While we're not making any promises, we plan to have Sins of a Solar Empire v1.04 ready this week.  v1.04 is the first serious attempt to user-requested game balancing. 

We've gotten a lot of feedback in the past few weeks with some great ideas on tweaks to each of the different sides to make the game more enjoyable to players.  Obviously a lot of time has had to be spent play testing (and yes, we get paid to do this, so there, mom!) these changes to make sure the result truly is a more satisfactory experience.

Often times, what seems balanced (or unbalanced) on paper does not work out quite that way on-line. There are a lot of factors that just have to be played to be seen.  Moreover, a player's skill level along with strategy can completely alter one's perspective on balancing which has been both a challenge and quite enjoyable to observe. 

Both Stardock and Ironclad play multiplayer games pretty regularly (we don't usually advertise who we are) and it's really quite refreshing seeing new strategies being developed over time that we never would have considered.  This is one of the reasons why updates such as v1.04 will continue to be needed -- as players come up with new, innovative strategies, we will have to continue to update the game to ensure that no single strategy becomes too dominant -- this is what you pay us for, after all.

If all goes well, we hope to arrange a game night with the entire community.

For those of you who would like to try out Impulse, check out the link below.  Note that the precise version numbers won't match up between Stardock Central and Impulse since they have different backends.

If you'd like to try it go here:

http://storage.stardock.com/files/Impulse_setup.exe

There's a LOT more being added to it but you should find it pretty reliable at updating things.

On a bit of a serious note, I have to confess that a lot of my success in life has been due to my health. I don't get sick. Ever.

Let me put it into perspective, until 4 years ago, I never had to blow my nose. I actually didn't know how because I had never had a cold or flu that resulted in my nose being stuffed up.  It was actually a pretty big deal at the time.

But man, I got some virus a couple weeks ago. I've been dog sick. 

I was out of town for all of last week on business infecting people around the country no doubt. 

You can hear me on GfW podcast last week: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3148397 I'm the dying sounding one. It was pretty bad.

Anyone else there finding that this Winter has been a really bad season for the flu?

But I want to live!

Hat tip to DigitalChet.

PLYMOUTH, MI- April 7, 2008- Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced today that they have reached a publishing agreement for Gas Powered Games' upcoming PC game, Demigod.

Demigod is a team-based action game with RTS and RPG elements. Players take control of a massive Demigod with the goal of annihilating their opponent's position in a given arena while preventing the opponent's Demigod from doing the same to them. Although the game supports superb one-on-one duels, the title will truly shine in team play either with other human-controlled Demigods or with ones controlled by a sophisticated computer AI. As the game progresses, the player's Demigod will acquire items, attributes and experience.

Gas Powered Games, having become one of the leading PC game developers with hit titles such as Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander chose Stardock as its exclusive worldwide PC publisher in part because of Stardock's tremendous success with the award-winning Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations.

"Forging our new partnership with Stardock is a big deal for all of us at GPG, and we couldn't be more excited about it," said Chris Taylor, founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games. "Not only do we have a proven retail publisher, but we get to partner with a pioneer in the digital distribution space a company that totally understands what kind of experience our customer wants and the quality game they demand. The whole proposition is truly refreshing."

Stardock's most recent release, Sins of a Solar Empire was the top selling PC strategy game at retail according to NPD, and the second highest selling PC game overall despite selling immense numbers of copies digitally which are not counted in sales rankings. The game has received universally high reviews in the media and many have noted how seamlessly Stardock and developer Ironclad worked together.

"Were very excited at the opportunity to work with Gas Powered Games," said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock. "By integrating our teams and working together, we will be able to create something that represents the best of both teams."

To fully support a public beta that will launch this summer, the launch date for Demigod has been moved to February 2009. This will give the development team sufficient time to incorporate feedback from the beta players while polishing the game. Like Stardock's other games, Demigod will be released without any on-disc copy protection and has been budgeted to receive many months of free post-release feature updates.

The official website for Demigod is in the works, but users who want to begin discussing the game can visit http://www.demigodthegame.com.

