Watch Dogs trailer is all about the hackers

Remember when hackers were fun? You know, in fictional and completely unrealistic films like Hackers. It was all neon clothes, industrial clubs, 3D operating systems, and people unironically calling themselves The Plague. Good, wholesome '90s fun. Watch Dogs isn't like that. Their hackers are angry, as you'll see from this latest trailer. They issue proclamations, and fight the corrupt abuse of national surveillance. They've probably never worn spandex in their lives.

Ubisoft must be loving the recent NSA and GCHQ surveillance revelations. Here they're basically saying "see, we told you so!" Just remember that Watch Dogs is a game about a man who plays with traffic lights through his magic phone. It's just as silly as Hackers. Hopefully it'll also be just as much fun.

If we're really lucky, the tie-in film, which was announced last night at the Sony Gamescom press conference, will also be fun. Details are thin on that project, although according to Ubisoft Motion Pictures CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet, the deal, "creates exceptional opportunities for us to merge the realms of the story-based cinematic experience with the interaction of the video game." Answers on a postcard if you can translate that into English.

Watch Dogs, the game version, is due out November 22nd.

No hacking skills are required to get at our complete Gamescom coverage. Just this link .

TOPICS

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.