The Ubisoft press conference just started, and after showing of Children of Eden, They showed off a fancy CG trailer for Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, dating the game for November 16th, 2010.
After that they showed us some of the gameplay, new features include improved horseback riding, turret-sequences with cannons and stealing then keeping enemies’ weapons, to later be able to throw them, in addition to the previously announced multiplayer part.
This week’s European PlayStation Store update is a pretty generous helping, and includes an additional chapter for Assassin’s Creed 2, and new skins for the Uncharted 2 multiplayer, amongst your usual helpings of LittleBigPlanet, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band offerings.
Enjoy!
PS3 PlayStation Store
Downloadable Games
Thexder Neo (£6.29/€7.99)
Trial and Unlock Key
Polar Panic (trial free, unlock key £7.99/€9.99)
Demos (free)
Add-On Game Content
Assassin’s Creed II – Sequence 12: Battle of Forli (£3.19/€3.99)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – PlayStation Heroes Skin Pack (£3.99/€4.99)
PAIN – Hilde Gunnagrope Pack (£0.79/€0.99)
LittleBigPlanet – Groundhog Day Costume (free)
Can’t get enough of Assassin’s Creed 2? Then you’re in luck, because Ezio will be returning in another game by March 2011, and this one will feature multiplayer to boot.
A Ubisoft rep, has gone on record stating to CVG that “The game will take place with the same hero, which is Ezio, and will follow-up the story that took place in Assassin’s Creed II.”
It will be a full priced product, and will see release in the fiscal year ending March 2011. This should be worth keeping an eye on.
A recent announcement of Assassin’s Creed DLC was followed today with the release of further details from Ubisoft. The two pieces of DLC are called Bonfire of the Vanities, and The Battle of Forli.
The Battle of Forli will be released in january for $3.99 and features Machiavelli and Caterina Sforza fighting alongside Ezio to defend against the Orsi brothers. The DLC consists of six new missions, one in which Leonardo’s flying machine will be used once again.
Bonfure of the Vanities releases in late February for $4.99. Bonfire opens up an area of Florence previously roped off in the main game, and covers the historical events surrounding the monk Savonarola. Ezio will be assassinating members of Savonarola’s cadre throughout ten new missions, and will be given a new spring-jump move.
According to 1Up both pieces of DLC will take up a full gigabyte of space, which makes the prices pretty low.
I think more people need to read ESRB ratings, because those things are pure comedy gold, in my opinion.
Their recent rating for Assassin’s Creed 2 details the game’s more sexual moments and mentions acts like a seduction mini-game, candles being blown out and partially discernible breasts and buttocks. Give it a read, because it’s absolutely hilarious.
What usually comes with every big game launch? New clothes for your Xbox 360 Avatar!
According to a Tweet by Major Nelson, there’s a whole bunch of AC2 Avatar clothing available on Xbox Live. A lot of it is clothes from the game like masks and robes, but you can also get t-shirts and caps with the Assassin’s Creed 2 logo.
Pretty much the same sorts of clothes are available for your PS Home avatar as well. Enjoy!
Game’s out next week
We ofte hear about situations were publishers are accused of trying to recieve favorable reviews for their new games. The latest to face these accusations is Ubisoft, pointed out by German magazine Computer Bild Spiele for demanding a high schore for Assassin’s Creed 2.
“Our reviews are tough, but fair. We will not give up our independent scores for the sake of a timely review,” explains the magazine in its latest issue. “This holds true for Assassin’s Creed 2. The publisher asked us to guarantee the score ‘sehr gut,’ otherwise we would not receive a review copy, thus we will publish our review in next month’s issue. We’d be more than glad to give the game a ’sehr gut’, but only if it deserves it.”
My German is lackluster at best, but I do believe “Sehr Gut” means “that’s good”, or simply “good”. Anyway, it’s basically an A-grade, meaning Ubisoft was only willing to give away a copy of the game in exchange for a positive review. Personally I’m hoping this isn’t true, because a company like Ubisoft really doesn’t need to resort to these kinds of tactics. Shame on them if it’s true.
Another game joined the virtual sex bandwagon today, when it was revealed that sex will be a part of Assassin’s Creed 2. AC2 will be joining Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Heavy Rain and Alpha Protocol on the list of games coming out soon with erotic scenes as part of the experience.
“Ezio is a womanizer,” says game director Benoit Lambert. “There’s a bit of sex. I can’t say more.”
We have been asking for the tackling of more mature subject matter in games, and with violence, betrayal and death being done with every other release, it seems sex is the final thing to go.
Just as long as we don’t have to act it out through quick time events.
Some new details on Assassin’s Creed 2 have emerged and to me it only makes the game sound even more awesome.
In an interview with the latest Edge Magazine, AC2 Creative director Patrice Desliets says AC2 is adressing one of the originals biggest flaws; variety.
Assassins’ one major flaw was the fact that we revealed the entire game structure early on and never changed it,” Desilets told Edge. “After one hour you knew there are nine targets, and those nine targets will be divided into nine districts. We never broke that pattern. This time we said no. This is Ezio, and Ezio has a life and needs a link from one mission to the next.”
Beware, there be spoilers for the first hour or so of the game after the cut. You have been warned.
The Twitter feed for Assassin’s Creed 2 is offering up a delicious image of what we can expect to see in the Collector’s Edition of Assassin’s Creed 2.
From what we can see it all looks fairly similar to the deal we got with Assassin’s Creed 1. The complete set comes with the game (obviously), an art book and a statue of the protagonist. I’d love to see a Penny Arcade comic as well, but no such luck.
Pre-order the Collector’s Edition from GameStop and you’ll receive two exclusive in-game maps, the Palazzo Medici (Florence) and the Santa Maria dei Frari (Venice).
The full game is set to be released on November 17 in North America and November 20 in PAL regions.
Assassin’s Creed on the PSP will be a fully fledged 3D title with a new story, bridging the gap between the original game and Assassin’s Creed 2.
And considering this is running on a PSP, it looks pretty damn impressive when compared to the PS3 / 360 games of the same name.
Take a look for yourself.
Miss the Ubisoft E3 2009 conference? Never fear, we have a recording of the Microsoft conference below as well, for you to watch, courtesy of GameSpot.
Highlights included… oh come on, It’s Ubisoft! Do you even need to ask?
A word of warning for the Beyond Good and Evil fans though, you’ll be disappointed if you were hoping to see something from the game at this year’s event. Sorry to break your hearts…
It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from an Assassin’s Creed 2 trailer, to be honest, and there’s no gameplay footage, but it still looks really sweet!
Enjoy!
A teaser site for Assassin’s Creed 2 recently popped up on the internet, showing off schematics for a flying contraption and hidden blades on each arm.
The artistic style of the teaser trailer placed the game’s timeline someplace during Leonardo Da Vinci’s lifetime. And it seems some of the rumours were true, at least according to Game Informer and ScrewAttack.
