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Assassin's Creed bundles up its American saga for October
Ubisoft will bundle up three games in the Assassin's Creed series for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC for October. Dubbed Assassin's Creed: The Americas Collection in North America and Assassin's Creed Birth of a New World - The American Saga in Europe, the bundle combines three games that are set in the western world: Assassin's Creed 3, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed Liberation HD. The bundle will launch on October 3 in Europe and October 28 in North America. Two more games in the series will arrive just weeks later on November 11, as well. Assassin's Creed Rogue will arrive at that time for Xbox 360 and PS3 and Assassin's Creed Unity will launch for PS4, Xbox One and PC. The Americas Collection makes for a nice setup to Rogue, which Ubisoft said will bridge the gap between Assassin's Creed 3 and 4, explaining the game's lack of availability on next-gen consoles. Ubisoft did not provide a price for the bundle. [Image: Ubisoft]
Assassin's Creed series tops 73 million in sales
Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series reached a total of 73 million in sales according to the publisher's corporate website, which lists its "worldwide best-selling franchises." Assassin's Creed, which has featured six releases in the main series since its 2007 debut and eight additional games on browser and portable platforms, leads Ubisoft's second-best-selling property Just Dance (48 million) by 25 million units. Assassin's Creed will likely continue to sell by the millions given that the next game, Assassin's Creed: Unity, will arrive on PS4, Xbox One and PC this holiday season. Unity was just announced in March and takes place in Paris during the French Revolution of the 18th century, a setting that was vaguely foretold at the end of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The next three series in the publisher's top five in sales bear the late Tom Clancy's name: Splinter Cell (30 million), Rainbow Six (26 million) and Ghost Recon (25 million). Head past the break to see the rest of Ubisoft's sales list.
Assassin's Creed celebrates its heritage in new collection
There has been a whole mess of Assassin's Creed games leading up to this year's Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. In an attempt to catch players up on the battle between assassins and templars, Ubisoft is releasing the Assassin's Creed Heritage Collection in Europe. The Assassin's Creed Heritage Collection bundles together Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 2 (the Game of the Year edition which includes the Battle of Forli and Bonfire of the Vanities add-ons), Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed Revelations and Assassin's Creed 3. The Heritage Collection will launch in the UK on November 8, for Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PC. When asked whether this bundle would come to the US, Ubisoft reiterated that it was for Europe only.
PS Plus Europe gets Assassin's Creed 3, Jak & Daxter Trilogy, more today
Assassin's Creed 3 makes a graceful landing in Europe's PlayStation Plus haystack today, headlining September's round of Instant Game Collection entries for the subscription service. The latest entry in Ubisoft's super-selling historical adventure series is joined on continental PS3s by sneaky platformer Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark and the Jak & Daxter Collection, suffixed Trilogy in Europe and comprising The Precursor Legacy, Jak 2 and Jak 3. Two Vita freebies arrive today too: motorbike puzzle-platformer Urban Trial Freestyle and New Little King's Story, the portable follow-up to the Wii original and Joystiq Top 10 of 2009 entry. If you fancy a detour from the traditional silly season flurry of major new releases, this round is another solid offering from the subscription service. As summer inevitably becomes autumn, so does this round of games see some oldies leaf PS Plus. So long Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Ico & Shadow of the Colossus HD, Demon's Souls, Lego Lord of the Rings, and When Vikings Attack, and fare thee well.
Steam Summer Getaway sale: Football Manager 2013, DmC, System Shock 2
Another day, another round of deals in the Steam summer sale. Today's highlights include Football Manager 2013 for $10, DmC: Devil May Cry for $25, Alan Wake for $3, System Shock 2 for $2.50, Orcs Must Die 2 for $3.74, Sleeping Dogs for $6.24 and Mark of the Ninja for only $3.74. The daily flash deals – which rotate every eight hours – also have some choice discounts, ripe for the plucking. Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Serious Sam 3 are both only $4 apiece, while Scribblenauts Unlimited is $5 and Assassin's Creed 3 has been marked down to $24.
GameFly slashes FarCry 3, Trials Evolution PC prices in half
GameFly is conducting a sale on select Ubisoft PC game downloads, tied to coupon code GFDJUN20. Far Cry 3 is $20, Trials Evolution Gold Edition is $8 and Assassin's Creed 3 is under $11.
