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Ubisoft Montreal Staffers Barricade on Roof Amid Possible Hostage Situation [Updated] (arstechnica.com) 53

Posted by msmash from the breaking-news dept.
A potential hostage situation is reportedly taking place at the building in which game developer Ubisoft's Montreal office is housed. From a report: A group of suspects are reportedly holding tens of people hostage at Ubisoft Montreal, according to local (French-language) media outlet LCN. The situation reportedly began around 1:30pm Eastern Time. Montreal police confirmed that there is an "ongoing police operation" at the intersection where Ubisoft Montreal sits, adding, "We ask people to avoid the area. The SPVM is currently validating information and more details will follow." [...] When asked about the reports, an Ubisoft representative offered the following statement to Ars Technica: "We are aware of the situation and working with local authorities." Updated at 22:41, November 13: Police said no threat had yet been found, and CBC News reported that the incident had been caused by a hoax 911 call.
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Ubisoft Montreal Staffers Barricade on Roof Amid Possible Hostage Situation [Updated] More

Ubisoft Montreal Staffers Barricade on Roof Amid Possible Hostage Situation [Updated]

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  • Not smart (Score:5, Funny)

    by TimothyHollins ( 4720957 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @03:26PM (#60721004)

    I would think twice about taking hostages at the Rainbow Six headquarters.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by The Rizz ( 1319 )

      Also, some guy dressed as a monk is going to to keep peeking around corners and whistling at them ... it will not go well when they go to see why.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Montreal police confirm hoax triggered major police operation at Mile End Ubisoft offices :

      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada... [www.cbc.ca]

  • No worries (Score:5, Funny)

    by mobby_6kl ( 668092 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @03:28PM (#60721006)

    They can always get to safety by jumping down onto a hay bale

  • Sounds like a normal gaming company to me (Score:5, Funny)

    by layabout ( 1576461 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @03:39PM (#60721042)
    Isn't holding employees hostage normal game industry management practice when approaching a deadline?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cas2000 ( 148703 )

      This right is reserved for management. It's a serious crime when third parties misuse company property.

  • Covid (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jmccue ( 834797 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @03:42PM (#60721056) Homepage
    One would think people working for a Game Developer would all be working from home due to Covid. But I hope things end well for them.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Most of us are; the number of people actually at the office isn't even a quarter of the normal occupancy. (25% is the maximum allowed by law right now, and hardly anyone I know is actually going into the office on a regular basis)

    • Re:Covid (Score:4, Interesting)

      by clawsoon ( 748629 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @04:34PM (#60721206)
      I work in the computer animation industry, and we've already got a couple of teams back at the office. Two of the biggest problems with work-from-home that we've experienced are a) nobody has accurate monitors at home, so colour approvals for design and rendering are a roll of the dice, and b) transferring multi-layer lossless image sequences to and from your home computer is very slow, even if you've got a decent Internet connection. Solutions like Teradici have been okay for some artists, but trying to animate efficiently with even a little bit of delay can be maddening.
      • Couldn't #1 be solved by mailing a colorimeter around?

        When everyone though this was a 2 week deal I can see not bothering with that expense, but by now it seems like it makes sense.

        • Or buying the employees accurate monitors. The South Park guys did that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

          Our company (regular computer touchers) just lets you take your monitor home if you need it. I just finally gave up and bought my own 144hz monitor.

        • Not if the monitor is incapable of outputting the correct color in the first place.
          I.e the entire consumer segment that isn't OLED. A calibration tool isn't going to fix shit if there is nothing to you can calibrate.

          • Nope, the art team needs to have calibrated monitors. It's not bad for the programmers either.

            It doesn't matter what the consumer has. Everything they watch is done to the proper spec and they've adjusted their TV/monitor to their preference. If you follow the spec people are happy because the games look good to them. If you fuck up the calibration at the studio you get slammed in the reviews for the game looking like crap.

            I ran the calibration effort a long time ago at a game studio and I calibrated a

            • I have a cheap colorimeter, an Eye-One Display LT. I checked my TV and... it was spot on. Sadly, my flea market scored ex medical 120% gamma LCD died some time ago, but we still have the TV (Which has 100% gamma and didn't need any calibration — it's an Aquos, I guess that actually meant something.) It's been fun testing various other displays, the worst color reproduction I got compared to spec was with an old dual scan LCD at something like 60%.

              Most decent quality LCDs are damned near 100% gamma onc

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by darkain ( 749283 )

          Those only go so far to make things "suck less" - expensive monitors are expensive for a reason.

          What those color calibrators do is essentially adjust the LUT on the GPU so the monitor produces EVEN tones, not ACCURATE tones.

          And now the mix is even more complicated with HDR workflows, as that means more bits per pixel, and things like momentary flashes and hotspots are represented differently.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      One would think people working for a Game Developer would all be working from home due to Covid. But I hope things end well for them.

