When launching Assassin's Creed on the PC earlier this year, Ubisoft contracted Charlotte-based Optical Experts Manufacturing to produce the retail copies of the game disc. Part of that contract was an assurance on the part of OEM that they had top-shelf security measures in place, and that no game disc would ever leave their premises. Thing is, in February - six weeks before the game's launch - a pirated version of the game turned up on the internets. A pirated version that was found to have come from an OEM-produced disc, that had been uploaded from the home of an OEM employee. Oops. Ubisoft are suing OEM for breach of contract, negligence and copyright infringement, to the tune of $US 10 million. Neither Ubisoft or OEM have yet commented on the lawsuit.

Ubisoft sues over Assassin's Creed leak [GameSpot] [Pic]

Assassin's Creed had a lot of hype. Assassin's Creed 2 will have more. Just listen to Ubisoft US boss Laurent Detoc go on about the inevitable sequel:

We just did Assassin's and are sitting on top of the world, but we have to come back to reality very quickly because you're only as good as your last product... Don't drink the Kool-Aid too much; we're going have to defend our position... When we bring it [Assassin's Creed] back, there will be more anticipation for it.

Not only hype, but also look forward to Ubisoft explain how the game play is no longer repetitive and dull. We eagerly anticipate that.

Europe's Top Gamer [Forbes via Eurogamer] [Pic]

In a new article lauding what it calls Ubisoft's "ascent" as it contends for third place (behind Electronic Arts and Activision) in the industry, Forbes heard from Ubi's North American president, Laurent Detoc, on its strategy for spacing the Prince of Persia games.

As the article points out, Ubi's first franchise re-up happened in 2003, followed by two more titles back-to-back. And then three years of radio silence. Why?

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Not their best work, but it's still fun to watch the Mega64 guys trying to blend in at some sort of real world farmer's market while dressed as Altair from Assassin's Creed. The video's highlight? The failed assassination attempt on an octogenarian.

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Ubisoft handed out packs of these four Raving Rabbids at this year's Ubidays. I'm not a huge schwag fan myself, but these managed to melt even my cold heart. And yes, we're sorry Ubisoft, turns out Sam Fischer did make an appearance at your show.

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That Ubisoft/Kojima April Fool's joke was pretty elaborate! Snake running around MGS4 dressed as Altair, looking for all the world like it was actually in the game...so would it surprise you to hear that it wasn't really a gag? Yeah, that's right. It was announced at the MGS4 wrap party today that MGS4 players will indeed be able to unlock an Assassin's Creed outfit for Snake (we won't tell you how), which were it not for the silver moustache and trademark cigarette would have you thinking Altair himself had time-travelled his way into the final Metal Gear title. How's this happening? Why's this happening? Who knows, the mind boggles.

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You know, I don't play Assassin's Creed, I don't own a PC, don't game on PCs, but every time I watch this video I feel a mixture of amusement, sympathy and outrage. Plus I love the jolly music. I imagine it as an accompaniment to some poor bastard stepping on rakes and skateboards cleaning out his garage. Or a Rube Goldberg contraption gone horribly wrong.

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Assassin's Creed as a brand will be around for "years to come," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during today's conference call.

Assassin's Creed has sold 6 million units since launch, Guillemot said, as he summarised a corporate strategy that relies on enduring in-house brands balanced against the introduction of new franchises.

No mention of February 2008's Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles for DS was made during the call, but Ubisoft's enthusiasm for the original game's "better-than-expected" performance seemed to indicate an interest in more adventures for Altaïr in the future.

Ubisoft sales jumped nearly 37 percent during their latest fiscal year, which ended last month, rocketing from $US 1.07 billion to $US 1.46 billion over the year, the company announced during their annual call today.

The jump was mostly due to Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Assassin's Creed doing better than expected, they said. Vegas 2 sold close to 2 million, while 6 million copies of Assassin's Creed were sold. Ubi said they were also happy with their Games for Everyone brand, which includes titles like My Word Coach and My French Coach and brought in $US 361 million.

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Like its PS3 predecessor, the PC version of Assassin's Creed has launched with a few...problems. As in, it constantly crashes. Good news is a patch is on the way, which will fix the "majority of issues reported by fans". Bad news (for graphics whores) is that Ubisoft had to cut DirectX 10.1 support in order to get it working. Which, you know, isn't bad at all, since actually being able to play the game surely outweighs whatever minuscule advantages you were enjoying with 10.1. Doesn't it?
Assassin's Creed PC patch comes at the cost of DX10.1 support [Ars Technica]

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