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Fassbender's Assassin's Creed character not necessarily Desmond
Today's news about the often spoken of but never seen Assassin's Creed film adaptation brought word that Prometheus star Michael Fassbender is playing the starring role (Fassbender's DMC Film is also being tapped for co-production). Between his leading man role and the film's description – "a man who learns his ancestors were trained assassins after he is kidnapped by a secret org with ties to the Knights Templar ... [is] sent back in time to retrieve historical artifacts" – it sounded to many like Fassbender would be taking up the role of Desmond Miles, franchise leading man. Not so fast, says Ubisoft."Fassbender will play the lead role, but it's too soon to say exactly which character that will be," a Ubi rep told us. Though all signs point to Fassbender playing Miles, the various media surrounding the Assassin's Creed franchise has shied away from focusing on the modern American assassin. Comic book series "The Fall" instead follows Daniel Cross, a Templar sleeper agent, through his family history in the Russian Revolution and beyond. Assassin's Creed: Lineage similarly focused on a backstory – Assassin's Creed 2 protagonist Ezio Auditore's father, Giovanni Auditore – rather than on Desmond."The storyline isn't bound by a certain era or even a set of characters," the Ubi rep added. "That kind of freedom gives us great flexibility in creating the movie." Which isn't to say that the film will be a Uwe Boll-esque takeoff on the game series. Like all things Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft is treading carefully so as not to anger longtime fans. "We're also taking the responsibility of maintaining fidelity with the overall story and brand very seriously," the rep said.There's no planned launch window for the Assassin's Creed film, but Ubisoft Motion Pictures is maintaining creative control over the whole process. Michael Fassbender's DMC Film is collaborating with UMP, but Ubi retains rights to who's directing and who's writing the script.
Assassin's Creed: Lineage propagates to DVD and Blu-Ray November 15
Want a copy of the Assassin's Creed: Lineage short film to keep for your very own? Amazon listings reveal that the 2009 release will be out on Blu-Ray and DVD on November 15. Not like Assassin's Creed fans have anything else to buy on that date.
Assassin's Creed: Lineage episodes 2 and 3 sneak into view [update]
Update: Ubisoft has turned off embedding on the videos, so we've taken them out of this post. To watch all three episodes, you'll need to hit up the official YouTube page. The first episode of Assassin's Creed: Lineage came as quite the surprise and the two chapters that conclude the backstory for Assassin's Creed II don't come any differently. There's more bloodshed, more plotting in the dark (the most sinister kind of plotting!) and a bit of our old elementary school pastime, note shuffling. It's like passing around a note, but nobody reads it and it's super secretive. Head past the break to check out the last two Assassin's Creed: Lineage shorts.
First Assassin's Creed: Lineage episode is surprisingly great
We weren't surprised when the first of three episodes in the Assassin's Creed: Lineage miniseries, created by Hybride Studios, exceeded our expectations. These folks did the effects for 300 and Sin City -- so of course we knew it would look great. Our surprise simply came from the fact that Lineage is a promotional, game-based short film; and nearly all of the words in that phrase seem contrary to high quality. Share in our surprise by watching the first Lineage installment after the jump. If you'd like a bit of behind-the-scenes info into how the film was created, check out this GamesIndustry.biz interview with Ubisoft UK marketing director Murray Pannel. He does a good job of clearly explaining the game and movie industry synergy -- you know, what James Cameron alluded to during his fateful, four-week-long E3 2009 speech.
First Assassin's Creed: Lineage episode debuts Oct. 27
It's hard out there for an assassin. It was hard for Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, anyway; father of Assassin's Creed II protagonist Ezio. As you can see in the teaser for Assassin's Creed: Lineage above, the dude had a lot on his plate -- and good thing he had a sharp knife, too, to handle all that meat carving. According to Ubisoft, you'll get to see how it went down when the first of three Lineage short films, introducing plot elements leading up to Assassin's Creed II, debuts on YouTube on October 27.What we really want to know is: How did Giovanni manage to keep his whites so white? With all of that blood flying around, it must have been one helluva laundry day for the 15th century assassin. %Gallery-75857%
See stills from Assassin's Creed 2: Lineage short film
We kinda lied to you in that headline -- how do you feel about just one still from the three, upcoming live-action Assasin's Creed short films? The LA Times got a shot from the in-production Assassin's Creed II: Lineage just before some of the developers working on AC2 (the game) sat down for a panel at this week's San Diego Comic-Con. Ubisoft said in the past that the upcoming PSP Assassin's Creed iteration, titled Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, would be the only "game" to tie together the story from the first one to its sequel. Clearly those words were chosen carefully, as these films are intended to "focus on the story of Ezio's father, Giovanni Auditore da Firenze" and delve into the history of "the Assassin's Creed 2 storyline and characters" when they release this winter. Us? We're just hoping someone will explain all that crazy writing on the walls from the first game. [Via Big Download]