      Most can, but there will always be those than can't, like artists and those needing to do mocap as well as those needing to use the devkits since most devkits disallow home usage.

      Nut if you're just coding straight up and compiling on the PC, it's probably fine.

    • Nope.

      I had to get special dispensation from the CEO of our company and from Sony to have a PS3 devkit at home.

      These chuckleheads are paranoid someone will steal one for hacking on.

      I suppose if all you work on is PC games then it won't be a problem.

  • "15h46 | La possible prise d’otage chez Ubisoft qui a déclenché une opération majeure à Montréal s’avère être un canular, indiquent nos sources." Translation: It is a false alarm for the lulz.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Looce ( 1062620 )

      Full translation:

      "15:46 (Eastern time): The alleged hostage situation at Ubisoft, which launched a major police operation in Montreal, turns out to have been a hoax, our sources say.

      The investigation team is currently working on finding the one(s) responsible for the call. Many employees locked down in the building, for the most part hidden in conference rooms, did not know it was a false alarm."

      Source: TVA Nouvelles (fr) [tvanouvelles.ca]

    • Tant pis, c'est dommage.

      I was rooting for whoever finally got Falling Down-level fed up with Ubisoft.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by msauve ( 701917 )
      And the summary was "Updated at 22:41, November 13.

      Presumably, that was UTC, but that wasn't stated, and lacking a specific timezone, one must assume the local one. /. "editors" fail again.

  • Why? I mean seriously, why?

    The lack of any kind of comprehensible motivation makes me question if it's actually not a publicity stunt that LCN got accidentally duped into reporting as genuine.

    I mean, my sincere sympathies go out to the people who are impacted by this if it is genuine, but I simply do not see what the heck could have even motivated this.

    • Just a few days ago, on Halloween night, a mentaly deranged guy in disguise and armed with a katana sword murdered two people and seriously injured five other on the streets of Quebec city. Understandably, poilice in Quebec have been on edge since then. In this context, nobody in the province, or the entire country for that matter, would have pulled a publicity stunt like that. Not if they valued their life anyway.

      This wasn't a publicity stunt. This was a deliberate act of malice.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mark-t ( 151149 )

        I don't like to sound insensitive, but random acts of violence without motivation occur all the time.

        But taking of hostages? I'd expect that requires more coordination and planning than what you'd ordinarily see in a random murder spree.

  • Word from a friend who works there suggests it's an overblown hoax. It's a wide lockdown area since the police need to clear everywhere nearby. But the police images with machine guns are super rare in Canada. Rainbox Six game anyone?

    • Re:Hoax (Score:4, Interesting)

      by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @04:11PM (#60721142)
      Sound plausible. There is a new Rainbow Six game that's being released for the new conoles a few weeks from now so if they were doing some kind of marketing involving people dressed up as terrorists and a swat team, I could see how someone who wasn't aware of that could easily freak the hell out and start a panic.

      • New title: "Rainbow Six LARP session causes cahos in Ubisoft's Montral offices"

      • being released for the new conoles

        Leave the gun, take the conoles.
        - Ubisoft hostage taker

      • A colleague's wife was in that area when it started and got involved in a multiple-car pileup-up. There's some people that are wounded. Just read in the news that it's indeed confirmed by law enforcement that it was a hoax. Well, I hope the a--hole(s) (is there a better word? Rhetorical question...) who pulled it off get prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

  • SWATted (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    It's starting to look more and more likely that we were SWATted. I haven't heard any reports of anyone being hurt or taken hostage, or anything like that. We'll see when this is all done, though.

  • It is apparently a hoax (Score:4, Informative)

    by dskoll ( 99328 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @04:34PM (#60721208) Homepage
    According to TVA [tvanouvelles.ca] it's a hoax. "15h46 | La possible prise d’otage chez Ubisoft qui a déclenché une opération majeure à Montréal s’avère être un canular, indiquent nos sources." ==> "3:46pm The possible hostage taking at Ubisoft that kicked of a major operation in Montreal turns out to have been a hoax, say our sources."
  • For not having enough/ too many POC.... in AC Valhalla. some upset wanker.

  • I am a bad person (Score:3)

    by stevenm86 ( 780116 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @04:36PM (#60721226)
    They will be fine, so long as they have a continuous internet connection to the police headquarters.

  • Disgruntled employee ... (Score:3)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Friday November 13, 2020 @06:01PM (#60721494)

    ... holds workers hostage with a magic sword. Montreal police HRT are currently trying to locate a spell to counteract it.

  • If there was ever any place to torture and drug people until they snap...

    Sadly, the criminals will once again survive. And the hostage takers may too.
    Hostage taking is the dumbest crime ever anyway. What do you expect for the second you let the hostage go? Are you planning on holding that hostage forever? Like a pet? On a leash?

  • It's all in the subject.

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