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When he reviewed Assassin's Creed II, Justin assured, "If you were burned by the first Assassin's Creed and are worried about getting bored by the sequel, I understand your skepticism, but trust me: it's misplaced." Did I trust him? Of course not.

I slogged through the first Assassin's Creed until the bitter end. And boy was I bitter. The tiny sliver of hope I held for the game -- for the franchise -- had been buried by disappointment, and then ultimately by disinterest. Assassin's Creed was dead to me.

Imagine my surprise, then, when hope was unearthed -- nay, resurrected! -- in an experience this callous critic can only describe as a miracle. Actually, scratch that. Assassin's Creed II is not miraculous, but rather it's the result of meticulous design. It's big-budget development at its finest, its most daring, in an era when sequels seek not to challenge their predecessors but to clone them.

Sure, Assassin's Creed II borrows heavily from the first game, but it builds up that core experience -- and then leaps from the edge! Short of Grand Theft Auto III's revolutionary move away from GTA2's simple top-down perspective, there hasn't been a sandbox-style sequel that has trumped its precursor as soundly as Assassin's Creed II defies the original. If taking the empty shell of a game that was the first Assassin's Creed and bringing it to life (with customization, coordination and character) is the cake, then let us not forget the icing.

What seals Assassin's Creed II as one of 2009's very best for me is the game's unlikely side task of becoming a pseudo-historian. This brilliant addition is really two-fold: the hands-on exploration of Renaissance Italy and the puzzling mystery of a massive holy conspiracy-war. That, since playing Assassin's Creed II, I've started several conversations by suggesting, "Did you know, in Italy, back in the day they ...," is a testament to the design team's engaging recreation -- from scalable architecture to someday-priceless works of art -- of a vibrant historical place and period, which the developers have padded with colorful, encyclopedic entries built into the gameplay. While not certifiable "edutainment," Assassin's Creed II is the start of a blueprint for how we might one day learn history.

Of course, sewn into the fabric of Assassin's Creed II's Renaissance Italy is a fictional thread of intrigue. Pieced together through a series of brain twisters, which are an abrupt, yet wonderful departure from the dashing and dueling, and sneaking and stabbing, the franchise's mystery is no longer an idea hovering over the game world, but one woven within it. Assassin's Creed II is an extraordinary achievement of playable narrative and, really, you must play it.

Update: We've added the full video after the break. Enjoy!

When the folks at The Duo Group aren't busy making short films, animations, or advertisements for various entertainment companies, they make ... short films and animations just for the fun of it. Case in point, the recent Assassin's Creed fan film "Initiation," which provides a prologue piece on Altair joining the assassin's guild.

Though the whole 10-minute shebang is set to be released sometime today, we can only provide the teaser still above and a preview after the break for the time being. We did, however, watch the entirety of "Initiation" this morning, and can assure you it'll be worth your time when it does finally arrive later today.

[Thanks, Graham C.]

Yes, forthcoming DLC packs, "The Battle of Forli" and "Bonfire of the Vanities," were originally intended to be included in the main Assassin's Creed II story. But, as the game's creative director Patrice Désilets told Kotaku, "I felt that, 'Okay, there were too many things to do and to finish.' So we said, 'Ok, let's take a portion of the game that was planned and we'll give it in DLC.'"

The candid Désilets went on to point out, "I think we gave them so much content that they cannot say that we owe them, that we didn't give them a lot for their 60 bucks." So, don't think of the missing chapters as something torn from your disc of Assassin's Creed II that you paid good money for. Think of it as dead content that's getting a rebirth thanks to the wonders of DLC.

The chatter surrounding the multiplayer aspect of Splinter Cell: Conviction began late last month, culminating in yesterday's release of the co-op teaser trailer on Xbox Live. Well, I can one-up the trailer. I've actually played the mode.

Everything you may have heard is true: The main co-op mode (either online or local / split-screen play, with a human partner or A.I.) is a prequel to the events of the game and doesn't star series staple Sam Fisher. Instead, the estimated 5- to 6-hour campaign focuses on two wetworks operatives -- one American, one Russian -- who must work together to recover stolen nuclear warheads before they're sold on the black market.

