Assassin's Creed Sequel Learns to Swim
by Chris Faylor Oct 13, 2008 4:31pm CST tags: Assassins Creed
Work on the sequel to last year's open-world old-time murder simulator Assassin's Creed is still progressing at developer Ubistoft Montreal, according to a new interview with the studio's Prince of Persia animation director David Wilkinson.
After praising the efforts of animator Alex Drouin, Wilkinson told AusGamers (http://www.ausgamers.com/videos/view.php/39388) that Drouin is "busy making [Assassin's Creed lead] Altair even more beautiful, adding that the last time he saw Dourin's work he "was getting Altair to swim."
The original Assassin's Creed (PC, PS3, 360) broke sales records for publisher Ubisoft, and a sequel was confirmed by the Associated Press last December.
In June, Ubisoft North American president Laurent Detoc informed Forbes that there would be no new Assassin's Creed in 2008, but noted that "when we bring [the franchise] back, there will be more anticipation for it."
No other details on the Assassin's Creed sequel are available, though Ubisoft Montreal's latest Prince of Persia (PC, PS3, 360) effort will hit retailers on December 2. Thanks to Joystiq for the tip.
Did you guys actually like this game? I was late to the party, and I was somewhat disappointed.
He's obviously talking about the first game.
Ive read a bunch about AC since I've played it. One of the more interesting things is how the "GPS" and map weren't added until much later in development. While you can't get rid of the map (you can just not open it), you can turn the GPS off. This supposedly changes how repetitive the game feels.
With the GPS on, each "investigation" was simply go to a waypoint and do whatever it is they told you to do. Without it, finding the area to go was its own reward. You had to listen to what people said, you had to use the clues given to you, and you had to search out everything yourself. I noticed all this detailed info and clues to finding the missions in the menus...and it seemed odd to have all that since it really was as easy as following the waypoint. You never had to even look at that stuff.
Anyway, I think the next time I play AC I'm going to turn that off and see how it feels. Even though I've played through the game already, I doubt Im going to remember where everything is.
I pretty much ignored the flags. If I was running around and saw one I would collect it, but there was no way to realistically collect them all, so why bother? Its not like you got anything for doing so.I just treated them as checkpoints since the game autosaves as soon as you pick one up. The only ones I actually sought after were the ones in Masyaf (only 25 I think).
Yeah, that could be utterly amazing. That would be a fantastic setting. I don't know how well it would fit with all the ninja shit, but still.I can see it working with the architecture, just as it did with the original, but I also see potential for catacombs and underpasses. They might even touch the pastoral French countryside. It's a pretty broad setting at least until we get a sense of what direction they'll take with it.
If it will exist beyond what a 10 year old can dream up...Unless that 10 year old is some sort of ninja-genius!
I picked up Assassin's Creed at Game Crazy yesterday for 9.99. It was one of their black friday deals. They also had The Darkness for 5 bucks. Did they make like 8 million more copies of that game than they should have?
Man. The Darkness was so bloody awesome. That game doesn't deserve to be five bucks. That's a steal. Actually, ten bucks is a pretty great deal for AC, too.
The official Assassin's Creed web site gives us a brief taste of the second entry in the series and clues us in on when we can expect concrete details on Assassin's Creed 2—next Thursday.
The teaser consists of little more than a short Flash animation, rendered in a hand drawn style noticeably similar to that of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions—focusing on the concealed blade Altair used in the original—and his Vitruvian Man. The final drawing hints at some sort of winged contraption that may indicate we'll be doing some flying (or at least some floating/humming of the Batman theme song) in the sequel.
The teaser also notes that we'll see more in the upcoming issue of Game Informer, with the date April 16, 2009 presumably indicating when the games mag is allowed to lift the veil on Ubisoft's sequel.
Given the Italian pedigree of the teaser, we'd think those rumored details of Assassin's Creed 2 taking place in Venice are sounding more and more likely. We're sure to know by next Thursday. Keep an eye peeled!
According to Game Informer, Assassin's Creed 2's main hero is Ezio Auditore de Firenze, a nobleman of Florence from 1476. Ezio is yet another genetic predecessor of Desmond's.
Ezio will be able to swim and will have access to a gliding machine at DaVinci's workshop. The game will also feature more varied missions than the original Assassin's Creed.
Ezio is yet another genetic predecessor of Desmond's.
