Ubisoft Sinks DRM Piracy Claims [Drm]

Publisher Ubisoft has fired back about rumors that games like Silent Hunter 5 have already been cracked by pirates. As Kotaku posted previously , new anti-piracy measure, which will also be employed in the upcoming PC version of Assassin’s Creed II, requires that users maintain a constant internet connection in order to play their games. There is no “off-line” option, according to Ubisoft’s official FAQ on the new DRM method, resulting in an experience that sounds less than pleasant . Ubisoft later attempted to clarify how its DRM implementation works. In the case of Silent Hunter 5, which was released for Windows PCs yesterday, the team of crackers responsible claim that those who download the pirated version, currently making the rounds on torrent trackers and sites like Rapidshare, need only “Install game and copy crack, it’s that simple!” “You have probably seen rumors on the web that Assassin’s Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 have been cracked,” the publisher told website CVG. “Please know that this rumor is false and while a pirated version may seem to be complete at start up, any gamer who downloads and plays a cracked version will find that their version is not complete.” This doesn’t sound so simple. News: Ubi rubbishes DRM crack reports – ComputerAndVideoGames.com [CVG]

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Ubisoft Sinks DRM Piracy Claims [Drm]

Assassin’s Creed II Multiplayer Releases Free On The iPhone [Ubisoft]

Ubisoft stuns all sorts of civilians with Assassin’s Creed II Multiplayer for the iPhone today, available as a free download for the first 48 hours of release. First teased early last month, Assassin’s Creed II Multiplayer is, as one might expect, an online multiplayer game that takes place in Assassin’s Creed II’s Renaissance Italy setting. Players take on the role of an assassin, trying to take down rivals while blending in with civilians to avoid detection. I’ve download the game, created my account, and I’ve now been searching for a game for a good five minutes. Perhaps telling everyone who reads Kotaku about it will score me some competition. Not only has Ubisoft sprung the game on us by surprise, they’ve also released it for free, reverting to its regular price of $2.99 after 48 hours has passed, so waiting on picking it up would be a rather silly thing to do. Assassin’s Creed II: Multiplayer Launches Unexpectedly For Free [App Advice]

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Assassin’s Creed II Multiplayer Releases Free On The iPhone [Ubisoft]

Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery Micro-Review: Worth Discovering? [Review]

Once again, Assassin’s Creed vaults from the home console to the portable platform with the iPhone spin-off Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery, starring the second game’s Ezio de Auditore as he travels to Spain. Guide Ezio from platform to platform with touchscreen controls as he attempts to rescue his fellow assassin’s from the Inquisition and uncover a Templar plot along the way. Should Assassin’s Creed fans give the iPhone another shot, after last year’s lesser Altair’s Chronicles? Loved Platforming: Ubisoft and developer Griptonite Games—also responsible for the PSP side-story Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines—really seem to have picked up on what didn’t work with Bloodlines. In 3D, Assassin’s Creed is a big, vast game, a world that suffers when running on less powerful hardware. The transition to 2D for the DS and the iPhone versions was nothing short of brilliant. It’s no longer necessary to fill the city scape with people when you’re hauling ass through it—a few relatively stagnant spectators here and there, along with guards on patrol does the trick. Platforming-wise, the running and the jump feel great — exhilarating, even on an iPhone. It is, as Kotaku stated in an earlier preview, somewhat Sonic-y . Players use a slider on the lower left to move Ezio right or left, and while the in-game camera on the iPhone/iPod Touch version isn’t exactly helpful, the basic platforming mechanic has a great, old school feel to it. Combat: The basic straight-up clanging of swords is merely okay. The fun part is moving in for the kill for stealth attacks. While there isn’t a huge variety in the killing blow animations, there were just enough to keep me from getting tired or bored with them. New weapons like daggers mix-up gameplay as the title progresses. Hated Unbalanced: Some of the missions were incredibly easy, others were disproportionately hard. There didn’t seem to necessarily be any progression. The initial tutorial, for example, was more difficult than anything thrown at the player in the first couple of stages. This didn’t exactly give a strong sense of pacing. There were other some gripes, like the stiff and overly talky cut scenes after each stage, which expounded upon the story, but felt unnatural and undramatic. The poor voice acting didn’t help. But for the player following the Assassin’s Creed tale closely, there will surely be something here for them. The core of Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery has a great deal to offer, and I applaud the re-imagining of the game as a 2D platformer. It’s doesn’t always work, but it’s a clever move on the part of Ubisoft and developer Griptonite. As with Bloodlines, I still don’t quite feel the portable versions of Assassin’s Creed are where they should be. The good thing is that each portable entry is better than the last, and eventually, I know, they’ll find the sweet spot. Until then, Discovery does a respectable job of holding us over. Assassin’s Creed II Discovery was developed by Griptonite Games and published by Ubisoft on January 14. Retails for $9.99 USD; Available via the iTunes App Store. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through all stages.

