Assassin's Creed III Message Board older than one year ago

I counted. The latest Assassin’s Creed III “Inside” special features seven billion different human beings. And also George Washington, who counts as one man, one myth, and one legend. It’s a fairly intimidating roster, to be sure, but the whole production is quite ably done. The topic at hand today is none other than exotically named half-Native-American main character Connor, and there’s actually some pretty good insight to be found here. Do games need development staffs large enough to eclipse the sun with a printout of their credits sequence? I’m not so sure. But I can certainly see some of the benefits.

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UH. UH. UH.

#assassinscreed We already knew that main character Connor would be meeting historical figures in Assassin's Creed III, since the game is set during the Revolutionary War. And now, we get a chance to see what some of those founding fathers will look like in the next installment of this franchise. The teaser also highlights the efforts to surround Connor with authentic-feeling Native American characters. And bloodshed. Lots and lots of bloodshed. More »

The frontier of Assassin’s Creed III offers an incredible bounty of wildlife for a skilled and dedicated hunter. The wilderness positively sprawls before Connor, ensuring that its boundless resources are always available. Adventure awaits beyond the protective city walls of Boston, and I’d like to give you a glimpse of a tiny fraction of what you can expect to find within the forests and glades of the frontier.

Let’s begin with the simpler game Connor can capture, and a few examples of how he can put them to use.

The animals pictured in the image above can be found roaming the countryside in AC3, and you’ll find them the easiest to catch. Hares, foxes, deer, raccoons and beavers shouldn’t present much danger to a canny trapper like Connor, but these animals (so frequently preyed upon by the larger predators) can be incredibly skittish and will bolt if they detect a human presence.

Maintaining such a close relationship with nature has afforded Connor some unique abilities that you can exploit to make hunting easier. Activating Eagle Sense will enable Connor to detect nearby clues which, when investigated, will identify the location of game. A broken branch marks the passage of a fox, a bush with several nibbled leaves confirms a rabbit has had a recent meal or a patch of matted grass served as bedding for a dozing deer… any of these signs will help locate the tasty culprit.

Finding clues will point you to your quarry, which you will want to take great care in stalking, creeping up on through the underbrush or springing upon silently from up in the trees. Remaining undetected is crucial since you’ll need to approach without alerting your target… a hidden blade kill is your objective, because using larger weapons could damage the pelt, particularly of smaller creatures like hares or foxes.

Once you’ve taken down an animal, you must skin it and retrieve everything you can use in order to honor the beast’s sacrifice. If you slay wantonly without harvesting the bounties of the forest, you will lose synchronization with Connor and could be ejected from the Animus.

Game from the frontier offers a great many resources that residents of cities will pay handsomely for, so collecting the various pelts, meat and even bones or oils of beasts can be an excellent way to fund Assassins’ activities. There are also a few other uses for the bounty of the forest, but we’ll get into those in a future blog… we can’t reveal every secret just yet!

In celebration of all this game’s awesome… er, game, please enjoy this Assassin’s Creed III themed EPIC MEAL TIME video!

The third instalment in the behind-the-scenes video series looks at Connor; the hero behind the war.

#assassinscreed I don't like most gamer clothing. They're usually tacky, or have a huge, ugly logo plastered everywhere. Plus, personally, they're usually all too large. I have a zillion gamer sleep shirts, but nothing I would actually ever wear outside the confines of my apartment. More »

You've wanted an inside glimpse at one of the biggest games of 2012, and now you've got it. Introducing IGN's behind the scenes look at Assassin's Creed III.

Not really a trailer that pertains to Wii U launch, but it still gives us more footage of the game.


Assassin's Creed III Lost Mayan Ruins by allgamesbeta2

#assassinscreed Mercifully, I'm not talking about some bzarre pre-order DLC, which is available only at GameStop and bestows hero Connor with a foam weapon with which to annoy his enemies. I'm talking about a foam tomahawk you can buy, then run around pretending you're a deadly member of an ancient order of assassins. More »

#assassinscreed More »

Are triple A games going the way of the dinosaur? The Creative Director of Assassin's Creed thinks so.

Assassin's Creed III will be one of the first new games to benefit from Ubisoft's new DRM policy.

After years of deserved criticism and endless threads on Reddit, Ubisoft is finally backing off its DRM policies for PC games, according to an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun.

