First Look at Michael Fassbender in Assassin’s Creed

Fox announced the Assassins Creed film nearly two years ago with Michael Fassbender at the helm. It’s needless to say the first official image released was a long time coming.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Two Trailers and Gameplay Footage

I don’t know why I continue to play Assassin’s Creed games. I really don’t. They are basically the same game with just different people and settings each time and yet for some reason when a new one is announced I get all a’tingle with excitement. This newest incarnation, Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, is no different. During their E3 press conference, Ubisoft gave us a good look at the new game, which has moved on to the islands.

There are few things I love more than tall ships and the open sea. Add in pirates and the trademark “prettiness” that makes a player want to go find all those viewpoints in game, there’s no doubt I won’t be heading to my local game retailer in October to pick this one up.

Also released was a “Horizon Trailer” and it does a whole lot more to show the pretty.

But what if the scenery and cinematics aren’t what drive you to buy a game? Well don’t fear, Ubisoft will happily convince you to impart with your money as well as they released a gameplay trailer at the same time.

Are you one of those people that just needs more, more, more? Then you’ve come to the right place because there is more and more when it comes to videos for this game.

I told you there was a lot. Frankly maybe we don’t need to buy the game anymore, just sit and watch all these trailers and such and pretend we are playing. Oh who am I kidding? That $60 is already burning a hole in my pocket. I would go out and preorder it right now if only I could find a place to preorder it from. Oh wait!

Unfortunately, right now the only thing that shows up when you click any of the retailers is Gamestop’s “Black Island Pack” which includes the Deadly Black Ship, legendary silver flintlock pistols used by Captain Morgan, and then Captain Morgan’s costume, picture, and title. As intriguing as that is, I’d like to see the other bonuses before I make a decision. I’m particularly interested in Target’s “Trove of Mystery Pack”. Hopefully Ubisoft will fix that glitch here soon because…

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag will be released on October 29th, 2013. Happy pillaging!

Tom Hardy to Play Sam Fisher in the Upcoming ‘Splinter Cell’ Movie

Tom Clancy games were some of the most popular shooters in the early days of this console generation, back before Call of Duty stormed in and beat everything else from the genre into non-existence. Among the Clancy-approved series were Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and, of course, Splinter Cell. As Sam Fisher, an elite agent of the fictional Third Echelon branch of the NSA, players infiltrated terrorist cells using only stealth tactics and a small kit of advanced gadgetry. In its heyday Splinter Cell was beloved and one of the best-selling franchises out there. The games are still around, but the popularity and quality of Sam Fisher’s more recent missions have waned considerably.

But hat’s not to say that interest has completely dropped off. There’s still enough gas in the tank that Ubisoft Studios is in the process of starting up a Splinter Cell movie, and according to Geek Exchange Ubi has now successfully wrangled The Dark Knight Rises co-star Tom Hardy to play the part of Agent Fisher. This is a huge get for Ubisoft, who also recently announced that Michael Fassbender will star in their Assassin’s Creed adaptation. With both films featuring high-caliber stars they’ll likely draw an audience, but hopefully the show of talent on camera is reflective of the talent behind it; despite the fact that studios have been converting video game properties to the silver screen for over thirty years, there has yet to be one worth watching. Ubisoft’s own Prince of Persia has arguably been the best of them so far, but it wasn’t exactly a critical success either.

Tom Hardy has been one of my favorite actors to watch since I stumbled upon Bronson a year or two ago. Following his somewhat minor role as Eames in Inception his career has taken off (Rubbing shoulders with Christopher Nolan should have that effect), and the English actor has found himself among Hollywood’s elite ever since. The guy just can’t act badly, and he rarely picks a wrong movie. He also grows a fantastic beard.

I wonder about his casting in this though. The last Splinter Cell game I played was 2005’s Chaos Theory, and at least to that point, Sam Fisher was not a particularly nuanced character. He’s a rough and tumble proficient killer which fits Tom Hardy’s repertoire for sure, but Fisher is a middle-aged man with greying hair and a two-years-past-retirement attitude. It will be interesting to see how much of that is retained in the movie, as well as the rest of the series canon. I always prefer a more distant approach – retain the characters and the setting but create a brand new plot. Video games are lacking in those as a rule, and the only thing less exciting than a fetch quest in a video game is a fetch quest on a movie screen. But this is all speculation. As production nears and more details come to light we’ll stay on top of it.