The game will also feature co-op play in what are being called "deniable ops" -- more conventional intrusion missions and the like -- as well as a player-vs-player-vs-CPU "duel" mode. What I played was part of the the prequel campaign: an admittedly brief but eye-opening mission set in Moscow's fortified metro system. You can watch a walkthrough video of the section I played above. Read on after the break for my thoughts.

A new trailer for Splinter Cell Conviction has landed on Xbox Live, giving us the first official reveal of the rumored co-op mode. The game will feature an entire co-op campaign, which will serve as a prequel to the single-player story of Sam Fisher taking on his old organization, Third Echelon. The co-op campaign stars two special agents, an American Third Echelon agent named Archer and a Russian Voron agent named Kestrel. From what we can glean from the trailer, the two agents are paired up to stop a "rogue element within the Russian military" who has acquired "advanced warheads" to sell on the black market.

They do this by sneaking, killing hapless guards and blowing things up. In short, it looks like a lot of fun. Download the trailer yourself -- using the handy link below -- and expect some fresh impressions of the game right here on Joystiq very, very soon.

Shortcut: Add the Splinter Cell Conviction co-op trailer to your 360 download queue [Via Xbox.com]

Much like the comical co-host of The Tonight Show with Conan O' Brien, we were infuriated by Hugh Jackman's victory in the "Best Male Voice Actor" category during last week's Video Game Awards ceremony. That Vector Monkey was destined to land in the hands of Andy Richter, who, you may or may not know, provided the voice of Assassin's Creed 2's titular killer, Ezio Auditore de Firenze a Lamborghini et Manicotti Formaggio.

You can view Richter's outburst, as well as a bit of his work in the game, in the Tonight Show clip posted on the show's official site.

We know that we've approached that proximity to Christmas where you feel bad buying things for yourself, but Amazon's got a pretty enticing offer running today. For just $39.78, the online retailer will let your grab a copy of Assassin's Creed 2 for the 360 or PS3. Yeah, it's probably money you should be spending on presents for your stupid family -- but once they see Ezio's first double-blade assassination, we're sure they'll understand.

But wait, there's more! Today's Gold Box offers are all for games on the PS3 platform. You can find a full list of the clues for each of these time-released sales after the jump. The next clue, which goes live at 12 EST, references "an electrifying adventure in Empire City," so we're guessing that a discount for Hannah Montana: The Movie: The Game is right around the corner. What? Her concerts are freaking electrifying.

We've got another two months to go before the release of Splinter Cell Conviction. That's plenty of time, it would seem, for Ubisoft to tease us relentlessly with more information and gameplay snippets, as evidenced by the latest trailer. It's filled with a mess of information for returning Splinter Cell fans, and capped off by the realization that, "For the first time, you'll feel what it's like to be one of those NPCs hunted by a Splinter Cell." And yes, that prospect looks just as terrifying as it sounds.

As you might imagine, it's kind of hard to believe the words coming out of someone's mouth when a gold wrestling championship belt is gleaming in our eyes, which is why we're not sure what to believe coming from the mysterious "Adam" regarding a possible Splinter Cell Conviction demo coming this January. Seen with the Hip-Hop Gamer in a video after the break, Adam -- a gentleman who Ubisoft wouldn't confirm to us is an actual employee -- seemingly announces the existence of an upcoming Conviction demo.

When asked by the eccentric interviewer about the possibility, Adam responds, "It's coming out in January, and then the actual game: February 23rd." We asked Ubisoft for verification of Adam's words, and were told by a rep, "I cannot confirm a demo at this time." So, anyone know Adam?

Though Assassin's Creed 2 has been enjoying near-universal praise from critics, apparently some folks have taken umbrage with the game's intro as it pertains to Ezio before he becomes a calculated killing machine. When VG247 recently asked the game's writer, Corey May, how he felt about that complaint, he told them that "it was necessary to spend time with Ezio as a carefree adolescent."

