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GDC: Designing Assassin's Creed 2 (or: Dodging a curveball from upper management)

Though Uncharted 2 may have snatched away most of the Game of the Year trophies, Assassin's Creed 2 stands out as another of 2009's most acclaimed and successful titles. Lead game designer Patrick Plourde candidly discussed Ubisoft Montreal's development process at one of the final panels during this year's Game Developers Conference and gave some surprising insight into what happens when a project's scope is altered in the midst of development.

From the outset, Assassin's Creed 2 took aim at the commercial success of the first game, as well as its vocal group of detractors. "I'm not gonna lie about it," Plourde said, "some people liked it, some people despised it. That's the way it is."

The way things would be took a surprise turn in the middle of 2008, months after the game had begun development in earnest. As Plourde puts it, a "curveball from upper management" requested a change in the game's scope. Ordinarily, ambitious plans may get trimmed down as a launch date draws near, but Ubisoft had decided to increase the number of features dramatically.

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Ubisoft confirms demo for Splinter Cell Conviction

In a video answering fan questions, Splinter Cell Conviction Creative Director Maxime Béland revealed the existence of a demo for the highly anticipated sneaking-guy game. "Yes, there will be one. I can't tell you what map or when it's going to be released yet. My lips are sealed." Warning us in advance of the demo's release date would run counter to the whole 'stealth' theme, we suppose.

We first heard of a demo for Conviction from an Ubi employee known only as "Adam," and before that had only a guess that there would be one based on the common-sense fact that it's a really popular game. Splinter Cell: Conviction is currently due for release April 13.

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Hands-on: Splinter Cell: Conviction

The last time we were in control of Sam Fisher -- aka the X10 demo -- he was sneaking, shooting and (neck) snapping his way through a mansion in Malta, tracking down the man he believed had information about his daughter Sarah's killer. Recently, I played through a new section of Splinter Cell: Conviction, which picked up right where the previous demo abruptly ended -- with a a team of Third Echelon forces breaking up Sam's one-man operation.

Forced to surrender, Sam's put on a plane and "brought home" for questioning about a plot to bring down Washington, DC with an EMP attack. Handling the transport is Black Arrow, a private military contractor, and it's this outfit's private airbase that serves as the setting for the game's second level. It presented me with new challenges, specifically staying out of site in some really wide-open spaces. I was reminded of Metal Gear Solid more than once, what with patrolling guards, stacked crates and roaming flood lights to negotiate.

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Ubisoft DRM authentification server is down, Assassin's Creed 2 unplayable

Earlier today, our tips inbox and the official Assassin's Creed 2 forum were set ablaze by incensed owners of the PC version of the aforementioned Italian revenge epic. According to numerous reports from prospective players of the game, Ubisoft's DRM authentification servers have crashed, forcing some players to suffer lengthy login periods when booting up Assassin's Creed 2, and locking some folks out of the game entirely.

A Ubisoft representative responded to a particularly rage-filled forum thread, stating "clearly the extended downtime and lengthy login issues are unacceptable, particularly as I've been told these servers are constantly monitored." The representative added "I'll do what I can to get more information on what the issue is here first thing tomorrow and push for a resolution and assurance this won't happen in the future." We've got a really great suggestion for how to make such an assurance: Find a less abominable DRM policy.

[Thanks, Marc!]

Michael Ironside: Splinter Cell: Conviction's story is 'more human'

Michael Ironside is like one of those dudes you respect so much, he could show up at your house, eat the last of your Nilla Wafers, break your Solid Snake figurine collection while tracking mud all over the house and you'd still love him afterward. He's got unlimited clout and his job as the voice of Sam Fisher, protagonist in Splinter Cell: Conviction, is just one of the many respectable bullet points the man has on his resume.

In that vein, we thought it appropriate to point out the brief video interview with Mr. Ironside above, which discusses coming back to the character for the fifth time and how this time around, the dialogue was "emotionally richer" than what he's used to. Frankly, we don't buy that. We were a mess when Lt. Rasczak bought the farm in Starship Troopers -- a performance that was about as emotionally rich as they come.

Splinter Cell: Conviction Xbox 360 bundle coming this April


click for more top-secret images
As was foretold, Microsoft has announced a special Splinter Cell: Conviction Xbox 360 bundle set to arrive this April in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The bundle will retail for $399 and will include two controllers, a standard edition copy of Splinter Cell: Conviction and a 250GB hard drive. We should remind readers that, unlike the one offered in the Final Fantasy XIII bundle, the second controller will actually be useful in Splinter Cell: Conviction, thanks to its split-screen co-op modes.

Check out hi-res images of the bundle in the gallery below.

Splinter Cell: Conviction videos feature co-operative espionage


If you were hoping to infiltrate this post about Splinter Cell Conviction and find anything short of three trailers, then prepare to be totally satisfied. Ubisoft's established a correspondence with Joystiq, deploying three fresh new videos from April's Badass: The Game -- and like that totally accurate and brief description, these videos will bash your face against a mirror and leave you bleeding for dead on a men's room floor. OK, not really, but we're painting a picture, so work with us here. A picture with words.

