MyColors Theme Manager in action.

The new MyColors Theme Manager is much nicer than anything we've done in the past in this area. Here's why:

1. We can update themes and MyColors will automatically update them for you.
2. We can update the underlying software and MyColors will automatically update.
3. If you move to a new machine or whatever, you just type in your serial # for the theme and it will download it all within MyColors.

These 3 things just make it so much better for users (and for tech support).  For instance, I noticed that my Sins of a Solar Empire theme has my user name in the Start menu too far over. Oops. Glitch. No problem though because the theme can be fixed and once updated, users in MyColors will add that an update is available and download it right within the program.

We're in week 2 since the release of Sins of a Solar Empire and it's been quite an adventure. We've got a lot going on, here's some highlights...

• In the first week or so, it sold more copies than Galactic Civilizations II sold in its first month which is saying a lot.  I don't know its relative sales ranking but it's in the top 3 best sellers at Gamestop, EB Games, Best Buy, and Amazon.com. I know it's doing well at Walmart and Target since they've gone through their entire initial stockings entirely a couple of times.
  
  
• We're working on v1.03. We want to get it out sooner rather than later and then focus on v1.04 which will be a bit more in-depth of an update. 1.03 will have AI updates, AI replacing dropped players in multplayer, smart AI surrendering, some updates to Ironclad Online and a number of other tweaks. We're going to start putting it through QA tomorrow but we don't have a definitive release date other than hopefully in the next week or two.
  
  
• We're having a Game Night this Friday starting at 6pm EST on Ironclad Online. There will be Stardock people and Ironclad people playing online that night. We'll be helping show people how to play the game, give tips, help people work through any connection issues and of course, playing.
  
  
• I saw an article at IGN about how PC developers are blaming piracy as the reason some high profile games aren't selling in the quantities they should.  As some of you know, Stardock's "main" business is in the PC software realm so we have a bit different outlook on market dynamics.  Here's the deal: Piracy is a problem, no doubt about it. It does cost sales. But it isn't the driving reason for lost sales, it's the size of the market.  Sins of a Solar Empire is outselling some higher profile games not just because it's a "great game" but because it runs on a vastly larger number of PCs. 
  
  For console advocates out there, ask yourself how well a given game would sell if it required players to run out and buy a $300 upgrade to their console to play the game?  That's essentially what a lot of high profile PC game developers expect.  When Ironclad and Stardock were working on Sins, we made a conscious decision that the game would not require potential gamers to upgrade their systems.  That meant we couldn't have things like moving turrets or whatever but it means that the size of the market was much larger.  No matter how good your game is, if people can't play it, you will always be limited.  The number of people willing to upgrade PCs for games is not that large.  If you want to sell lots of copies of your PC game, make sure it runs on a lot of machines. 
  
  
• And lastly, the Sins of a Solar Empire MyColors theme is now available. If you bought the Collector's Edition (which is the only version we sell direct digitally or box-wise) then you get the MyColors theme for free. Click on the update game button to get it (it's one of the reasons why the direct download version is $5 more than the retail).  To learn more, see this post.

That's all for now! Cheers!

For those of you who purchased Sins of a Solar Empire Collector's Edition (which is what you automatically get when you purchase directly from Stardock either digitally or the CE box) you get the Sins of a Solar Empire MyColors theme. Just type in your CE serial # (visit here to have Stardock email your serial #) into MyColors. If you have the CE version, you should be able to see it from the update page within Sins of a Solar Empire.

MyColors is Stardock's latest desktop customization technology that allows users to completely personalize the Windows experience (32-bit Windows XP or Windows Vista).  The technology behind it has been used by Microsoft, nVidia, ATI, Blizzard, Nintendo, and countless others.

If you don't have the Collector's Edition of Sins of a Solar Empire, you can purchase MyColors Sins of a Solar Empire at half the price that most MyColors themes are.  You can also try out MyColors for yourself to see how it works for you.

