The game may not be out until the end of the year, but marketing has already started for Assassin’s Creed 2.

Ubisoft is looking to engage both fans of the best-selling original plus a wider audience in a promotional push that includes TV ads, a retail deal – and even more revelations to be made at E3.

A debut trailer for the game was aired last week on UK terrestrial channel Five during the premiere of The Da Vinci Code, following on from the game's unveiling in April.

Play.com has already started a pre-order campaign for the game, even though its release isn’t expected until winter 2009. The original arrived in November 2007 and eventually sold in excess of seven million units globally.

“We wanted marketing to work alongside communications initiatives to help drive a strong start to the campaign,” Assassin’s Creed 2 brand manager Jan Sanghera told MCV.

The online debut of the game last month included the use of Augmented Reality technology. Fans were asked to find cryptical symbols that the game’s website would recognise via web cam.

“We’d really like the campaign to be as fun and interesting as possible; with Assassin’s Creed fans at the heart of it. In addition, we’d like the message about AC2 to reach out to a wider audience,” added Sanghera.

“We will continue marketing AC2 in the same way we’ve started. Our next step is E3, when we’ll reveal further details and even a surprise or two.”