If there's any publisher out there right now that comes to mind with the word, "Assassin," it's Ubisoft, referring of course to its Assassin's Creed franchise. Interestingly enough, the publisher was spotted filing for a trademark for the word, and seeing as they already have ones for Assassin's Creed, it's time for another guessing game as to what this one is for.

If you wrote a letter to Santa that you want a Ubisoft game for Christmas, then even jolly ol' Saint Nick won't be able to help you. Unfortunately for us, Santa's little helpers don't know crap about game development. Ubisoft has announced that four of their titles will not be making their scheduled margins, so maybe you'll have more spending money in the holidays.

Ubisoft is hell-bent on putting its foot down against piracy as they are targeting this year to come out with a piracy solution for their games on the various platforms. The publisher has admitted that their products have been dealt a heavy blow because of the piracy, and they are now working on a tool that should cushion the impact of the said problem.

Ubisoft's decision to release an Assassin's Creed title on the PSP and put in PS3-PSP connectivity seems to be paying off. Alain Corre, Ubisoft's executive director, revealed during a conference call that projected sales of Assassin's Creed 2 have gone up by 15% thanks to the PSP title Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines.

Ubisoft has announced that they have plans to open a studio in Toronto, Ontario to expand operations and make use of creative talent in the region. Another great thing about this new studio is that it'll create 800 new jobs in the next decade. Win-win situation right there.

We've had some heavy-hitting gaming news this past week, say for example Ghostbusters: The Video Game's very apparent graphics discrepancy on competing consoles Xbox 360 and PS3. But I'd have to say that the Industry News section of our QuickPeek is clearly the winner of the highlights award for our 77th issue. From ratings boards to company love-teams, to digital distribution vs retailers, Obama's take on indoor (video)gaming versus outdoor frolicking, CEO slip-ups, cover-ups, retractions and apologies, threats to drop support for a console (as in, it's friendship over for Sony, Activision), we've got all the drama -- and more -- right here. You know what to do.

The next generation of videogame consoles may still be a long way off, but according to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, they're already getting ready to develop games for them. Even motion controls, although they'll be sticking to the traditional controller setup for most of their core licenses. More after the jump.

Ubisoft is laying down some big money on Assassin's Creed 2 (PS3, Xbox 360). During their year-end results call to analyst, company CEO Yves Guillemot revealed that they're increasing the production budget for it to make the game bigger and better, quality-wise.a

Waiting for Sony to finally give the PlayStation 3 a price cut? You're not alone. Even publishers are up in arms, putting pressure on Sony to bring down that pricetag. Sony, however, still won't budge.

Details after the article.

Let the record show that Michael Pachter was right. Ubisoft has officially announced that they'll be releasing Assassin's Creed 2 during their next fiscal year (March 2009 to March 2010). A new Ghost Recon and Red Steel game are also coming. Details after the link.