About Gas Powered Games
Gas Powered Games was founded in May 1998 by acclaimed game designer, Chris Taylor.The company's first project, Dungeon Siege, was released in April 2002 and its sequel, Dungeon Siege II was released in August 2005. Both games were critical and commercial successes. GPG's recent releases include the award-winning and genre-defining Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance.

About Stardock
Stardock is one of the world's leading developers and publisher of PC games and desktop software.Its PC games include Sins of a Solar Empire, the highest rated and best selling PC strategy game of 2008 as well as the critically acclaimed Galactic Civilizations series. Its desktop software includes Object Desktop, WindowBlinds, and a host of other programs for customizing the Windows experience.

Today Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced their partnership to develop and publish the much anticipated PC strategy/RPG game Demigod. Demigod is going to be a milestone PC game for a lot of reasons that will be made clear in the coming months.

So why should players of Sins of a Solar Empire care?  For one thing, it means that a sophisticated ladder, match making, account system will become a reality in the near future.  You see, Stardock, Ironclad, and Gas Powered Games are doing something that, to my knowledge, has never been done before. We three are combining our experiences and talents to build a unified multiplayer architecture.

That means your Sins of a Solar Empire achievements will become part of your account. Your wins, losses, and ranking (for those who choose to play ranked games) will be part of your account. You'll be able to find available games in Sins, Demigod, or The Political Machine (for starters) right from Impulse.  You'll be able to have a unified friends list, unified clan support, and much more that is supported by 3 games immediately and designed by 3 companies with a great deal of experience in this area.

Stay tuned, this is all going to happen a lot quicker than one might expect. 

Today Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced their partnership to develop and publish the much anticipated PC strategy/RPG game Demigod. Demigod is going to be a milestone PC game for a lot of reasons that will be made clear in the coming months.

What Gas Powered Games and Stardock are doing is not your typical publishing agreement. Just as Stardock and Ironclad teamed up in an unprecedented way on Sins of a Solar Empire, the three of us are teaming up in ways that, to my knowledge, have never been done before by independent developers in the game industry.

For example, Stardock, Gas Powered Games, and Ironclad are teaming up to build a unified multiplayer architecture. For years, PC gamers have struggled to get multiplayer games going. And then, even when they get these games up, the on-line experience can be, how shall we say, less than ideal at times.  With our experiences in this area, we are collaborating on a multiplayer architecture that will make the PC strategy game experience much more enjoyable.

The first step of this will find its way into Impulse.  Impulse will allow users to browse through available multiplayer strategy games.  A player who has Demigod, The Political Machine, and Sins of a Solar Empire would, for instance, be able to see the available games for all 3 and join with Impulse launching the corresponding game automatically.  Moreover, all three games will share an existing account which will have ranking data, achievements, friends lists, kindreds (we'll talk more about this soon), and much more. 

From this start, we intend to allow others to make use of this architecture so that eventually, multiplayer gaming for strategy gamers is a seamless, easy to use, and enjoyable experience. 

And this is just the start. Over the coming year, the 3 indies teamed up will be delivering content and features to PC gamers that we hope you find worthwhile.

PLYMOUTH, MI- April 7, 2008- Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced today that they have reached a publishing agreement for Gas Powered Games' upcoming PC game, Demigod.

Demigod is a team-based action game with RTS and RPG elements. Players take control of a massive Demigod with the goal of annihilating their opponent's position in a given arena while preventing the opponent's Demigod from doing the same to them. Although the game supports superb one-on-one duels, the title will truly shine in team play either with other human-controlled Demigods or with ones controlled by a sophisticated computer AI. As the game progresses, the player's Demigod will acquire items, attributes and experience.

Gas Powered Games, having become one of the leading PC game developers with hit titles such as Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander chose Stardock as its exclusive worldwide PC publisher in part because of Stardock's tremendous success with the award-winning Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations.

"Forging our new partnership with Stardock is a big deal for all of us at GPG, and we couldn't be more excited about it," said Chris Taylor, founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games. "Not only do we have a proven retail publisher, but we get to partner with a pioneer in the digital distribution space a company that totally understands what kind of experience our customer wants and the quality game they demand. The whole proposition is truly refreshing."

