ACII DLC was originally part of game

As Eurogamer writes, Assassin's Creed II's dad Patrice Desilets has confirmed that the Battle of Forli and Bonfire of the Vanities download packs due next year were originally meant to be in the main game.

[Solans Scott]

Ubisoft is going to resell me something that was initially in the game. That's just unbelievable, and the part that really annoys me is the fact that Desilets admitted that it was purposely removed from the game.

[bacon13]

I'm very annoyed by this as well. Don't get me wrong AC:2 was a fantastic game all around but having to shell out the additional money for something originally present in the game is bad form on their part. If each of these chapters are more than $5 bucks, I'll be disappointed.

[himdeel]

...but this just makes me feel less enthusiastic about keeping the game to buy the rest of it. I prefer to not give them more money for the rest of the game I should've already gotten.

I'm just going to wait till my brother buys the DLC and borrow/DL them from his PSN. Guess I'm trading AC2 for credit somewhere :(

[Saaking]

What a bunch of BS. The shipped game should be COMPLETE. DLC should just add to the experience instead of just being a cash int. Ubisoft, you disappoint me.

[Pennywise]

Should we thank DVD9 now or later?

[Digitaldude]

This is EXACTLY why i hate DLC.
I really wouldn't mind if it was genuine content which was over and above the normal game but devs like ubisoft are taking advantage, Shame.

[Hellsvacancy]

I noticed ages ago whilst playin it that theres a whole part of the city (Venice or Florence) thats completely shut off, u de-synchronize if u go past it, thats even when u finish the game 2 100%

I shall buy it but im not happy about it

[Eamon]

Of course they were planning on releasing this as DLC from the start.

Same with Prince of Persia Epilogue.

But I'm still getting the DLC because I just love the AC series so much.

[Johnny Jiron]

doing this outright and acting as if its nothing...
Their Ghost Recon series has recieved so many packs of dlc for cheap or free and have actually been additions to the game...tho I started to notice a few extra $ for a few things here and there. Looks like they couldnt resist the easy cash any longer.

[Baka-akaB]

dont blame dvd-9 , space or not they'll always cut content as well from blu ray games , them running out of space is just a convenient excuse.

After all if at the end you realise it wont fit on the disc , why sell it and not give it for free ? You , as a dev , claim it's a space thing , the game is already paid for , just give it free .

Of course , they have some so called extra cost so they could give you something they are already done with , and you paid full already ... yeah right

[Elven6]

Pennywise: Ubisoft knows this is one of the biggest releases of the year, as such the DLC probably wasn't even finished so they decided to do this instead of delay the game. Make more money or less, what a toss up!

Edit: The game from day 1 had two unaccessible memory areas, hence it was most likely removed because they wanted to repackage it or it wasn't ready and they didn't want to delay the game.

[DeathMetal]

for this business practice, namely the xbox360. They are the only people stupid enough to pay for this crap.

[Prototype]

I "almost" bought this game...

Now I'll wait for White Knight Chronicles

[DatNJDom81]

so basically where gonna get a key code for memory block 12 and 13? nah no thanks keep it. i guess capcom is rubbing off ubisoft. wat a shame.

remember when we had to buy the character costumes in street fighter 4? I see the same thing happening with super street fighter 4. Man I miss the old days, you know when u buy a COMPLETED game.

[solar]

thank you console gaming for paid DLC! <3

/sarcasm

:)

[Cold 2000]

Games like Mass Effect had DLC though there was still space on the DVD.

Its crazy how obssesed $ony fanboys are with the 360.

[Saaking]

We're not "obsesses" with the 360, but we don't like the fact that it's literally holding back the entire generation. Just look at UC2, KZ2, GOWIII, Heavy Rain and you'll see what ALL games could be like right now. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait till next gen for multiplats to look as good as PS3 exclusives.

[SilentNegotiator]

When games were shipped with full-content and fully tested.
Then the Xbox Brand was born...

"Its crazy how obssesed $ony fanboys are with the 360"
It's crazy how obsessed Xbox Fanboys are with what other fanboys think.
And like Saaking said, we "Sony fanboys" aren't happy with the way the Xbox has set bad precedents and held back games.

[Cold 2000]

Oh please dont bring up that bullsh*t. PS2 didnt hold back anything last gen and it was BY FAR the weakest console.

Games like Infamous, LBP, Resistance etc are PS3 exclusives and graphically arent groundbreaking (though they do look good). Thats weird, 360 isnt holding them back. And what about WKC or Demons souls, whats holding them back from looking like UC2 ? Let me guess the 360 right ?

Games like Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, Fable 3 etc are all going to be as enjoyable if not even more enjoyable than the games you mentioned so stop all that "360 holding back" nonsense.

And look at Lost Planet 2 for instance, it looks better than a number of PS3 exclusives and it is MULTIPLAT. Moreover multiplats have kept on improving graphically since the beginning of this gen, look at the improvement Assassins Creed 2 is, Lost Planet 2, Residant Evil 5. You see games keep on looking better and better. That wouldnt be possible if the 360 was holding "the entire gen back".

[hay]

Wow, this is rip off. Cutting the game to sell it for additional bucks? Ridiculous.
Now they're BS'ing us there was no space, next they'll make AC2: Ultimate Edition with DLC included. I say, bullsh*t.
Now I'm going to sell both first and second game.

[Eamon]

Saaking, to be fair, the xbox 360 came out first. Not after.

So, it's not really it's fault.

[Oner]

Yup Eamon, you're right...it came out first with last gen technology to beat Sony to market, but what it really ended up doing was screwing all of us as gamers.

And before certain types of "gamers" start flinging insults/assumpitons let me say this very clearly ~ I have a RIGHT as a consumer to speak my mind about a product of which I OWN THAT HAS FAILED ON ME TIME AND TIME AGAIN to the tune of 5 RROD's. "F" Microsoft I say, they get no free pass from me.

With that said PlayStation users/gamers have come to EXPECT next gen or newer tech in their console. EVERY SINGLE PLAYSTATION PRODUCT HAS PROVIDED THIS. Something other makers don't provide or even DARE offering to their costumers. Sorry if some of us like to get our money worth out of something we work hard for. I know I sure as hell don't like to waste money especially in this economy!

But what really pisses me off is that I don't settle for mediocrity in any other aspect of my life, so why should I in a product I buy? So why the hell do I have a 360 you ask? Honestly? I don't know...because the ONLY title in all the years I have had it that I am looking forward to is SC Conviction. Granted that is my personal opinion and does not in anyway mean the 360 does not have games...but it just bothers me that I can get 99% of them on my PC which actually WORKS as intended without the hassle or worry of catching a RROD.

But on the topic I have to add this ~ while I won't say/agree to put the blame solely on the 360 because there is no actual proof of this (though we all have our suspicions) it really doesn't matter because it should be free if it was "supposed" to be in the retail game. Ubisoft is ultimately to blame, that is the bottom line.

Eh, whatever...I ain't buyin' AC2 the same as I did for AC1 (rented both) so "F" Ubisoft anyway. Lastly please excuse my rant if it "offends" you. It's my actual experience. If you don't like it..oh well - deal with it ;)

[badz149]

I'm not going to say anything about any console holding back the generation as I play games the way they are but the PS2 didn't hold-up the last generation despite being the weakest among the 3 consoles. it had the fair share of graphic pinnacles with MGS3, GT4, GoW2 etc, they were up there with the like of Riddick, Halo2 for XBOX and Zelda, RE Series for GC!

on topic;

this is a very BAD trend in today's gaming industry and here's hoping for it to STOP immediately!

[randomwiz]

most of the stuff that is made as DLC is already developed before the game releases. I can bet good money that MW2 map packs are already made.

[NewZealander]

ubi are one of my favorite devs, but i dont like what they are doing with AC2, even the uplay system seems useless considering its just a way to unlock content thats on the disc in the first place, great games ubi but charging for content that should have been on the disc? not a wise move, the fans will hate it!

[Minimox16]

PS2 don't hold back the last generation because the multiplatform developers don't care, i see splinter cell, need for speed, etc. on PS2 and compare to the Xbox, the xbox version look way better!! and almost all platforms was like that, but this generation, no!! "we can't do that to Xbox 360, we had to be equal"
that's BS!!

On topic

Well look like all that matters now its $$, still AC2 its a great game!!

[Roper316]

I was gonna pick up these packs but now UBI can keep them and put them where the sun don't shine for all I care. And from now on every UBI game will be a bargain bin buy from here on out.

