Xbox Gazette was lucky enough to have a chit chat with the very pretty Ubisoft Montreal producer, Jade Raymond and the even more beautiful game being developed at the Ubisoft Montreal studios, Assassin's Creed (Xbox360, PS3).

In the interview, Jade talks us through the inspiration behind AC, the game's principles, gameplay, movements, the crowd AI, Altair and his missing finger, and tons more. Here are a few tidbits from the massive interview:

Principle/s of Assassin's Creed: Two words (according to AC's creative director): "organic design." Meaning, all the game elements should combine to work as a whole without one aspect dominating over the others. Jade also says that the team focused on crowd and freedom of movement to bring us a new kind of gameplay.

On the whole crowd AI thing: The Crowd (yep, with a big C, that's how important the crowd is) was designed as "a living and breathing obstacle that you can influence though your...actions," To say that their team 'really worked on the crowd' would be an understatement because according to Jade, they've "put a massive amount of engineering effort in realizing an AI system that makes a large medieval town come alive."

Who is Altair?: Let's hear this one straight from Jade, shall we? "Altair is a disgraced Master Assassin sent to kill nine men in order to end the Third Crusade...players will experience his re-induction into the order, his rise through the ranks of the Assassin Brotherhood. His full name is Altair Ibn'La-Ahad which roughly translates into "Altair, Son of None."

Altair was commissioned to put an end to the Third Crusade by hunting down the instigators of conflict. Now, the clincher is that Altair's chosen method of doing this is by murdering immoral individuals, which naturally does not bode well with the city's authorities. However, well into achieving this mission, he discovers that that the Crusades themselves are only a front for an even bigger conflict in which he plays an important role for its resolution.

Weapons: Altair will use both melee and short-range weapons, one of which is the blade that Jade won't divulge any details on other than its mythology. And according to this myth, every Assassin gets a spring-loaded knife during their violent initiation ceremony where the neophyte's ring finger is cut off and replaced by this blade (that seems too important for Jade to even talk about)!