Well, quite a bit of my conjectures were pretty close to the mark, huh? This was a pretty fun run of teasers Ubisoft did. I hope more like this shows up in the future when developers plan to do little teases.
To tbx59, I would say that before the game was officially announced, I would have disagreed with you. When I ended my last post, I was hinting at my hope that it would be someone other than Ezio who would be the lead character. Now that it's official, I'd have to agree with you. But only partly. It seems, instead, they're milking the popularity of Ezio. Altair never really picked up as a character. Mostly because the first AC wasn't very well received. The repetitiousness left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. And, by association, Altair didn't get the chance to be very popular. The following games starring Altair being **** spin-offs on handhelds didn't help, either.
I was hoping, at the very least, that Altair would get a second chance at being the lead in some form. I still think he will (considering the dates in the first teaser video). That said, I really hoped Ezio had been done. I mean I can understand that he might be on the trail of Altair's last years, or maybe another piece of Eden (based on the codices found in AC:B), but one thing nags at me, and it's the reason why Ezio should have been done as a character already.
"God", herself, spoke to Desmond directly at the end of AC2, while telling Ezio that his purpose had been served. Ezio was merely a prophet. A messenger. And he served his role. It should have been over right then. But I digress. After all, there was the case of the Borgias. Rodrigo was still a Templar, so it was clear that he would eventually get assassinated. So that, and the people around him (e.g. his son), are logical reasons to allow Ezio to come back in AC:B. But that entire story is finished now. There is absolutely no reason for Ezio to come back.
Which leads me to my conclusion. Rather than milking just the franchise itself, I think they're milking the popularity of Ezio Auditore. At the very least, I'd put it at a 50-50 split.
All that said, I guess I'm a glutton. I'll still be getting Revelations. Probably. The fun I had working with the teasers was enough to convince me of that. But you know, something could happen down the road that would change my mind about wanting this game. I doubt it, but anything's possible.