Michael Fassbender Will Star In “Assassin’s Creed”

Assassin’s Creed is one of those magnificent games that manages to pack together a high concept, dense, and intricately woven story, with heavy mythology and symbolism, and still manages to be a commercial success. I suppose the difference between games and other mediums, is that with a game, you can skip the story if you like, and focus solely on the killing and whatnot. You’d be doing yourself a huge disservice, as the AC storyline is one of the better science fiction stories being told in gaming, or any media today.

The first game is initially about you being the descendant of an ancient league of assassins, reliving your genetic memories via a virtual reality machine that can access historical details otherwise obscured or lost to time. The repercussions of your discoveries, and the true intent of the scientists putting you through these experiments is what soon becomes captivating, along with the seemingly anachronistic parallels between the past and the present. Eventually the back story becomes the main story, and in the games sequels it’s expanded greatly, and really makes you wonder just what the hell is going on.

So with much optimism, I’m glad to say that Michael Fassbender, who some of you might recognize as David from Prometheus, or Magneto from X-Men: First Class, has been cast in the lead role for the film. It’s not confirmed if he’ll actually be playing Desmond Miles, the lead from the game, but one could presume so. Speaking briefly on the casting of Fassbender is Ubisoft Motion Pictures CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet, via Coming Soon:

“Michael Fassbender was our first choice. Michael (Fassbender) is an extremely smart, talented, versatile and committed actor.” 

For me, even though the game is a lot of fun, I’d rather just watch the brilliant story play out, which is why a movie is such a great idea. Historical fiction is fairly popular right now, and even though The Da Vinci Code, National Treasure and films of that ilk are gaining years in age, all it would take is something like Assassin’s Creedto blow up and get everybody excited about how awesome history is again. I can’t wait to see this thing, and I should really get around to finishing the last 2 games in the series, before 3 comes out, and so should you!

Button Mashing: Halo 4, Assassin’s Creed 3 & Max Payne 3

This is Button Mashing, Grizzly Bomb’s video game news headquarters. Previews, interviews, rumors and all the latest stories relating to the biggest games, all in one place. Here are the most important things you need to know for the week of March 12, 2012:

343 Industries Shows Off Halo 4

I don’t think anybody truly believed the Xbox’s flagship franchise was going to take a bow and walk away after Halo 3, so when Halo 4 was announced it didn’t feel much like a huge break from its predecessors. However 343 Industries is doing everything they can to make us believe that there is more to this sequel than a simple extension of the trilogy, a nice example of which is this ‘First Look’ video from Halo Waypoint:

Halo 4 will be the first game in the series to be developed outside of Bungie Studios, now that the franchise’s creators have officially separated from Microsoft, but some of their people have transferred to 343. It should make the change of hands much smoother than this type of change often is, and the video above does a lot to instil some faith in the new team.

My interest in Halo has been waning since before Reach came out, so a revamp of the franchise sounds like a great idea to me. I’m sure most fans would disagree, but I think a lot of good can come from looking at the story with fresh eyes.

Halo 4 is slated for a late 2012 release date.

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage

In case you missed it, a couple weeks ago I reported on the Assassin’s Creed movie deal that had been announced. I admit that I was a little concerned about the amount of control that Ubisoft demanded as part of their deal, that was until I saw Assassin’s Creed Lineage today.

“The story is a prequel to the video game Assassin’s Creed II. It centres around the father of the game’s main character Ezio Auditore de Firenze. Giovanni is an assassin living during the Renaissance in 15th century Italy. At this dawn of a new era, a conspiracy is being plotted by one corrupt family to overthrow the powerful Medici family and destroy a unified Italy. As an assassin, Giovanni must face this threat and bring justice. The story introduces the situation before Assassin’s Creed II, and the enemies of both characters.”

Thanks Wikipedia!

I had stumbled upon this little gem while browsing the video store on my way to rent Assassin’s Creed Revelations.

It was a really well made film and the environments in it were surprisingly good considering it was almost entirely done in green screen. It really says something for Ubisoft that I was able to recognize all the characters from the game and remember what roles they played in the story. I for one now have complete faith in their ability to make a kick ass movie.

Now because I am such a nice guy I will save you all the rental fee. Assassin’s Creed Lineage was posted on Ubisoft’s YouTube channel long ago, I just didn’t know about it… Enjoy!