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Assassin's Creed could save Ubisoft from EA's maw
Apparently the stories that a video game's parents tell it really are true: One game can make a difference! In an inspiring story that's sure to be adapted into a Disney animated film (featuring the voices of Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake and Robin Williams as the side-splitting "Ubi"), the sales of Assassin's Creed (at 2.5 million last week) may have been enough to save Ubisoft from EA's clutches. Financial Times reports that strong sales of the game has helped Ubisoft increase its value to approximately $4.3 billion, meaning that it may just be too expensive of a pickup for EA at the moment. Of course, with the threat of Activision Blizzard looming, who knows how far EA will go to keep its market share?[Via Gi.biz]Read -- Ubisoft's assassin and the creed of creative defense (registration required)
Assassin's Creed sells 2.5 million copies
Ubisoft has announced that Assassin's Creed has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide on Xbox 360 and PS3. The game vastly outperformed the company's expectations, and Ubisoft further announced that the game is "the fastest-selling new video game intellectual property ever in the U.S." Not too shabby. On the heels of the good news, Ubisoft has raised its sales outlook to €840 million ($1.2 billion). Furthermore, the company expects to sell at least 5 million more units in 2007-08 (up 2 million from earlier estimates). It was also revealed that three Ubisoft titles, Tom Clancy's EndWar, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, and Far Cry 2 have been delayed until Ubisoft's fiscal year 2008, which begins in April (the games were previously scheduled to release in early 2008). Finally, the Ubisoft will unveil more details on its incoming lineup of games and will disclose sales figures for the third quarter 2007-08 on January 23, 2008.[Via Joystiq]
Assassin's Creed kills with 2.5 million sold; Ubi ups fiscal forecast
Ubisoft announced that in the month since launch its love-it or hate-it epic Assassin's Creed has sold 2.5 million copies globally. The company said the title has "greatly outstripped" its sales expectation and the game is the fastest-selling new video game IP in US history. The company now expects to sell a minimum of five million copies of Assassin's Creed before the end of their fiscal year in March '08.Ubisoft is also boosting its income expectation by 12%, it raised fiscal year projections by an extra €15 million to €840 million ($1.2 billion). The company also says that Tom Clancy's End War, Brothers in Arms and Far Cry 2 are scheduled for its next fiscal year beginning in April. Ubisoft plans to lay out its games portfolio for next year on Jan. 23, '08.
Women in Games: Pinckard, Tory talk about industry, Jade Raymond
Continuing in her series on women working in the games industry (it began with her interview with Morgan Webb), MTV's Tracey John talks to Game Girl Advance creator Jane Pinckard and Assassin's Creed developer Elspeth Tory on their experiences, as well as addressing the controversy surrounding AC designer Jade Raymond. Their verdict on the industry is that it still has a lot of maturation to do, especially when it comes to the working environment. Both Pinckard and Tory share their own anecdotes that would be amusing if not a discouraging testament to how male-dominated the industry continues to be. In discussing Raymond, a designer whose intelligence and skills have been largely questioned because of her looks (we've read many comments that accuse her of merely being a "pretty figurehead" for the game), both decreed the issue frustrating. "She is genetically, accidentally blessed with a combination of smarts and ambition and looks that our culture happens to find attractive, and that's not her fault," said Pinckard.Read - Game Girl Advance's Jane Pinckard Talks Lara Croft, Male vs. Female GamersRead - 'Assassin's Creed''s Elspeth Tory on Jade Raymond and Entering the Boys' Club
Zero Punctuation sorta likes Assassin's Creed
It's become something of a tradition at this point. If it's Wednesday, it's time for another Zero Punctuation review from The Escapist. Chances are, if it's a 360 review, we're going to feature it here. Why? Because they're damned funny and we need the relief. This week, Yahtzee takes a look at Assassin's Creed as the result of several viewers emailing him about how awful it is. Looks like their plan backfired though, because it turns out Yahtzee actually likes it. It's not perfect -- far from it, as Yahtzee puts it squarely in the bronze medal category -- but in the end even the crabbiest game reviewer on the planet tells reviewers to "give it a chance." Yeah, we're shocked, too. The review is definitely not safe for work, so we've embedded it after the break. Enjoy.
