Anyway, to get back on topic. There’s a new Assassin’s Creed coming this year, November to be precise! It’s going to be concluding the story of Ezio’s life. Many people had hoped for a new main character, but I’m very happy to have Ezio back for more action! As far as I understand, the game will give us answers instead of just raising more questions. It’s supposed to make us understand the link between Altaïr, Ezio and Desmond and finish that part of the story. Nothing has been mentioned about finishing Desmond’s story, so expect more Assassin’s Creed game in the future!

Here are a few trailers from the E3 2011, to wet everyone appetites (and give me a nerdgasm):

I’ll admit it’s been a bit quiet with new entries from me. It’s not that I didn’t want to write anything, or didn’t have anything to write about. I simply did not have as much time as I would like to sit down and write something. When I did have the time, I simply forgot or did other things to fill the time with!

Ever since finishing The Templar Trilogy by Jack Whyte, I have wanted to write an entry about the Knights Templar. It opened my eyes to a few things, especially that they, as well as the Romans and Egyptians, might have sailed to America long before Columbus. I did a little research on it (I really mean it when I say little…) and found there are as many people supporting this theory as opposing it. I’ll look into this in more detail when I give myself a little time to pursuit my interests in the period of the Crusades and the Templars.

I’ve also just finished the fifth book in the Temeraire series. If you have never heard of these books at all, you’ve missed out on something! It’s about the war between the English and the French in the time of Napoleon. Except, it’s been dipped into a sauce of fantasy with both sides possessing an aerial force of dragons! Great books to read. More to come on this later as well, I suppose.

In the games department I’m eagerly awaiting the arrivals of F1 2010 and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. I think F1 2010 is set for release here in Europe tomorrow. It’ll be good fun to dust off my steering wheel again, hook it up to the XBox and get some laps in! AC: Brotherhood looks to be awesome as well. If it’s as good as its predecessor, which I think it is and possibly even better, it will give me many hours of entertainment!

Besides writing about my personal interests, I’d also love to rant a little about Castle Windsor. No, no. Not Windsor Castle, which is located just outside of London and is residence to the English Royal family (I think?!). Castle Windsor is a Dependency Injection and Inversion of Control container for the Microsoft .NET framework. Whichever resource I stumble across, everyone thinks its awesome and made of win. I’m sure it is, I just wish there was a more coherent resource available on how to deal with it in a large enterprise application architecture. Again, more to come on this later!

The Truth shows Adam and Eve running through a futuristic setting. It looks as if they’re being chased by something unknown to the viewer. The video ends with Eve telling Adam she has the Apple. Here’s where I became confused… Adam and Eve have always been referred to as the first human beings living in Paradise until they could not resist to steal the forbidden fruit. The idea of them in a futuristic high-tech setting and the forbidden fruit (the Apple) being a device of power intrigued me!

Not only did it intrigue me, it confused me as well! Determined to find out more about this, I decided to counsel the infinite wisdom of the web. In short order I stumbled upon some forum posts putting things in order for me. The Truth video combined with the ending of the AC2 plot actually makes sense!

After Ezio deals with Borgia, he holds two pieces of Eden; the Apple and the Staff. The combination of it granted him access to the hidden vaults where he received a warning of Earth’s imminent destruction from the “Gods” themselves. Gods is the wrong word, but they were beings who had created humankind after their own image. These beings were overcome after Adam and Eve had taken a piece of Eden and because of this no longer under the control of their creators. Apparently the creators and their high-tech civilization have been wiped out completely and humankind will have to start from scratch.

Of course the knowledge of this has faded over the ages, until only the direct descendants of the bloodline remember. Or, at least that’s what we have to assume considering the fact that we’ve been visiting our ancestor’s memories in Assassin’s Creed and completing DNA sequences.

I was absolutely amazed to find the amount of conspiracy theories about all this on the Internet. Desmond’s storyline takes place in the year 2012. Oops! We’ve all heard of that year, haven’t we? Did some ancient civilization make a calendar that stopped at 2012? Why, yes, yes they did! There are people who believe the world will end when the Mayan calendar ends. But, I found some interesting posts tying this to the warning Ezio received.