Stardock's most recent release, Sins of a Solar Empire was the top selling PC strategy game at retail according to NPD, and the second highest selling PC game overall despite selling immense numbers of copies digitally which are not counted in sales rankings. The game has received universally high reviews in the media and many have noted how seamlessly Stardock and developer Ironclad worked together.

"Were very excited at the opportunity to work with Gas Powered Games," said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock. "By integrating our teams and working together, we will be able to create something that represents the best of both teams."

To fully support a public beta that will launch this summer, the launch date for Demigod has been moved to February 2009. This will give the development team sufficient time to incorporate feedback from the beta players while polishing the game. Like Stardock's other games, Demigod will be released without any on-disc copy protection and has been budgeted to receive many months of free post-release feature updates.

The official website for Demigod is in the works, but users who want to begin discussing the game can visit http://www.demigodthegame.com.

About Gas Powered Games
Gas Powered Games was founded in May 1998 by acclaimed game designer, Chris Taylor.The company's first project, Dungeon Siege, was released in April 2002 and its sequel, Dungeon Siege II was released in August 2005. Both games were critical and commercial successes. GPG's recent releases include the award-winning and genre-defining Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance.

About Stardock
Stardock is one of the world's leading developers and publisher of PC games and desktop software.Its PC games include Sins of a Solar Empire, the highest rated and best selling PC strategy game of 2008 as well as the critically acclaimed Galactic Civilizations series. Its desktop software includes Object Desktop, WindowBlinds, and a host of other programs for customizing the Windows experience.

PLYMOUTH, MI- April 7, 2008- Stardock and Gas Powered Games announced today that they have reached a publishing agreement for Gas Powered Games' upcoming PC game, Demigod.

Demigod is a team-based action game with RTS and RPG elements. Players take control of a massive Demigod with the goal of annihilating their opponent's position in a given arena while preventing the opponent's Demigod from doing the same to them. Although the game supports superb one-on-one duels, the title will truly shine in team play either with other human-controlled Demigods or with ones controlled by a sophisticated computer AI. As the game progresses, the player's Demigod will acquire items, attributes and experience.

Gas Powered Games, having become one of the leading PC game developers with hit titles such as Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander chose Stardock as its exclusive worldwide PC publisher in part because of Stardock's tremendous success with the award-winning Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations.

"Forging our new partnership with Stardock is a big deal for all of us at GPG, and we couldn't be more excited about it," said Chris Taylor, founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games. "Not only do we have a proven retail publisher, but we get to partner with a pioneer in the digital distribution space a company that totally understands what kind of experience our customer wants and the quality game they demand. The whole proposition is truly refreshing."

Stardock's most recent release, Sins of a Solar Empire was the top selling PC strategy game at retail according to NPD, and the second highest selling PC game overall despite selling immense numbers of copies digitally which are not counted in sales rankings. The game has received universally high reviews in the media and many have noted how seamlessly Stardock and developer Ironclad worked together.

"Were very excited at the opportunity to work with Gas Powered Games," said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock. "By integrating our teams and working together, we will be able to create something that represents the best of both teams."

To fully support a public beta that will launch this summer, the launch date for Demigod has been moved to February 2009. This will give the development team sufficient time to incorporate feedback from the beta players while polishing the game. Like Stardock's other games, Demigod will be released without any on-disc copy protection and has been budgeted to receive many months of free post-release feature updates.

The official website for Demigod is in the works, but users who want to begin discussing the game can visit http://www.demigodthegame.com.

About Gas Powered Games
Gas Powered Games was founded in May 1998 by acclaimed game designer, Chris Taylor.The company's first project, Dungeon Siege, was released in April 2002 and its sequel, Dungeon Siege II was released in August 2005. Both games were critical and commercial successes. GPG's recent releases include the award-winning and genre-defining Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance.

About Stardock
Stardock is one of the world's leading developers and publisher of PC games and desktop software.Its PC games include Sins of a Solar Empire, the highest rated and best selling PC strategy game of 2008 as well as the critically acclaimed Galactic Civilizations series. Its desktop software includes Object Desktop, WindowBlinds, and a host of other programs for customizing the Windows experience.