[HOLY SHIT] [UPDATED] Assassin's Creed III "Confirmed", Set During American Revolution

[UPDATE] Well, Ubisoft unveiled the boxart for the game - with a different action pose (our Assassin leaping with tomahawk in hand to slash at a redcoat laying on the ground) - pretty much confirming this artwork. They've still said they'll talk more on March 5th at 5PM.


[Original Post] Thanks to loose-lipped Best Buy employees, Kotaku was contacted by one with images of promotional artwork from Assassin's Creed III, set to be unveiled on March 5.


With the artwork in tow, we can see an American flag representing the 13 colonies, which sets it in the late 1700s. The star, described as a Native American, has the garb and weapons of one: the necklace, the shin-guards made of animal hide, the tomahawk (oh, the tomahawk), the bow and arrow...everything. Just looking at the face has traits of a Native American as well.


Many people can bitch all they want about the setting, as there wasn't as many buildings or on the scale as Rome or Constantinople, but one thing (alright, two thigns) people are forgetting is how well major cities such as Philly and New York were developed and the trees. Last of the Mohicans, anyone? Fucking hiding in trees? That's the perfect Native American assassin. And am I the only one hoping for some reenactments of the creek scene from The Patriot with the tomahawk? And don't get me starting on scalping; you know it's going to be there.


Regardless of what's been said, it's what I'm excited for that will happen on March 5. Will Ubisoft drop a teaser trailer or a full-blown trailer? Will there be an ARG? More art work? Character details? They're going to save something for E3, so whatever they reveal, I'll gobble up. Fast.

New Metal Gear Announced, Dog in Tow

A new Metal Gear Solid has been "announced", via a recruitment page run by Konami. There are only two images revealed (the first above, the second below), but the second image is what set off my thought juices.


After the break, you'll find a comment I posted on Kotaku (as well as the second image), which basically takes the image of the dog and runs with it, giving me the idea that, basically, this new game takes place in the 1980s in Southern Africa. It's really narrowing it down, but I believe it to be accurate:

[REMINDER] GTA V's Debut Trailer Hits Today [UPDATED]

[UPDATE] Sorry about the delay; I've had too much work/school/Batman lately to update the post. Here you go.

Today is the big day, children. Rockstar is set to unveil GTA V's trailer, giving us an insight into the newest city they're creating. A lot of people are saying a revisit to San Andreas/Los Santos (LA). I still say DC, with proof in the logo they revealed last week.

I'll update this post with a link to the trailer once it hits the web.

Ken Levine's Next Game Unveiled Next Week

Don't know who Ken Levine is? Then stop reading and walk away.

For those who care, Ken Levine is the mind behind Thief, System Shock and more recently, BioShock. His studio, Irrational Games, unveiled on their latest podcast that they will be unveiling their long-in-secrecy game, which has been known to exist since 2007 when BioShock first hit the streets.

Now, his new game - which he hasn't made any inclination if it's a sequel or a brand new IP - will be unveiled at a press conference in New York in the form of a live demo, with a CG trailer on August 12 (next Thursday).

Translation?

"You're invited to: Irrational Game's "Look With Your Eyes, Not Your Hands" Party"

Hey guys, Ken Levine here! Come to NY, sit around and watch us play a demo of our new game - no touching! - and froth with the longing of want and the taste of desire in your mouth. Then we'll give you a CG trailer soon after!"

I'm expecting a "nana-nana booboo" chant during the event.

Damn you, Levine!

LEVIIIIIIINE!!

/colbert

[Via Kotaku]

[E3 2010] Truthiness in E3 Predictions : Multiplatform

You can check out my first-party predictions, as well as my third-party/multi-platform predictions to refresh your memory. To see my other Truthiness posts, check out the Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft posts to see how I fared. To do this, I'm color-coding each entry to correspond to my prediction: Green is spot-on, Orange is half-right, and Red is Fail.


Most Likely:

• The Music Force (Guitar Hero 6 and Rock Band 3) : Keytars and shitty story elements galore.
• Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 Unvealed (story prediction at Joystiq as a comment) : Nothing at all, but remember, it was delayed into 2011.
• The Force Unleashed II Full reveal : With it's wicked awesome gameplay
• Dead Space 2 Unvealed : At Microsoft's conference.
• LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Revealed :
• Red Faction: Armageddon Demoed :
• Call of Duty: Black Ops is the biggest thing on the show floor (if Halo Reach isn't there) : First thing at Microsoft's conference with a brand new trailer, and Mark Lamia gave a live demo of a jungle level, plus showing off the controllable Hind-D level; buddy flies, you shoot.
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 gets hyped up for it's release in a few weeks : Yup
• FEAR 3 inexplicably shown off (with an explanation on the '3' in the middle of the title)
• Rage engine and game shown off : Oh yea, and it's gorgeous
• Rockstar Trifecta (Max Payne 3, LA Noire, Agent) : Guess I didn't catch the memo that they weren't even showing up.
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood makes it's debut, showing everything : Totally. At Ubisoft's conference (with Joel McHale, again), it was the second thing shown. Taking place in 1503, a few, short years after ACII's ending, you're back in Rome, the coup de grâce locale in ACII, starring as Ezio, and showing that he's not the only assassin in the luxurious Italian city (facts we already know). Launch date is November 16 (predicted!). Monteriggioni was attacked by Cesare Borgia, Rodrigo Borgia's son (the main antagonist from the previous game) in 1499, and the game starts you off escaping by word of Mario, your uncle (who, sadly, is killed by Cesare later on in the level, who is holding a Piece of Eden, too). There is more emphasis on horseback riding, as well as the ability to fire canons (this is shown during the defense of Monteriggioni). Sorry, but this seems to be more than just a simple "milk it for what it's worth" sequel, guys. Get used to it.

