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Ubisoft says Aveline may make an appearance in Exclusive PS3 and PS4 Content for "AC4: Black Flag"

When Ubisoft initially announced the creation of Aveline de Grandpré, the first female playable character in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, you could tell she’d hit a chord by the best of indicators: despite her costume involving multiple layers, distressed fabrics, studs, buckles, leather, and custom weapons… there was cosplay immediately. This was despite the fact that the game she starred in was available only for a poorly selling handheld device rather than a major console release. But Ubisoft has just confirmed that Aveline will be getting her console debut with the upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: ~~Pirates~~ Black Flag.

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Session Name: Diverse Game Characters: Write Them Now!

Speaker(s): Jill Murray
Company Name(s): Ubisoft
Track / Format: Advocacy
Overview: Variety is the spice of life. Games are a playful exploration of life. Clearly the two are made for each other. For writers and narrative designers, this means building diversity into the cast of characters with whom we populate game worlds. This requires research, imagination, consideration, and yes, the risk of getting it wrong. But attention paid to diversity strengthens every aspect of writing, and opens us to new narrative possibilities and gameplay paradigms. This session is a diversity bootcamp covering everything from "sensitive topics" to finding the nugget of commonality we share with each character we invent. [SOURCE]

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Assassin's Creed III: Liberation's Jill Murray accepts the 2013 WGA Videogame Writing Award

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Assassin's Creed III: Liberation OST Receives More Awards - News

Winifred Phillips, the composer behind the highly praised Assassins Creed III: Liberation soundtrack has been awarded a Game Audeio Network Guild Award for her work on the Vita title.

The 'Main Theme' music from Assassins Creed III: Liberation won the award in the category of '2012 Best Original Vocal Song - Choral'. The soundtrack has received heaps of praise since the games release and has picked up other accolades including a Global Music Award, a Hollywood Music in Media Award and a 'Best Composer of 2012' award for Philips from GameMusic.net.

It seems that gamers had something of a love-hate relationship with Liberation, but there is no denying that the soundtrack is a beautifully crafted piece of art. If you haven't heard it, do yourself a favour and have a listen to this [SOURCE]

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#Arc Rec: Relevant to the matter of Aveline; Whitewashing POC Assassins is a Religion in itself

I maybe sort of reeeeeaaally have issues with how often fandoms whitewash characters. Especially the Assassin’s Creed fandom. Connor’s got Haytham’s European blood but NOWHERE in the game do his genes rear up, slap him across the face, and turn him into a pasty-faced peckerwood.
Could someone do me a favor and tell me WHY they choose to color characters like Connoror James Heller the same shade as Altair or Alex Mercer? I honestly can’t wrap my mind around it and I’d genuinely appreciate an explanation. [SOURCE]

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#MASTER POST: "The Road to Masyaf" or How I spent my summer vacation with Aveline de Grandpre

Technically speaking it probably won’t be an official year since the release of “Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation” until October 30TH, 2013. Still, this feels like as good a time to ruminate over the journey of this game since I learned of it during E3 June 2012. The following is a condensed retelling of the last seven months of 2012 that by no means details any mentions of the end of the world.

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#Reccomended Cosplayer: The "Aveline" Katsucon 2013 Cosplayers

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Game composer Winifred Phillips wins Global Music Award for "Assassin's Creed III: Liberation"

San Diego, March 11, 2013 - Game composer Winifred Phillips has been awarded a Global Music Award for her music score for the Assassin’s Creed® III Liberation video game (Ubisoft®). Winifred Phillips composed the entire score for the Assassin’s Creed III Liberation video game, which was released for the PlayStation Vita in October 2012.

The Global Music Awards recognize the original music and unique voices of talented international musical artists. Evaluated on the basis of overall musical excellence, winners of the Global Music Awards include prominent composers for film, television and video games; outstanding songwriters and bestselling recording artists from the world of popular music; and illustrious composers whose works have been performed in concert halls around the world.

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Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation writer says no “magic touch” required for diversity

Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation writer Jill Murray has downplayed Ubisoft’s decision to feature a black, female protagonist, instead calling on the rest of the industry to catch up.

Speaking to Kotaku in an interesting feature on Aveline’s creation, Murray said some of those arguing in defense of all-white, all-male casts are being creatively lazy.

“[There's a] fear that ‘diverse’ characters are risky and might offend or alienate players by their simple inclusion — that including them requires a magic touch, special bravery, a trembling sensitivity, or a mandate to ignore sales,” she said.

“Creating “diverse” characters is no different than creating any character, and I believe that those who struggle with it need to address deeper issues within their own creative process.”

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Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation Claims Writers Guild Award For Best Video Game Writing

The Assassin's Creed spinoff title has won an award for best written game.

Winning a Writers Guild Award is no simple feat, and the writers of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation have managed to do just that.

The game took an award for Outstanding Achievement in Video Game Writing, the Writers Guild of America announced (via GI.biz) today.

The game, which was developed in Ubisoft Sofia and penned by ill Murray and Richard Farrese, handily beat out five other nominees, including Assassin's Creed 3, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Halo 4, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and 007 Legends.