Remember the warning about the Earth’s destruction in the vaults? Remember that Desmond lives in 2012? The piece of Eden holds the power to control people. Is that what is so vital for Desmond to save? Locate the piece of Eden to prevent the Knights Templar to control the world and reshape it to their ideals? The world doesn’t stop existing in 2012, no, a major conspiracy theory would be revealed which ends up controlling our lives. All of a sudden you’re not fighting an Assassin’s vs Knights Templar war, but a war for continuation of the freedom of life as we know it.

For me Assassin’s Creed 2 was just a bloody good game. Yes, I’ve turned into a bit of a fanboi as well. I had never looked so deep into the storyline at all and I’ve become curious how it will all turn out. It’s a shame it will probably be a few years before a new Assassin’s Creed will be released.

I guess I will have to be satisfied with replaying the entire damn thing… Again.

I would like to take this opportunity to say that I absolutely loved every little bit of AC2. The creators have managed to improve the original Assassin’s Creed game while still retaining the same feel and atmosphere. Not only have they created a masterpiece, but also made a new, very worthy, game-hero. Thus, in eager anticipation, I jumped into the game to find out which challenges were awaiting Ezio Auditore this time.

When I finished Sequence 12 I was in hot pursuit of the Apple of Eden. This new sequence is no different! A prophet of sorts has been stirring up trouble since the Apple came into his possession. It’s up to Ezio to eliminate his followers and, obviously, the prophet himself to restore order to the streets of Florence. The length of Bonfire of Vanities seems to be quite a bit longer than Battle of Forli. Which is good; more time to roam through the city and with supple grace climb buildings and eliminate targets!As soon as I had accepted my mission I needed to eliminate nine targets. There is a lot of variation in these assignments. Some targets need to be eliminated without being detected at all. Other targets can be eliminated in a somewhat… messier way (yes, this involved me getting into a fight with about 30 guards). Although, the mission that got a chuckle out of me was one where I had to pursue a target over the rooftops before he reached his goal. Only, after about five seconds he fell off the roof and died, saving me quite a lot of work!

There isn’t much left to say. I loved it and I could happily emerge myself into AC2′s world for another few hours. The game simply continues as it has always done. Freedom to do what you like in beautifully crafted city surroundings. There is nothing more satisfying then eliminating your target after painstakingly removing guards from the area without being detected and hear Ezio smoothly deliver his one-liner to the poor sod lying on the cobblestones…

Requiscat in pace.

My first reaction was one of positive surprise. The DLC only costs 320 MS points, which, in my opinion, isn’t a lot! As soon as I got it downloaded, I started the game. I only had to load my savegame and I found Ezio already in Forli, ready to start on his new missions. In total there should be six to play through. I have to admit I didn’t count them, I enjoyed playing through them too much!

I found myself in Forli, helping the lovely Caterina Sforza to regain control of the city and her stronghold. The missions themselves are varied. It begins with meeting Caterina outside of the city where you discover the Orsi brothers have tried to take over the city. Soon I found myself infiltrating the city to open the gates. Once the gates were open I had to make sure Caterina arrived safely in her stronghold.After securing the fort, the Orsi brothers manage to kidnap two of Caterina’s children and I was sent to rescue them. It was unlike any other mission I had played in AC2! As soon as I accepted the assignment, a timer was counting down in my screen and I had 10 minutes to complete the rescue. With the guards on high alert I had to be extremely careful not to get involved in big street brawls as I simply didn’t have the time. It was a healthy mix of creeping stealthily through the city, avoiding fights as well brutally murdering the guards to free the children. Good stuff!

Of course Assassin’s Creed wouldn’t be Assassin’s Creed if there wasn’t a particular target to eliminate. I won’t reveal the who and why as that’s too close to the plot of the storyline, but it was another good mission. At first when I tried to assassinate my target, the guards spotted me and I ended up chasing my target through the outskirts of Romagna with about 30 guards on my tail. Not good! Needless to say my target escaped and I had to start again. The second time, I decided to go for stealth and eliminated my target before he knew I was there.

In short: I loved every little bit of the Battle of Forli! Except, perhaps, the ending… Which is a major cliffhanger. At first I found myself wondering where my follow-up mission was until I realized that I had finished the content. It didn’t take long to play through, but I loved the missions and I think it was well worth the 320 MS points!

I shall  anxiously await the second DLC…