“We have listened to feedback,” said Ubisoft worldwide director for online games Stephanie Perottiand, ”and since June last year our policy for all of PC games is that we only require a one-time online activation when you first install the game, and from then you are free to play the game offline.”

When Assassin’s Creed III comes out later this year, it won’t require an always-on connection to play single-player. That changes for multiplayer, obviously, but that’s never been the source of angst for players. When Ubisoft’s servers have gone down, preventing players from continuing their single-player experiences is when the ire has been greatest.

Ubisoft prompted some eyebrow raises from the world when CEO Yves Guillemot told GamesIndustry.Biz that the company was noticing a 93-to-95% piracy rate. It didn’t provide much evidence for those statistics.

"It's a way to get closer to your customers, to make sure you have a revenue,” said Guillemot. “On PC it's only around five-to-seven percent of the players who pay for F2P, but normally on PC it's only about five to seven per cent who pay anyway, the rest is pirated. It's around a 93-95 percent piracy rate, so it ends up at about the same percentage. The revenue we get from the people who play is more long term, so we can continue to bring content."

When pressed Ubisoft for more details about Guillemot’s statistics, I didn’t get much in response.

“That was an internal estimate for a few of Ubisoft’s popular PC titles like Assassin’s Creed and Driver, based on our own measurements,” the company told me a few weeks back. “It’s similar to broader external estimates from groups like the UKIE [Association for UK Interactive Entertainment], and to some recent examples of popular PC games from other companies.”

Better late than never, I suppose.

The game's creative director has said that it's "the last of the dinosaurs" as games that require large teams are becoming a thing of the past.

#assassinscreed Alex Hutchinson, the lead designer on Assassin's Creed III, has some very interesting thoughts on video game difficulty. More »

- new content to unlock through new challenges each month
- play through the game to access files and videos
- new content that will continue the storyline throughout the year
- weather effects such as sudden rain storms or blizzards can impact visibility
- employ special environmental kills using objects like bottles and axes
- Wolfpack and Domination
- one is a new wave-based co-op mode where players hunt down targets in the environment
- another is a more traditional four-on-four team-based mode

Link

Learn about the myriad techniques you'll be able to employ while stabbing that guy.

Part two in the four-part series takes a look at the combat, weapons and tactics of Assassin's Creed III and the brutality of revolution.

Sadly, this video never explains the one thing I want to know about naval combat. Specifically, why British sailors pronounce lieutenant as "leftenant."

Ubisoft has released a brand new commentary video giving a better look at the naval battles of Assassin's Creed III. Check it out!

#assassinscreed This guy is also an impressive shot with a rubber band bow and...rubber band. More »

Nothing seems to elicit more reaction from gamers than putting Call of Duty on our cover. But love it or hate it, there’s no denying that the franchise is still the king of the FPS hill. This time, our senior editor Scott Butterworth sat down with the Call of Duty: Black Ops II devs for a deep dive into the myriad of changes they’ve incorporated into the game’s online multiplayer. It’s difficult to predict how the laundry list of revisions will affect the overall experience, but it seems the COD battlefield has fundamentally changed.

Elsewhere, we delve into the forthcoming Resident Evil 6 by chronicling the first two chapters of each of the game’s three major campaigns. We also take a look at the opposite end of the gaming spectrum with a feature on the next wave of indie games coming to PSN. These big little games may not have the huge budgets or development teams of a Call of Duty, but they make up for it with imagination, ingenuity, and artistry.

New game announces and previews include looks at superhero actioner Deadpool, eye-catching fighter Dead or Alive 5, and TV-show-intertwined-with-MMO Defiance. We’ve also got hands-on updates of highly anticipated titles Assassin’s Creed III and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and the animation invasion continues as Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse joins South Park: The Stick of Truth for cameos in the issue.

The open-world crime saga Sleeping Dogs leads off our reviews section with an impressive showing, while Darksiders II proves that God of War isn’t the end-all when it comes to action games. And don’t miss our final verdicts on the affecting Papo & Yo, psychedelic shooter Dyad, and fan-service fighter Persona 4 Arena. No doubt, there’s a lot of great gaming out there right now.

Get it all in PTOM’s October issue, hitting newsstands on Tuesday, August 28th. (Or just subscribe here.)

Surprise! It's fairly complicated.