In the first of a series of developer diaries for Assassin's Creed 2, Ubisoft Montreal team members delve into the backstory of Ezio -- the game's newest assassin. Originally from a family of wealth and opportunity, Ezio is pushed into a vengeful quest when his family is threatened by people they once called friends. Set against the backdrop of a 15th Century Italy, Ezio continues the original title's story of exploring the bloodline of Desmond -- a man in the modern world forced to jump into the bloodied shoes of his ancestors through the use of a machine known as the Animus.

We're walking into Assassin's Creed 2 with a lot of questions (namely, will it stay fresh between assassinations?), but we're excited to find out the answers. Sadly, we may have to wait much longer than we anticipated for some of our queries to be addressed.

In this week's Famitsu, three major Japanese developers discussed this year's E3 and how they feel about the various motion technology displayed. Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51, Q Entertainment's Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Level-5's Akihiro Hino all somewhat agree on what they see as the future of gaming. "Hardware-wise, it was all about Project Natal," Mr. Suda said, as translated by 1UP, noting his excitement on the possibility of creating a game specifically based around its technology.

"It's not a shift from 2D to 3D or in the number of polygons, but it's games trying to open up an entirely new door," Mizuguchi agreed, continuing, "I thought it would take longer, but it's happening faster than I expected." Ironically, when the trio chose the most exciting games at E3, the list quickly filled with Western-developed games, from Splinter Cell: Conviction and Assassin's Creed 2 to The Beatles: Rock Band. Could they resist the ubiquitous Final Fantasy name drop? No, no they could not. "The visual quality was so impressive that I doubted it was even a game," Hino said of AC2, adding, "Final Fantasy XIII is the same way." Impressed/interested by the motion technology but still loving AAA-franchise sequels? Sounds like the whole game industry right now.

GameStop is giving away the Palazzo Medici with a pre-order of Assassin's Creed 2. The bonus location for the stealth game is available with the purchase of either the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. Both online and in-store customers will receive the code when the title releases.

The Palazzo Medici Ricardi is, like, a totally famous place and stuff. So, exploring it in the game for treasure is far more liberating and cheaper than flying to Florence and checking out the real thing. We also believe that, in the real building, they won't let you climb up the walls and sneak around.

E3 was brütal! If you blinked, for a split/second, you missed something. Even if you were trine to keep up, it was a blur -- staying a.wake like that, you only pushed yourself to the brink of your own dark void. That's where Joystiq comes in; to crackdown on the madness; to reach out ... with conviction -- phew! Crysis averted.

We've scoured the dark corners and survived the inferno to piece together this roundup of all things Xbox at E3. Why? Just 'cause we love you. So, draw nier and shift your eyes past the break.

Yesterday, we told you about the fancy Assassin's Creed 2 bundle that was confirmed for Europe. With all the details given about that bundle, one critical piece of information was missing: when it's coming out. Well, now you diorama builders know how long you have to craft the perfect backdrop for that Ezio figurine (compared above with the official art of Ezio in a different costume) -- and also when you'll be able to play the game.

Ubisoft told Eurogamer that Assassin's Creed 2, in both regular and "Black Edition," will be released on November 20 in Europe, just three days after the North American launch date. Unfortunately for American shelves, Ubisoft still has yet to confirm the "Black Edition" for North America -- but it seems likely that American fans will be given the opportunity to spend more money as well.

Update: We spoke with Ubisoft's Michael Beadle who confirmed that Europe is receiving the limited edition listed below. When pried about a release in North America, he could only say "The U.S. has not announced any details about a Limited Edition of Assassin's Creed II."

Fans of Ubisoft's upcoming Assassin's Creed 2 will be able to show just how much they love the game by spending beaucoup bucks, as Kotaku reports the game is getting a rather extensive limited edition. The bundle -- which has been dubbed "the black edition" -- will include not only the game, but also a "holographic signature," 64-page leather-style book (not for recording your creeds, as it'll be filled with concept art and the like), game soundtrack, Ezio figurine, three in-game bonus quests, and some interviews.

It's only been listed in PAL regions so far, with a price of £69.99 in the UK ($115 USD) and $149.95 in Australia ($121 USD), supposedly. We've put in word to Ubisoft to confirm this, and even though a North American limited edition hasn't been announced, It's likely we'll see a similar package. We'll be sure to let you know what we find out.

Assassin's Creed 2 is Patrice Désilets' first sequel. If there's any anxiety or fatigue squirming inside of him, it's well hidden by an infectious enthusiasm and candor. Speaking with us during E3 2009 in Ubisoft's den (and thus, din), the creative director frankly discussed several issues with us, including one which you may have heard about, over and over again:

Joystiq: Do you mind if I go back to Assassin's Creed 1 for just a bit?

Patrice Désilets: Yeah, yeah, no problem.

So, that game comes out. You're reading the reviews and people are complaining about repetition.

Yeah.

What do you feel at this point? Do you agree with them?

