Assassin's Creed, Fight Night R3 earn effects honors

Though it won't be out until later this year, Assassin's Creed is already being honored. The game has been nominated for an award by the Visual Effects Society, the nation's preeminent organizations of effects artists.

Assassin's Creed

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Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, Assassin's Creed--or, more appropriately, its trailer--is in the running for two awards: Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game and Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals (such as cinematics) in a Video Game. Ubi Montreal staffers Jade Raymond, Nicolas Cantin, Raphael Lacoste, Christophe Martin, Thomas Giroux, and Anne Mai Le Bouyonnec were mentioned by name as potential honorees.

Assassin's Creed's sole competition for the Outstanding Real Time Visuals Award is the PlayStation 3 version of Fight Night Round 3, developed by Electronic Arts' cryptically named Chicago studio, EA Chicago. Sjoholm Christopher, Kat Kelly Hayduk, Hilson Rob, and Jepson Celia were credited with the effects for the punchfest.

In the Pre-Rendered Visuals category, Assassin's Creed is up against the 2006 E3 trailers for Hellgate: London and Warhammer: Mark of Chaos (referred to by the working title "Warhammer Fantasy"). Both games are being published by Namco Bandai Games, and the trailers for both were crafted by Tim Miller and Jerome Denjean.

The VES Awards will be handed out at the Kodak Grand Ballroom in Hollywood, California, site of the Academy Awards and Nintendo's E3 2006 press conference. It is the fifth year the awards, the majority of which are for television and film work, have been handed out.