PS3 Fanboy Gameflood: Assassin's Creed
This year has seen a hilarious amount of games sneak into PS3 Fanboy HQ. Like the great biblical flood, these games purged our minds of everything which came before and we were left floundering in a sea of quality games. Now that we've played them all we can finally sit down and review them - in short, opinion filled posts. Assassin's Creed is, for such a highly anticipated title, rather disappointing. That's not to say that, technically, the game is a masterpiece - it's just not particularly fun. With large, varied cities - all intricately detailed - the graphics and animation are first rate, even though it's clear that all the talented animators were put to work on Altair's in-game motions, leaving the lesser skilled animators to produce the cutscenes. Faces do look ugly and there's some silly clipping that could easily have been avoided. Outside of the cutscenes, however, the animations are excellent and easily make the game's fun bits all the more aesthetically pleasing. These fun bits come in the form of freerunning across ancient cities and, even while the rest of the game has become dull and tiresome, you'll still garner some pleasure from outrunning pursuing guards and diving headfirst into a roof-garden to conceal yourself.
Joystiq Podcast 027 - Chocolate log edition
It's a jam packed edition of the cast this week, kids. First up, there's some hot Justin on Daffy action. Then, we explain why people who don't like Assassin's Creed are stupid. Then, we get an incredibly brief visit from the Silver Surfer himself, Doug Jones. Finally, all hell breaks loose with 360 dashboard update talk, the Brush With Fame and our new feature The Big Three. Also ... (shudder) ... Chocolate Log. Cast ahoy! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [Digg] Like the show? Digg it. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy Music: "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave, "Red Eye" by Ben Kweller. See all of this week's links after the jump.
The Joystiq Weekend: November 23 - 26, 2007
They are always among us, living in disguise. Even in the year 1191, Optimus Prime and the other Autobots were there to protect us should the world need it. (Via Nukoda) Check out the highlights for today:JoystiqueryA History of Weekly Webcomic WrapupDS Fanboy Lite: Nov. 17 - Nov. 23Japanese hardware sales, Nov. 12 - Nov. 18: And now for a haiku editionJoystiq Holidaze: Gaming Hots and NotsJoystiq Podcast 026 - Space fondling editionReminder: Win a $5K gaming PC from Falcon NorthwestRock Band and turkey: a Thanksgiving family testToday's double video: twice the Altair, twice the AltairToday's most tedious video: Picking weeds in Animal CrossingToday's Katamariest video: Cartoon Network's 'Chowder'NewsSony denies PlayStation Phone ... againUnreal Engine 3 coming to Wii (but not by Epic)Sisters of Battle, Dark Eldar lead charge in Dawn of War: SoulstormTHQ's Squad Command-themed PSP is sexy, ridiculously limitedPS3 beats Wii in Japan for second weekTomb Raider: Anniversary now on Xbox Live MarketplaceUbisoft UK boss: Industry 'crying out' for new IPsDefective Rock Band guitars get defective patchGameTrailers compares Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario SunshinePS3 Assassin's Creed patch coming soonGamestop sells demo disc as new gameGameTrailers breaks down Street Fighter IV trailerNew games this week: Leftovers editionDouble Dribble, Vegas Stakes, Ecco Jr. come to Virtual ConsoleUnreal Tournament PS3 shipping in 'limited quantities' Dec. 10S.T.A.L.K.E.R. devs hop onboard Xbox 360 love trainWarhawk expands in December with new maps, dropshipPSP Slim sells 1 million in JapanGuitar Hero III's wireless Gibson available solo in early 2008Rockstar's British appeal begins for Manhunt 2Browse others' friends lists with 360 fall updateThis Wednesday: Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe come to XBLADeus Ex 3 gets the green lightNamco unveils Fragile, a new Wii RPGNintendo resisting urge to smash 'R4' deviceRumors & SpeculationPS3 version of Orange Box might be 'downright unplayable'Rumor: New achievements coming to older Valve gamesMTV Games hints at next big thing; announcement coming soonCulture & CommunityUse the Rock Band drums with your PCBioshock and Enemy Territory on sale on Steam, 20% offGamesRadar finds ten of the world's best gamers, you aren't oneGuitar Hero III featured on Will It BlendArs Technica tackles report linking WiFi and autism'Some Punctuation' riffs on Yahtzee's Art of TheftPlay Famicom games on your DS Lite with 'Familator'Man returns gutted Xbox 360 for cashKen Kutaragi to receive AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award
