Far Cry 2 was on show for the select few at Play.com Live.  A full preview will be on its way, but before that the game’s narrative designer, Patrick Redding, let us know when we can get our dirty little mits on it.

We got to experience an impressive PC build in a darkened private room, and though the framerate was slightly dodgy, Ubisoft Montreal have until early autumn to get it all fixed up.  That includes the console versions, since Far Cry 2 will see a simultaneous release on all platforms not long after the first Oak tree has shed its first leaf.

Sadly we were also informed that there will not be a pre-release demo, since this would take too much time away from the game’s development.  This is especially true when they are aiming for a comparable game on consoles as on the PC.

*Update* - Producer LP confirms this directly from the development team, and he shows off some new gameplay footage. The game will ship simultaneously on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 and will be polished on all platforms so the quality and features of each will be top-notch.

[youtube width="480" height="378"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnOgtjxgGq0&eurl=http://blog.ubi.com/farcry2/article.php?content_id=7506[/youtube]

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Speaking at Play.com Live, Far Cry 2 designer Peter Redding told us that the common expectation was that the PC version was going to be infinetely better than either the PS3 or 360. He also told us why that’s a load of rubbish.

“We’re not changing any aspect of the game,” says Peter, after running through Far Cry 2′s 50km² open environment in a 20 minute PC demonstration – more on that at a later date. “All the same content will be in console versions that you’ve seen here; all the same systems and all the same mechanics.”

But he dodged the bullet about how much better the PC version would be: “The expectation is that for someone playing on a really good high-end PC, it is going to be amazing. But the console version is going to be fanastic.”

Turns out the version we were watching was the still a November 2007 build. “I played the 360 build last week and it’s already looking better than this.”

He made no mention of the PS3 version, beyond confirming that Far Cry 2 would be released on all three platforms.

More of our impressions soon.

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A predictable outcome for Ubisoft; a company that doesn’t like to keep all its eggs in one basket, as was seen in Assassin’s Creed reaching both consoles – and soon to be PC.

Whether the console iterations of Far Cry 2 will be as solid and impressive as the PC version that we’ve always been expecting, we’ll have to wait and see.

Here’s the press release, which is regrettably in French. Nothing against the language, but it’ll be foreign to the majority of you.

Ubisoft annonce aujourd’hui que Far Cry® 2 est actuellement en développement sur Xbox 360® de Microsoft et PLAYSTATION®3 de Sony. Far Cry 2 est un jeu de tir à la première personne développé par le studio d’Ubisoft Montréal.

Plus qu’une performance visuelle et technologique, Far Cry 2 constitue pour le joueur une expérience de jeu inédite, basée sur un moteur de jeu conçu spécifiquement pour l’occasion. Les joueurs seront plongés dans un univers de jeu totalement ouvert, au sein de somptueux paysages africains, grâce à la haute définition et à la technologie next-gen.

La sortie de Far Cry 2 est prévue pour l’année fiscale 2008-2009.

In way of a translation: Far Cry 2 is being developed for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, which will be released in the fiscal year 2008-09. Or there abouts.

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