Assassin’s Creed III DLC: George Washington is King

Ubisoft has announced new downloadable content for Assassin’s Creed III. Set in an alternate version of history, The Tyranny of King Washington is a single-player campaign that will be told through multiple downloadable content packs and features George Washington becoming king of America.

“As the revolution comes to a close, a new and most unexpected enemy emerges,” Ubisoft explains. “Driven by the desire to secure the fate of the colonies, the greatest hero of the revolution, George Washington, succumbs to the temptation of infinite power. The new King is born and his reign leaves no one untouched. To return freedom to the land our new hero must dethrone a tyrant he once called friend.”

The story will be told through three episodic content packs, all of which will be available by purchasing the Assassin’s Creed III Season Pass, which will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC for $29.99 (2400 Microsoft Points). The Pass will offer access to five content packs in all, including single-player content as well as maps and characters for multiplayer. According to Ubisoft, purchasing the Season Pass will account for a 25% savings versus buying packs individually, and Season Pass owners will have access to content one week ahead of other players.

“History is our playground – and AC teams have always loved playing with historical facts and their consequences as a way to better understand a time period,” said Ubisoft executive producer Sebastien Puel said of the Washington content. “While Assassin’s Creed III concentrates on history as it happens, we wanted to take some liberties with this DLC and tell you how things ‘could have happened.’”

Assassin’s Creed III is less than 30 days away, hitting Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 30th, followed by a Wii U version on November 18th and a PC version on November 23rd. The downloadable content will “also be available for the Wii U,” Ubisoft said, but no specific timeframe was revealed.

For more on Assassin’s Creed III, read our hands-on impressions in the frontier and find even more details in our Assassin’s Creed III wiki guide.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

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Zombieland Director Revs Up Spy Hunter Movie

Zombieland and Gangster Squad director Ruben Fleischer will direct and exec produce Warner Bros.' film version of the classic Midway video game Spy Hunter.

The news comes as WB Interactive recently announced that Spy Hunter will hit PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS on October 9th.

Vulture reminds us that the project has been set-up at Warners since 2010 where Chad St. John had been hired to script an adaptation of Spy Hunter for producers Dan Lin and Roy Lee.

Spy Hunter languished in development hell for years when it was at Universal, where directors such as Paul W.S. Anderson and John Woo were involved at different points and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was attached to star.

The classic arcade driving game follows super-spy Alex Decker who, in his tricked-out G-6155 CIA Prototype Interceptor, must hunt down rogue agents and destroy as many enemy vehicles as possible while avoiding civilian casualties.

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Report: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Coming West Next Year

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix may be coming West in the second half of next year, according to a new report.

Though Disney has yet to confirm the repackaged version of the original Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories will be localised, comments made at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia Conference suggest this may be about to change.

“

We start the year right out with a big title "Epic Mickey 2," and another big title that hasn't been announced yet, but coming mid-year, and continuing to grow in the social space.

According to Business Insider, Disney Interactive's CFO Jay Rasulo explained that next year would see two big releases, one of which hadn't been announced yet.

He said, "We start the year right out with a big title "Epic Mickey 2," and another big title that hasn't been announced yet, but coming mid-year, and continuing to grow in the social space."

While Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix has technically been announced, it hasn't been for the West and Business Industry definitely seems to think it's the most likely candidate given that none of the studio's upcoming movie slate really carry enough weight to justify the "big" prefix in terms of game tie-ins.

With Epic Mickey 2 out November 18, it seems Rasulo is referring to the company's financial year which runs from October 1 to September 30. So this means whatever the title is, it should be launching sometime after next March. Which is when Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix arrives in Japan. Coincidence? Time will tell.

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix was announced for Japan last week at the Tokyo Game Show, and will be released exclusively for the PS3.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and has missed Sora, Goofy and Donald. Bad. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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Galaxy S3 and Other Samsung Devices Finally Getting Jelly Bean

At last, our favorite Android phone is getting the newest version of Android. It took them long enough, but Samsung is finally beginning to roll out Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) updates for over a dozen of its phones and tablets.

The update is available first in Poland, for some reason, and The Verge reports that when you'll get it depends on where you live and which carrier you're with. If this post at TechHive is any indication, US customers - particularly those of us on Verizon - are last in line.

With enhancements like Project Butter and Google Now, updating to Jelly Bean means upgrading your phone. And with Google's improved voice search and Samsung's "blocking mode" filling in for Siri and "Do Not Disturb," the Jelly Bean update should help the Galaxy S3 compete with the iPhone 5.

We'll save a full-on OS face-off for another time, but consider this: Apple released iOS 6 a week ago, and over 100 million devices have already installed it (about 25%). Google announced Jelly Bean over two months ago, and its share of the Android user-base hasn't yet reached 2%.

No one cares how good the new version of Android is if it won't work on their phone. Let's hope Samsung can make the updates available fast, and that HTC and Motorola follow suit.

Eagerly awaiting the Jelly Bean update? (Or still waiting in vain for Ice Cream Sandwich?) Tell us about it in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

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Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Delayed

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, an updated version of BioWare's classic role-playing game, has been delayed to November 30, 2012. Previously the PC version was expected to be made available on September 18, with iPad and Mac versions scheduled to show up sometime in September. All those versions are now expected to ship on Nov. 30.

According to Overhaul Games president Trent Oster, "After recently reviewing the game and then consulting with our partners, we've decided to ensure that Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is the best possible product on launch. Thus, we have pushed back the release date of the game."

"To all who have pre-ordered, we ask for your patience as we move toward our final release date -- and we will be working on something a little extra for you."

The Enhanced Edition of the game will feature all of Baldur's Gate's content plus new characters, story and more. You can find Oster's official statement on the Baldur's Gate forums.

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Wii U-Branded Wii Remotes Rolling Out Soon

Need to get yourself a new Wii Remote or two, to prepare for the new Wii U? Well, wait just a little while longer and you can grab the newest version – Wii U-branded Wii Remotes.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime announced this morning that new versions of the Wii Remote will be rolling into stores soon, adorned with the new console's branding. The change will likely only be cosmetic – an extra "U" added to the Wii logo on the devices – but that might make a difference for those who want to present a united front of peripherals to use with their new Wii U machines.

We'll have images as soon as they're available, so stay tuned.

UPDATE! Here's that image now:

From the looks of that, the Remote itself won't be altered to include the Wii U logo after all – in fact, the Remote is identical to what's on sale in stores right now. The only thing different is the package, where the Wii U logo is displayed. So, just a simple repackaging of existing gear here.

(And thousands of detail-obsessed gamers just breathed a sigh of relief. No need to repurchase four new-logo Remotes now.)

Lucas M. Thomas is IGN Nintendo's wise old sage, having worked to cover the worlds of Mario, Link, Samus and all the rest of the Big N's creations for over six years here. You can follow him on Twitter.

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Wii U-Branded Wii Remotes Rolling Out Soon

Need to get yourself a new Wii Remote or two, to prepare for the new Wii U? Well, wait just a little while longer and you can grab the newest version – Wii U-branded Wii Remotes.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime announced this morning that new versions of the Wii Remote will be rolling into stores soon, adorned with the new console's branding. The change will likely only be cosmetic – an extra "U" added to the Wii logo on the devices – but that might make a difference for those who want to present a united front of peripherals to use with their new Wii U machines.

We'll have images as soon as they're available, so stay tuned.

Lucas M. Thomas is IGN Nintendo's wise old sage, having worked to cover the worlds of Mario, Link, Samus and all the rest of the Big N's creations for over six years here. You can follow him on Twitter.

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Skylanders Giants Announced for Wii U

During this morning’s Wii U Preview Event, a Wii U version of Skylanders Giants was announced. It will be released during the Wii U launch window.

The Wii U version will join the previously announced Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, 3DS and PC versions.

Giants is the sequel to Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, which has been a huge earner for Activision. The game allows players to place a figure on the Portal of Power and play as that character in-game. All progress is saved to the figure itself, allowing Skylanders to be truly multiplatform.

For more on Skylanders Giants and what it adds to the series, check out our hands-on impressions from E3.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

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Metal Gear Rising on 360 Cancelled in Japan, Still on for West

The Xbox 360 version of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will still release in Western Markets, despite it being cancelled in Japan.

Konami announced this morning that the version of Platinum Games' upcoming hack 'n' slash planned for Microsoft's console in Japan had been canned, though no reason for the decision was given.

A statement given to IGN though confirms that this will have no impact on the game's Western release. It reads, "Metal Gear Rising Revengeance for Xbox 360 and PS3 will be released in the West as planned in February 2013."

While we can only speculate why the game was cancelled in Japan, it's probably due to the fact that the Xbox 360 isn't as well established as the PS3 over there, and is unlikely to be due to any performance issues pertaining to the game on Microsoft's console.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will be released on February 19 in America and February 21 in Europe on PS3 and Xbox 360. A PC version was originally planned, but later cancelled.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and personally prefers the Raiden from Mortal Kombat. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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