Ubisoft Launching Sam, A Virtual Assistant To Help You With Games And Tell You The Fake Weather

Ubisoft has embarked on some unusual projects--a Mario-Rabbids crossover that is basically XCOM wasn't something a lot of people saw coming--but its latest announcement is particularly unusual. The games publisher has revealed a new "personal gaming assistant" called Sam that will be housed inside the Ubisoft Club mobile app.

As you'd imagine, Sam's original inspiration was Siri, and that shows through its ability to answer basic queries made through text or voice. As seen in the images below, it can share the "weather" in various Ubisoft games and can respond to questions and requests related to those titles. Examples the company cited including asking for Far Cry 5's release date, to watch a trailer for Beyond Good & Evil 2, to get help in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, or to hear a story recap of Assassin's Creed Origins.

That may all sound somewhat rote, but where Sam becomes intriguing is through its ties into Ubisoft's games. It can provide a breakdown of your play stats, recommend in-game challenges you should tackle next, or even suggest tip videos from YouTube. Eventually, the hope is that it will be able to analyze your play style to the point where it can even point out possible skill upgrades that would be of use to you.

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Ubisoft also promised there will be no shortage of Easter eggs. One example is asking for the definition of insanity, which yields Voss's quote from Far Cry 3.

A beta of Sam debuts today in Canada through Ubisoft's app, which is available for free. The company plans to expand it to other countries in the "coming months."