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Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery Micro-Review: Worth Discovering? [Review]

New PSPgo Owners Get Assassin’s Creed or LittleBigPlanet Free* [Sony]

Are you ready to take the digital download-only plunge? If so, Sony will reward new PSPgo owners with one of two free games, handing out a complementary copy of either the portable port of LittleBigPlanet or Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines. That’s $39.99 USD worth of game, which might make the $249.99 USD asking price of Sony’s newest PlayStation Portable iteration a little easier to swallow. The downloadable freebie is apparently available to those who purchase a go between Thursday, February 18, 2010 and Sunday, March 21, 2010, which would appear to leave early adopters and earlier this week adopters without a freebie. The registration process for getting that gratis copy of LittleBigPlanet PSP or Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines doesn’t appear to require a dated receipt, so folks who haven’t signed onto the PlayStation Network with their PSPgos may be able to snag a copy. We’ll see if Sony has some clarification on this. PSPgo In-game Promotion Code Available Now [PlayStation.blog]

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New PSPgo Owners Get Assassin’s Creed or LittleBigPlanet Free* [Sony]

Next Assassin’s Creed Will Have Full Campaign, "Justified" Multiplayer [Dice 2010]

On the red carpet for the Interactive Achievement Awards here at the DICE convention yesterday, two of the top creators of the Assassin’s Creed series provided a little better sense of what the series’ surprise next installment will be like. Ubisoft creative director Patrice Desilets and series lead writer Corey May were both there to celebrate their game’s nine nominations and hope to win. While the next Assassin’s Creed has been described as the series’ first installment with multiplayer , Desilets and May said that the game, featuring ACII hero Ezio’s return to Rome, will have a full single-player campaign. Desilets also said — “You know us” — that the game’s multiplayer will have a “narrative justification.” The game is being developed at Ubisoft Montreal. May added, with joking helpfulness: “It won’t be boring.” The game is expected to come out by the end of March 2011. Questioned how there could be another full Assassin’s Creed just a year after the previous game, Desilets said that it took a year to get the technology fully in place for the last one and is confident that that makes it easier to turn this next game around more swiftly. Unfortunately for the two men, Assassin’s Creed II was swept from the awards, losing to Uncharted 2 in most of the categories in which both games were nominated. But with a new Assassin’s Creed coming so soon, they’ll be getting another crack at awards glory sooner than most franchise followers expected.

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Next Assassin’s Creed Will Have Full Campaign, "Justified" Multiplayer [Dice 2010]

13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards kick off in Vegas

Jay Mohr returns to host DICE Summit’s crowning event; Uncharted 2 leads with 15 nominations, Assassin’s Creed II, Modern Warfare 2, Batman also get multiple nods; full event liveblog inside.

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13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards kick off in Vegas

Assassin’s Creed II Lights The Bonfire Of The Vanities Tomorrow [Clips]

Ubisoft has released the trailer for Bonfire of the Vanities, the second helping of downloadable content for Assassin’s Creed II, dropping tomorrow for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. With tomorrow’s release of the Bonfire of the Vanities downloadable content, Ezio’s memory sequence will finally be complete. At least until the next Assassin’s Creed game arrives. It also stars Ezio, so I guess the assassins are going to find a floppy disk or USB keychain lying around with some extra stuff on it. You know how those assassins are, always misplacing things. Data, rare artifacts, really pointy daggers – they’d lose their heads if they weren’t screwed on, those whacky kids.

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Assassin’s Creed II Lights The Bonfire Of The Vanities Tomorrow [Clips]

Assassin’s Creed 2 DLC: Bonfire of the Vanities Official Movie

Check out the latest DLC video for Assassin’s Creed 2: Bonfire of the Vanities.

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Assassin’s Creed 2 DLC: Bonfire of the Vanities Official Movie

Assassin’s Creed II "Bonfire of Vanties" Releases Thursday

Ubisoft’s just confirmed via social networking site Twitter that it’s releasing the highly-anticipated second piece of DLC from Assassin’s Creed II, Bonfire of Vanities, this coming Thursday: “#AC2 Bonfire of Vanties will hit February 18th.”

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Assassin’s Creed II "Bonfire of Vanties" Releases Thursday

Silent Hunter 5, Anno Headed to iPhone [Ubisoft]

iPhone versions of Silent Hunter 5: Battle for the Atlantic and Anno Dawn of Discovery: The Harbor will be hitting by March, Ubisoft announced today. The two iPhone games, along with the multiplayer addition to the iPhone’s Assassin’s Creed II: Discovery, are all listed as arriving in the fourth quarter of Ubisoft’s 2009 calendar, which runs from January 2010 to March 2010. No other details for the two iPhone games were giving.

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Silent Hunter 5, Anno Headed to iPhone [Ubisoft]

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