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Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation moves 'close to 600,000' units [Update!]

Assassin's Creed 3's PlayStation Vita companion piece, Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation, has either shipped or sold "close to 600,000" units, Ubisoft announced during a financial investors conference call this morning. We say "or" because, while the word "sold" was used, this terminology was also used to refer to Assassin's Creed 3's 12 million shipped units, and therefore the true nature of the statistic is unknown.

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Assassin’s Creed 3 and Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation Receive Huge Discount

Both the console title Assassin’s Creed 3 and the portable counterpart Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation have received a substantial discount from Amazon. All platforms are currently benefiting from the current sale. Here’s a breakdown of each platform, their discount percentage and their new price:

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#Art Rec: "Aveline" by enrychan

This arguably the best Aveline piece I've seen in a very long time (or ever, honestly). Click the cut for a full view of this gorgeous work.

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Patch changes for Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

What does the new patch for Assassin's Creed III Liberation do?

SO UBISOFT actually got around to fixing the errors in Liberaton somewhere around last month (December 12, 2012). The problem is that they or the gaming websites never bothered to make an announcement about it. The news about the game's first and second patches are restricted to the support website itself. I knew you didn't give a shit about Liberation, Ubisoft, but damn, you ignored it completely.

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Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation among games nominated for 2013 Writers Guild Awards

Both Assassin's Creed 3 and its PlayStation Vita spin-off, Liberation, were honored with nods from the WGA. Liberation wasn't the only Vita game nominated for the award — Uncharted: Golden Abyss was also selected. Rounding out the list of six are Halo 4 and Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. Here's the full list of games, along with their publishers and credited writers:

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The fuck does that mean? - Kokatus surprised by how Black "AC3: Liberation" feels

History often seems lightyears away, doesn't it? Even game franchises like Civilization-where you zip from ancient Rome to space flight in the span of hours-put a layer of abstraction over the experience that make it feel distant. The Assassin's Creed games use history exceedingly well, but none of them have felt as personal as Assassin's Creed III: Liberation does. As a black man and parent of a bi-racial daughter, this game hits home for me. But what really surprised me is how this portable Assassin's Creed game comments on racial dynamics in a specific moment in time. You can feel history moving through the game.

Liberation proves that game design inspiration can be found in the ugliest moments of history. But American history doesn't just inspire the mechanics and rules of Liberation's gameplay. The game's story and characters feel more alive thanks to a smart infusion of tropes drawn from the history of black people in the United States. I'm going to point out few examples, some of which contain spoilers. If you want a fresh experience with Liberation's plot, stop reading now.

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Assassin's Creed Sale on PlayStation Network

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has become one of the most successful this generation: after a humble start, the game has become of the most appreciated and sold. The latest entries of the series, Assassin’s Creed 3 and Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation have been only released last month and they’re already considered as the best of the franchise. If you are still holding off, you may be happy to know that Ubisoft has teamed up with Sony to create a special offer on the North American Playstation Store.

Until the end of the weekend, players can buy both Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation with a nicely discounted price, with 35% off the full price. The Gold edition of Assassin’s Creed 3, containing the full game and the season pass, which will allow you to download any present and upcoming DLC for free, is also discounted with a 35% off. [SOURCE]

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#Discussion: Assassin's Creed 3 Sequel = More Aveline, No Connor

Though I operate on a fools hope, if Assassin’s Creed III has to get a sequel, than I hope to high heaven that the protagonist is not Connor, but Aveline de Gandpre. There is so much unexplored potential in her storyline, character arc, and a grand number of places in history to take her without ever being tied down to the “American” revolution. I could see it being an incredibly awesome experience (if they can avoid AC3’s pitfalls), especially if Ubisoft is willing to take the chance to create a larger base of female Assassins and Templar’s for which she could interact and trade philosophical stances with ah-la AC1.

I made the following submission above and it rather baffles me that a confession advocating for more interaction between female Assassins and Templars leads some to conclude that Aveline de Grandpre's entire character should revolve around assaging Ratohnhaké:ton's mainpain after the events of his AC3 story or should include him at all despite his storyline coming to a dead-end halt (the opposite of Aveline's which is left hanging in a similar manner in AC2).

If Aveline became the frontrunner of the AC3 sequel (yes, I'm aware of the Brazil news, thank you), what elements of gameplay or periods of time would you like to see her in? The big want I've seen mostly is tied to the French Revolution.

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Black Friday Sales help Sony achive 160K Vitas in the last week

Proving that people will buy more things when they're cheaper, Sony boasted about Black Friday sales boosts for both the PS3 and Vita. Last week, including Black Friday, Sony sold over 525,000 PlayStation 3 units and 160,000 Vitas in the US, the publisher reported today.

For Black Friday, Sony offered discounted $199 bundles for both the console and handheld – the PS3 with Infamous Collection and the Uncharted Dual Pack, and Vita bundles with a choice of Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified, Lego Batman 2, or Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation. Amazon had an even more appealing Vita bundle, which threw three months of PlayStation Plus and a copy of PS All-Stars in with the Liberation set for $180. Those sold out within five hours. [SOURCE]