With Tom Clancy's The Division and Rainbow Six: Siege release date set for 2015, pre-order sales have begun at participating retailers. These include Walmart, Target, Amazon, and GameStop. Neither The Division nor Siege has gotten exact release date confirmation at this time.

Happily though, more details have begun emerging thanks to trailers and leak information. In the sections below, we will explore what we know so far.

Rainbow Six: Siege Customization Options

The premise of Rainbow Six: Siege revolves around a fictional United Nations counterterrorist unit codenamed Rainbow.

Ubisoft recently released a trailer featuring operators from Her Majesty's elite Special Air Service (SAS). The video footage shows a team of four British commandos storming an aircraft. One was armed with the British Army-standard Enfield L85 rifle.  

Siege features 20 operators from five counterterrorist units including Germany's GSG9, Russia's Spetsnaz, Britain's SAS, America's FBI/SWAT, and France's GIGN. Each operator has their own unique uniform and personality. Only 10 of the 20 operators have been revealed in the latest Rainbow: Six Siege pre-alpha. They include the SAS's Sledge, who wields a shotgun and sledgehammer for breaching.

The game follows a system where player selects an operator, who will afterwards not be available to other players. This theoretically encourages player cooperation in a match. Gamers also have the option to play either as counterterrorist operatives or terrorists. It is not clear if the terrorist role will include the same customization options as operatives.

Based on an earlier Ubisoft trailer, style of gameplay revolves around assault and defense. In the assault role, players can breach walls and rappel down rooftops. For defense, there is the option to set up metal barricades and booby-traps.  

Regarding visuals, the pre-alpha release has shown a noticeable drop in the graphic quality since the title's first gameplay demo at E3 2014. This may be a disappointed to gamers who were expecting more out of Ubisoft. Still, it is too early to say whether poorer graphics will be a part of the final release version in Rainbow Six: Siege.

The Division Public Alpha May Surface Anytime Soon

Ubisoft may be preparing to unleash a public Alpha, according IGN. Their information came from a Reddit poster claiming to have found an Alpha section within The Division's website. A screenshot was posted, though its authenticity remains unclear.

Even so, many gaming observers believe that an Alpha will be released prior to launch. The Division already represents a significant investment to Ubisoft, considering that the game's release date was pushed back by about a year.

The Division's story revolves around secretive government operatives attempting to restore order three weeks after a global pandemic plunged the United States into chaos. Prior to the event, the agents had lived anonymously within the general populace - waiting to be activated in times of emergency.

Unlike previous Tom Clancy's titles, The Division will put more emphasis on gameplay over story. It will be interesting to see how this will pan out when the game is released later this year.