Back by popular demand, Tom Francis of PC Gamer UK has begun writing a new epic diary of a Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor game.

The first one, released last year, was insanely good.  This is an absolute must-read.

Check it out here:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=195920&site=pcg

Stardock announced today the Gamer’s Bill of Rights: a statement of principles that it hopes will encourage the PC game industry to adopt standards that are more supportive of PC gamers. The document contains 10 specific “rights” that video game enthusiasts can expect from Stardock as an independent developer and publisher that it hopes that other publishers will embrace. The Bill of Rights is featured on Stardock’s website (www.stardock.com) and is on prominent display in Stardock’s booth (1142) at the Penny Arcade Expo.

“As an industry, we need to begin setting some basic, common sense standards that reward PC gamers for purchasing our games,” stated Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock Corporation. “The console market effectively already has something like this in that its games have to go through the platform maker such as Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. But on the PC, publishers can release games that are scarcely completed, poorly supported, and full of intrusive copy protection and then be stuck on it.”

Chris Taylor, CEO and founder of Gas Powered Games stated, “This is an awesome framework for the industry to aspire to, and ultimately so that we can provide our customers with the gaming experience that they have wanted for years, and really deserve.”

As an example of The Gamer’s Bill of Rights in action, Stardock instituted a policy of allowing users to return copies of The Political Machine purchased at retail to Stardock for a full refund if they found that their PC wasn’t sufficient to run the game adequately.

“The PC market loses out on a lot of sales because a significant percentage of our market has PCs that may or may not be adequate to run our games. Without the ability to return games to the publisher for a refund, many potential buyers simply pass on games they might otherwise have bought due to the risk of not being certain a game will work on their PC. The average consumer doesn’t know what ‘pixel shader 2.0 support’ means, for instance,” said Wardell.

According to Stardock, the objective of the Gamer’s Bill of Rights is to increase the confidence of consumers of the quality of PC games which in turn will lead to more sales and a better gaming experience.

The Gamer’s Bill of Rights:

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.
2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.
4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.
6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Stardock is excited to announce that “phase two” of its digital download platform, Impulse, has begun and all updates, new games and software applications will soon be live. Phase two of Impulse sees new games from 2k (Civilizations III, Shattered Union, Sid Meier’s Pirates! and Sid Meier’s Railroads!) and Tilted Mill’s Children of the Nile enhanced edition. New software applications include a host of Corel applications like WordPerfect Office X4, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, and Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 as well as software applications from Genie Soft, Iolo, and AVG Internet Security and Anti-Virus & Anti-Spyware software.

 

Concurrent with the new games and software applications, Impulse additions now see a refreshed user interface and a major new set of developer features called ImpulseReactor. Stardock’s recent release, The Political Machine 2008 will be the first game to utilize features of ImpulseReactor, and the upcoming Demigod will incorporate the features which consist of the highly anticipated match-making feature, cloud computing, rankings, achievements, multiplayer, NAT negotiation, and more.

 

Phase two of Impulse also adds the ability for users to install and update third-party and freeware programs that are available via Impulse. This makes the transfer of the catalogue of programs installed on a user’s machine extraordinarily simple from machine to machine as it’s all centrally located on Impulse. Phase two has already addressed user feedback and incorporates significantly faster load times, downloads, a smart queue option and a smarter updating process which exponentially decreases processing time for updates.

 

All new titles and software applications are now available at www.impulsedriven.com

 

 

Impulse is Stardock's next-generation digital distribution platform.  On June 17th it got its initail release.  Next week, Phase 2 will be launched which will add a bunch of new features to the mix.

For Galactic Civilizations II users, it opens the door for some continued development possibilities. For instance, we would like to make use of Impulse's achivements and rankings features to better support the Metaverse.

Galactic Civilizations II: v2.0 (for Dark Avatar and Twilight users) is due on October 1, 2008.  We think users will be shocked at how much development time has gone into this free update to improve the espionage and dozens of other elements of the game.

In November, we anticipate announcing the fantasy strategy game (no promises though) with the beta opening up next Spring for that.

To read what's new in Phase 2 of Impulse, go here: http://draginol.impulsedriven.net/article/321533/Impulse_Phase_2_Preview

 

Stardock has released Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor v1.96.  This is a pretty major update despite the version numbering.  Our goal with this update was to address as much of the player feedback we could in the time available.

Our next stop is to work on Galactic Civilizations II v2.0. v2.0 will be an update for both Twilight and Dark Avatar players which signicantaly enhances espionage, updates the computer AI based on player feedback, and incorporates a lot of new content that we've been working on for awhile.

v2.0 will also include the updated user manual that fleshes out the Twilight of the Arnor universe and talk about the Legacy of the Telenanth.  There will be some updates for Dread Lords users as well. v2.0 will be a free update of course.

It's available for download on either Impulse or Stardock Central.

Check out the link below to get an idea of what was changed.

 

The latest review of Gal Civ II: Twilight of the Arnor comes from GameZone.com.  Anise Hollingshead gives ToA a great review and really focuses on some of the new improvements, specifically the tech tree. 


Twilight gets a 9 out of 10, and even gets the Editors Choice award from GameZone.  Be sure to check out the full review here.

With the Impulse launch this week along with The Political Machine 2008 release, it's been a busy week. But for our next magical trick, we're also releasing the first significant update to Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor.  You can get a preview of some of the changes here.

You will need to use Impulse to get it. Go here to get Impulse.

Today's the day Impulse launches to the public with much fanfare and celebration.  In anticipation of the release, Brad Wardell walked through what will be available in Impulse on release, and a few sneak peeks at what will be added in the comming weeks and months.

It's required reading before you get the final version later today.  It will answer a lot of questions and hopefully clear up a lot of confusion of what Impulse is, what it isn't, and what it can and can not do.  We're pretty excited about the launch coming up today and want to make sure everyone's as educated about the platform as possible.

The article comments area is also the best place to ask any lingering questions you might have!

For the past 2 years, Stardock has been working on a brand new digital distribution platform.  The idea was to create something that was compelling on its own, allowed users to purchase, download, and update any type of software, and provide developers and users a way to add new functionality to their programs.

This week, the fruits of this effort will be released: Impulse. 

View: Preview

Screenshots: Latest internal screenshots

 

Twilight of the Arnor continues to draw critical praise from the gaming media. The latest review to come in is from GameSpot who gave Twilight a 9 out of 10 and an Editors Choice award.

Brett Todd took the final Galactic Civilizations II expansion for a spin and found a lot to like; New graphics, unique tech trees, new campaign, Ascension victory and of course, Terror Stars!  In general, GameSpot labels Twilight a must-buy for any Galactic Civilizations II fan.

Be sure to check out the full review, filled with screenshots, here.