Ubisoft Quebec City taps François Pelland as executive director
Ubisoft Quebec City has announced the appointment of new executive director of development Francois Pelland, who was most recently senior producer on Assassin's Creed 3 at Ubisoft Montreal. Pelland will "ensure the leadership of the innovation and creativity hub of Ubisoft Quebec" while "successfully delivering the ambitious projects being developed at the studio." "I'm very proud to have accepted the position of Executive Director of Development at Ubisoft Quebec," says Pelland in the press release. "For me, it's a unique opportunity to be part of this rapidly growing studio and to provide my support for the studio's ambitious projects in the years to come." Pelland has over 16 years of experience in video games, the lion's share of which were spent at EA and Ubisoft. Pelland founded EA Montreal and his work can be seen in the Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and Army of Two series.
Ubisoft ends fiscal 2013 with €64.8 million in profit
Ubisoft has released its financial information for the 12 month period ending March 31, 2013, which by all accounts seems to have been a pretty legit fiscal year for the publisher/developer conglomerate. The company crossed the finish line with €1.256 billion ($1.615 billion) in revenue and €64.8 million ($83.3 million) in profit, an 18.3 and 73.7-percent year-over-year increase, respectively, when compared to the €1.061 billion ($1.364 billion) in revenue and €37.3 million ($47.9 million) in profit recorded at the end of 2012. Ubisoft contributes its stellar year to the continued success of its main three franchises, Assassin's Creed, Just Dance and Far Cry, the latest entries in which have all sold between six and 12 million copies.
Far Cry 3 up to 6 million shipped, digitally sold
Ubisoft has shipped and digitally sold 6 million units of Far Cry 3 since its release late last year. That's 1.5 million more than the figure reported in Ubi's Q3 report back in February. Assassin's Creed 3 sits at 12.5 million shipped and digitally sold (it was at over 12 million back in February), while Just Dance 4 is up to 8.5 million shipped.
Assassin's Creed 3 director Jamie Stowe joins 22cans
Assassin's Creed 3 level design director Jamie Stowe recently joined Peter Molyneux's 22Cans studio. Stowe will assume the role of technical director for Godus, the developer's spiritual successor to Populous. Stowe worked at Codemasters as a QA lead and level designer prior to joining Ubisoft Singapore in 2009.22Cans successfully raised £526,563 ($852K) on Kickstarter in December 2012 to fund Godus' development. Molyneux and his crew posted a new video update to 22Cans' Facebook page, which welcomes Stowe to the team.
Assassin's Creed 3 'Redemption' DLC out today on PS3, 360, PC, May 16 on Wii U
As scheduled, the 'Redemption' DLC for Assassin's Creed 3 comes today to the Xbox 360, PC, and PS3 - tomorrow for European PS3s - but Wii U owners must wait a bit longer to redeem it. The final part of the 'King Washington' trilogy reaches the Nintendo console on May 16.Before you can stop the madness of King George, you'll have to cough up 640 MSP on Xbox 360, or $7.99 on PC and PS3. If you have the Season Pass then you've already paid for it, so you'd best get going to old New York - just don't forget the straitjacket. %Gallery-186563%
Arkham City Wii U, Far Cry 3, AC3 on sale at Best Buy this week
Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition, the Wii U version, is $20 at Best Buy as part of its weekly deal offer. Also on sale are the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Far Cry 3 and Assassin's Creed 3 for $30, or PS3, Xbox 360 and PC editions of Black Ops 2 for $40 each.We found the Wii U version of Arkham City to have some cool features, such as the WiiPad audio function whenever Batman picks up a conversation on his earpiece. Otherwise, it's definitely not the prettiest way to play a Batman game.
Xbox Live's April 1 DLC sale includes Fallout 3, AC3, BF3, Dishonored
Although some may consider this a joke, Xbox Live will hold a downloadable content sale for April Fools' Day. The discounts on recent games include the Assassin's Creed 3 Season Pass for $20 (33 percent off). There's also the Battlefield 3 Aftermath DLC for $7.50 (50 percent off).For those who never picked up any of the DLC for Fallout 3, each of the game's five pieces of additional content are 75 percent off for $2.50 apiece. If you must select only a couple, "Broken Steel" and "Point Lookout" are the way to go. We feel obligated to note that Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, which includes the full game plus all the DLC, retails for $20.The sale does not start until tomorrow, April 1, but head on over to Major Nelson for details on some other discounts.
