Assassin's Creed II stabs PCs March 16

PC gamers eager to play Assassin's Creed II won't have much longer to wait. Ubisoft today announced that the game will ship for Windows systems on March 16, four months after it debuted on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The M for Mature-rated title will be available for a more-expensive-than-usual $59.99, but it will include extra content such as the Battle of Forli and Bonfire of the Vanities add-ons. A digital-delivery-only "Black Edition" will run for $64.99 and will include even more content that has not been specified.

Having sold 1.6 million units globally during its first week, Assassin's Creed II has now achieved worldwide sales of 6 million units. It follows a new protagonist, Ezio, who teams up with the likes of Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance in Italy, which was then dominated by the unscrupulous de Medici family. GameSpot's review has a full rundown of the console editions of the game (see video below).

Ubisoft's minimum and recommended specifications for the PC edition of Assassin's Creed II are below.

ASSASSIN'S CREED II: MINIMUM CONFIGURATION
Supported OS*: Windows XP (32-64 bits) /Windows Vista(32-64 bits)/Windows 7 (32-64 bits)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHZ or AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GHZ
RAM: 1.5 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista - Windows 7
Video Card: 256 MB DirectX 9.0–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (see supported list)
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0 –compliant sound card DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0
DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive
Hard Drive Space: 8 GB
Peripherals Supported: Keyboard, mouse, optional controller
* This product does not support Windows 98/ME/2000/NT

ASSASSIN'S CREED II: RECOMMENDED CONFIGURATION
Processor: Intel Core® 2 Duo E6700 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ or better
Video Card: GeForce 8800 GT or ATI Radeon HD 4700 or better
Sound: 5.1 sound card
Peripherals: Keyboard, mouse, joystick optional (Xbox 360® Controller for Windows recommended)