Only a week or so left until we go gold with our new PC strategy game, The Political Machine. It's scheduled to hit stores in North America on June 17th so we're up against the gun! I haven't been to bed in over 2 days! The AI and the pacing has to be just...right. But we're in the home stretch and very pleased with how it's turning out - especially compared to the version we did in 2004.

The last days of Bush...

The Political Machine 2008 includes more than just the US election. It has other scenarios as well. Some are educational (Election of 1860) some are fantastical (Drengi) and one is offensively funny (Europe as seen through the eyes of an American high school student).

Players of Galactic Civilizations can picture the coolness of the included candidate editor. Both candidates were made with the included, easy to use editor.

Only an indie could make a game with a map like this.

The AI in The Political Machine is very good (if I say so myself). But it also comes with multiplayer built in and will be the first PC game to make use of the Common Multiplayer Platform (CMP) that is being launched with Impulse. CMP is the answer to any gamer who has bought a game and struggled to find people to play multiplayer (especially strategy games). 

 
You can design your own candidates from scratch, give them positions on issues, and all.  I have taken the liberty to make my lovely wife and my dear aunt for tonight's test game.

They're all bobble heads which means they're bobbing at you and trying their best to look at you.

He looks..familiar...

Getting endorsements is very important. Depending on which political party you play as, some of these are harder to get than others.  They change depending on the scenario of course (Europe, Drengi, and the election of 1860 have their own sets).

There's a ton of different ways to view the maps depending on what sorts of information you want to get.

as you can see, late in the game, you can hire a lot of operatives, consultants, and less than savory chartacters to help you out.

Plaeyrs can make speeches, take out advertisements, raise money, etc.  When players make a speech, they pick what issue they want to speak on. This is not window dressing as your speech will persaude others of your point of view - in that state anyway.

If you can make it in New York...

Different states have different issues. The start of the game has pretty realistic issues. But players can manipulate through the course of the game what issues care about through clever advertising, speeches, TV appearances, etc.   In one game, I had "Alien Abductions" as a top issue in some states.   In a game against experts, you won't be able to get away with that kind of thing as much though.

Hooray! I need to improve the AI more...yay...yay...sigh.    More sleepless nights it seems. The AI didn't get enough endorsements and focused too much on fixers.

Yes, we include a tutorial too! A little mention of our local school.

Greetings!  The Political Machine 2008 is nearly done.  Originally, we intended to have a public beta as we do with all our other games.  Unfortunately, to make our June 17th retail release, we have to go gold in basically a week which cut the time down on when we'd have a public beta.   

But in the meantime, here are some screenshots! I will also put together a guided tour of the 2008 edition. It's just so much better in every way.  I'm just finishing up a 40-hour day working on the computer AI, tweaking the game play, tweaking issues, etc. 

IGN has put up a thorough preview of The Political Machine 2008.  Check it out!

View: [IGN Preview]

Gamespot is previewing The Political Machine 2008.  It also includes a lengthy Q&A session with yours truly in going over the various aspects of our upcoming PC strategy game set for launch on June 17th.

View: [Gamespot Preview]

The July issue of PC Gamer has arrived and for fans of Sins of a Solar Empire, it's definitely a collector's item. It includes a complete modding guide that walks through Galaxy Forge and provides tips on how to create your own mods.

It also includes a column by Brett Todd that goes over some of their favorite mods including "7 Deady Sins" by Danman, Dawn of Victory by Slipstream Productions, Sins Plus by UZII, the Texture Pack by Max Tael and more!

And if that wasn't enough, it includes a preview of The Political Machine 2008, a new political strategy game coming out in June from the same team that designed and developed Galactic Civilizations II.

And if that isn't enough, it also includes a really good round-up of this summer's top video cards.

The July issue of PC Gamer has arrived and for fans of Sins of a Solar Empire, it's definitely a collector's item. It includes a complete modding guide that walks through Galaxy Forge and provides tips on how to create your own mods.

It also includes a column by Brett Todd that goes over some of their favorite mods including "7 Deady Sins" by Danman, Dawn of Victory by Slipstream Productions, Sins Plus by UZII, the Texture Pack by Max Tael and more!

