that will pollute your experience.’’

If you didn’t realise how big of a problem PC piracy still is in the PC market, just ask Ubisoft as it obviously suggests that they are feeling the pain to make such a bold decision on not to bring the game to PC gamers. Will they end up losing a big chunk of money because of this, or will it simply send everyone to Ghost Recon Online and help boost popularity there. Many gamers will still buy the console versions of course, so perhaps this is their way of balancing the books after seeing so many gamers pirate Skyrim.

What are your thoughts on this? Are you angry with Ubisoft for their decision, or do you fully understand their motives and will be supporting Ghost Recon Online when it comes out? We’ve added a video below giving you a look how Ghost Recon Online is shaping up.

We knew that the game was scheduled for a Q1 2012 release, but now we can confirm that gamers will be able to get their hands on GR: FS on March 6, this gives developers plenty of time to resolve bugs which are spotted during the January beta testing.

Ubisoft first confirmed that they were working on a new Ghost Recon game back in early 2009, which means developers have been hard at work on the game for three years, the last game in the series to hit PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 was Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 – this arrived in March 2007, so the Future Soldier release is long overdue.

The news of a release date occurring on March 6 came following retailers such as Amazon, Gamefly, GameStop and Target updating the game’s release date on their websites, JoyStiq then contacted Ubisoft and the release date was confirmed by the game publisher / developer. We are not sure if this date will vary for European gamers, however if the dates do vary it will probably only be by a few days.

Recently the Product-Reviews team managed to get some brief hands on time with an early build of the game at EuroGamer 2011, it has to be said that things seemed very smooth, however we have to admit that we did struggle a bit as it had been so long since we have played a Ghost Recon game – the main thing was that we spotted no major issues which could hamper Ubisoft’s release plans.

Have you waited a long time for this game? If so, are you still as excited as you once were?

While everyone loves a gimmick now and again, we’re not sure if Ubisoft’s Kinect features will blend with gamers in the long run. At E3, Ubisoft showed off an innovative new way to set up your weapons using just hand gestures and voice commands, known as ‘GunSmith’.

We’ve included a new video below for those of you who want to take a look at it. You’ll see the guy in the video select best optimization kits for different weapon classes, and then he goes on to test the new set ups in a training field. Players will also be able to use hand gestures to fire the weapon and zoom in and out of sniper rifiles – but is it going a bit over the top?

We’re hoping that Ubisoft will include some sort of ‘Kinect-only’ multiplayer servers, as if you plan to play online using Kinect controls and come up against a player who’s using a standard xbox 360 controller, it’s fair to say that the odds could be heavily stacked against the Kinect user.

Perhaps judgement is best served until a demo is out, so people with Kinect can try out the new features first-hand. It could be a worrying prospect though if Ubisoft just have one integrated multiplayer lobby regardless of what control scheme you are using.

What are your thoughts on the Kinect controls in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier?

A recent article posted on VG247 tells us that the game’s beta will kick off sometime during Q1 2012, no exact date has been given, however currently we believe that the GRFS will arrive in March so surely the beta will kick off in January to give developers time to patch bugs and listen to feedback.

We are not sure whether this will be a private or public beta just yet, nor do we know whether Ubisoft plans to beta test all platform versions, we will have to keep you up-to-date as we hear more.

Ubisoft first announced GRFS back in January 2009, therefore gamers have been patiently waiting for roughly two and a half years. At one point we were led to believe that it would arrive in late 2010, then we heard that it had been pushed back to sometime around March 2011, more recently we have been promised a Q1 2012 release, we really hope that Ubisoft do not give this game any more delays.

Will you be signing up for beta access if it is offered? Perhaps pre-order customers will get beta access, if so, will you pre-order GRFS to get early access to the game?

As you can probably appreciate we do not have enough time to go into full detail, however we can confirm that Mass Effect 3 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will both support KInect controls, not only this but both upcoming games will recognize voice controls, neat eh?

The most exciting things we go to see came from GRFS, at the beginning of the demo you got to see “Gunsmith”, this allows you to literally build your gun using Kinect. We have embedded an image below (from Engadget’s live blog) which shows you that you can choose different colors, optics, magazines, underbarrel attachments, gas systems, barrels and side rails to suit your needs. This level of customization is in our opinion unrivalled, also if you want a bit of fun simply say “Randomize” and a random configuration will be produced.

Other highlights from the GRFS demo included the fact that saying “optimize for range” makes your gun reconfigure itself to suit your surroundings, also the game allows you to use Kinect to aim your gun, it’s hard to say how accurate the aiming was, however we suspect that we might be seeing a little more later on. If all this excites you we can confirm that future Tom Clancy games will also feature Kinect support.

The Mass Effect 3 demo didn’t show us too much in terms of Kinect controls or voice commands, however it did show how you can speak lines of dialog instead of using the controller to select them, also we got to see the game’s upgraded engine which allows for great lighting. Again Microsoft promised to show us more later on.

When we hear more about both titles we will keep you posted, do you like the sound of Kinect support and voice recognition for these games?

The box art can be viewed below, courtesy of TheSixthAxis, but it’s worthwhile to add that the image source has now disappeared from Xbox.com. Does this mean that they knew the box art would create a bit of a storm amongst PS3 owners, or did they just not intend to release the box art so early before release.

At the moment, we don’t know if the game will support PlayStation Move controls as well, but obviously Kinect support has now been outed, and it could mean that gamers will be able to issue team instructions using just their hands, which sounds pretty awesome.

Should PS3 owners read too much into the ‘better with Kinect’ slogan though? – probably not. Who knows, we may even see the same box art for PS3, but with ‘better with Move’. Let us know your thoughts on this. Which version of the game will you be buying on release?

Almost exactly a year ago we heard that the game had been delayed until 2011, this was disappointing for many, however gameplay videos and screenshots showed up soon after which suggested that developers were making good progress, therefore this recently announced delay is even more frustrating than the last.

According to a recent article posted on EuroGamer the release date delay is said to be due to a crowded holiday season release schedule, games like Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 will probably steal the headlines, therefore from a business point of view it is a good decision. The thing that annoys us is the fact that a similar excuse was used last year.

We can now confirm that the game will arrive (hopefully) between January and March 2012, hopefully we will get to see the game in action next month at E3 2011, but we won’t hold our breath.

On a personal note I find this news very frustrating, I have been looking forward to this game for a long time, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) and GRAW2 were two of my favorite games back in the day, therefore I have high expectations for the next game.

Are you fed up with all the delays?

Ubisoft is one of the leading video game publishers in the world and want to offer members the opportunity to compete in tournaments on some of their best multiplayer console games. There will be cash prizes up for grabs, and even if you do not like Ghost Recon other Ubisoft titles will have similar tournaments in the future.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will surely be a massive hit just like other games in the series, it will be available March 2011 and will no doubt be one of the best games of 2011 for both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Let us know what you think of these cash prizes?

Source: JoyStiq