Visit: MyColors - Sins of a Solar Empire

Visit: MyColors Home Page

This Friday we're thinking of having an official Game Night starting 6pm EST and going on until, well, whenever.

There would be Stardock people there and we'll be giving out random prizes to players we observe helping other players and just plain randomly as well. 

But mostly, we just want to have a night of fun playing Sins. 

Who's interested?

CursorFX 2.0.008 has been released! CursorFX is a program that brings the Windows mouse cursor into the 21st century with fluid animation support, alpha blending, motion smoothing, cursor sizing, effects for different amount events and more.

CursorFX was designed to replace CursorXP. The initial roll-out of CursorFX was a little bumpy, demonstrating the challenges of developing a brand new desktop enhancement in a world divided between Windows XP and Windows Vista users.

Here's what's new in CursorFX:

- Fix for Powerpoint issue
- Fixes for slow/choppy cursor.
- Fixes for process priority.
- Fixes to solve crash on loading Control panel with some old cursors.
- Improved Control panel load time.
- Fix for CursorFX cursors disappearing on IconPackager apply.
- Fixed compatibility with some games and applications.
- Seamless support for CursorXP cursors.

Screenshots:

If you have CursorFx Plus use Stardock Central to download the latest version now.

Download Free version: www.cursorfx.com.

IconPackager 4 will let you change the colors of your icon packages on the fly.

For Windows Vista users, IconPackager will let users set their live folder icons independently of the icon package. So if a given icon package doesn't include support for Vista live folder icons, no problem, you can set them yourself.

The title bar and borders are from an upcoming WindowBlinds skin.

WOW. On behalf of Stardock and Ironclad, I can say we're just incredibly pleased and thankful for the positive reviews that Sins of a Solar Empire has gotten.

Most gamers probably think of games they see at the store being developed and published by huge companies. But the truth is, both Stardock and Ironclad are just a bunch of guys (and gals) who love games and got together to create a game that could bring classic 4X gaming into a real-time experience. 

And even though people seem to really like Sins now. We are working hard to make it even better. Even as I type this, Ironclad is hard at work on Sins of a Solar Empire v1.03. A free update that is almost entirely comprised of new features, tweaks, updated AI, etc. We should have more info on 1.03 soon.

You can now get Sins of a Solar Empire at nearly any store. You can also get the Collector's Edition (digital or full version) directly from us where you can download immediately while waiting for your box to arrive.

• Review: Gamer 2.0
• Review: GameShark
• Review: Gamesquad
• Review: Resonance Gaming
• Review: GameTap

It's a whole new JoeUser.

The site has been completely rewritten from scratch. Some features haven't been completely re-implemented and there are bound to be some glitches.

But we now have the kind of backend and application support to do all kinds of cool stuff.

In the coming days, various usability tweaks will be made as we discover what key little features we've overlooked. Then, in the next few weeks, we'll start to add in new abilities and such.

We hope you like the new setup. I think as you look around your blogs you'll find that you have a lot more control than before and will find that things actually (shock) work much better than the old system.

IGN's review of Sins of a Solar Empire is up! The verdict: Editor's Choice.

The 3 page review goes into great depth about the game's strengths and the areas they could see improvement.

The conclusion of the review is:

We used to have to get our tactical and strategic appetites filled by different games. Then some smart developers started putting the two experiences together in alternating phases. Finally someone's managed to get them both together as part of the same experience. Sins of a Solar Empire does this so well that you never really feel like you're playing separate parts of a single game; you just feel like you're playing a game that works on different levels simultaneously. The experience works so well because the graphics engine works beautifully and the interface is very slick and efficient.

The combat is genuinely rewarding and free from the rock-paper-scissors design of most games, which leaves the player free to focus on more sophisticated tactics. It's true that the game is specifically designed for players to make war on each other, so that might turn off some peace-minded 4Xers, but happily we don't fall into that category.

In other words, if you like awesome strategy games, then you'll love Sins of a Solar Empire.

View: Full IGN review