[himdeel]

...because I borrowed AC1 and enjoyed it considerably, after all it was free. I bought AC2 new got all the trophies and the story just got more convoluted and I was left thinking WTF. I think I'm going to just rent the next one :(

The graphics wont change much although they were nice, and while I enjoyed 2 MUCH more than 1 I'd kind of feel like it was more of the same :( Desmond is going to be an assassin in another time using the animus someplace else and get another piece of the puzzle. I feel badly saying it, but I'm not interested in another AC game now :( even though I enjoy the game.

My feelings could TOTALLY change and I can be swept up in the hype like anybody else but for now I think I'm done with Desmond. I'd rather play as Altair in his time living his life as an Assassin.

[jerethdagryphon]

it was obviouse how they were meant to fit in but i also belive they were extrotounous to the main plot

hence it wasnt to bad to remove it
yes another 10 is costly for stuff it should be there but time constraints and such

[ian72]

It is sad when games are cut short and the cut part is sold as DLC. If it was originally in the game then it should be free DLC. Especially when its part of the story to begin with.
UBISOFT has dissappointed me with this. BAD UBISOFT.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I could care less. I wasn't going to buy them anyways. Mass Effect 2 comes out next month. That is worth buying DLC for not AC II.

[Pennywise]

So you care?

[DatNJDom81]

so you wont buy DL content for one game, complain about it, then buy it for another game?? *clapping*

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Reading with comprehension. Some people fail to use both.

[BigKev45]

It's the sign of the times, Ubisoft trying to milk in some of that DLC cash.

[jalen247]

Shame...I wonder if the 360's disc size limitation was the problem...hmmm
Does anyone know how much disc space ACII takes on a bluray and on a 360 DVD?

[Rocket Sauce]

Yeah, if you didn't think it was worth putting in the game, it's not worth my money.

I got suckered once with Prince of Persia, that's not gonna happen again.

[Jamescagney]

I'm not sure how to look at this, on one hand developers are being pushed and pushed to get a game out for a certain time. There's pressure and they more often than not have to cut things out that they would actually like to have in there.

So if you look at it from that point of view, this is something you can pay for that would have actually have been left on the cutting room floor so to speak. So you would never have got to see it if they didn't put it out as DLC. And yes, maybe they could have put it out for free, but they could have also just not done anything else with it and that would be that. No extras, paid or not.

Then there is the other side of the coin that this could have been put into the final game and they just wanted to make a buck for minimal work.

Personally I think it's a mixture of the two, and this is what DLC is about. Some more content to your game that you can choose to buy, or not. No one will be forced into buying it, and as long as you get enough for your money I see no reason to grumble.

[Baka-akaB]

once upon a time maybe ...

but now it is far more likely it's stuff they carefully selected as a side , and removed from the game .

Most devs arent even ashamed anymore to state 6 months- 1 year before a release that they already got dlc planned for a game .

[cmacdonald]

I'm glad I only spent $30 buying this new.

[AliTheBrit19]

I'm not happy about it

But AC2 was my GOTY 09, so I'll be getting both DLC packs

[beardpapa]

It doesn't make sense to buy the DLC though! I mean, when you're done 100% of the game, that's it! That's all the memories you were able to get out of Ezio. Having DLC so there are more areas to explore doesn't make any sense.

[tripewire]

Shut up and just give them more money.

Glad I didnt buy the game. This doesnt seem to happen with PS3 exclusives. I like PS3 exclusives.

[beardpapa]

lol i agree with you, but at I'd still want dlc that was reasonably aligned with the story. Otherwise, this dlc would make the whole Animus moot since it'll be like they're "injecting" pseudo memories and saying it was part of Ezio. Afterall, at the end of it all they escaped!

[Redempteur]

prince of persia epilogue ?

same story , same mistake on ubisoft part ...

[DJ]

"For only an extra $10, you too can finally experience the ending for Prince of Persia, which we accidentally left out of the $60 retail version. Hmm, we're still wondering why sales were so abysmal."

[Somnipotent]

back in the day when there was no such thing as DLC? then along came microtransations now everyone wants a piece of the pie. i miss having the complete game from day one. DLC that extends the life of a game is great, but stuff that should already be on disc (ahem, resident evil 5, assassin's creed II, street fighter VI, etc.) from the get go sucks goat balls.

that being said, i do enjoy having my games "live" so they can be updated and fixed when bugs are found. don't blame DVD9 for all of it... you can blame the publisher for wanting the game rushed to market. DVD9s limitations as great they are are remedied by DLC. you can blame microsoft for last gen tech though.

[Baka-akaB]

people should just realise already that anything extra planned during the dev of a game as dlc , is obviously content cut off from the game .

IF you plan it right during the dev of your game , it's no extra and some bonus at cheap price , only content removed for more dough ...

[redDevil87]

.

[blue7xx7]

So they took it off so they can give it to us later on. Really so why are they charging then. That's dumb.

[Baka-akaB]

that's actually very smart , we are just the dumb junkies falling for it ...

[krisq]

Huge respect for Patrice for admitting to this. He's one of the best out there.

[Baka-akaB]

meh i love the game too , but i wouldnt call this being honest ...
Feels like "hey guyz i'm going into your house tonight to rob some stuff" kind of honesty ...

But yeah i guess at least he didnt BS about space issue and what not ...

[krisq]

We have to get used to this. Biggest franchises are gonna be milked to death :/

[Dellis]

This is the reason you shouldn't get DLC

[FantasyStar]

That DLC better be $1-2 a piece. I'm not paying anything over $4.

[krisq]

First 3.99$, second 4.99$. Not that bad IMO.

[Seferoth75]

Actually if you bought the game, you already paid for it. Had it not been removed from the game and was actually new content the story would be different.

[dpatterson14]

You know what Downloadable Content remind me of? Cheat Codes. This is nothing but an excuse for developers and publishers to charge consumers more. Not only is the price of game discs expensive, they decided to charge extra for something that should be on the disc. This is what I call bulls**t.

[krisq]

The amount of money needed for production of AAA next gen title is astronomical. It's business. For them not to do it would be stupid. At least no one is forcing you to buy it.

[DJ]

It's no different than the fast food industry saying "We don't force people to eat our food." Yet they try their hardest to make people buy their products, going so far as to lie to consumers through advertising and various campaigns, as well as prey on their built-in, genetically set desires for fat, sugar, and salt.

DLC is structured such that people feel that the core game is not complete without purchasing that DLC, and when priced at $2~5, it's hard to resist the temptation to add more content to the gaming experience. The Prince of Persia debacle is a great example (pay an extra $10 to see the ending to the game), or Need for Speed: Shift, which allows people to "cheat" and simply purchase high-prized cars for $2 a pop if they're not good enough to win them legitimately.

[SmokingMonkey]

Now I just trust Ubi games less, why should I pre-order/buy their self admitted incomplete games?

Be patient and but teh 'complete edition' for $39.99 when it comes out in the summer, and till then play a complete game like...oh I don't know.... play GOTY Uncharted 2 till then.

[krisq]

It's the future I'm afraid :(. Everyone is doing it. Ubi is at least honest about it.

[bjornbear]

we as gamers are getting ripped off.

[Polluted]

Maybe you guys should read the article. They didn't remove anything from the game just to make more money. They had a few things planned that they weren't going to be able to finish on time and under budget, so they cut it. Now we get to experience the things they had planned via DLC.

You should be glad we're going to see it at all. When stuff like this got cut from games last gen (which happened all the time), then that was it. No chance of it ever seeing the light of day after the game went gold.

[Baka-akaB]

and that's exactly what they'd have said even if they indeed have the time .

seriously dont you find it odd to always have that excuse thrown around ? And if i rmeember correctly dlcs for the game have been announced way before the release , so i'm not buying it (the idea that is , not the game or dlc)

[Polluted]

Nah dude. You see the extras on the special edition of God of War 2? They showed 4 or 5 entire levels that got cut from the game due to time constraints. You can't tell me the guys who made THAT game were amateurs or they didn't plan well or something. Sometimes things don't go exactly according to schedule. most of the time, in fact. I just choose to be glad this gen that at least they can finish the stuff they didn't have time for and make it available as DLC. We're not forced to buy it.

It's all about choice. We can choose to believe Ubi is all evil and they're intentionally screwing us out of our money or we can choose to believe that they couldn't fit everything they originally planned and they're doing DLC instead.

Why assume the worst?

Every day there's some big uproar on N4G about something new and we're all supposed to fall in line and hate on someone new until it all blows over. I'm just not feeling it anymore. My bro's wife works at Ubi. They're good people over there (the ones I met). No need for all the hate.

Oh and Creed 2 is a very complete game as it is. Offers more than most single player games do for the very same price tag. It's not like we don't get a full game for our money because of this DLC.

/rant.

[Baka-akaB]

i dont need the sales pitch ... i already got the game and it's great as is .

Anyway why not actually assume the worst ? Again along with some other devs they've announced plans for dlc a long time ago ... sounds hardly like it was some time crisis .

