Author sues Ubisoft over Assassin’s copyright infringement. Amazon reviewers hit back hard
As reported on Eurogamer, an author is suing Ubisoft for copyright infringement relating to the Assassin’s Creed franchise. John Beiswenger claims that Ubisoft have lifted various aspects of the series’ plot from his 2003 novel, Link.
Assassin’s Creed 3 screenshots show deer hunting in a snowy landscape
The snowy wastes shown in the latest screenshots of Assassin’s Creed 3, picked up by All Games Beta, are one of the few locations in which the white cloak actually works as camouflage, making Connor one of the stealthiest assassins to star in an Assassin’s Creed game so far. However, he seems to be practising his skills on a defenceless deer, which could make him the biggest jerk of the series so far, though that bit where Altair stabs that clueless guard at the start of the first game was also quite mean. Get the new shots right here.
Assassin’s Creed 3 gets debut trailer, new engine, release date
The debut Assassin’s Creed 3 trailer suggests that Ubisoft are planning to take Assassin’s Creed to the wide open plains and forests of early America. Up until now they’ve relied on heavily built-up cities to support its assassins’ free-running style, from the behaviour of our new hero in this trailer, it looks as though we’ll be vaulting through trees instead.
It won’t all be countryside, though. Ubisoft promise a range of locations from the “untamed frontier” to “bustling chaotic towns” and even scenes set on battlefields like the one shown at the end of the trailer. We’ll be playing as “Ratohnaké:ton,” aka “Connor,” an assassin of “Native American and English heritage.”
Assassin’s Creed 3 is official, will be set in the American Revolution
Ubisoft PR chap Jay Acevedo has tweeted an image that looks like boxart for Assassin’s Creed 3, officially confirming earlier rumours that the next game would be set in the American Revolution. It shows the assassin star of this morning’s concept art axe murdering a soldier as the revolution rages behind him. Click “read and comment” to see the whole thing.
Ubisoft DRM server downtime locks players out of Anno 2070, Driver: San Francisco and more
Recently we mentioned that many Ubisoft games would be unplayable this week because some server shuffling at Ubi HQ. The downtime has started, locking players out of Might and Magic: Heroes VI, The Settlers 7 and Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2. Players who have just bought Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Anno 2070 and Driver: San Francisco won’t be able to activate their games while the servers are down.
According to Ubisoft’s Uplay page, Anno 2070 was one of the few games that was supposed to remain unaffected during the switch-over, but many players can’t launch the game. Our copy of Anno autopatched without a hitch, but when we tried to start it up, we got the error message above. “We apologize for the inconvenience, it seems some of you can’t connect to games announced as playable during migration,” said Ubisoft on Twitter, adding that they’re currently working on a fix.
Players on the Ubisoft forums say that they can’t log into Driver: San Francisco either.
Ubisoft server switch to render always-online DRM games unplayable next week
Ubisoft are having a bit of a hardware reshuffle next week, according to Eurogamer, which means major disruption to their DRM servers.
Games that use Ubisoft’s always-online DRM system ping these constantly to reassure the publishers that you’re not a pirate. That means that next week’s switchover will render Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6 and The Settlers 7 unplayable for an unknown period of time. The servers are set to go down on February 7. Ubisoft don’t say when they’ll be back up again.
PC Gamer US February issue: The Old Republic launch guide and 2012′s biggest games!
You’ve read the review, now build the best character, find the dev team’s favorite items, survive your first PvP encounter, and get the most out of Star Wars: The Old Republic with our enormous 10-page launch guide and behind-the-scenes coverage. Then bury your nose deeper into the February 2012 issue of PC Gamer US for previews of 2012′s biggest games, including Diablo III, BioShock Infinite, Guild Wars 2 (which may just change everything we know about MMOs), Mass Effect 3, and more, as well as an all-star lineup of reviews, including Minecraft, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3, and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.
You can find it all and more on newstands now! Or, if your house is surrounded by small rabid beasts which have somehow made it clear that only your flesh can satiate their voracious appetites, you may want to stay inside and check us out on Coverleaf.com and Apple Newsstand.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations review
Well somebody at Ubisoft’s been watching Inception. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations begins with chronically plank-faced protagonist Desmond washing up on a sad-looking desert island. He’s told, by a digital ghost, that this is the default setup of the device that lets him explore his past lives – the Animus. Essentially, he’s trapped inside an autoexec.bat file.
