Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Message Board older than one year ago

I don't think there's going to be an Assassin's Creed in 2011. I think we're going to let it breathe a bit and really focus on bringing something new and exciting for the next time around." -- Ubisoft associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin, July 2010, before being overridden.
We didn't buy it and, deep down, we don't think Mr. Boivin did either, who also warned that "business can come back and override everything I say because at the end of the day it's about selling games."

It's about selling over 1 million copies, as Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has done within its first week in Europe. Geoffroy Sardin, Ubisoft's marketing and sales chief for Europe, Middle East and Asia, shared the news with MCV and clarified that another -- and, more importantly -- "big" Assassin's Creed game would launch in 2011. "Yes, Yves [Guillemot, Ubisoft CEO] mentioned it last week in our financials - and more details will be forthcoming," Sardin said. "But what I can say is that next year we will have another big Assassin's Creed game."

Launching just a year after Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has won critics over with its representation of Rome and its innovative, unusually paced multiplayer mode. According to Sardin, 60 percent of Brotherhood owners have wielded a hidden blade in the online crowd, and Ubisoft intends to support that player base with regular doses of DLC. The first new map and additional mode will be available in December for free.

As Boivin has stated before, the successful multiplayer component will likely remain an integral part of Assassin's Creed for the foreseeable future, but how it will fit into the next big game is a matter of speculation. We'll likely learn more within the next six months, unless Ubisoft makes the effort to defy predictions. With another game so soon, the onus is on the developer's massive workforce to preserve the element of surprise.

November 15's 'Something Around Assassin's Coming In 2011' appears to = today's "next year we will have another big Assassin's Creed game" from British gaming news outlet MCV. Both quotes come from top people at Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft. More »

If you shunned your family today in the hopes of committing virtual murder in a 16th-century milieu, you were probably disappointed when Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood server -- oh, sorry, the Abstergo Industries Animus network -- went offline. According to Ubisoft Montreal's community developer, Gabriel Graziani, online multiplayer is now "100% operational" again. (We just tested it ourselves and things seem to be back to normal.)

Extricating yourself from the dinner table at this point might be a challenge, but if you've spent some time with Brotherhood's multiplayer mode you'll know the trick is just to play it cool. You're just an NPC taking a stroll to the couch.

#ubisoft Ubisoft is giving the gift of downloadable content to Assassin's Creed Brotherhood owners a little early, handing out the "Animus Project Update 1.0" for free on December 14. What do you get for your precious time and bandwidth? More »

Subsystems are compiled and the truth is revealed in this spoiler gameplay!

You've read the official review. Now find out what everyone else thinks.

Animus Project Update 1.0 coming next month.

Bored of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood already?

Wait -- really? You need to get out more ... But if that's not going to happen, at least you'll see new virtual places with the first installment of Brotherhood DLC, memorably titled "Animus Project Update 1.0." With a December 14 release date on both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, we can't help but think of the $0 asking price as a Festivus gift from Ubisoft to humanity.

Included in APU1 is a "brand-new" game mode called Advanced Alliance; it's basically Alliance Mode, but harder. If that wasn't enough to sharpen your blade to, how does a new map sound? Mont Saint-Michel isn't just a fancy French name, it's also the name of the new map, "located on a rocky tidal island of Normandy in France." Ubi promises an environment full of "narrow streets, high-perched bell tower and multi-leveled architecture."

Ubisoft Montreal executive producer Sebastien Puel says the DLC is the developer's way of saying "thank you to our fans for making Brotherhood such a huge success its opening week." There's one way of avoiding the precarious announcement of DLC close to a title's release date: Give it away for free!

Oh my, an addictive bite from the stabby bug is the last thing we needed in this jam-packed Q4. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a soufflé of a follow-up to one of our 2009 GOTY winners, with a rich multiplayer component that is quite savory -- a potential game changer for anyone who had started associating the term "online multiplayer" mainly with shooters. It is a fast-paced, yet methodical, tour de murder.

What's everyone playing?

#roundup Ezio might have a few underlings helping him out in his second outing, but the the video game reviewers in the Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Frankenreview are legion. More »

#screengrab I enjoyed Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for many reasons. One more: It's the first game in years to compel me to bring out a notebook to solve a video game puzzle. (Solution censored for your enjoyment.) Memories of drawing the map for Metroid! More »

The Metal Gear Rising star's suit is in the game.

#projectlegacy I haven't tried the Assassin's Creed Facebook game. As into Assassin's Creed as I am, I still thought I could skip it. More »

We know there are a lot of Assassin's Creed fans out there who have been waiting for the next big release in the series, and we're happy to report that it's finally out this week. We're talking, of course, about the animated short film Assassin's Creed Ascendance, which is now available on PSN, Xbox Live and iTunes for around $2. The film depicts Ezio's battle against the evil, powerful Cesare Borgia.

If you want to see what happens next following this movie, Ubisoft also released an Assassin's Creed video game this week, as a cute promotional tie-in for Ascendance.