Above, you'll find a brief overview of how the co-op game fits into the story and the four additional gameplay modes, but you'll need to sneak on past the break for the next two pieces of intel: one video is a closer look at Deniable Ops, while the other documents Persistent Elite Creation, the special series of challenges within the single-player and multiplayer framework. Basically, it's a fancy way of saying "unlockable junk for your stuff."

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Assassin's Creed 2 is only $36 at Walmart right now

Talk may be cheap, but so is murdering people in 15th century Italy -- for now. Walmart is selling Assassin's Creed 2 at a discounted price of $36, both online and in-store. For some reason, the PC version of the game is still full price, but maybe that's not such a bad thing.

As for other titles on sale, it would appear this reduction in price is isolated only to Assassin's Creed 2.

[Thanks, Luis]

Assassin's Creed 2 'Bonfire of the Vanities' DLC comes Feb. 18

High-res armpits are only a click away!

The second of two promised Assassin's Creed 2 DLC add-ons is set to release on February 18 on Xbox Live and PSN, a recent Ubisoft press release reads. On top of a release date, Ubisoft has offered two new screens and some details on Bonfire of the Vanities (AKA Sequence 13), which will be comprised of ten memories following Ezio's attempt to aid Machiavelli in freeing Florence from the influence of one Savonarola. It's up to Ezio to target key citizens under Savonarola's control and attempt to win them over through diplomatic discourse, including meetings over tea and the occasional quilt party. Oh, wait -- sorry, we had that wrong. He kills them. All.

The chapters of the lost memory sequence take Ezio to several of Florence's well-known locales, such as the Palazzo Medici, Santa Maria dei Frari and -- wait, the Arsenal Shipyard? What, did you run out of awesome Italian names, Ubisoft?

X10: Splinter Cell: Conviction hands-on

There you are, old Sam Fisher, minding your own business at some unknown cafe when the waiter brings you a cell phone and Bluetooth earpiece, compliments of the caller. It's Grim, it's Third Echelon, and it's the end of his vacation. Some thugs have managed to upset his vacation -- now we know why he's always carrying 12 rounds and a pistol.

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We've exfiltrated these new Splinter Cell: Conviction screens from X10


click to interrogate higher-resolution screens

Thanks to a hush-hush covert op, we've extracted a handful of new Splinter Cell: Conviction screenshots to whet your appetite. Oh, okay. They were just given to us during the X10 event in San Fransisco -- but we can dream, can't we?

With Splinter Cell: Conviction (finally) hitting stores this April, these images only serve to anger us at the game's numerous delays. Also, these images are so crisp, we're not even sure they are real. If they are, someone needs to do something about that that horrific green couch (above). That is so last year.

Assassin's Creed 2 ships 8 million, next game returns to Rome

Speaking in an investor call, following the release of Ubisoft's fiscal third-quarter financial results, company CEO Yves Guillemot made it abundantly clear as to why another Assassin's Creed will unsheathe its stabby things before April 2011. According to Guillemot, Assassin's Creed 2, which launched in November 2009 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, has shipped 8 million copies. The original Assassin's Creed had sold just as many by June 2009 -- roughly 18 months after its debut.

Although details regarding the new Assassin's Creed -- set to star Ezio and some online friends -- remain slim, Guillemot wasn't mum on milieu: "This time, [Ezio] will strike directly against the templar's order in Rome." Can this Rome be built in a year, just in time for Holiday 2010?

Splinter Cell: Conviction April 13 release date 'set in stone'

[Image Source: IGN]
Word around the campfire is that Splinter Cell: Conviction has a release date. No, for real this time. Those other two times were just to test your resolve. According to IGN, Ubisoft has announced Sam Fisher's latest adventure will hit the Xbox 360 and PC on April 13, 2010. Poking fun at itself, Ubisoft evidently delivered a rock with the new date etched on one side to the site. Get it? The date is set in stone! Oh, those crazy French-Canadians!

If you're asking yourself, "Where's Joystiq's rock?," the answer is simple: Had Ubisoft delivered one to us, we'd use it to break the windows at the Ubisoft Montreal offices for making us wait this long for Badass: The Game. This way is just safer.

Review: Assassin's Creed 2: Battle of Forli (DLC)


Initially scrapped from the main game due to time constraints, Battle of Forli seems like an acceptable casualty in Ubisoft's war to complete Assassin's Creed 2. Considering the grandeur of Ezio's quest, it's easy to see why this man got left behind -- or woman, rather.

In a significant upgrade from her brief role as glorified gondola tutorial, Caterina Sforza assumes the role of leader and custodian of Forli, the drab, melancholy settlement that acted as a rest stop on the way to Venice in Assassin's Creed 2. Ezio's unacknowledged meddling with 15th-century history proves to be the biggest draw of this DLC subplot, even though most of his participation involves putting sharp things through soft spots.

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Assassin's Creed 2 for PC arriving in Europe on March 4

Assassin's Creed 2 on PC will apparently land at European retailers (both digital and brick-and-mortar, presumably with both hidden blades extended) on March 4, an Ubisoft rep has told Joystiq. Like the North American iteration, AC2 on PC will have the "Battle for Forli" and "Bonfire of the Vanities" DLC packs included in the "Director's Cut" version of the game. You've got about two months to get started on building that dream PC you've always wanted to handle the game's specs -- we suggest you get crackin' immediately.

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