Assassin's Creed 2 Finally Confirmed

— -- Don't bet on a 2009 release, but Ubisoft is finally talking about the return of that other story about a guy named Desmond who "time travels." The one in the robe, not the monk who joined the Royal Scots, then sailed around the world, and has premonitory flashes of déjà vu.

I'm talking about Assassin's Creed 2, of course, which – last we heard, earlier this summer – wasn't going anywhere until "there [was] more anticipation for it," according to Ubisoft North America President Laurent Detoc.

Bask in the anticipation, because it's almost certainly been in development for some time now if Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot is assigning it either a late 2009 or early 2010 release.

That's all one of the world's largest games publishers is saying for now. Well, that, and we'll see Splinter Cell Conviction, another iteration of the Ghost Recon tactical shooter franchise, and four license-driven games (I Am Alive, an Arthur and the Invisibles sequel, a game based on James "king of the world" Cameron's Avatar, and another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game) somewhere between April 1, 2008 and March 31, 2010, per Ubisoft's fiscal year.

Was Assassin's Creed your dish? Not mine. Not the first couple times I dove off some high points and trampled suicidal brigands on the road to Damascus.

That changed last year when I settled down to finish it, and realized the grumbling about poor A.I. and repetitive gameplay were cranky complaints from parochial or contrarian critics.

BioShock or Assassin's Creed? Fortunately we don't have to choose. But if I did, I know which one I'd smuggle off to the proverbial desert island.

Matt Peckham has 845 of 1000 Assassin's Creed achievement points, currently working toward "Keeper of the Lions Passant." You can follow him at twitter.com/game_on.