Patch coming for Assassin's Creed freezing problems
If you've been met with continual freezing while playing Assassin's Creed, never fear because Ubisoft is hard at work on an update to rectify the issue. It seems gamers are experiencing the freezing intermittently and not from the same point in the game."Following our recent statement regarding the freeze issues that some consumers are facing with Assassin's Creed on PlayStation 3, we can confirm that we are actively working on a game update," Ubisoft's UK community manager posted on its forums. "This update will help improve the stability of the game and will be released as soon as possible. In the meantime thank you for your ongoing feedback and patience."It's great that Ubisoft is working on the fix so soon, but it's disappointing at the same time that gamers may have to wait weeks to be able to fully enjoy the game they spent their money on. These type of bugs should have been spotted and fixed long before the game was released to the public. Hopefully, Ubisoft says sorry by throwing us all some free downloadable content in addition to fixing the bug.[Via Evil Avatar]
PS Fanboy Wallpapers: Volume 11
Every week, PSP and PS3 Fanboy will bring you new backgrounds for your Sony consoles, in resolutions up to 1080p. Download them directly to your PS3 by accessing PS3 Fanboy on your system. Download PSP wallpapers directly to your PSP by accessing the site wirelessly at m.pspfanboy.com. For those having trouble accessing the site on your PS3, please visit m.ps3fanboy.com or disable Javascript.This weekend, we're focusing on Ubisoft's recently released Assassin's Creed.
Today's double video: twice the Altair, twice the Altair
Joystiq reader Flynn tipped us off to a rather bizarre, er, "glitch" in Assassin's Creed where death is just another gateway to life ... twice. Think you're seeing double? (Or quadruple if you play both videos at the same time.) Well, you're right. Enjoy the video after the break. Joystiq reader Flynn tipped us off to a rather bizarre, er, "glitch" in Assassin's Creed where death is just another gateway to life ... twice. Think you're seeing double? (Or quadruple if you play both videos at the same time.) Well, you're right. Enjoy the video after the break.
1UP talks turkey games
What better way to spend Thanksgiving than talking about turkeys? And by turkeys, of course, 1UP's referring to those massively-hyped titles that ultimately fizzled.We can't say we agree with all of the choices presented, though 1UP's criteria suggests that the games featured aren't necessarily "bad," but that all of them "fell short of expectations."Still, given the sheer number of games out there, there are bound to be bigger, badder turkeys hiding in the bushes. Any more main-course nominees?
Assassin's Creed tops UK charts
Ubisoft's parkour piece man sim, Assassin's Creed, has scurried to the top of the UK sales charts, bumping off Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in the process. GamesIndustry.biz reports that the Xbox 360 version gathered 67% of total sales, with the PlayStation 3 edition accounting for 43% 62% the rest. The speedy commercial success also made Altair's anachronistic adventure the fastest-selling new IP since 2002's The Getaway. In other fastest-selling title news, Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy managed a number five spot, flying off shelves faster than any other Wii title before it. But what of the games in-between the portly plumber and the murderous flag gatherer? The aforementioned Call of Duty 4 wound up in second place, The Simpsons Game in third and WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2008 in fourth.
