PC release info and specs

[spaceboy]

from a kind gentlemen who posted this on the playstation forums:

Blood flows free in the streets of Renaissance Italy anew come March 16th, when the PC version of Assassin's Creed II hit store shelves, balancing a $60 price tag with free downloadable content.
The PC version of Ubisoft's Game of the Year contender is priced a bit steeper than PC gamers are used to, but the extra $10 does represent additional value, in the form of the Battle of Forli and Bonfire of the Vanities downloadable content, which console owners have to pay for. Considering those two sequences were held back from the original game due to time constraints, it's as if you're only paying $60 for the full game...which I suppose still isn't going to go over well with the PC crowd.

If it helps, there's also a digital-exclusive Black Edition, which contains additional content for $5 more. No, I suppose that doesn't help.

Certainly there's good news here somewhere. Perhaps we'll find something in the system requirements?

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

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)    from kotaku

[PZ]

Thanks for posting the specs, spaceboy - the price of games sure is high these days.

[JRD]

Great find spaceboy... answers a lot of questions on my side... system specs are a concern to me as well as release dates and price  ;).
Cheers mate  :-X

[Art Blade]

Thanks for the specs, space  :-X

And they did it again: PC version is late BUT it already contains extra content (as they did with AC1). Nice, and I don't lament the price for that extra stuff, sounds fair.  :-X

[spaceboy]

yeah basically PZ and I paid $60 for the core game, plus the DLC will run about another $10 (which is optional of course).  So I guess it all works out....just waiting for you guys to get stabbing at it now  :-X

[Art Blade]

Believe me, so do I, so do I  ;D

[fragger]

Thanks muchly for the info, spaceboy :)

I don't begrudge them the higher price for the extra content, either. However, this is Oz, so I'll probably be paying more than you guys, even after adjusted currency (sigh). $60US is about $66.75AU at present, but I know from experience that new games, especially major releases, usually go for around $80 - $90AU here (I paid $89.99AU for FC2, or a bit over $80US, about 10 months ago). This is because of the exhorbitant sales taxes and import tariffs that are charged in this country. It's the same for CDs and DVDs, or pretty much anything that's imported.

Bloody highway robbery, I call it >:(

But still - enough ranting. I can't wait! :P

[JRD]

Thanks muchly for the info, spaceboy :)

I don't begrudge them the higher price for the extra content, either. However, this is Oz, so I'll probably be paying more than you guys, even after adjusted currency (sigh). $60US is about $66.75AU at present, but I know from experience that new games, especially major releases, usually go for around $80 - $90AU here (I paid $89.99AU for FC2, or a bit over $80US, about 10 months ago). This is because of the exhorbitant sales taxes and import tariffs that are charged in this country. It's the same for CDs and DVDs, or pretty much anything that's imported.

Bloody highway robbery, I call it >:(

But still - enough ranting. I can't wait! :P

Hear, hear.....
Same in Brazil.... must have something to do with us being below the equator line...  :(

[spaceboy]

that is really unfortunate... but maybe it's your punishment for having a nice warm climate!  It's freezing outside today.  just kidding... at least I think PZ and I would agree AC2 will have a decent amount of gameplay and replayability for you.

[JRD]

Don't know about Oz, but here in South America as a whole, piracy is so widespread that for companies to have a base of operations and actually manufacture games and consoles is too risky.
The investment necessary to make it possible is surely multimillionaire and they would have to fight against the competition of garage-made illegal copies of each and every game there is to buy. Plus... you can buy pirate games at any corner in broad day light in major cities... some cities have even a "dedicated place"with boots like those you see on expositions, side by side, as an attempt to "organize" the urban chaos... games stores can't compete with that network at all  :-*

It is a huge political problem and a social one as well as it is just a mirror of how things really are here

Hence, we are subjected to import taxes plus interest...  :'(

[PZ]

that is really unfortunate... but maybe it's your punishment for having a nice warm climate!  It's freezing outside today.  just kidding... at least I think PZ and I would agree AC2 will have a decent amount of gameplay and replayability for you.

Absolutely, I couldn't agree more - am now part way through my 4th play through the main parts of the game (I have not done many feathers, glyphs, or free run side missions) but the main missions are so exciting that I just enjoy going through them again.

[Art Blade]

A new game usually is about 50€ here, so it is about the same as what fragger said: around 80AU$.

I wouldn't know where to find a copy but on a store, yet I heard rumours that copies are traded widely at schools.

[JRD]

... anyone can dowload a game from hundreds of illegal sites... if you just google "Far Cry 2 free download" you`ll see what they are trading at schools, mate.

[Art Blade]

I'd never even think of trying to find stuff like that. I'm happy that I can afford to buy a game, and I prefer buying it in a shop. But this leads me to another point:

I think young people who do download games and who couldn't affort to spend much on a game (maybe on one, but not on dozens of games) are not really causing the industry financial damage, because they wouldn't have been customers in the first place (no money to spend). But I don't understand people who could buy a game but don't want to pay for it, and instead of buying download it. That's where the real damage is caused.

[PZ]

Another form of payback to those that download illegal versions - the high degree of probability that the download site is a malware server that is trying to steal your identity.  How's that for paying a high price.

[fragger]

Hell of a price indeed. I would never steal anything anyway (and illegal DL-ing is theft), but I wouldn't trust an illegal DL site as far as I could spit a rat, even if I was that way inclined.

@Art: That sort of thing gets my goat as well. People who can afford a game but prefer to steal it instead are thieves, plain and simple. If they get stung in the way PZ referred to, well... they gambled and they lost. I'd call it poetic justice.

[spaceboy]

agreed.  I pay for what I play.  And frankly I happily pay because I think the devs of these games have done some incredible w@&k for something I get so much enjoyment, they deserve their pay!

[Art Blade]

I see payment as recognition of their w@&k, so I do pay gladly. I admit I once had a copy of a game I didn't pay for, and I liked the game. I decided to buy the same game but it was unavailable when I was able to pay for it. It took me several years to finally find a shop that organised the game, legally, for me and I finally could buy it. I felt so much better then, and I was truly a proud owner of that game. :)

[PZ]

When I think of the countless hours of play I have enjoyed FC2 for instance, it probably translates to about a penny an hour for that enjoyment.  Compare that to the $10 it costs to watch a 90 minute movie in a theater and it sure is a bargain  ;D

[Art Blade]

ha, 10$. if you don't order nachos with cheese and a coke etc, yes. but ordering snacks for yourself and your wife, you'll pay a LOT more (at least here you can easily triple that amount), so yes... FC2 (any game) with hours upon hours of play and fun... worth every penny, as you said :)