Playstation Magazine - July
I got the July issue of Playstation Magazine, which has a big AC:B feature. I can't get scans, unfortunately, but here's the gist of it.
- Desmond, Machiavelli, da Vinci, and Cesare Borgia all appear in the game. You'll get to see more Leonardo inventions [the flying machine returns, along with others], and Cesare Borgia is your new nemesis. Desmond appears, but not at the beginning of the game.
- Rome is 4x the size of Venice, comes in Tiber Island, Countryside, Downtown, and Classical districts. Ezio's based out of Tiber Island.
- Rome got its own game because Patrice and other designers felt it couldn't be done justice in AC2.
- Repair and upgrade the entirety of Rome. This will let you unlock new areas, merchant bonuses, and make citizens richer.
- Recruit and train your own group of Assassins, basically thieves but good. You can upgrade their skills and organize them. Also, you can send them on missions outside of Rome, though Ezio won't leave the city.
- Cat-and-mouse multiplayer, blending, no typical deathmatches. You'll be able to get skills like making a blend group of identical versions of yourself. Ingame, multiplayer is explained as Abstergo using the bleeding effect and a group of Renaissance-simulating Animi [this plural has been confirmed] to train their own employees.
- Multiplayer maps confirmed so far include Florence, Rome, and San Donato.
- The only mode reveales so far is called Wanted - 6-8 players, each assigned one target, while being stalked by someone else. Smoke bombs and temporary character model changes will be upgrades that the player can obtain. It sounds like blending will be a big part of multiplayer.
- Confirmed multiplayer skins include the courtesan, harlequin, executioner, priest, nobleman, doctor, and a devious-looking guy with the claw.
- Secret locations come back, including the Colosseum.
- Combat has been revamped, rewarding players for taking initiative [it's compared to Arkham Asylum]. Horse combat has been treated likewise, with the addition of an assassinate-from-horse ability.
- And, finally, you can ride your horse inside town.
how did you get the July issue so early? it's only May
and that does actually sound a bit awesome
The Loblaws near my house gets them early. Here are scans!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hewkii9/4650980130/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hewkii9/4650363343/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hewkii9/4650981628/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hewkii9/4650364745/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hewkii9/4650983032/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hewkii9/4650983988/sizes/l/
Wow, thank you soo much for these!
Thanks to SBIzokronus for the fantastic sig!
how did you get the July issue so early? it's only May
Technically it's the very end of May, meaning it's time for the new magazines to replace the previous month's issues with the new ones.
Most magazines and comic books, at least in North America, are labeled by the month in which they are to be removed from the newsstand. Not sure why they went that way, but it has been this way for nearly a century. I think the main idea might have been to make it easier to know when quarterly issues were to be removed as they didn't want newsstand operators to have to count three months in their head or something. 
So basically, the multiplayer is a town area filled with hundreds of NPCs that look like enemies but only a few of them are the real opponents?
ROB_88 wrote:
[On the meaning of BAMF]i figured it was something similar to a MILFBabes Await My..............Flap-a-doodle
So basically, the multiplayer is a town area filled with hundreds of NPCs that look like enemies but only a few of them are the real opponents?
They don't look like enemies, per se. They look like priests, courtesans, etc. But only a handful of them are actual assassins.
The main problem I foresee is that the actual player characters would clearly not move like the NPCs. Courtesans turn around and wave their arms around and whatnot, for example. I can't imagine the player character courtesan doing the same thing automatically. Even if she did, wouldn't it be obvious that the center-most one in a group is the assassin? Moving groups just wouldn't work as they're a dead giveaway, and any lone courtesan walking around is obviously a player. The same things would apply to other classes as well. They need to do some major work for players to be fooled by blending, because the normal AC2 mechanics wouldn't cut it by a long shot. 
I'm curious what changes they're going to make to the Eagle Vision mechanic. The current AC2 version would take 100% of the guesswork out of multiplayer and would render blending pointless. It'll need some heavy changes. I'm thinking that it should take a couple seconds for the character to focus the EV before the various colors to show up, and it will just give you a general area of people, rather than one specific person (if that person is blending). You shouldn't be able move while it's active, with any movement automatically switching it off. So would being bumped on the street or any other type of distraction. It also shouldn't keep the colors in effect once EV is switched off. It should just give you momentary glimpses, vague impressions, basically, and then you have to rely on a keen assassin eye to zero in and not lose them again in the crowd.
...wouldn't it be obvious that the center-most one in a group is the assassin? Moving groups just wouldn't work as they're a dead giveaway, and any lone courtesan walking around is obviously a player. The same things would apply to other classes as well. They need to do some major work for players to be fooled by blending, because the normal AC2 mechanics wouldn't cut it by a long shot.
Maybe Ubisoft will make it so a player can blend in a group like in AC2, but all other players aren't able to see them. They literally are invisible while in a group. That's all I can think of at this point of what they can do with that.
Psh, wow Ubi, way to totally ignore ALL of my multiplayer suggestions 
They've only shown the one mode, who knows they probably have half a dozen brewing. I'd be willing to bet they'll show some gameplay of the Wanted mode, and then tell us about at least two other modes at E3.
YAY! This can feed our impatience untill the game comes out.
Looks alright but the multiplayer sounds pretty disappointing tbh :S
As has already been said, players don't move anything like the NPCs. Most NPCs have a particular movement path that they often repeat and they move in what I think is an unnatural and very 'computer-generated' way (which they are obviously)
I think it would be way to obvious who are the players as they could run and move faster and diiferently to the real courtesans, doctors etc. Obvioulsy the idea of blending is to fit in with the crowd and NPCs around you but I just think the real players would stick out even if they walked or carried out only low-profile actions.
Oh well, I'll just hope for the best I guess. Thanks for the scans
THIS.SOUNDS.AMAZING. Can't wait for E3.
Assassins Creed multiplayer, for iDevices, is very much a smaller, 2D version of this.
EDIT: Also, horses in cities 
So uh...yeah...pre-ordered it yesterday...used a gift card...now I only have to pay $45 for a brand new game. I call the Harlequin! (If we can choose the character for some modes.)
I'm pretty sure that they allow you to pick your character, since it does mention an upgrade system for multiplayer.
So we can guees that you unlock classes as you level up.
ROB_88 wrote:
[On the meaning of BAMF]i figured it was something similar to a MILFBabes Await My..............Flap-a-doodle
This isn't related to Brotherhood, but there's a Secret Project Ubisoft has running that involves artwork of an Egyptian Assassin.
Thanks, thanks again!! She looks pretty deadly, and ZOMG Egypt, I love Egypt. I'm thinking about the blood red sun in the background though, we know
Thanks to SBIzokronus for the fantastic sig!
I love Egypt. It would be the absolute perfect place for an Assassin to show their stealth and skills.
Is it me or does the clothing and sun kind of look Japanese? Obviously they look quite Egyptian-themed too but there's something that looks a bit oriental.
I hope a future game/part of a game is set in Egypt though. It would be amazing!
Forgive me for the ignorance but what is a CME?
CME - Coronal Mass Ejections