Video: Altair the schmuck
Assassin's Creed. Action. Adventure. Violence. Comedy? Yes, comedy. Of all the things we expected from Assassin's Creed, physical shtick was the last thing on our list. And yet, it looks like Altair is perfectly adept at the nuances of physical comedy. While some may theorize that the above video is merely the result of a programming oversight on Ubisoft's part, we believe it is in fact intentionally hilarious. Like Joystiq, we must point out the pinpoint comic timing. It's simply too spot on to be an accident, right?[Via Joystiq]
Today's rudest video: Altair is kind of a jerk
Okay, seriously, what is this guy's problem? Nobody's bothering him. Nobody's even touching him. Yet for some reason the "hero" of Assassin's Creed just thinks he can push other people around. Luckily for Altair, it's always funny to watch people get physically harassed for no reason. Tiny glitch in the "shoving past crowds" mechanic of the game? Most likely. Hilarious for its incidentally perfect comic timing? Most definitely. Just don't try this at your local mall.
Halo 3 Iwo Jima tribute and Assassins' Optimus Prime
We have a case of the lazy Saturdays today, so we figured we'd share two rather fun and delectable pictures with you. The first pic is the one you see above and comes from the crazily creative Halo 3 community who decided to re-create the famous Iwo Jima flag raising (high-res, thanks Halonut1) in Valhalla. It's an effort we feel to be tribute worthy. And if you're not impressed with flag raisings or Halo 3 then you should check out the Optimus Prime cameo in Assassin's Creed. We're proud to say that we had a geeky chuckle when we spotted it.So ends our lazy Saturday blog post of picture awesomeness, now you can go back to your regularly scheduled lazy Saturday programming. Goodbye.[Via Digg and Digg]
PSP Fanboy Theatre: Volume 41
PSP Features (28.4MB) Also featured: Assassin's Creed, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops +, Uncharted, Beowulf
Assassin's Creed isn't loved by all
Assassin's Creed is pulling in a mixed bag of scores since its launch this week, with reviews ranging from a crazy perfect 100 to a very disappointing 67 given out by Planet Xbox 360. According to metacritic, Assassin's currently has 15 reviews posted with the average rating working out to be around 84 out of 100. It's an average rating that is pretty good, but far from 90+ games like BioShock, Halo 3, Orange Box and CoD4. So what's the problem? Well, the low reviews seem to focus on the game's negatives like a short campaign, repetitive sequences and odd design decisions all tainted with (what we feel to be) a bit of over expectation. It's a classic case of disappointments weighing greater on the review scale than the positives.We haven't had a chance to play the retail build of the game quite yet, so we're interested in hearing what those of you who have played it think. Has Assassin's Creed fulfilled your every hope and desire or has its minor imperfections ruined the experience? Tell us what's up. Until then, we'll just wait and see where the game's average moves after more reviews get tallied.
Assassin's Creed music up for download
If you pay attention to video game music at all, there is one name you've likely heard before: Jesper Kyd. One of the industry's most prolific composers, Kyd has been around since the Sega Genesis (ah, The Adventures of Batman & Robin: mediocre game, great soundtrack). Most recently, Kyd has been behind the soundtracks for Kane & Lynch and Assassin's Creed, both of which are available this week. In celebration of the release of Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft has released two of Kyd's tracks from the game, hosted by Gamertag Radio. The two tracks -- "City of Jerusalem" and "Flight Through Jerusalem" -- aptly exemplify the Middle Eastern setting and could easily be heard in a feature film (perhaps an Assassin's Creed film). Click the "read" link to download them.
Readers pick best webcomic: The Littlest Hashshashin
Curses, Tycho and Gabe, now we really wish Assassin's Crossing was real. It would be so much fun. The duo's Penny Arcade strip from last week, "The Littlest Hashshashin" took top honors in this week's webcomic wrapup, likely for the second frame alone. (We're not going to spoil it, just click the link yourself and find out.)Second and third place go to 2P Start and Awkward Zombie, respectively. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomic you stumble upon this week!