But in a move that would make Christopher Nolan blush, while you control Desmond’s Renaissance ancestor Ezio in Constantinople, Ezio is himself discovering magical memory-unlocking keys left behind by his 12th century ancestor Altair. If time travelling, science-fiction oddness is what put you off Assassin’s Creed in the past, prepare to groan a decade of groans as Revelations routinely expends drastic countermeasures trying to avoid doing what it does best.
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations day one patch revealed
Ubisoft has released a list of the changes the Assassin’s Creed: Revelations day one patch will bring to the game. As reported by DSOGaming, the patch will improve Nvidia’s 3D vision with added sky rendering, and also fix “problems with running game in offline mode”.
Maybe Ubisoft aren’t all bad. Both Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City have required substantial post-launch patches to get them up and running properly on the PC, and these have taken a few weeks to appear. We won’t know if there are any more issues until we actually play it on December 2, but it seems Ubisoft is at least trying to nip some problems in the bud.
Full changelog after the break.
Assassin’s Creed survey lists possible settings for future titles
A number of Assassin’s Creed fans have received a survey asking them where they’d like to see Assassin’s Creed set. It’s multiple choice, which means we get to see the options that Ubisoft are considering. Eurogamer got hold of a screenshot of the survey from Empire State Gamers, which offers eight different settings that range from Medieval China to the American revolution and Victorian London. But which is your favourite?
Assassin’s Creed 3 to be set in Egypt?
The latest issue of PSM3 contains some interesting rumours regarding the future of the Assassin’s Creed series, hinting that Assassin’s Creed 3 could be set in ancient Egypt. The rumours have been spread by the ending of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, so beware of spoilers below the cut.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations “previously” trailer fills in the gaps
We’ve got a new Assassin’s Creed Revelations trailer! This one does a cracking job of filling in the plot leading up to the beginning of Revelations without clogging up your brain with miscellaneous info. It makes it all sound a bit Quantum Leap actually, albeit with less catchy music.
But sadly our review won’t be uploaded for a while. You might have spotted a few console reviews of Revelations hitting but we only just received the PC build of Revelations this morning. And we’re not that quick. We’ll have more on Assassin’s Creed Revelations soon.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations won’t have always-online DRM
Here’s some good news for those of us waiting patiently for Assassin’s Creed Revelations to tip-toe onto PC in a few weeks. Ubisoft have told RPS that Revelations won’t have their dreaded always-on DRM system that required players to be constantly connected to the internet, even during a single player campaign.
It’s a bit of a turnaround from Ubisoft’s position this summer, when they told us that the always-online DRM was “a success” that had led to “a clear reduction in piracy of our titles which required a persistent online connection.” Thankfully for us, they didn’t listen to themselves.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations trailer celebrates late November launch
“There comes a time in every man’s life when revenge is not enough” grunts the Assassin’s Creed Revelations launch trailer. That time came for me yesterday when my housemate ate the last cupcake, for Ezio, that time will come on November 29 when Assassin’s Creed Revelations hits PC in the US, and on December 2 for those in Europe. No series does hitting men in the back of the head with maces better, and the third entry in the Assassin’s Creed 2 trilogy should hopefully answer some big questions. Will Ezio get the answers he seeks? how does his fate tie in with Altair’s? Will Desmond get a personality? If we don’t find out this time round, there’s always next year’s entry.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations trailer tours the streets of Constantinople
All of the trailers for Assassin’s Creed Revelations have so far concentrated on Ezio and Altair’s interweaving story. There is an important third character that has been left out, the city of Constantinople itself. It has all the right ingredients for an Assassin’s Creed city, rival rebellious factions, a clash of cultures, power struggles at the top and a sense of simmering social unrest.
More importantly, it’ll also have lots of convenient poles, sturdy hanging flower baskets and an insensible number of minarets to climb. I was bouncing around Rome’s crumbling Colosseum in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood last night, and it looks as though Ubisoft have significantly improved on the level of detail in their architecture for Revelations. It’s out at the start of December after a bit of a delay on PC, filling in the gap between Batman: Arkham City and Star Wars: The Old Republic quite nicely.
