Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed 2: Multiplayer for the iPhone today. The game allows up to 4 players to go online and compete in a simple game-type. The goal is to hunt down and kill the other 3 assassins. The game features 24 in-game achievements, three cities, six power-ups, and leaderboards.

The game is only free for the first 48 hours, then it goes up to $2.99.  [iTunes Link]

Straight from the Steam Storefront page:

R.U.S.E™ is a one-of-a-kind real-time strategy game that allows players to bluff their enemies to lead their nation to victory, controlling the action using views that range seamlessly from the heart of the battlefield to the full theatre of war. Players will be plunged into the action thanks to the exclusive IRISZOOM® engine which offers an intuitive interface that allows for smooth, rapid transitions from a birds-eye view of the entire conflict, down into the heat of the battle and vice versa.

In R.U.S.E, your brain is your ultimate weapon as you fight a war of perception, where your ability to deceive and mislead your enemy determines success. A first in a strategy game, R.U.S.E reinvigorates the genre by using deception to give new-found depth to the gameplay.

This game is supposed to come out in early 2010, but you can get in on it now by participating in the beta. All you need is a computer that can run it, Steam, and a Fileplanet account (all except the computer are free).

All you have to do is click here, login and enter the Captcha for your code, then go to Ubisoft’s site, redeem it, and wait for your Steam key. It’ll allow you to play until December 23. I’ve got the game and I’m desperately looking for people to have unranked matches against for practice, so go ahead and add Defender0fHyrule to your friends if you’ve got the game, so we can play together. Below is an awesome trailer for the game. It’s free for the beta, so you can only lose time by trying it. DO IT! :P

As a massive fan of the original, I’ve been waiting for the next instalment ever since I stepped out of the Animus. Landing on American shores on the 17th November and PAL regions 20th November, thankfully we don’t have long to wait. Assassin’s Creed II is set in 15th century Italy between 1476 and 1503. The story follows the exploits of a new assassin by the name of Ezio which has him running around Venice, Florence and Tuscany in the same ‘open-world’ type game play as the original.

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Here it is.  The first part of three live action short films to promote Assassins Creed 2.  How does the short film match up against Halo 3 and ODST’s short films? Watch below to find out.

It seems like Ubisoft is taking a page right out of the Bungie/Microsoft Viral Marketing book.

1. Make a live action short film based off of your video game
2. Post it in three parts onto YouTube
3. ???
4. Profit

It worked for both Halo 3 and ODST.  I still love watching those films over and over. Something that brings the game to life.  Something that makes you want to see an actual live action movie, but hope they don’t and keep it short filmed and straight-to-web.

I can see high sales figures for Assassins Creed 2 from this high quality trailer. The first of 3 parts of the short film hits the web on Oct. 27th. Then the following two parts leading up to the release of Assassins Creed 2.

The Penny Arcade Expo just released some awesome news through the tubes via electronic mail! OH BOY!  In the release there is the usual panels of Red Vs. Blue, an opening keynote, and some news about some guy named Wil Wheton. Don’t get me wrong, hes awesome.  But The first public US demonstration of LucasArts’ Star Wars: The Old Republic and Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell Conviction and Assassin’s Creed® II is definitely hot news.

The PixelatedStaff (Jamie, Raul, and I) will be at the event to give you our hands-on review of each of the 3 games.

Stay tuned!

Full press release after the break

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Collector’s Editions are all the rage these days when it comes to video games. I myself own a good number of them. So it’s not surprising that Ubisoft has announced a collector’s edition of Assassin’s Creed II. Entitled Assassin’s Creed II: Black Edition, the game comes in a black collector’s box and includes the game (major duh!), a figurine of main character Enzo, a Bonus DVD that includes the game’s soundtrack, an exclusive hardcover Conspiracy Book, and three in-game bonus missions. The Black Edition will come in a limited edition black package, which contains an authentic holographic signature. No price has been announced in the US, though the Australian EB Games page lists the game as AU$150.

Even if it does turn out to be a bit on the pricy side, be glad it’s not a Japanese game. American consumers always get the some crappy, watered down Collector’s Bundle while Japan gets all the good stuff.

[Source]

They say “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  But for me, it was hard for me to get any word out while staring at these beautiful screenshots from Assassin’s Creed 2.

Wendy, I can fly!!!

For more screenshots, go past the break.

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Click to Play

Many social networkers will easily recognize the screen name “MrBabyMan.”  We bumped into Andy (we were surprised he had a real name, too) while he was in line for a demo of Ubisoft’s Red Steel 2. The game is paired with the new Wii Motion Plus and we were able to ‘dig’ up his initial reactions.