The '101 Gameplay Ideas' behind the Assassin's Creed franchise
During a panel at GDC today, Ubisoft writer Corey May and lead mission designer Philippe Bergeron discussed their "balancing act" in crafting the stories of Assassin's Creed. May is focused on building up the story, making the characters and their relationships important to the player, while Bergeron and his colleagues aim to deliver fun mission gameplay, and stay within the various technical and developmental limitations shared by the entire team.May and Bergeron both focus on research at the outset of the process. For each Assassin's Creed game, the team has picked an era first, and then looked for potential locations, specific events to portray, major characters, "potential Templar targets," and possible protagonists. While May picks characters, Bergeron's team brainstorms various mission ideas for the game.May said Ubisoft has an internal document containing "101 gameplay ideas." It has been pillaged and refilled since the first Assassin's Creed game, as designers sample previously unused ideas or add more when concepts don't make the cut during development of the latest game.Finally, May said, once all the mission plans are completed and his early script scenes are done, he takes the mission design documents and pastes them directly into a file that eventually becomes his finished script for the game. May said this process was "the ultimate expression of our collaboration," and that mission designs created by Bergeron's team are then used as "the skeleton and the backbone that I work off of."Once the script and designs are all completed, the real work of coding and testing the game begins. May and Bergeron's teams cycle down (or, most likely, move on to the next game in the process).The talk was a simple look at an undoubtedly complex process, but it did offer some good insight into the marriage of story and mission design in the Assassin's Creed franchise.
Xbox spring sale on March 26 discounts Walking Dead, Skyrim DLC, Assassin's Creed 3
Starting on March 26, Microsoft will host the Xbox spring sale, which will see discounts across Games on Demand and DLC.Highlights include cheap downloads of The Walking Dead episodes ( first one's free) and discounts on Skyrim DLC. LA Noire and Max Payne 3 downloads and corresponding DLC will also be half-off. Meanwhile, Hitman: Absolution will be knocked down to $20, with Assassin's Creed 3 following to $40.Have a look at the full list of discounts on Major Nelson's blog before it kicks in next week.
PSA: Assassin's Creed 3 'The Betrayal' DLC stabs backs today
'The Betrayal,' the second of Assassin Creed 3's 'The Tyranny of King Washington' DLC triad, comes today to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in North America. It costs 800 MSP or $9.99, or nada if you've got the Season Pass.'The Betrayal' sees the easily-spelled Ratonhnhaké:ton make his way to Boston. There he learns the power of the eagle, granting him the means to fly short distances, the ability to swoop enemies for assassinations, and permanent room and board in California.%Gallery-183237%
Steam Daily Deal: Far Cry series for $40, Ubisoft games on sale
The Far Cry Franchise Pack is on sale for $40 on Steam today as the platform's Daily Deal. This deal is part of a larger Steam sale, as today is day three of the Ubisoft Publisher Weekend, so other Ubisoft-published games are 35 to 50 percent off on the platform as well.The Far Cry Franchise Pack includes all three games in the series along with the Far Cry 3 Deluxe Bundle DLC, which is 40 percent off ($5.99). Far Cry and Far Cry 2: Fortune's Edition are each 75 percent off today ($2.49), and Far Cry 3 has been hacked down by 40 percent ($29.99). Among the other Ubisoft games on sale today, Rayman Origins is 66 percent off ($6.79) and Assassin's Creed 3's price has been chopped by 35 percent ($32.49).
Assassin's Creed 3 DLC lets Connor turn into an eagle because nature
In The Tyranny of King Washington: The Betrayal, Assassin's Creed 3's Ratonhnhaké:ton can turn into an eagle. This follows his previous invisibility cloak ability. Just saying, super-human feats are what make people stand out in a crowd, not sneak quietly through it with arm-blades.
AC3's Tyranny of King Washington unleashes cloaked wolves
Assassin's Creed 3's "The Tyranny of King Washington" is weird y'all. Not only does it propose Native Americans as a hyperthermic people, but apparently Ratonhnhaké:ton is also descended from the Predator race. Assassin's Creed 5: Predator vs. Templar shipping in 2014.
Assassin's Creed 3 Washington Edition pops up on German sites
A few German websites spotted an Assassin's Creed 3: Washington Edition lurking in a digital hay pile. If legitimate, it'll be a bundle that includes all of the DLC launched so far, along with the game itself, due out on March 28 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.The Washington Edition comes with the Hidden Secrets, Battle Hardened and Tyranny of George Washington packs. Hidden Secrets has three extra missions, two costumes for solo play and two characters for multiplayer, while Battle Hardened has three new maps and three fresh multiplayer characters. The Tyranny of George Washington pack comes in three single-player installments, the first of which is out now, and explores an alternate reality where Washington is a power-hungry dictator.The German listings put Assassin's Creed 3: Washington Edition out in Europe on March 28 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, for €70 for consoles and €55 for PC. Though the complete Tyranny DLC won't be out by March 28, the Assassin's Creed Season Pass unlocks those installments as they drop.Ubisoft had no comment regarding a potential US launch for the Washington Edition. Previously, the Assassin's Creed Anthology launched in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and skipped North America.
