Assassin's Creed 3 TV spot declares war is upon us

Most of you probably already have your minds made up about whether or not you're going to be buying Assassin's Creed 3, and aren't really going to be swayed by one more piece of advertising. That said, it's always interesting to see how companies undertake the unenviable task of trying to sell a game to the mass public.

http://www.gamesradar.com/assassins-creed-3-tv-spot-declares-war-upon-us/

Time will tell, of course, but we think this ad has what it takes to sell the game to the chest-thumping "murrica" crowd. Let's just hope it airs right after the national anthem when we're all hopped up on patriotism.

AC3 is set to launch next month on October 30 for PS3 and Xbox 360 and on November 20 for PC.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Assassin's Creed III Dev: "Triple-A Games Dying Out"

Assassin's Creed III creative director Alex Hutchinson has described the game as being one of the last of the big triple-A "dinosaurs".

In the latest issue of Edge (via CVG), Hutchinson claims that massive production teams the likes of which made Assassin's Creed III are becoming a thing of the past.

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We're the last of the dinosaurs. We're still the monster triple-A game with very large teams [and] multiple studios helping out on different bits. There are fewer and fewer of these games being made.

"We're the last of the dinosaurs. We're still the monster triple-A game with very large teams [and] multiple studios helping out on different bits. There are fewer and fewer of these games being made, especially as the middle has fallen out," he said.

"We really felt like this was a rare opportunity. We had an experienced team, who had worked on the franchise for a while; we had the full backing of Ubisoft to make something huge; we had almost three years to do it, which is a rarity these days; the tech and the hardware platforms were both mature, which allowed us to start running instead of building base features; and the installed user base for all platforms is massive.

"Many of these factors are about to change, by choice of circumstance," Hutchinson concluded, "so a lot of us truly believed this was a once in a career opportunity."

His concerns have been echoed by others in the industry like Cliff Bleszinski who feels that the cost of developing on the next generation of hardware will stymie development. But others, such as Eidos president Ian Livingstone, have come out equally strongly saying we'll always want triple-A single-player games, and the industry must find ways to accommodate this.

What do you think? Should escalating costs mean Assassin's Creed III may be the last of its kind, or do you feel it's a worthwhile investment for companies to employ larger teams?

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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Going to PAX Prime Friday? Here's how you can enjoy a free lunch with us and Assassin's Creed III developers

Like free food, particularly Revolutionary War-themed BBQ? How about the upcoming game Assassin's Creed III? And how about eating that free food in the company of developers for Assassin's Creed III and editors from GamesRadar, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine? Well, you'll soon be able to do all those things, so long as you're attending PAX Prime 2012 this weekend in Seattle. What are we talking about?

http://www.gamesradar.com/going-pax-prime-friday-read-how-enjoy-free-lunch-us-and-assassins-creed-iii-developers/

As part of the Penny Arcade Expo held annually in Seattle, WA, we're going to be involved in a reader meet-up that we're doing with Assassin's Creed III. On Friday August 31, 2012 starting at 11:30AM, a food truck with BBQ in a style not unlike at the Revolutionary War will be supplying free lunch to hungry fans. The food truck (run by Maximus Minimus) will be located very close to PAX Prime, specifically at 8th and Pine, across the street from the Paramount Theater. Not only will you find other Assassin's Creed fans there, but you'll also meet some of the staff from GamesRadar, along with its sister publications PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. And accompanying them are special guests, such as Assassin's Creed III's Lead Game Designer Steven Masters and Level Design Director Philippe “Phyz” Bergeron.

So once more for all the PAX Prime attendees reading this, here's all the info you need to know if you want to meet us for lunch this Friday in Seattle:

What: Assassin's Creed III BBQ food truck

Where: 8th and Pine (Across the street from Paramount Theater) in Seattle, WA

When: 11:30AM - 3:30PM Friday, 8/31

See you there!

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

What You Won't See in Assassin's Creed III

In December 2010, Ubisoft created a video that represented its ambitions for Assassin's Creed III - something known as target footage. Creative Director Alex Hutchinson insists that developers should always aim for exactly what they intend to ship, never over-estimating their capabilities or falling short of their own expectations. Hutchinson presented the Assassin's Creed III target gameplay render during his GDC Europe Keynote, and it was almost indistinguishable from what we've all seen from the near-finished game. In just a few short minutes, it establishes traversal and combat animation routines, the hunting mechanics, jumping through trees and climbing any cliff. But it isn't exactly Assassin's Creed III; a lot has changed along the way.

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For a while we took the bow out of the game

"Some of the notable cuts from that footage include the idea of scalping," Hutchinson explained. It was something that was "historically defensible", but in the context of gameplay it was too gruesome and didn't serve much purpose for the character. For a while the bow was taken out of the game, too, because it wasn't historically supported enough to give Ubisoft the confidence to include it. Additional research eventually gave Assassin's Creed III's development team enough evidence to include it. There was originally a hook-blade as well, an extension of one of Ezio's tools, which you'd throw it at enemies to pull them toward you. "People on the team kept saying 'Get over here!' every time they used it," said Hutchinson. He took it out of the game, but a version of the device stayed in Assassin's Creed III -- you can hook enemies to yank them up tree branches.

Philadelphia was prototyped for Assassin's Creed III, but ultimately cut because "it just wasn't very much fun." Hutchinson said Philadelphia is "very, very flat, it's very, very rigid. The streets were too wide." It also would have represented the first "planned city" in the series -- Philadelphia was built on a grid, unlike the more unpredictable nature of past settings. Instead, Philly is a town you'll visit in cutscenes rather than suffer through in gameplay.

When it came to creating a main character, Hutchinson wanted a hero that could hang with Altair and Ezio. "I believe, even as someone who didn't work on [Assassin's Creed II], that Ezio is one of the best characters in games." Connor, therefore, had to be as iconic as Ezio and Altair. He was always intended to be Native American -- "We didn't want to make Mel Gibson from The Patriot fighting for America, nor did we want someone fighting for king and country -- but he wasn't always the guy we know now.

Early concepts deliberately went to artistic extremes. The "full on eagle outfit was never going to fly," Hutchinson said. In that particular image, Connor was decked out in wide-spreading feathers and had an an animal head for a hat. Ubisoft concepted him in all sorts of animal skins as well as minimalist robes before ultimately settling on subtle cultural twists on a classic white robe.

Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor for IGN's Xbox 360 team. He’s also quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN.

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