Assassin's Creed 3 Wii U details, Red Dead Redemption inspiration, and why no female leads

3/29/12 5:00pm

tl;dr

The Wii U version will use the tablet controller as a map and as part of a special "Eagle Vision" camera system.

Red Dead Redemption played a huge inspiration for the exploration and hunting aspect of Assassin's Creed 3.

Ubisoft had planned for an Assassin's Creed game to have the lead character be female but decided against it for AC 3 due to the historic era of the game.

Editor's Note: Since this is the Assassin's Creed mega post dreams are made of I wanted to add one more bit of information. The PC version is coming, but won't be the WASD/Mouse experience users might long for. Instead it is being optimized for gamepad. Alex Hutchinson mentions "I don't see us investing hugely in a mouse and keyboard setup. I think if you want to play on PC and you want to play Assassin's Creed, you have a controller." This isn't exactly a new thing, but it still is disheartening.

In regards to the Wii U version, Nintendo Power reported the tablet will act as a map; hold all the database entries unlocked in the game, and act as a quick select system for weapons and fire/melee modes. Also revealed was an exclusive "Eagle Vision" which uses the accelerometer to control the camera although no other details were revealed regarding the mode.

Some of the inspiration for the wildlife and hunting aspects for Assassin's Creed III was due to Red Dead Redemption. The original plans for exploration and hunting was very similar to Red Dead Redemption but once RDR was released, Ubisoft decided to change their plans and tweak their system to be what they call an "improved Red Dead Redemption".

“I think it’s a convergence of minds. When people are thinking about the same topic at the same time, they’re bound to have some ideas come around at about the same moment,” Turner explained to CVG. ”We’d been working on the animal and the frontier stuff and then [Red Dead Redemption] came out. We saw it, played it cover to cover, and it was less of an ‘oh shit’ and more of a ‘aha! How can we do better than that?... Because that’s something that Rockstar does – it always strives to be the best. They always try to push things in new directions and I think we need to do the same thing,” he added. ”As a team we saw how good [Red Dead] was and how they had tons of success and we were like, ‘OK, let’s look at their success and see how we can take it in new directions.’ That’s what I think we’ve tried to do.”

Ubisoft also considered having a female character be the lead character in Assassin's Creed 3 but decided against it once the decision was made to use the Revolutionary Era as the setting. The official reason was them considering the Revolutionary Era as only a "man's world".

Historically there were some important women involved in the Revolutionary War but none would have fit with how Ubisoft wanted to make the game. Hutchinson said that the idea of a female assassin was "always up in the air" and that "lots of people want it," but the time period makes it too difficult... "It felt like, if you had all these men in every scene and (a female assassin is) secretly, stealthily in crowds of dudes, it starts to feel kind of wrong. People would stop believing it,” he said.

Other Sources: 1 , 2

» Source: http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/assassins-creed-iii-wii-u-controller-functionality-detailed/
» Tagged In: #ACIII, #Asassin's Creed 3, #AssCreed, #community showcase, #female leads, #Red Dead Redemption, #ubisoft, #Wii U< Rockstar

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g1 DISCUSSIONS

The Theory

March 30, 2012 - 3:59am

well the keybord is THE most ankward way to control a console game, I`m gonna surely buy AC3 for the WII U.

-The Theory

mrrodam

March 29, 2012 - 9:49pm

Anyone know how to contact this Alex Hutchinson character so I can tell him that he's an idiot.

Mangaassasin

March 30, 2012 - 1:35am

I'd also like to contact that Turner person and say, "you're not fooling anyone"

Korig

March 29, 2012 - 7:06pm

Ugh I would've actually purchased the game if the lead was female. Yeah, its a "man's world", imagine the looks on peoples faces right before they die and they see it was a woman who bested them.

Mr.Thee

March 29, 2012 - 9:47pm

It would be this generation's Metroid!

BloodPhoenixXIII

March 29, 2012 - 9:41pm

The biggest point against that though is that a woman blending into a crowd of guys stands out. It's hard to have boobs and be an assassin in a primarily male setting. I agree that it would be baddass, but the games are going back to historical accuracy

Sckarton

March 30, 2012 - 8:56am

so what, women being an assassin is wrong but an apple can kill everyone on the screen is an okay ?

quadracannon

March 30, 2012 - 10:39am

That's not what was being said. It would be hard for a woman to blend into a crowd of men, plain and simple. Nobody ever said it was "wrong" for a female to be an assassin, it just wouldn't make sense for the historical setting since it was mostly men out and about, which means that it would mostly be men in crowds you can blend with. A woman would stick out like a sore thumb. Speaking of, how did the assassins of old blend in with those robes?

SincereSuperman

March 29, 2012 - 6:38pm

I don't really care whether I have a male or female lead. I prefer both, like Mass Effect, but I'm fine with either as long as they fit the game. Like, you wouldn't make Joan of Arc a man. And you wouldn't make a woman an assassin in revolutionary times. That's fine.