And if that wasn't enough, it includes a preview of The Political Machine 2008, a new political strategy game coming out in June from the same team that designed and developed Galactic Civilizations II.

And if that isn't enough, it also includes a really good round-up of this summer's top video cards.

Just some screenshots of Sins of a Solar Empire.

For years, PC makers have competed with one another largely on price. PCs, it was said, were nothing more than a commodity. But over the past couple of years, consumers have begun to take the overall experience a lot more seriously.

Last year's successful launch of the Apple iPhone made clear to cell phone makers that yes, the experience a "commodity" provides for the customer matters.  PC makers have begun to take note and leading the way is Dell who began pre-loading the new Dell Dock on consumer PCs yesterday.

The new dock, represents a significant improvement for Windows Vista users over the default experience by seamlessly integrating programs and data into the desktop experience. It's a first step to be sure but it's a pretty bold move for one of the world's leading PC producers to take. 

While at a glance, one might try to argue that the dock looks like the MacOS X dock. But that would be akin to people saying that the dock in MacOS X is like the LaunchPad that came with IBM OS/2. What makes the Dell dock special is its ease of customization, low memory foot print, and raw performance. In addition, as pretty as the Dell Dock is, its focus is on usability rather than flash. Short-cuts get separated from folders, the category view is designed for ease of access, and dozens of small touches make it feel as if it were a natural part of Windows.

Developed by Stardock's ObjectDock team, the Dell Dock is not based on the ObjectDock code but rather a brand-new Stardock technology platform designed to deliver exquisite performance while being incredibly efficient with system resources.

"We've spent years learning how to integrate new technology into Microsoft Windows to improve the user experience," said Kirk Windisch, Director of Stardock Software. "Now the focus is how to deliver this improved experience to consumers with enterprise-level robustness with a minimum use of system resources."

The Dell Dock is expected to be launched on over 11 million PCs this year. For PC users, it is a first step to a brave new world where the PC makers themselves are taking the Windows experience more and more seriously. Dell has clearly made giving their consumer customers a better experience a priority.

Digital distribution - the ability to download intellectual property on-line is growing by leaps and bounds. Whether you're an iTunes user, Xbox Live, a user of Steam, Stardock Central, or some other mechanism, these programs or platforms are revolutionizing the way we "get our stuff".

I've been meaning to write a primer for digital distribution as it has certainly become pretty mainstream at this point. But I also want to make sure I have the facts absolutely correct.

So here is my rough draft, please comment with errors of omission and more details.

Note that I'm not including websites. This may be personal prejudice but as a user (whether it be games or software) I don't like having to mess with websites to manage my programs. But feel free to correct me on this if you disagree with this view.

I think the most successful platforms have been the ones that are actual programs. Apple delivers iTunes as a program for instance. I think this has had a significant impact on its success.

Generation 1: Clients for downloading and updating content one has already purchased

• Component Manager (Stardock, December 1999)
• Others?

Generation 2: Clients for purchasing, downloading, and updating digital content. Also adds support for content created by third-parties.

• Stardock Central (Stardock, February 2003)
• iTunes (Apple, April 2003)
• Steam (Valve, September 2003)
• Others?

Generation 2.5: Clients for purchasing, downloading, updating, and supporting virtual communities, cross-developer API

• Steam (Steamworks) (Valve, May 2008)
• Others?

Generation 3: Clients for purchase, downloading, updating digital content and provide an integrated persistent community, multi-source distribution, cross-developer API

• Impulse (Stardock, June 2008)
• Others?

Now, obviously there is no set definition of what constitutes gen 1, gen 2, gen 3, etc. 

In my opinion, Steam is the #1 digital platform today both in terms of the tech and userbase. It is the only Gen 2.5 client I know of.

So what would constitute a Gen 3 client? I am thinking of Impulse as a Gen 3 platform but it doesn't exist in Gen 3 form today.  The BETA of Impulse is Gen 2 - it's not even Gen 2.5.  By June 17th (the official Impulse launch date) it'll have to get a lot of new features to justify being called Gen 3 and realistically, that's only a distinction that can be made by others. I'm only attempting to try to start discussion that might lead to a consensus in this emerging market.

So what do you think?