[E3 2010] Truthiness in E3 Predictions : First-Party

There was a lot that went down, so I'm separating Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony into three posts to help with ease-of-use, then giving the entire third-party post it's own. You can check out my first-party predictions, as well as my third-party/multi-platform predictions to refresh your memory. To see my other Truthiness posts, check out the Microsoft, Sony and Third-Party posts to see how I fared. To do this properly, I'm color-coding each entry to correspond to my prediction: Green is spot-on, Orange is half-right, and Red is fail.

I apologize for the horrible formatting, but Blogger seriously fucked up all of my prediction posts' formatting, so were you think there should be spaces, there are, but they're just not being rendered properly. And yes, the HTML code is right.

WILD CARD: Shigeru announces Ocarina of Time remake

Most Likely:

• The Legend of Zelda XVI Unveiled : Oh yea. Subtitled Skyward Sword, out next year.
• Golden Sun DS Unveiled : Subtitle is Dark Dawn, and comes out later this year.
• Retro's New Game : Yup. They're back, and guess with who? (go ahead, guess. wanna hint? look below)
• Donkey Kong is Back! (DKC4 or Jungle Beat 2) : DK's back, and he's rollin' with Retro. Yea. Retro. And it's of the Country variety.
• 3DS Unveiled : Definitely. And a TON of third-party support.

WB's New Mortal Kombat Game Ships Next Year, Loss of Pants Ensues

And just like that, WB has let the cat out of the bag and announced the newest entry in the series, simply called Mortal Kombat (this would be, technically, MK9, there's no superheroes, and no rare diseases). Seeing as the fighting style is back to the Mortal Kombat of yore (read: everything before MK4), expect this to be the series version of Sonic 4.

Simply watching the trailer, we've got Sektor, Sub-Zero, Johnny Cage, Reptile, Mileena, Kung Lao and a host of others, with stages including the Dead Pool and The Pit (of course). Kung Lao's fatality in the trailer is pretty gruesome, and there appears to be a dash of UFC-inspired bone breaking close-ups.

Expect it in 2011, and hopefully something at E3. In the meantime, check past the break for the trailer.

Dead Space 2 Cover Shown off by EA's Twitter

Over at EA's official Twitter for Dead Space 2, they've gone ahead and posted the boxart for the game, which, strangely enough, isn't due out in early next year. We're probably going to get some more info next week at E3 - probably even during Microsoft or Sony's press conferences - so showing the boxart off is just part of getting the hype train rolling.

Check the break for the full shot

[RUMOR] Infamous 2 Teased in Portugal's OPM

ScrawlFX got a hold of the newest issue of Portugal's Official PlayStation Magazine, and there's a teaser image for Infamous 2, only showing Cole's eyes, and two tiny screens at the bottom. The text on the image says:

"The announcement of a great PlayStation 3 exclusive sequel in the next ROPS."

ROPS is Portugal's abbreviation for the magazine.

Head over to ScralFX's site for the image. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Announced

Please let this be a horribly timed April Fool's Day joke, because they really are milking the LEGO game franchise. Quick recap before my head asplodes:

1. LEGO Star Wars (2005)
2. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (2006)
3. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2007)
4. LEGO Batman (2008)
5. LEGO Indiana Jones (2008)
6. LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (2009)
7. LEGO Rock Band (2009)
8. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (2010)

I originally typed that list up by memory (and sorted by franchise source), then went to Wikipedia for release years; my list was in chronological order before I knew it. Is that a bad thing?

...

Yes.

That makes 8, yes, eight LEGO games in...5 years. How in bloody fuck can you crank out that many games based off of...5 intellectual properties that fast?

Ghost Recon: Predator?

Well, according to Australia's version of the ESRB, the OLFC, who rated a game with such a title, a successor to the Advanced Warfighter is - finally - closer to release.

Initially announced through an Ubisoft financial forecast document, but officially announced it earlier this year in April.

No details on the game, but the financial forecast had slated it before April 2010. Well, all the major game shows have gone and past, so there's not much room for Ubisoft to announce this. Expect it to be delayed into the late summer or early fall and gameplay shown at E3.

[Via Joystiq]

Resistance 3 Announced?

As I'm cruising through my RSS feeds playing the Uncharted 2 MP demo, I see something in regards to a Resistance 3 billboard. Considering Sony and billboards get along so well (giant PSP ad, the black/white controversy, et cetera), it didn't surprise me Sony would do some future-advertising (PS9 anyone?).

Turns out, it's a stage prop for a movie being filmed in LA called Battle: Los Angeles featuring everyone's favorite Harvey Dent, Aaron Eckhart, and an eagle-eyed reader over at NeoGAF (goldsoundz) spotted the billboard while driving, and snapped the obligatory photos.

The movie itself isn't due out until February 2011, so I'm sure Sony could get R3 rubbed out by then. You could even say we can look forward to a Winter 2010 release date for the game, seeing as every game in the series has released in the Winter of their respective launch years.

Head past the break for details and my own speculation on what this could mean.