Awhile back we put in a feature that only rarely gets used and never on JU before. It’s called Destroy Account.  What happens is the system goes and wipes out every post, every comment that user has ever made on all our sites.

I got to use it today on LW. I had exiled her for comparing a tax cut to corporate welfare and then as being the same as the welfare that the Octuplet mom receives for her 14 children.

I’ve said this in the past but occasionally needs to be repeated – there is no “free speech” here.  I invite others to create blogs and post on whatever they want with only a few exceptions – personally attacking each other and me in particular.

I would like to think we’re a lot more tolerant than say the DailyKos or the Huffington Post who wouldn’t put up for a second having bloggers who attack their benefactor or even having a different ideology than their benefactor.

I don’t really pay that much attention to JU these days. I don’t care if someone is liberal or conservative and I’ll happily engage in a debate.  Where I draw the line is when people come after me or my company personally.  At that point, I have pretty much no tolerance.

Anyway, I wasn’t planning on destroying LW’s account utterly but she couldn’t restrain herself from making one last goodbye post where she complained that I would keep her posts so that I could make a few cents off her writings.  To to oblige her on her fear that her writings wouldn’t profit me, I used the destroy account feature to remove all evidence of her writings and comments from the site.

The basement is about to get covered up…

In a few weeks, Stardock will be officially unveiling Impulse Reactor, a virtual platform SDK that will let developers tie in the kinds of services that currently would require a combination of Steamworks, Games for Windows or GameSpy into a single package.

While Impulse Reactor provides features like achievements, multiplayer matchmaking, chat, gamer score, stats, etc.  It also provides IP protection as well and that feature is what is getting the most interest from publishers.

Impulse Reactor doesn't require a client to be installed with it or for users to create an Impulse account. It is totally neutral and designed to make it so that publishers could let their customers update their games with the digital platform of their choice (Steam, Impulse, etc.).

Developers who just want to use the IP protection can literally run a program on their game (or utility) to "wrap it".  The protection is as good (or better) than what one would get with another solution but the main benefit being that it's largely invisible to players (you don't have to "logon" to a client because Impulse Reactor is all server based).

What we are looking for is feedback on this from a consumer perspective. Since we put our software through public, no-NDA betas, we figured this should be no exception.

So here it is: http://draginol.stardock.net/docs/impulsereactor-whitepaper.pdf

On February 19th, Beta 3 of Demigod will be released. A week after that, the window will close for new people to join the beta.

The purpose of Beta 3 of Demigod is to nail down balance and begin trying out the Pantheon – the persistent multiplayer universe.

Initially (as in the shipping game) the Pantheon will include the Forces of Light vs. Forces of Darkness tournament.  As time goes on (and depending on how well the game does obviously) we’ll talk to the multiplayer community to see what kinds of other persistent online games they’ll want.

The goal here is to create something that people can keep playing online for years to come.

Beta 3 will deal with the various balance issues that this introduces and will give players a real opportunity to start really ripping apart exploits and things we haven’t thought of.

It will also be the final phase for us to make the multiplayer matchmaking not suck (In Beta 2D, it’s “better” but it’s a far cry from anything that could be shipped).

So stay tuned. We’ll have more to come soon.

Impulse Phase 2

In June, Impulse was initially launched and in the 6 months since then, it has evolved and changed dramatically for the better. 

In our development schedule, we came up with 3 phases for it. Phase 2 was released last Fall and introduced a server side platform called Impulse Reactor which provides multiplayer matchmaking and an updated UI.

Impulse: Phase 1

So what’s in store for Phase 3?

The next major iteration of Impulse is due April 7th. And it will include the following new features:

Impulse Client updates:

• Player Rankings. Players will be able to see how they rank in a variety of games initially those that make use of Impulse Reactor. Demigod will be the first game to make full use of these new features.
• Achievements. Games for Windows Live integration will probably not be ready for Phase 3 but per game achievements will begin to show.
• Community Enhancements.
• My Impulse. This new default page for the community tab will let players manage friends lists, events, etc.

Impulse Anywhere:

A new web-based edition of Impulse is going to be created. PC software can be huge in size and downloading to your home PC is not always a viable option. Impulse Anywhere will allow users to download a .Impulse file from a website and take it home to install via Impulse on their home PC.

