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Assassin's Creed PlayStation 3 exclusive?

Source: Various reports on the Web, including Eurogamer. The official story: See below. What we heard: One of the games that made the biggest impressions on E3 attendees this year was Assassin's Creed, currently in development at Ubisoft Montreal. The third-person stealth/action game is a...

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Source: Various reports on the Web, including Eurogamer.

The official story: See below.

No Caption Provided

What we heard: One of the games that made the biggest impressions on E3 attendees this year was Assassin's Creed, currently in development at Ubisoft Montreal. The third-person stealth/action game is a combination of Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell, and is set during the third Crusade in medieval Europe.

Considered by some to possibly be a "system seller," many (Microsoft included, no doubt) were shocked to find that it was only announced for the PlayStation 3 at this year's E3. The game was being shown behind closed doors at Ubisoft's booth in a small room where five stations were set up and Ubi developers ran lucky gamers through personal demos.

Early rumors had the game running on a PlayStation 3 at E3. Soon, rumors flew that the game was actually running on an Xbox 360 dev kit with a PlayStation 2 controller running through a USB adapter.

GameSpot News contacted Ubisoft to set the record straight. "Assassin's Creed was being shown on a PC emulating a PlayStation 3," a rep told GameSpot News. The systems were out of view, so we'll take Ubisoft's word as to what the game was running on.

As for confirming PlayStation 3 exclusivity, solving that riddle is proving as elusive as the game's protagonist. The pre-E3 announcement of the game says only that the game is being developed for the PS3, carefully avoiding any use of the word "exclusivity."

However, one compelling piece of evidence offers insight to the game's future. Assassin's Creed went under the codename Project Assassin, and was shown off as a PS3 game at last year's Tokyo Game Show. A month later, the game was also listed off as a future Xbox 360 title at Microsoft's X05 event in Amsterdam, but little was heard about that version since then.

Ubisoft has a history of showing love for multiple consoles, and has embraced all three next-gen systems with games such as Red Steel (Wii), Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Xbox 360), and Assassin's Creed (PS3). Red Steel was clearly earmarked for the Wii controller, and GRAW was well known to be an integral part of the Xbox 360's early days as the only next-gen console on shelves.

Those exceptions aside, other Ubisoft franchises are taking the same course as Ubi's current-gen multiplatform releases. The next Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Brothers in Arms games are all being released for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, so why should Assassin's Creed be any different? Answer: it probably isn't.

Ubisoft isn't indicating either way, further fueling the rumor inferno. "Assassin's Creed is coming to the PS3. No other platforms have been announced at this time," said a Ubisoft rep.

Bogus or not bogus?: What's "official" and what's going to happen are two different things. PS3 exclusive? Likely Bogus. What do you think?

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