If you watched the first episode of the live-action Assassin’s Creed short films, and coloured yourself impressed, then you’d best get to watching the remaining two episodes of the series.

Entitled Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, this series of short films was created in conjunction with Ubisoft and their in-house FX house, Hybride Technologies, and tells the story of Giovanni Auditore, the father of Assassin’s Creed II protagonist Ezio, leading up to the events of the second game.

The first episode of the series was watched 1.7 million times on YouTube’s front page within a period of 24 hours, so go on and watch the rest of the films, including the credits sequence, below:

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Released on YouTube last week to the apparent acclaim of Assassin’s Creed fans everywhere, the first episode of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Lineage live action short film was viewed 1.7 million times on the video service within 24 hours.

This makes the first episode of the three part Assassin’s Creed: Lineage series the most watched video (within a period of one day) ever released on YouTube.

Quite a feat!

Ubisoft also confirmed that all three episodes of Assassin’s Creed: Lineage will be released and available online as of November 13th, mere days before the release of Assassin’s Creed II over the week of November 17th.

The gameplay trailers and screenshots of Assassin’s Creed II that have been released to date have quite clearly shown the level of detail that the game features. Even so, they don’t even begin to do the beautifully rendered streets and canals of Venice justice. Each scene has been lovingly re-created with an amazing reproduction of the Italian city to bring a sense of authenticity to the game.

Set in 15th century Italy, the game tells the tale of how the lead character Ezio becomes an Assassin in order to avenge the tragedy that befalls his family, after which he is branded a criminal and seeks to reclaim his family’s honour. While we didn’t get to have any hands-on time with Assassin’s Creed II, we did get to spend some quality time with the game, watching a demo and discovering Venice and a couple of the new features of the game along the way.

Continue reading El33tonline’s preview of Assassin’s Creed II.

The latest trailer released for Assassin’s Creed II reveals more about Ezio’s past and what drove him to become an Assassin.

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The latest developer video diary for Assassin’s Creed II has been released, which discusses a bit of the backstory of the game, while also showing off some interesting pieces of in-game footage.

The video also discusses the three different factions within the world of Assassin’s Creed II (Thieves, Courtesans and Mercenaries), who will help players complete missions and progress is a variety of ways, while simultaneously helping leaders of those factions achieve their goals.

Watch part two of the Assassin’s Creed II developer diaries below:

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The developers at Ubisoft Montreal have put together an interesting video development diary for Assassin’s Creed 2, the first of what appears to be a series of six diaries that aim to further flesh out and reveal the decisions and behind-the-scenes inner workings of the team working on the game.

This first developer features members of the team discussing the main character, Ezio, what his roots are, what his name means and how his personality and social standing fits into the game. Watch below:

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Since the first teaser trailer for Assassin’s Creed II surfaced in April we have learned that the next Assassin’s Creed outing will be set in Italy during the Renaissance and that we’ll be playing as the incarnate of Ezio. We also know that the development team weighs in at 450 members, roughly triple that of the team that worked on the original entry to the series, and that the sequel is scheduled to be released by the end of this year.

This week we discovered a few more things about Assassin’s Creed II. Sony showcased the game at their E3 press conference on Tuesday, with the demo showing off the architecture and setting of the Italian Renaissance (the backstory to the game is set directly after the events of the first), the use of a Renaissance-era flying machine made by a friend of yours (in the game) and introducing Leonardo Da Vinci, who will also provide you with other inventions during the course of the game. The ability to swim was also demonstrated, while the protagonist was also shown taking out two enemies at once with his two wrist-blades.

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After Microsoft and Nintendo made some impressive announcements at their respective E3 2009 press conferences, all eyes were on Sony to deliver equally noteworthy revelations, with many rumours (and confirmed rumours) floating around in the form of a new project from Kojima Productions, the PSP Go and further showings of their announced and unannounced games.

Read on below to see just what went on at Sony’s E3 2009 press conference:

(Update: Now includes footage accompanying the announcements at the conference, including Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the PSP Go and others.)

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Assassin’s Creed 2 producer, Sebastien Puel, has revealed that the size of the development team working on the project is roughly triple that of the team that worked on the original entry to the series.

Weighing in at around 450 members, which includes most of the core members from the first game, the Assassin’s Creed 2 team has ballooned in order to finish the project in about half the time of the original Assassin’s Creed (which took “around four years” according to Puel).

The team has also grown in order to address the flaws of the first game, as well as implement “thousands of ideas” that didn’t make the cut the first time around, as Puel says:

“The comments we received on Assassin’s Creed had lots of impact on the conception of Assassin’s Creed II and we are definitely aiming to enhance the game experience.

“Assassin’s Creed was generally acclaimed for being very innovative for a next-generation game, but we know it had its flaws.” Such as?

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Despite the release of the first debut teaser trailer for Assassin’s Creed 2, leading to wild speculation around Mother Internet, Assassin’s Creed 2 has now been ‘officially’ announced, first with the trailer released earlier today, and now with words. Oh, and it’s actually Assassin’s Creed II, as Ubisoft get all Roman on us.

Apparently, the original Assassin’s Creed was super successful, selling over eight million copies around the world.

Ubisoft are probably hoping for a hit of similar proportions with Assassin’s Creed II, as the game has been in “intensive development” for over two years. Creative director at Ubisoft, Patrice Desilets said:

“Our creative team is working hard to top the experience of Assassin’s Creed. We’ve made improvements to every aspect of the game.

“We’ve plunged ourselves into the stunning history of the Italian Renaissance so that we can offer fans a unique, varied and innovative Assassin’s Creed experience.”

In Assassin’s Creed II, you’ll be playing in a vast open-world environment as the incarnate of Ezio, “a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy who’s been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy.” You’ll be able to wield a diverse set of weaponry in a variety of missions as you are plunged into “a captivating and epic story.”

Assassin’s Creed II is gearing up for release by the end of this year, or a “Holiday 2009” release, if you prefer.

Here’s a nice quick teaser trailer for Assassin’s Creed 2 basically confirming what people have been thinking since the first debut trailer was released – for the next Assassin’s Creed outing, we’re going to Italy during the Renaissance.

Mystery and intrigue, according to the teaser, are sure to rear their ugly, fascinating mugs in the process.

Watch the (stylish) teaser trailer for Assassin’s Creed 2 below:

From the trailer, it seems the release window for Assassin’s Creed 2 is the end of this year. Praise be!

The teaser trailer below for Assassin’s Creed 2 pans over a series of drawings and scribblings made famous by Leonardo da Vinci, the 15th century artist and inventor, only with a few minor additions to the drawings… such as the wrist-blade brandished by the protagonist from the original Assassin’s Creed, Altair.

Are we going to Italy in the 15th century this time around? Sounds good, as long as we don’t have to go killing off artists of the Renaissance, or take missions from them…

Watch the teaser trailer for Assassin’s Creed 2 below: