Pretty, intelligent, well-read, and just so happens to be the producer behind one of the most-awaited, bad-ass and good-looking games coming to the PS3 and the Xbox 360, how could Jade Raymond be anything BUT hot?? Sure, Miyamoto is cool, too, but he's sort of a middle-aged Japanese man and all that.

Right. Moving on.

In an interview, which originally appeared in issue #14 of the official Xbox Magazine, Raymonds answers several questions about her current baby project, Assassin's Creed.

First of all, she squashes all rumors which state that AC was originally meant to be a part of the Prince of Persia universe. She further clarifies that it just so happens that the same Ubisoft team that worked on the PoP games are also handling AC, which was actually inspired by the book "Alamut" by Vladimir Bartol (told ya she's well-read). In the book, Assassins are a clan that came into existence during the time of the Crusades; a time that had plenty of warfare and drama, and a place with "lots of complicated architectural details that makes for interesting level design".

Questioned about the consequences of setting the game at a time of religious conflict, which may not be understood by most gamers, Raymond responds that the game is only loosely based on real events. She goes on that "for people whose knowledge of history is sketchy, the Crusades will just be a setting to them" and that they are keeping on track with their goal in delivering a good game to the public.

Other factors that were discussed during the interview were elements such as: the different skill levels of the opponents that one will go up against; the importance of learning how to manage Altair's horse; and best of all, the fact that the game has been tailored so that people who are a bit queasy with the concept of killing won't have to worry about the moral sides that our assassin is taking.

Those are just some of the things that were discussed during the interview, so if you want to know what other nitty-gritty bits of gameplay were discussed, then just click on the "Read" link below.

And have I mentioned that she's hot?