For some reason when I look at that, I picture Vega dressing up as Altair for Halloween or something.Haha yeah I think it's the frilly shirt and the get-up that gives a very colonial Spanish feel. I like the leather cloak.
Assassin's Creed 2 is Gonna Be Expensive
May 27, 2009 at 6:56 PM - Robert "Apache" Howarth - 8 Comments
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reckons that Assassin's Creed 2 is going to cost about 20% more to make:
"During the year, we... continued to aggressively build the long-term potential of the company," said Guillemot. "We increased our investments by 84 million [euros], we hired 1300 new developers; we acquired five studios and created four."
Guillemot said these efforts serve a four-pronged growth plan: "First, adapt our strategy toward bigger games with higher quality -- for example, the second Assassin's Creed will cost around 20 percent more than the first one, and be a much bigger game," he promised.
They'll be fine. They're just going to farm all the fucking work out to China anyway.Oh GOD no! I hope they don't get Ubi Shanghai on this! They have completely buggered every title they've touched!! Most notably: Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow and Double Agent.
Oh, they will. All the companies are doing it now, and with a title this huge with this many people touching it, you can rest assured that work is getting farmed to China.Fuck fuck FUCK!! ASS!! SHIT!! FUCK!!!!
In other news, D is moving to Canada.
GPW, he will be living with you for a few days till he finds a job.
Download code spotted in 360 copies of Assassin's. Assassin's Creed II looks to come with a demo download code for Splinter Cell Conviction
The 2 DLC packs detailed (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177335)
First one in January at $3.99, second one in February at $4.99. Each will be 1GB, so it appears to have quite a bit of content.
Multiplayer could be cool, especially if they are smart about letting players blend in. It could be like that mod I posted ages ago. Assassins have targets, but drawing your sword/killing someone causes the crowd to panic and give you away.
Having epic rooftop chases would be so fun.
As I mentioned earlier AC2 is definitely not as polished. The game has more bugs. On my playthrough, the game froze about 3-4 times for me... I got stuck in the Animus load screen indefinitely as well (the level wouldn't load). But those are minor issues compared to this gamebreaking issue mentioned in the link. Hopefully they fix it soon. Luckily, I did not encounter it.
Minimum Configuration:Requirements dont seem bad, but what the fuck is with $60 on PC now? And then the special digital only version with extra content? I hate that shit.
SUPPORTED OS: Windows XP (32-64 bits) /Windows Vista (32-64 bits)/Windows 7 (32-64 bits)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHZ or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GHZ
RAM: 1.5 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista - Windows 7
Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 9.0-compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (see supported list)
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0-compliant sound card
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0
DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive
Hard Drive Space: 8 GB
Peripherals Supported: Keyboard, mouse, optional controller
* This product does not support Windows 98/ME/2000/NT
Recommended Configuration:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ or better
Video Card: GeForce 8800 GT or ATI Radeon HD 4700 or better
Sound: 5.1 sound card
Peripherals: Keyboard, mouse, joystick optional (Xbox 360 Controller for Windows recommended)
Supported Video Cards at Time of Release:
ATI RADEON X1950, HD 2000/3000/4000/5000 series
NVIDIA GeForce 7/8/9/100/200 series
Price:
Standard: Main game + Extra sequences Battle of Forli & Bonfire of the Vanities: $59.99 [Retail and Digital]
Black Edition: Main game + Extra sequences Battle of Forli & Bonfire of the Vanities + additional content: $64.99 [Digital Only]
I wouldn't be surprised if more and more PC games start off at $60. Consoles have been doing it for a while now. Developers probably already feel like they're making less money off the PC versions just from lower sales (many have expressed as much and blamed it on piracy), so charging $10 less is another hit to how much they're making off that version.
I mean obviously I'd rather buy a game for $50 than $60, but I'm sort of surprised PC games haven't been pushed to the $60 mark already.
PC games tend to drop in price fast enough that it wont bother me much. I rarely pay full price anyway.Same here.
The problem I see is $60 will turn a lot of people off, lowering the sales made in the first few weeks/month, which the publishers will take as "PC gaming is dying!"Not only that, they'll blame "piracy", too. :P
Its lose-lose.
Launch Trailer for 'The Battle of Forli' DLC (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/battle-of-assassins-creed/61216)
It should be out in the next 12 hours or so.
The second piece of DLC, 'Bonfire of the Vanities' is scheduled for February 25.
