Last week, we ran through the details of the Animus Edition of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, an expensive GameStop-exclusive version of the game that runs 100 Euros and gets players a bunch of things, including a bonus Vlad the Impaler mission and an actual Assassin's Creed encyclopedia.
We wondered if Americans will get the same thing. A representative for the game's publisher, Ubisoft, dropped me an e-mail to confirm that they won't.
Some Americans will get a variation of the Animus Edition that works as follows. If you pre-order the game at GameStop in America, for no extra cost, you'll get the Vlad the Impaler mission, the same ammo capacity upgrades offered in the Animus edition and one exclusive multiplayer character (Ubisoft isn't specifying which or even saying if its either the Crusader or Ottoman Jester, the two offered in the Animus Edition.) American pre-order folks will also get a short animated film, presumably the same one that's in the Animus edition, but they won't get the Encyclopedia. They will, however, get a Revelations soundtrack.
This American offering, which is only for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 pre-orders at GameStop, is called the "Signature Edition."
What if you want that encyclopedia and live in these United States? You can, at least, order it directly from Ubisoft from the company's online shop.
As mentioned here previously, if you don't spring for the bonus content at launch or through this specific retailer, you can rest assured that Ubisoft will eventually sell the bonus mission and any other DLC content online, as they have for previous Assassin's Creed add-ons.
For more on Assassin's Creed: Revelations read our previews of the game's single-player and multiplayer modes.