Repetition for me is a point of view, really. Like, what is repetitive or not? You know, sometimes you go and play the same game over and over again and you are all right with the repetitiveness of it. And in AC1 some people just couldn't bear it. We listened to them while we were making the second one, but, I wasn't nervous or mad. What I was a little disappointed with was some reviewers, how they treated us. They have the right to their opinions and everything, but I felt like they maybe went too fast. But you know what? I also received [opinions that were] the other way around. People being really happy about the game. Doing it two, three, four, five times.

Sure.

And we sold some eight million copies of it, you know.

Eight million people can't be wrong?

"I'm telling you. At the end of AC2 you'll say‚ 'Holy crap, I never saw it coming.'"

That's according to Assassin's Creed II creative director, Patrice Désilets. In addition to saying "Holy crap," you should also prepare yourself to exclaim, "But what happens next?!" Désilets noted that his first Ubisoft sequel will answer plenty of questions -- but not all of them.

"There will be a cliffhanger," he admitted. "It's cool to have a cliffhanger." The director feels that players need to experience just a little bit of frustration at the game's completion, though a new way to replay completed missions should counter at least some of that. Oh, and remember that glowing writing on the wall?

"It has nothing to do with Assassin's Creed II, what's written on the wall has to do with the Assassin's Creed universe, not the second one."

Aural assassination accompaniment news now, with the first confirmation that composer Jesper Kyd will be returning to score Ubisoft's upcoming foray into ye olde stealthe, Assassin's Creed II. Speaking to producer Sebastian Puel, we established that the first title's musical talent would tailor a new soundtrack for Ezio's Venician killing spree.

We also spotted Jesper Kyd at the Ubisoft E3 booth. After assuring him that Puel had already spilled the beans, Kyd noted that he was still in the process of composing the music, ahead of the game's November 17th release. We can't wait to hear it! Oh, and play it, obviously.

Completionists looking forward to strapping themselves in Da Vinci's flying machine in Assassin's Creed II will need to pick up the game's PSP version as well. Speaking during Sony's E3 2009 press gathering, Ubisoft revealed that the upcoming sequel will feature unlockable weapons, which players will only be able to unsheathe by connecting the game to the series' upcoming PSP debut this holiday. Animus compatibility, however, is still a ways off, so we're told.

Hey, what is this? Something interesting out of the Ubisoft keynote? After several days of Ubisoft press conference, the company hit us with some Assassin's Creed 2 news and footage.

In addition to the crazy announcement that Assassin's Creed 2's Ezio has beaten pretty much the whole world to the invention of the gun, Ubisoft announced that the game will be out on November 17. ...Seriously, if you've got advanced weaponry like that in the 1400's, you could probably make a very tidy living as an inventor. Why all the running around and killing people?

Ubisoft has just revealed a web-based service called Uplay, set to come out by the end of the year, that will enable people playing their games to connect up and share media, make purchases, and download game information, all through a standardized cross-game interface. It will premiere in their games later this year and will hope to accomplish Ubisoft's stated goal of "confluence": connecting developers with players and gamers with each other completely inside of the game menus themselves.

We're skeptical, but they haven't pulled back the curtain on what exactly it will offer Ubisoft fans yet. But we'll find out by the holidays, as the first games to support Uplay will be Splinter Cell: Conviction, Avatar, and Assassin's Creed 2.

Ubisoft seems to have developed two new areas of expertise over the past few months -- accidentally leaking videos to the gaming press, and developing 10 to 15 second teasers for their highly anticipated titles. Today, we get an excellent example of both of these new habits in action -- the massive French publisher recently leaked two 10 second clips from Assassin's Creed II and Splinter Cell Conviction onto their FTP site. Watchful fans grabbed the vids and threw them on YouTube. We've got 'em posted after the jump.

Our observations are as brief as the clips themselves. First, Assassin's Creed II protagonist Ezio is made entirely out of springs, as evidenced by his survival following a spectacular dive. Second, Sam Fisher no longer looks like an emo hobo. Maybe -- just maybe -- he's an emo hobo in disguise, walking amongst the world's non-transients, hiding his penchant for My Chemical Romance and malt liquor behind his clean shaven face. We're on to you, Fisher.

Update: It appears as though a "copyright claim by Ubisoft" has rendered the videos after the break moot. Sorry, folks, looks like we'll all be waiting 'til E3 this week for more on these titles.

We mentioned this earlier, but we thought you might like some more details. So, odds are we won't be seeing you at E3 (you'd recognize us by our rugged good looks and sun-bronzed skin), but that doesn't mean you have to miss out on the feeling of being there. When you're not reading our own earth-shattering, up-to-the-minute coverage, Ubisoft is apparently going to be streaming its content directly to you.

As we saw here in a teaser vid for the coverage, it looks like we'll all be laying eyes on Splinter Cell: Conviction, Assassin's Creed 2, No More Heroes 2 and RUSE. Oh AND JOEL McHALE.

We still have no idea why it's taken Sam Fisher so long to return to us, but at least now we have a better idea of when he'll be back. Ubisoft narrowed the release date for Splinter Cell: Conviction to Q3 of this fiscal year (between November 2009 and December 2009) in a conference call this morning.

We also got narrower release windows for games like Assassin's Creed 2 (Q3), Red Steel 2 (Q3) and Ghost Recon 4 (Q4). You can check out the full list right here.