Ubisoft has today announced plans to officially release Assassin’s Creed Rogue on PC on March 10th, 2015.

In Assassin’s Creed Rogue, you’ll play as Shay Patrick Cormac, an Assassin who turns his back on the Brotherhood to join the Templar cause and hunt the Assassins to the ends of the earth. From New York City to the perilous Arctic sea, Shay will stop at nothing as he follows his own creed

Assassin’s Creed Rogue was first released on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in late 2014. The game is scheduled for release on PC on March 10th, 2015. Learn more about the game at assassinscreed.ubi.com

The reponses among developers have been varied to say the least. Jonathan Cooper of Naughty Dog responded to the with a pro-female lead stance.

In my educated opinion, I would estimate this to be a day or two’s work. Not a replacement of 8000 animations. http://t.co/z4OZl3Sngl — Jonathan Cooper (@GameAnim) June 11, 2014

On the other end of the spectrum, Derek Smart of 3000ad shared an alternative view on the topic.

Playable female characters in games. My PG-13 take… Read: http://t.co/bE1Eti0Sgz — Derek Smart (@dsmart) June 12, 2014

Fans across the world are currently sharing their distaste for Ubisoft’s stance under the Twitter hashtag #womenaretoohardtoanimate. In response to concerns, Ubisoft issued the following statement.

We recognize the valid concern around diversity in video game narrative. Assassin’s Creed is developed by a multicultural team of various faiths and beliefs and we hope this attention to diversity is reflected in the settings of our games and our characters.

Assassin’s Creed Unity is focused on the story of the lead character, Arno. Whether playing by yourself or with the co-op Shared Experiences, you the gamer will always be playing as Arno, complete with his broad range of gear and skill sets that will make you feel unique.

With regard to diversity in our playable Assassins, we’ve featured Aveline, Connor, Adewale and Altair in Assassin’s Creed games and we continue to look at showcasing diverse characters. We look forward to introducing you to some of the strong female characters in Assassin’s Creed Unity.

The new Assassin’s Creed® IV Black Flag™ PhysX patch brings a whole new level of realism to the game. PhysX Particles and Turbulence are added to improve the visual effects around pistol and musket smoke, smoke bombs, and chimney smoke. For details on technology in Assassin’s Creed® IV Black Flag™, go to http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/assassins-creed-iv-black-flag-physx

As you may know, there are a ton of awesome PC exclusive features like NVIDIA TXAA, HBAO+, Percentage Closer Softer Shadows, and much more. This video includes an example of TXAA, which makes a significant visual difference in the rigging on the Pirate ships.

A brand new patch, available now, introduces NVIDIA Particle Effects and Turbulence to the Assassin’s Creed World.
Turbulence and particle effects combine to create a volumetric smoke which can be seen in pistol and musket fire, smoke bombs and chimney smoke. The smoke, lingers longer, has more volume, and interacts with the character and the elements, such and wind and rain. As the intensity of the weather varies, so does the interaction with the smoke.

Check out the video after the break for a side by side comparison of the regular graphics and the NVIDIA features in action. I’ve got to hand it to them, saying it has physx support is one thing, but showing the difference in video form really helps sell the product.