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Here's what you're Gameflying this holiday season

by David Hinkle { Nov 12th 2009 at 2:00AM }

While it may initially seem the only game releasing this holiday season is something called Modern Warfare 2, some titles -- like Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II and Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii -- actually have the guts to stand up against the most important game of all time ever seriously. Game rental service Gamefly recently gathered data on which titles its users are actually looking forward to this holiday season, offering the info in one convenient list.

For the all platforms list, the three titles mentioned are unsurprisingly present and joined by other popular recent releases like Batman: Arkham Asylum and Halo 3: ODST. On the home console side of things, the Xbox 360 and PS3's most popular title is obviously Modern Warfare 2, while the Wii's big hit is, also expectedly, New Super Mario Bros. Wii. For handhelds, gamers are ticking Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and Dissidia: Final Fantasy for rental on the DS and PSP, respectively.

Overall, the list is fairly unsurprising, though we guess one could argue that it's surprising all of these people want to rent Modern Warfare 2 and haven't already purchased it.

Assassin's Creed 2's final dev diary takes us into Ezio's villa

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 10th 2009 at 1:00AM }

Like so many fancy Italian citizens in the Renaissance, Assassin's Creed 2's Ezio Auditore di Firenze has a sweet villa in the country to run off to whenever he's feeling overburdened by his ... ahem ... work. In this latest (and final) developer diary for next week's big game, we are introduced to the quaint villa where Ezio holds a vacation house. A perfect place to store weapons, explore family relics, and think about the world – a place where he can improve the economy to his own benefit and make life easier for himself.

We picture the villa as a fully realized (and mid-1400s-styled) version of GTAIV's many save houses, but, ya know, with assassin stuff instead of gangster stuff. But then again, being an assassin is pretty gangster. Uh oh, this is way too confusing – we'll have to get back to you after Assassin's Creed 2 comes out next week.

Gallery: Assassin's Creed 2

Assassin's Creed: Renaissance sneaks onto book shelves Nov. 26

by David Hinkle { Nov 9th 2009 at 6:01PM }

Tied into next week's Assassin's Creed II, Ubisoft is looking to expand Ezio Auditore da Firenze's 15th-Century Italian playground through a new book titled Assassin's Creed: Renaissance. Written by Oliver Bowden and set to be published by Penguin books on November 26, the novel will follow the formative years of Ezio and -- along with the Lineage short films -- build upon the game's universe, the Guardian reports.

If you're looking for a sneak peek before the book clambers, dives and stabs its way to retail, the Guardian has put up a fairly long bit of prose from the upcoming tie-in. It deals with Ezio's mother and some paintings she commissioned from a rather famous painter. There's possible spoilers involved, so click over at your own risk.

Source - Book announcement
Source - A lengthy excerpt from the book

Assassin's Creed 2's Ezio is a really popular guy

by Ben Gilbert { Nov 5th 2009 at 2:31AM }

We can just see Ezio now, dashing from one social circle to the next like a débutante on her coming out party. And how could we picture anything else after watching the latest developer diary for Assassin's Creed 2, where the game's main character is depicted as a card-carrying socialite.

So what if one of those groups happens to be full of vicious mercenaries? They'll help him learn how to fight! And sure, another group might be made up of "courtesans" (see: ladies of the night), but they'll teach him all about sneaking! And another group is full of ... well ... you get the gist, right? The game's handful of factions will assist Ezio as he murders his way through Renaissance Europe.

One final thing: even if you don't care about each group, make sure you stick around for the surprise treat nestled after the end splash screen. You'll thank us.

Gallery: Assassin's Creed 2

Ubisoft reports first-half sales drop, deems Q4 most important quarter in company history

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Nov 4th 2009 at 3:45PM }

Ubisoft has reported financial results for the first half of its fiscal year, ending September 30, 2009. Coming in at €166 million ($246 million), this year's sales represent a drop of 52% when compared to the first two fiscal quarters of the previous year. Second-quarter sales totaled €83 million ($123 million) -- a drop of 53.1%, though one that Ubisoft states falls within previously issued guidance.

Standout titles released during the period include the Western-themed first-person shooter, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (which has shipped 'close to 900,000 units'), reptilian brawler Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up and, "in certain countries," the Pelé-powered Academy of Champions.

Ubisoft points to its fiscal third quarter -- that's October to December on your official Secretive Hunks of Third Echelon Calendar -- as "the most important quarter in Ubisoft's history." Sales are expected to reach €540 million ($801 million) during the period, thanks to Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, Rabbids Go Home and Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage. Ubisoft's also counting on several new casual and self-improvement games for the Wii and DS, which we imagine will help the financialz quite a bit.