While he admitted that the development team could have "refined the sequence so that it either moved faster or provided the player with more action-oriented activities," he remained steadfast that "it needed to be more than a token five minutes." May said the developers will try to "sharpen" the experience next time around, but even if the execution may have been perceived by some as less than perfect, "the idea of the beginning of the game" is what mattered most to him.

We're behind you, Mr. May. Stabbing dudes sure is a ton of fun, but a little bit of context goes a long way.

Now that Assassin's Creed II has been out amongst the crowds, slinking its way into millions of consoles, gamers are stumbling upon some of its secrets. While you may be stuck tracking down those last few feathers, others are discovering ancient beasts and, according to CVG, game-breaking glitches.

Some gamers apparently found themselves stuck controlling Desmond in the Hideout after DNA Sequence 11, a direct result of shutting off their system after the game autosaved. When they later booted the game back up, they were unable to return to the Animus and continue Ezio's 15th century adventure. CVG didn't comment on whether this was affecting Xbox 360 or PS3 gamers, or both.

We've contacted Ubisoft to see if this is the first it's heard of the issue and also urge you to contact us if you've encountered it.

Update: Ubisoft has acknowledged the "SQ11" glitch. Posting on the company's message boards, community developer "Atmon" confirmed that Ubisoft is aware of the issue and is "glad to say that it will be solved through our upcoming patch," but did not suggest a release date for said patch. In a separate thread, Atmon continued to dance around the issue of a release date for the patch, explaining that upcoming server maintenance is unrelated to fixing the glitch.

Ubisoft has announced -- rather cryptically -- that Assassin's Creed 2 will receive two batches of downloadable content over the coming months. The first, entitled "Battle for Forli," will launch in January, 2010, followed by "Bonfire of the Vanities" in February. You're advised to have either a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 (fairly important components for playing the base game, we might add), along with at least 1GB of free space for each download.

Ubisoft has promised to divulge more information later this month. If we were to don our speculation hats in the meantime -- if only to cover up our Robert Langdon hair -- we'd say that "Battle of Forli" will continue the story of Caterina Sforza, who made a brief and undignified cameo in the game as a boat tutorial. The second DLC, "Bonfire of the Vanities," will likely concern the mass burning of sinful objects in Florence. Remind us to toss some of those evil feathers on the bonfire.

As if you needed another reason to love Assassin's Creed II, the video just below the break shows that it also contains our very favorite kind of squid: a secret squid. Apparently, staring into a pool in the last chamber of the Santa Maria Delle Visitazione for just under a minute will net you a visit from the sizable cephalopod you see in the image above.

Just as a warning, the video has a couple of instances of profanity. Why you'd want to sully such a beautiful moment is, frankly, beyond us.

[Thanks, Sean!]

Kevin Shortt, master wordsmith at Ubisoft Montreal, has allegedly confirmed to Official PlayStation Magazine UK (via CVG) that Far Cry 3 is in development at the Canadian super-studio. Most of you know that we had no problem heaping copious amounts of praise upon Far Cry 2, one of our Top 10 games of 2008, so a third installment is most certainly welcome in these parts. Sadly, Shortt didn't say whether Ubisoft has decided to go with Africa again for the setting, but offered that what he's seen of the game looks "pretty exciting."

So ... that's pretty exciting, right?

A recent Ubisoft press release has revealed that the company is just so darn proud of its latest bundle of joy, Assassin's Creed II. According to the publisher's own internal estimates, the game has sold 1.6 million units worldwide in its first week of availability -- a 32 percent increase over the launch week sales of Assassin's Creed the First. The company also touted the game's impressive critical reception, highlighting the game's 94 percent user rating on Gamespot and an average critic's rating of 91 percent on GameRankings.com.

We're glad to hear Assassin's Creed II is doing so well despite being the follow-up to a fairly polarizing blockbuster. Also, here's a cool Digital Foundry time-lapse video showing off the game's day and night cycles. Yeah, we know that has nothing to do with what we were just talking about. Deal with it. We drop non sequiturs like Ezio Auditore drops corrupt, 15th century Italian noblemen.