We may still be unsure if Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is a sequel or expansion, but the game is so good we're not gonna get too wrapped up in trying to classify it. Our assessment of the Assassin sequel seems to be in line with the sharp reviews from other outlets:

• Eurogamer (100/100): "It's one of many finishing touches to a game that started life as what sounded suspiciously like a fund-raising stopgap conceived on the back of an overdrawn chequebook and blurted out during a conference call. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is anything but that, however - it's one of the best games of 2010. "
• Game Informer (93/100): "Filled with new gameplay, storylines, mechanical improvements, and multiplayer, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is far more than an expansion. Though Brotherhood lacks some of the sense of discovery and newness that characterized Assassin's Creed II, if you look past the surface similarities you'll uncover a host of new thrills."
• 1Up (A-): "There are still so many other small details I could talk about, but they all hammer home the same point: this is a great game."
• Gamespot (85/100): "You may never have thought that Assassin's Creed begged for a multiplayer component, but Brotherhood introduces one nevertheless. ... The measured tempo won't be appealing to those who thrive on ceaseless thrills, but Brotherhood's tense tug-of-war pacing makes it an appealing alternative that rewards you for careful and clever assassinations. "
• IGN (80/100): "It also introduces an innovative multiplayer suite, for which the team(s) should be applauded. At the end of the day, it depends what you're looking for. If you're new to Assassin's Creed, this is a solid entry, but picking up the threads of the convoluted story may be a challenge. If you're an experienced assassin, on the other hand, expect to tread pretty similar ground to the last title. "

#ps3 The main difference between the newly released Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is that the PS3 version has eight "exclusive" missions. I played them last night to see if this is a difference with significance. More »

#review The first Assassin's Creed was an interesting but repetitive experiment. Two years later, Assassin's Creed II was an improvement in almost all ways. One year later, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, woefully misunderstood prior to release, is arguably the best one yet. More »

Whether it's the non-numerical title, the proximity to the last entry in the series or the nearly identical box art, there seems to be a lot of confusion about whether Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood should be called a fully-fledged sequel to last year's bilingual stealth-action masterpiece. Is it a standalone installment in the franchise, or a collection of new gameplay ideas that weren't realized in time to make it into Assassin's Creed 2?

After completing the game's single-player campaign and digging into its multiplayer offerings, I can confidently say that I still have no idea. It could accurately be categorized as either, or even both, but ultimately that distinction's not all that important. Any way you slice it, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is an absolutely exceptional game.

Ezio heads to Rome to take down the Borgia family once and for all.

The next Assassin's Creed is out on Tuesday. But people already want to know about the next one — will there be one in 2011? The official reply they're getting is a cagey one, of course. More »

We're impressed by some of the already announced Black Friday deals, but not a single one compares to the bounty of enormous discounts offered by Kmart (which is totally different from S-Mart). Brand new games like Fable 3 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood are going for $40, while game of the year contender Mass Effect 2 can be found for just $10.

The deals apply to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii (NBA Jam for $30, anyone?), and PSP. And yes, before you go quickly clicking through the link to see all the discounts, be aware that Madagascar Kartz (still Madagaskartz in our hearts) is on sale for $10. We know what you're getting in your stockings this year!

[Image credit: Thomas Hawk]

#clips If there's anything history has taught us, it's that even the world's most monstrous tyrannies are no match for a few menacing deadpan proclamations and a good-hearted band of outcasts. More »

#ubisoft Publisher Ubisoft is protecting Assassin's Creed Brotherhood buyers from dangerous staples by whittling down the game's manual to a single sheet, scored and folded for your convenience. Maybe they're thinking "green"? More »

Forget about assigning assassins to murder fools, and crazy ship battles, and launching firey volleys from your Da Vinci-designed hang glider -- it's all about keeping the people free, baby! Rather, that's what Ezio would have us believe in the launch trailer for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

After teasing the project yesterday, Ubisoft has fully unveiled the particulars of UbiWorkshop's next project, Assassin's Creed Ascendance. The short animated film will serve as a primer into the shady, conspiratorial dealings of 16th century Rome, and will release on XBLM and PSN next Tuesday, November 16 -- the launch day of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Check out the full trailer for the short after the jump.

Ubisoft promises the film "bridges the narrative gap" between the series' last installment and its fraternal sequel -- however, with a suggested MSRP of $1.99, we're not sure how many people are going to spring to purchase it. Especially not since we can bridge that gap for you, right now, for free: Some people with names you can't pronounce stabbed each other. You're welcome.

The assassin's universe keeps expanding.

#ubisoft What has assassin Ezio Auditore been up to during the time between Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood? Find out in Assassin's Creed Ascendance, coming November 16 to Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. More »

Strike before your enemies.

#clips Creepy, subtle, seemingly completely unrelated to video games, this Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood video is exactly how I like my commercials. More »

We look at the final ways to slay your friends online.