As Object Desktop 2007 nears, Stardock is in the process of including example content showing off just what is possible to do with it.

This year, Stardock plans to include some of the best recent skins, themes, icons, etc. from WinCustomize.com with Object Desktop. 

If you have something you want included with Object Desktop 2007, submit it here to WinCustomize.com within the next week. Make sure that when you submit it that you have the option "In submitting these files for upload, I agree that they may be included by Stardock in future compilations or libraries" checked.

We are in particular looking for icon packages, WindowBlinds skins, Suites, and DesktopX themes.  Make sure what you submit belongs to you.

Stardock is starting to put the final touches onto Object Desktop 2007.  Object Desktop is the company's flag-ship product and it is content for Object Desktop that make up most of the top galleries here on WinCustomize.com.  Object Desktop 2007 is essentially a CD snapshot of where Object Desktop is today. 

Object Desktop is a suite of utilities that enhance the Windows experience. Popular programs of Object Desktop include WindowBlinds, DesktopX, IconPackager, WindowFX, and more.  The entire package is only $49.95 and it includes a full year of free updates (and users can continue to get additional updates after that year at a discounted rate).

Object Desktop 2007 is scheduled to come out later this month. The timing is specifically such that users of Windows XP will be able to take XP to its true zenith but also be amongst the first to be able to enhance Windows Vista when it arrives early next year.

A lot of Stardock's development has centered around preparing for the release of Object Desktop 2007.  New enhancements to Keyboard LaunchPad, DesktopX, WindowBlinds, IconPackager, Theme Manager, and more have all be either already done in recent weeks or are in the works for the launch.

One of the new pieces is the Object Desktop Manager which allows users to treat Object Desktop as a single, integrated product.  The manager organizes Object Desktop into its three primary functions: Personalizing Windows, Creating new things for Windows, and extending Windows.  Object Desktop allows users not only to transform how Windows looks, feels, and functions, it also provides the tools necessary for users to create their own enhancements.  In addition, Object Desktop includes utilities that seamlessly extend the functionality of Windows such as the Enhanced File Dialog, RightClick, Virtual Desktops, and much more.

You can learn more about Object Desktop at www.objectdesktop.com.  The next year will be amongst the most exciting times for PC enthusiasts and Object Desktop 2007 is poised to help users make the most of it.

Google is taking on PayPal and Microsoft's Passport at the same time with its new "CheckOut".

The idea is that users who want to buy things from sites are often discouraged because of the tedium of having to enter in all their credit card details and shipping info when they purchase.  Google's CheckOut would allow users to create a single site and then websites that support it would then allow users to purchase using their Google CheckOut.

If you've ever used Amazon's OneClick, you can imagine the convenience (for users of this) who could go to a Stardock or deviantART or other websites and be able to quickly purchase things without having to repeatedly enter in credit card details. It would all be handled through Google.

CNET is pointing out that this is something Microsoft wanted to do but concerns over privacy and a lack of general trust in Microsoft prevented widespread acceptance.  This begs the question - why is one multi-billion dollar company so much more trustworthy than another? And is there any merit to that?

I can say that WinCustomize plans to support purchases made with CheckOut soon (we already support PayPal).

The European Commission is set to fine Microsoft up to $2.5 million per day in response to what it says are anti-trust violations.

In March 2004, the EU fined Microsoft over $500 million for using its monopoly power to get an advantage in server operating systems and in media players.

As some may recall, the EU's remedy was that Microsoft would have to release a version of Windows XP that did not include Windows Media Player.  To make a long story short, the EU has been unsatisfied with Microsoft's progress in executing these remedies.

One might point out that the EU has never alleged that the entire media player market, in which all the major players in it release their players for free, is not valued anywhere near the staggering fines listed. But that's another story.

Microsoft claims it is putting "staggering" resources towards compliance (not including wmplayer.ex_ on the CD would probably be a good first step -- we're willing to help them do that for a mere $100 million).

Stay tuned..

While this may be the last day of my vacation (Stardock got a 4-day weekend), it's a beautiful day here in Michigan, USA. And whether you're an American or not, happy 4th of July.

Cheers!

Check out this week's PowerUser.TV, the official podcast of WinCustomize.com.  This week's show has a lot of "stuff" on the latest Windows Vista builds, tech news, gaming and more.

Check it out!

www.poweruser.tv.

So you've bought the game and you really like it but then time passes and it starts to get old. It's not that the game is boring or bad but that you have figured out how to "beat it".  You crank up the difficulty level but then it's ridiculously hard to the point you know you have no chance. 