Besides like i said earlier , if it's content removed for a good reason , it's already done or almost done ... where is the extra cost involded here , why not for free like some great dlc from criterion software ?Why so many different pre-order dlcs and items ?

I never said ubi soft was evil or hate them... but it's obvious it's now a common practice and they are just following it , since it's now a very important source of income .

I dont have to choose anything here , it's a now common practice , publisher no longer hides ... hence the somewhat honest attitude , to a point , in the article .

it's something many gamers moaned about when microtransactions and the dlc appeared , and each following step has been verified since ...
Publishers do plan now their games with content for dlc before hands .

[Polluted]

But now you're just hating on DLC in general. If you hate the idea of DLC that's fine. Personally I never buy any of the stuff since you get so little for the price.

My problem with this is that people are assuming Ubi removed content from the final game in order to sell it to us later for more money. In fact it says in no uncertain terms that the content wasn't finished and the game would have been delayed or at least lost a bit of its polish had they devoted time during the dev. cycle to completing this content.

So how is this any worse than any other DLC ever?

Anyway, I guess I just don't have enough gamer rage left to give a crap about any of this stuff.

[Baka-akaB]

exactly what my posting history says , i dislike the idea of dlc in most cases .

And again , to each their rose or gloom colored glasses , but when a publisher easily admits way before a game's completion and release that there will be dlcs , it's safe to assume they had some plan .

And i never said it's worse , like i keep repeating ubi just kept the already established gimmick going on ...

See your arguments about enhancing a game's experience through added content would be true and fine , if pc gaming didnt exist prior to all that crap . Indeed console games were fixed and not even salvageable by patches .

But once they had the same online access opportunities than on pc , what did they do with it ? Microtransaction and dlc ... basically selling stuff people had for free in pc patches .
Worse content that actually was often given with consoles games , being sold apart ...

Did you know as an example , that zone of the enders and Xenogears had a deathmatch multiplayer mode thrown as a bonus on their discs ?
What do you think would happen if those game had been released today ?

An activation key , or at best a dlc patch would come along at some 5$ price tag , and we'd be fed some bull about extra cost ...

Imagine the idea , fighting game had extra costumes , hell far more of those , without dlcs ...

It even affects pc gaming , a "land" at least used to the patchable freebies . Now they are paid too . I dont imagine Blizzard giving maps and new units as easily now in the upcoming starcraft 2.

There are very few dlcs i consider reasonable and fair , those would mostly addons in the form of dlcs such as GTA episodes with actually the incentive of not paying or waiting for a disc , music gme dlcs tracks (as long as fair priced , and since they are actually extras ), and free stuff .

And rage ? i'm not losing sleep over it ... it's there , wont go away and not avoidable like fans of it often claims . But it shouldnt be a reason for me to say i'm ok with it , i'm not , probably wont ever be .

If you play an fps actively and they sell dlc maps , you can hardly avoid them for long , when your friends server playlist will be featuring those extensively .

At least thank god for devs like Criterion with burn out , who sees the interest of pleasing it's fans by being far less greedy than usual , and with far more free stuff than paid dlcs . Now that's the kind of studio i can support whenever they sell a dlc .

[memphis2]

really what is going on with developers these days??!! why so many versions of the same game with more content. all i hear is either they did not have enough time to finish the game or fans demand more content. how are developers saying forget to buy the first version of the game and wait for the best version out? i feel betrayed and loss of loyalty. sounds like it's all money and business here!!!

[gamingisnotacrime]

Buy the game used
then with the money you saved go and buy the rest of the game with this DLC. It should round up around $60, and the game is COMPLETE.

[SkolarVisari]

Nice move Ubisoft. The retail game is just out right missing two chapters that ends up damaging the plot. Now they want us to pay for chapters that fill in the gaps... Stupid. I would hope that the PC version includes the dlc chapters. I'll be renting the PS3 version, and if the PC version happens to have all the extras included I will get that if I like the game; or grab a game of the year edition for the console if the dlc is included at a later time.

[ExposingLames]

Confirmed, no need to buys Assassin's Greed 2 DLC

i would rather them push the game back than sell me content that should already be in it

same reason i dont buy games that have priced DLC out the day, week, or first month of release, and no i dont play or have COD either....overdone trash genre and a arcadey casual game where the computer gets half your kills FOR you

haha disagree to your hearts content COD players, what i said was true about that casual game