Assassin's Creed 2 pre-orders up 10 to 20% over original

by Randy Nelson { Nov 3rd 2009 at 2:00AM }

Judging by one analyst's estimation, Assassin's Creed 2 is set to escape from store shelves faster than its protagonist can outrun his pursuers. According to Mike Hickey of Janco Partners, pre-orders for the game are running 10 to 20 percent more than those of the original Assassin's Creed, which, as the firm pointed out to Gamasutra, greatly exceeded its initial sales forecast of 3 million units. (It sold 8 million.)

In other words, it looks like Ubisoft's going to make a killing off an assassin.

Ubisoft not planning to release Assassin's Creed 2 demo

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 1st 2009 at 7:30PM }

Much like that other highly anticipated Q4 blockbuster, it seems Assassin's Creed 2 won't receive a pre-launch playable preview. According to Connected Consoles, a Ubisoft representative recently confirmed at the Eurogamer Expo that the company has no plans for a demo. We've contacted Ubisoft to try and corroborate this report, and to see if the company has a good reason for not putting out a sneak preview of the title. You know, a reason better than "you guys already know what stabbing people is like."

[Via Kotaku]

Gallery: Assassin's Creed 2

First Assassin's Creed: Lineage episode is surprisingly great

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 27th 2009 at 10:27AM }

We weren't surprised when the first of three episodes in the Assassin's Creed: Lineage miniseries, created by Hybride Studios, exceeded our expectations. These folks did the effects for 300 and Sin City -- so of course we knew it would look great. Our surprise simply came from the fact that Lineage is a promotional, game-based short film; and nearly all of the words in that phrase seem contrary to high quality. Share in our surprise by watching the first Lineage installment after the jump.

If you'd like a bit of behind-the-scenes info into how the film was created, check out this GamesIndustry.biz interview with Ubisoft UK marketing director Murray Pannel. He does a good job of clearly explaining the game and movie industry synergy -- you know, what James Cameron alluded to during his fateful, four-week-long E3 2009 speech.

Continued →

Rumor: Assassin's Creed 2 Achievements and Trophies surface discreetly

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 25th 2009 at 11:30AM }

Once again, we've bitten the bullet of plotline spoilification for you lot, and measured the believability of two recently released lists of Achievements and Trophies for Assassin's Creed 2. Our initial impression is that they seem legit -- but they also contain references to a number of plot points and gameplay mechanics you may want to remain in the dark about until you get behind the wheel of Ezio Auditore Da Firenze.

Check out the rumored list of Achievements and Trophies after the jump. We'll contact Ubisoft to see if we can confirm their authenticity.

Read: Assassin's Creed 2 Achievements
Read: Assassin's Creed 2 Trophies

Continued →

Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed 2 is 'awesome' -- there's no room for bad games

by James Ransom-Wiley { Oct 23rd 2009 at 12:00AM }

Fittingly, there is only one big-name, multiplatform game comfortable in the shadow of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's release next month: Assassin's Creed 2. While it's not the only game willing to test its selling power against the potential "bestselling title of all time" -- Left 4 Dead 2 seems aptly titled; and New Super Mario Bros. Wii should collect coin on its platform -- Assassin's Creed 2 is easily November's second-most significant multi-console release.

When pressed for comment about AC2 going up against MW2 and the possibility of his game (ha!) surpassing Infinity Ward's shooter in sales, Yannis Mallat, CEO of AC2 developer Ubisoft Montreal, admitted to VideoGamer.com that he was not "pretentious" enough to predict a sales outcome, but added, "I can certainly say there is no room any more for average or bad games, but there is still a lot of room for awesome games, and that's what Assassin's Creed is."

Internally, Ubisoft has set its standards high -- two years ago, the first Assassin's Creed moved 2.5 million units in its first month at retail to become the fastest-selling new game IP in U.S. history. Of course, two years ago, Call of Duty 4 was claiming records of its own. Ubisoft would not dare pit AC2 against MW2 in an outright sales challenge, but, in embodying its franchise's ethos, with a little patience, Ubisoft will almost certainly enjoy successful sales of AC2 over the course of the holiday season. After all, who among us has ever been content to settle on just one awesome game when there are many to enjoy?

