Assassin's Creed to get Fassbendered



It's one of the biggest video game franchises around and it's now set to hit the cinema screens. And, naturally, Michael Fassbender is in the lead role. It's one of the biggest video game franchises around and it's now set to hit the cinema screens. And, naturally, Michael Fassbender is in the lead role. While many fans of Assassin's Creed will be licking their lips in anticipation of the third instalment of the stealthy-stabby-actioner out later this year, along comes the announcement that developer Ubisoft has signed up Fassbender as the star of its film adaptation, to be made under its new Ubisoft Motion Pictures department.

While it is unknown which of the Assassin's Creeds the film will cover (so far they've been set in a crusade-era Middle East, the Italian renaissance and the next is in revolutionary America), if any, Ubisoft has full creative control, meaning that it can't complain about its lack of creative input in the rather rubbish video game-to-big screen adaptation that was Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Fans of Assassin's Creed, which include us, already have a lengthy list of questions. Will Fassbender do the stomach-churning jumps from the top of tall towers?Will there be all the crazy sci-fi story in the background?

Let's just hope it's nothing like Hitman, or Street Fighter, or Mortal Kombat, or Max Payne, or...

EA Sports FC 24

Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, PC and Xbox One
Rating: 3.5/5

Du Plessis plans his retirement

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said on Friday the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in two years' time will be his last.

Du Plessis, 34, who has led his country in two World T20 campaigns, in 2014 and 2016, is keen to play a third but will then step aside.

"The T20 World Cup in 2020 is something I'm really looking forward to. I think right now that will probably be the last tournament for me," he said in Brisbane ahead of a one-off T20 against Australia on Saturday. 

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

MATCH INFO

Europa League final

Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports