User blog comment:D. Cello/Assassinews 09/23 -- Videos and cinematics/@comment-4043223-20110924032102/@comment-30497090-20110924040338

Yeah, you've got good points and I really fear that the projected release date of AC3 is just too soon for them, releasing a main game every year is just stretching their production quality limits.

But, both the changes that you mentioned in your first paragraph can be explained by canon, since no one ever mentioned a link between Altair and Ezio, we all just assumed. All I hope is that they don't retcon things in the same way Valve did to Half Life.