Board Thread:Series general discussion/@comment-109.156.25.22-20150826204442

Hello, first time poster here! Hope you guys don't mind a rambling question... :S

Replaying the series and getting myself very muddled about the Animus as of AC4; does anyone know when exactly it Abstergo launches their games console/when what the player uses becomes a 'games console' rather than an Animus? Or is the games console still technically an Animus [in that it can clearly be hacked by people like Erudito to show 'real memories' as in Liberation]? The in-game timeline is really unclear, and in AC1 [September 2012] Lucy says that the Animus is very much not part of Abstergo's public face at that point, even though Abstergo Entertainment have apparently been around since 2010... So the console must launch at some point after that, for Liberation to be out? 

My understanding is that the AC4 AE offices are using the Animus Omega [Animus, not games console] - but is the games console also called the Animus Omega? As you can tell, I'm rather confused...! Any help or clarification = very appreciated!<ac_metadata title="Confusion about the Animus; please help a totally befuddled fan!"> </ac_metadata>