This one will include 3 'exclusive missions,' aka. Templar Tombs (Palazzo Medici, Santa Maria Del Frari and Arsenal Shipyard). Keep in mind that two of the listed three are from the collector's edition of the game, so this DLC will unlock those two for the general public. I believe the last one, 'Arsenal Shipyard' is completely brand new.
I can't bring myself to support this company right now. I'll wait until the game drops below $20, at least.
Assassin's Creed II's most unusual attribute, however, is displayed in big letters on the front of the box: "A permanent Internet connection is required to play the game." This requirement wouldn't be so peculiar if it were an online-only multiplayer game, but Assassin's Creed II is a single-player, story-driven adventure. Whenever you play the game, you must sign into an online portal; if you aren't connected to the Internet, you cannot start the game, and if you lose your connection, the game will pause. Even your saved games are stored online, which is a boon if you plan on playing on multiple computers, but seems like an otherwise unreasonable mandate. This is a bold approach to digital rights management--and one that could unnecessarily hinder your enjoyment. If a storm knocks out your Internet connection, you're out of luck; if you want to play games on your laptop during an upcoming airplane journey, cross Assassin's Creed II off the list of possibilities.
And even if you maintain a solid connection, you might run into a few problems. Twice we had the game shut down while it was saving, and we ran into short but noticeable delays multiple times while the game attempted to load our profile and download our progress. Other times, our attempted login timed out, or the launcher incorrectly informed us that we had used the wrong username or password. These issues hindered our playtime for hours, and sporadically affected European players for days.
Assassin's Creed II is a fun and beautiful game that gives you the freedom to explore while still offering a focused adventure steeped in atmosphere. It's also an expensive one, retailing at $60, a full $10 more than most PC games sell for at launch. The two additional missions offered as downloads to console owners don't seem reason enough to justify the extra cost--not for a single-player game that has value only if you can connect to the Internet, and only if Ubisoft's servers are working. Yet if these factors don't affect you (and that's a big "if"), you'll probably fall in love with Ezio's escapades. Assassin's Creed II is a picturesque and jubilant romp that will keep you glued to your monitor, marveling at the details that make its historical world such a delight to inhabit.
The PC version was released months after the game came out on consoles, and much has already been said about the digital rights management issues that have affected the experience since its release. The DRM measures require users to maintain an internet connection while playing Assassin's Creed II in any mode. If you lack a constant, reliable connection, you might want to give this game a pass, even though it's a single player experience.
Ubisoft's DRM servers also went down directly after launch, restricting access to new gamers. However our recent experience with the game remained uninterrupted. We did purposefully cut off our internet connection to confirm that the game will pause until a new connection could be established. It does. While disconnected, we were also unable to access the "bonus content" from the game's main menu due to an inability to reach Ubisoft's servers.
Wait, I am pretty sure they removed the ME DRM?I'm pretty sure they haven't. They did something where if you get it off Steam you just have Steam do deal with, but that's it.
Oh shit, ME has one of those revoke schemes doesn't it? Both times I played through I just uninstalled after. Well....the good news is I'll probably never install it again.You can reinstall it on the same exact PC w/ the exact hardware as much as you like - it should NOT ask for an activation. And you should NOT lost an install.
Yeah, but there are only 20 glyphs and you get to unlock a video when you get them!
Getting all 100 feathers will unlock the Auditore family cape, which will make instantly notorious in every region. Notoriety drops to its previous level when you remove it though.
I wanna find all the glyphs but I wish there was a way to know which regions still have active glyphs for me to find. I have 8 left and I can't figure out which regions they're in; aside from manually visiting every single region of each city and spotting the little red eye icon in the pop-up.
I wanna find all the glyphs but I wish there was a way to know which regions still have active glyphs for me to find. I have 8 left and I can't figure out which regions they're in; aside from manually visiting every single region of each city and spotting the little red eye icon in the pop-up.
Or if they at least put the names of the locations on the map. In the Locations section of the Database you see the red eye icon over any locations that you haven't uncovered the glyphs, but it only tells you the name of the structure with no indication of where it is on the map. Sometimes it's a monumental structure like "Palazzo Ducale" which I only knew because of the plot relation (it's the biggest building in Venice) but then you have other stuff that I cannot recall based on my ventures in the game world.
Yeah, see that right there is my problem. I think they should be a map item.