If the game has multiplayer, you play people on-line but as you get further away from the original release, the harder it gets to find people and in particular the harder it gets to find normal people -- people who play the game as it was designed to be played as opposed to exploiting every minor game mechanic flaw to their advantage which tends to suck the fun out. 

So ends the typical strategy game.  It's usually a question of when, not if, the game reaches the end of its playable lifetime. 

When we made Galactic Civilizations II, we budgeted some money for after-release work.  We did go a little overboard with that with 1.1 and 1.2 in that the guys just never came down out of "crunch mode" and continued to put in crazy amounts of hours to deliver immense numbers of changes.  Now things have returned more to a normal pace and so we look forward to 1.3.

Version 1.3 of GalCiv II will largely involve computer AI work by me.  It's not just about making it tougher as much as it is about making it play differently and more intelligently. It will also likely involve creating additional difficulty levels and fixing the $@#$@ thing that causes some AI players to be set to stupid while others are at hard in order to average things out (i.e. someone setting the overall difficulty level to "Painful" only to find that 3 of the AIs are set to being really hard and the other 5 are set to being brain dead -- your best solution for now is to set the players you want to be intelligent or better if you're looking for a challenge and control the players rather than having the overall difficulty system try to guess what kind of gmae you want).

I have a lot of ideas on how to make the game play better, particularly with regard to the CPU option for the AI being able to use better algorithms.  The expansion pack, Dark Avatar, will have a LOT LOT more of this kind of thing.  But my job is to make sure that the AI continues to provide an interestig experience for players during the summer months.   

A lot of people don't like the galciv2.com forums. 

Given the expense involved in maintaining the forums, we are considering eliminating the forums entirely and pointing to Civfanatics.com and Apolyton.net (just like Civilization4.com does).

An increasing percentage of "bug" reports are ending up not being about the game itself but related to the website and in particular the forums here.  Most users, myself included, don't think the forums here are particularly good, especially compared to what else is out there.

So I would lke to hear people's thoughts on the idea of eliminating these forums entirely and pointing to CivFanatics.com and Apolyton.net for users who wish to discuss the game and provide feedback.

Thanks.

This Fall Stardock will be releasing the Dark Avatar expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations II.

Dark Avatar is the first official expansion pack to Stardock's award-winning PC strategy game, Galactic Civiliations II.

The expansion pack goes far beyond the typical expansion. Not only does it add new units, new races, new maps, and a new campaign as is expected in an expansion pack, it greatly expands the feature set of the base game in very significant ways.

Here are some of the features that will be in the expansion pack:

• Custom Opponents.  Just as players can design their own civilizations; in Dark Avatar they can design their own opponents to play against. This isn't just cosmetic either, players will be able to set up their intelligence, personality, playing style as well as what they look like, what ships they use, what dialog they use, etc.  These opponents are then saved for later use.
• Agents. Players will be able to hire agents via espionage to wreak havoc on their opponents or to counter enemy agents operating in their own empire.
• Special Worlds.  Worlds in Galactic Civilizations II will have an additional classification -- environment type. Different races will start with the ability to colonize only certain environment types.  Through research and technology, additional planet types can be colonized and conquered but it will totally change the way the initial colonization phase of the game plays out.
• The Epic Generator.  One of the things Stardock has put out that people seem to like are epic stories of game play examples.  Dark Avatar will generate such stories automatically and export them as HTML so that players can share their stories with others and look back at a good game as the epic saga they imagined.
• Asteroid Fields. The economics in Dark Avatar will be altered to make strategic control of additional kinds of resources important. Amongst those will be the asteroid fields which, when utilized, can help the closest colonized planet. In additional, asteroid fields act as a natural barrier slowing down incoming ships.
• New Treaties. Diplomacy will get beefed up with the additional of new diplomatic treaties. These treaties not only provide mutual benefit but give players more tools to forge their relations with other players.
• New Races. Two new civilizations will be introduced to the mix including the evil Korath who are bent on genocide at the galactic scale.
• New hulls and ship components. A ton of hulls and ship components are going to be added. This really can't be overstated enough because not only are there going to be a lot of these components but the quality is far superior to what we've done before thanks to having mastered the art of making ship hulls and components.
• The New Campaign: Dark Avatar. This time, the Drengin Empire are the good guys. You must make the galaxy safe for oppression and tyranny...because the alternative is worse.

The expansion pack will list for $29.95 but users will be able to pre-order it for $24.95.  The expansion will be initally released digital only via TotalGaming.net (and the store on GalCiv2.com). though players can also have a CD sent to them as well. 

The release date is this Fall.

The first official expansion pack to Galactic Civilizations II is about to be announced. But for a sneak preview of it, check out the Gamespot interview that goes over some of the plans.

Stay tuned!