Ubisoft teases Egyptian Assassin's Creed project

The premise of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series of games--that a modern-day man using an "animus" machine can relive his ancestors' experiences--allows the publisher the freedom to explore any number of historical eras with its stories. The franchise has already tackled the Holy Land during the Crusades and Renaissance Italy, but now it is heading--in some form--to Egypt.

The publisher has posted a picture on its Ubisoft Workshop site showing what appears to be an assassin from its famed franchise standing in front of two pyramids. The image contains several nods to the series, including an emblem bearing the initials "AC" on it and a protagonist dressed up in an Egyptian variant of the standard assassin's garb, including a white head covering and a concealed--and blood-soaked--knife protruding from the character's right sleeve.

Beyond the image, the Ubisoft Workshop site links to the UbiWorkshop Twitter account, which says only that the teased image has nothing to do with the upcoming Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. The UbiWorkshop account is following only a handful of people, including two comic book artists that are working on a separate project for Ubisoft, three people working on the publisher's trans-media efforts, and Mathieu Ferland, producer for the Splinter Cell series.

Ubisoft has actively tried to extend its various franchises beyond the realm of games in recent years, an effort leading to the just-released feature film adaptation of Prince of Persia and the various licensing tie-ins. Additionally, Assassin's Creed, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, H.A.W.X., and End War have all spawned novelizations.

The company's trans-media effort kicked into a higher gear in 2008, when Ubisoft purchased 300 effects house Hybride Technologies to collaborate with its game makers on new projects. The first product of that union was Assassin's Creed: Lineage, an episodic series of short films created to promote Assassin's Creed II (the full film was also aired on Spike TV around the game's launch). The next project will be a short film based on Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, with Oscar-winning directors Francois Alaux and Herve de Crecy helming the 30-minute spot.