Impulse NOW:

A tiny new tray application will be able to be optionally used to keep users up to date on updates and let them quickly and easily access Impulse features. Best of all, it’ll be tiny in memory so users will be able to manage to keep up to date more easily than ever without having to have a client loaded.

Impulse Builder:

This new program will allow developers to start to easily submit their software to Impulse.  You have a game? An application? And want to share it with the world? Impulse Builder will let you submit it.  Our moderators will evaluate it and as long as it meets our quality threshold, it’ll be available to the public.  This will open up Impulse to thousands of freeware, shareware, and commercial programs that they can manage through Impulse (hence easy updating, etc.).

Impulse Reactor Phase 3:

Impulse is a server based solution. What this means is that its functionality is provided via dozens of data centers distributed throughout the world. The features of Impulse do not come from the client.  This is a big deal for developers because they can make use of features of Impulse without having to distribute the client.

One of the areas Stardock has been working on is in developing IP protection for publishers that also adheres to the Gamers Bill of Rights.

For game developers, Impulse Reactor Phase 3 provides features like multiplayer match-making that eliminates the need for players opening specific ports (if you’ve ever had to mess with your router to do port forwarding, you should insist to developers that they start using Impulse Reactor).  It also supports achievements, rankings, tournaments, etc.  And it’s free.

But for publishers, it also supports IP protection. A developer merely had to run the Impulse Reactor wrapper and then the game or application will make use of the IP protection that Stardock has been using for years. The reason this is a big deal is that it doesn’t require developers to alter source code or have different versions of their programs. One version, good protection, consumer friendly (no hassles), platform neutral (doesn’t force anyone to install a client, store, or even become a user of Impulse), and incredibly easy to use.

Beyond

Impulse Phase 3 launches just before Demigod.  Demigod will really help show off some of the cool stuff that Impulse can do.

I think when Impulse’s first birthday comes up in June, people will be shocked at how much it’s changed and improved in such a short amount of time.  And then we can start talking about Phase 4 which we have some really exciting things planned for.

One of the things I routinely see on-line when they hear about something new about Impulse is someone commenting “I wish they’d all just consolidate under Steam.”  In fact, as Impulse has become increasingly successful, the cry has gotten louder.

So strong is Steam’s fan base at this point that one of the most common comments about Impulse on third-party forums is the desire by some that it didn’t exist and that everything was just on Steam.

I admire Valve on two levels.  First, I admire their excellence in what they make. I like companies that strive for the highest quality possible in what they produce.  Second, I admire Valve’s business practices. They are incredibly effective, competent, and adaptive. In short, Valve is a fantastic company.

I’m a professional zealot. My tendency to get behind the best technology has led me to be, at various times, an OS/2 zealot, an OpenDoc zealot, and yes, even a Valve zealot (Source engine).

But I’ve also been around long enough to know that you don’t want one player calling all the shots.  The companies we love today may not be so loved later on.

People routinely give me a hard time because I like Electronic Arts a lot. How is that possible? Because to me, when I think of Electronic Arts I think of Archon, MULE, Seven Cities of Gold, Starflight, and Summer Games.

When I was an OS/2 zealot, the up and coming star was Microsoft. Its fans helped ensure that Windows, not OS/2, became the standard OS.  For many people today, it’s hard to imagine Microsoft as the fanboy favorite – the company that could do no wrong – the company that would never do anything “evil”.

Now, we live in an industry absolutely dominated by Microsoft and Electronic Arts.  Its fanboys got their way.  Is there anything wrong with that? You tell me.

Today, the pattern repeats itself. Steam is doing phenomenally well. It has fans that actively wish that competition would just go away in the name of “standards” (whatever that means).

And yet, even though Impulse is just an up-and-comer, the competition has already helped consumers.  Before the “Impulse Weekend Buys” it was relatively rare to see regular organized major sales on Steam. Now we get them every weekend. 

I would like to think that we’ve had some impact on people’s awareness that you don’t need nasty DRM to be successful. 

I think Impulse’s focus on trying to encourage one price, worldwide in local currency right out of the gate has made some impact too. 

I think Impulse's very fast download speeds have helped encourage competing services to keep increasing their bandwidth capacity.

At the very least, Impulse’s growing success, I think, is something most people can agree has been very beneficial to consumers.

