Assassin's Creed Official Website Appears

Ubisoft has loudly proclaimed the official arrival of the Assassin's Creed website, where you can find wallpapers, trailers, and icons for the big fat price of nothing.  Websites haven't thrilled me much since 1995, but this site succeeds in filling me with joyful anticipation.

I am as willing as the next guy to bash a game that disappoints, or to question a publisher's marketing strategy.  I just can't say anything bad about the material that has been spilling forth from Ubisoft about this game.  If the actual title fails to live up to the hype, I'll be inconsolable.

The game first announced to the world at X05, if you can believe that, was thought not so long ago to be a PS3 game.  It is being developed by most of the same team that brought us Prince of Persia, Sands of Time and you can tell from trailers that it borrows some basic mechanics from that successful title.

The game takes you from Jerusalem to Damascus, but I wouldn't look to it as a historical reference.  The region's cultural and political development are a little too complex and sordid for a mere game.  Assassin's Creed, like Prince of Persia before it, keeps violence in the Middle East fake and fun, like it should be.

Check out the new site at  http://assassinscreed.us.ubi.com/index.php