Kojima and Desilets trade praise over Assassin's Creed 2 and Peace Walker

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 22nd 2009 at 7:55PM }

Assassin's Creed 2 head Patrice Désilets and MGS: Peace Walker head Hideo Kojima had a war of compliments in the most recent issue of Famitsu. It seems that the two gentlemen have a bit of a game industry bromance going on, lauding the other's current project in a back and forth translated by 1UP. "I think there are three games that stand out above the rest of the pack in the remainder of this year. One is Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, one is Uncharted 2, and the third is Assassin's Creed II," said Kojima.

"If I had to give my impression of Peace Walker, I'd have to say that I want to play more," Désilets responded. "It was great fun; I can't wait for the retail version." Kojima expanded a bit on his appreciation for Désilets' "focus on game design" over style, and said that he's currently considering the possibility of them "maybe, kinda" going steady. Okay, we made up that last part.

Watch Ezio grow up in this Assassin's Creed 2 dev diary

by Randy Nelson { Oct 22nd 2009 at 5:30PM }

Ezio Auditore da Firenze (we hear saying that five times fast unlocks an Achievement / Trophy!) isn't going to be the same character at the end of Assassin's Creed 2's 30-year narrative as he is at its outset. Sure, he'll be the same person -- but, as various members of the game's development team point out in this latest video diary, his repertoire of moves and the weapons / gear available to him will evolve the way you play as the character.

Considerably more time, though, is spent pointing out how all of this will make the game less repetitive, clearly meant to reaffirm that, yes, Ubisoft Montreal is addressing one of the chief criticisms of the first game. But, wow, do they try their best to work this fact into the script. Watching the video, we half expected creative director Patrice Desilets to claim that Ezio will be able to groom his facial hair in various ways, thus adding more variety to the game. Kidding (or is it?) aside, the game is looking absolutely fab, and we can't wait to play through it in a variety of ways when it hits next month.

First Assassin's Creed: Lineage episode debuts Oct. 27

by David Hinkle { Oct 19th 2009 at 11:04AM }

It's hard out there for an assassin. It was hard for Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, anyway; father of Assassin's Creed II protagonist Ezio. As you can see in the teaser for Assassin's Creed: Lineage above, the dude had a lot on his plate -- and good thing he had a sharp knife, too, to handle all that meat carving. According to Ubisoft, you'll get to see how it went down when the first of three Lineage short films, introducing plot elements leading up to Assassin's Creed II, debuts on YouTube on October 27.

What we really want to know is: How did Giovanni manage to keep his whites so white? With all of that blood flying around, it must have been one helluva laundry day for the 15th century assassin.

Gallery: Assassin's Creed: Lineage (behind the scenes)

Assassin's Creed 2 producer sees franchise expanding beyond a trilogy, maybe into WWII

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 13th 2009 at 9:00PM }

When asked whether or not the Assassin's Creed series would be getting a third installment, Assassin's Creed 2 producer Sébastien Puel thinks the answer almost goes without saying. "I'm often asked if we're doing a third game after ACII... I mean, we could do 35 of these," he (hopefully) exaggerates to Xbox World 360 in the mag's latest issue (via CVG). When the game's creative director told us the second game would be ending with a cliffhanger, we didn't know he meant we'd have to play 35 games to resolve it -- that's approximately 35,000 assassinated fools, by our estimations.

Explaining his hyperbole further, Puel admits that a female assassin isn't out of the question, even confirming "We've had discussions on that very topic." Still, the Ubisoft producer doesn't want to switch the protagonist's gender without a good reason. "World War II, the economies in England and France were run by women because the men were off fighting ... we don't want to just decide we want to change and have a female hero, as the first inspiration is always the time period." To read the full interview in its original context, pick up the latest issue of Xbox World 360 (if you're in the UK, that is).

Gallery: Assassin's Creed 2

Witness the assassination of Emilio Barbario in Assassin's Creed 2

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 4th 2009 at 7:00PM }

Nothing strikes us as more appropriate subject matter for a trailer of Assassin's Creed 2 than a slow and calculated assassination. The subject in question for this particular video is Venetian "titan of industry" Emilio Barbario, a man whose assassination has been planned by the Venetian Thieves Guild for many years. Let's be honest though -- you're just looking to watch Ezio leap precariously around Venice and stab a bunch of dudes. It's fine! So were we!

And he does just that. From chimneys, from ledges, from rooftops and flower baskets -- the man knows how to drop fools in style. Peep the walkthrough above and marvel in the frustration that you won't be able to touch the game until November 17.