Steam’s most successful venture yet, Steamworks, has helped Steam get an increasingly firmer hold on the market. In my opinion, Steamworks is 90% copy protection, 10% game-related features.  I know that publishers are looking at Steamworks as a replacement to SecuROM for protecting games.

The problem is that Steamworks requires the user to have a Steam account and Steam installed to use it – even if you buy it at retail or through a third party like Direct2Drive.  I think that’s the basic strategy for Steamworks -- give developers a bunch of “free” features that they used to have to pay for (copy protection, DRM, GameSpy type stuff) with the only catch is that the user has to become a Steam user and have Steam installed. As a result, something like Dawn of War 2, for instance, won’t be on Impulse. 

Even with the case of Steamworks, competition has helped here too though, since Stardock is producing Impulse Reactor to compete with Steamworks. Impulse Reactor doesn’t require Impulse (the client) to even be installed to work. 

Steamworks, obviously, has a head start and publishers have been following THQ’s lead by setting up with Steamworks even when it means they’re distributing a third party store with their game.  After all, right now, Steam has the numbers. 

Based on the #s I hear from publishers, Impulse, which has only been out for 6 months, has already become #2 in terms of actual units sold on a given title. But Steam still has a massive lead.  Obviously, if we can’t even carry certain big name titles because they've hooked in Steamworks, the competitive trend will reverse.

And while some people might very much like seeing there be only one option, especially if that option comes from such a cool company like Valve, they may not be considering the long term ramifications.

For example, last weekend, Steam and Impulse both had sales on Titan Quest.  Steam had it for $7.99, Impulse had it for $3.99. Neither I assume knew the other was going to have a sale on it.  But that sort of competition is good for consumers.

Competition is good for consumers. It’s also good for companies. I’m a Steam user. I enjoy watching it evolve and improve over time. But I am also thankful that there are still alternatives to it. Because as much as people love Valve today, I still remember how much everyone loved EA and Microsoft in their day too.  Competition keeps companies dynamic and consumer friendly.

Update:

Reading through the comments I see some people turning it into an Impulse vs. Steam discussion (i.e. Impulse rulez! No, Steam rockz!).

This isn't mean as a Steam vs. Impulse discussion. What it is supposed to be is to make people aware of the long history in which fans have rooted for the up-and-comer (whether it be EA in its day or Microsoft later and Google today) and how perceptions change when said companies dominate.

There are plenty of people out there that with that everything would just "standardize" on iPods and iTunes. And even as an iPod and iTunes user, I am glad there's Amazon.com selling MP3s.

For the record, I use Steam every day. I like it a lot. The question isn't which is better (right now, if I had to choose one client, I'd use Steam because of its superior community features and game library -- how many CEOs would say that publicly about the "competition"?). The objective is to remind users that competition is always a good thing even when you love a particular vendor (whether it be Valve, Stardock, whoever).  

It's never a good idea to explicitly wish for a single source. Some people in the comments area have said "Of course no one wants a monopoly". But I can assure them that yes, there are lots of people and companies who would like just that because a single source is seen to streamline things.

We expect Impulse to exceed 1 million users before Demigod even ships. So suffice to say, it is doing well. It's nowhere near Steam's user base but then again, Impulse has only been out 6 months.  

The point is, Impulse's existence and success shouldn't be seen as an "inconvenience" to consumers but rather as a way to ensure that consumers continue to have choices.

Steam and Impulse at a glance:

www.steampowered.com

www.impulsedriven.com

Related articles:

Stardock mentioned by name by the Michigan governor in the state of the State address

Impulse Phase 3 preview

Stardock prepares to open up second game studio

Stardock's Sins of a Solar Empire top selling PC strategy game of 2008

One of the things I still don’t understand is why haven’t AMD and nVidia started making external video cards?

Obviously, one problem is going to be what do you plug it into.  But it would sure be handy to be able to bring home my laptop and plug it into my docking station and be able to play some mega cool games on it.

This was an early engine test. The guys made me promise to put a disclaimer that the final game will not look like this and that it’s MUCH better looking than this.

http://www.bushnell.com/general/weather_fx_95-0003.cfm?section=General%20Use

You just plug it in, enter your city and voila.

I think it’s pretty cool. I would imagine something like this in the kitchen.  They have 5 day and 7 day versions too.  I think the 7 day version would be kind of pointless but the 5 day one looks really cool too.

Only downside is they’re pretty expensive: $90+.