Star Trek, dancing and motorcycle chaos: Ubisoft at E3

It's always worth catching the French publisher's E3 show - and this year virtual reality, snow sports and motorcycle stunt shooting added to the mix

Amid the slick hyperbole and dead-eyed "we're excited to announce" monotony of the E3 press conference weekend, Ubisoft events always stick out. Whatever the games are like, there will surely be something to amaze, bedazzle or bemuse - whether that's a disastrous laser quest enactment or E3's first passing of the Bechdel Test. This year it was a bizarre opening performance of Just Dance 17 featuring pandas and giraffes dancing to Queen's Don't Stop Me know. This would absolutely not happen at an Electronic Arts event.

But there were certainly moments that stood out for the right reasons. Star Trek: The Bridge from Ubisoft's Red Storm studio is essentially a virtual reality take on the brilliant multiplayer mobile game Space Team, set aboard a federation starship named USS Aegis. Up to four players take different positions on a VR representation of the bridge and have to work together to beat a series of missions. While the captain has overall control, a tactical expert navigates the combat options while the navigator steers. Apparently, there's a single-player mode, but the fun is going to be playing online with similarly nerdy friends shouting "make it so" repeatedly until you're kicked off the server. It's out this autumn for Vive, Rift, and PlayStation VR.