"This week Soren Johnson joins us to talk about the state of the strategy genre, working with gaming legends and what we should be looking out for in the future. Julian reveals his mail gaming roots and Shawn finds a way to compare Boom Blox and Sins of a Solar Empire." Listen to the Podcast here: http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/39114 [read more]
5/16/2008 By Craig Fraser in Sins News
Soon we'll be releasing the v1.05 update for Sins of a Solar Empire that should address many of the multiplayer issues some players have reported. This is a minor patch, however; more substantial updates will arrive with version 1.1. v1.05 Changes: Fixed bug deallocating particle pool memory. Fixed cargo ship related crash caused when loading a saved game. Increased the maximum length of map description text. If the text is too long, it will no longer crash the game. AI missions ... [read more]
5/15/2008 By Yarlen in Sins News
It's been over three months since Sins of a Solar Empire hit store shelves, and soon it will be readily available at retail in Europe as well. In the months since release, the reviews have continued to trickle in one at a time here and there. Today, I have a quick round-up of a few of the most recent reviews posted for Sins. Overall, with this latest bunch Sins of a Solar Empire has a solid 88% on GameRankings . Game Chronicles - 9.2 "I'll spare you the pun of "it wo... [read more]
5/13/2008 By Zoomba in Sins News
Tonight (4:28am so technically this morning) I'm hanging out on the GalCiv II forums between compiles. The above is the issue editor for The Political Machine 2008. In it, I must go through every conceivable issue, write a description and then put in the values. The values on position are between -10 (strongly against) and positive 10 (strongly in favor). The other variable (new in this version) is how important the issue is which is on a scale from 1 to 10. I also have th... [read more]
5/6/2008 By Frogboy in Political Machine News
Gamasutra has posted the in-depth post-mortem on Sins of a Solar Empire. For gamers as well as developers who want to see how a hit game was made that was done almost completely differently than the typical publisher/developer system, you'll definitely want to check this out. It also has screenshots of very very early builds of Sins that you'll probably get a kick out of. View: Sins of a Solar Empire Post-Mortem [read more]
4/28/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
Recently Joystiq sat down with Brad Wardell (Stardock CEO) and Chris Taylor (Gas Powered Games Founder) recently to talk a bit about Demigod, a little bit about Sins & Gal Civ 2, and of course about copy protection and where the PC games market is headed. The result? It looks like PC Gaming isn't dead afterall, and that Stardock/Gas Powered Games have some interesting ideas on where the future lies. Click to read the full interview , it's definitely worth a little bit of your... [read more]
4/25/2008 By Zoomba in Sins News
GamerNode took at look at the PC game release calendar for this year and realized something; 2008 is a great year to be a PC strategy gamer! While the article talks about genre giants like Starcraft 2, Empire: Total War and the highly anticipated Spore, do you know the game they led the feature with? If you said "Sins of a Solar Empire", you'd be right! Highlighting Sins' scale, integration of 4X elements with real-time gameplay and an engine that performs well and looks great... [read more]
4/25/2008 By Zoomba in Sins News
Stardock Entertainment and Kalypso Media are pleased to announce the signing of an agreement that will finally bring Sins of a Solar Empire to retail stores throughout Europe. The game will start appearing at retail beginning in late May/early June, though no specific dates have yet been set. We'll post more information as soon as it becomes available. [read more]
4/18/2008 By Yarlen in Sins News
Sins of a Solar Empire v1.04 is now available for download. Use THIS LINK to update to the latest version. If you are in the Impulse Beta, use the link provided here to update, don't use Impulse to update as we're in the process of updating the backend to support fast transfers of lots of little files which hasn't been perfected yet. View : Change Log Download : Sins of a Solar Empire v1.04 [read more]
4/10/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
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 ... [read more]
4/7/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
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 a... [read more]
4/7/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
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 shi... [read more]
4/7/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
There's going to be a rather huge announcement from Stardock on Monday... Stay tuned... [read more]
4/5/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
This past week I was on a press tour visiting our friends at GfW, IGN, GameSpy, Gamespot, Wired, PC Gamer, Game Developer and more. I had the flu so hopefully I didn't leave them any parting "gifts". As some have reported, there will be an expansino pack for Sins of a Solar Empire. Ironclad and Stardock are just working out the best time to release it and what features will go into it. It will have a campaign to help narrate the backstory more. I know we're looking at more ... [read more]
4/5/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
GFW Radio is a weekly free-for-all with the editors for Games for Windows Magazine. Every week they talk about what they've been playing recently, what's going on in the games industry, or in the case of this week's podcast the super-flu that has been kicking both Jeff Green and Brad's butts the last week or two. Together, the two of them spend the podcast working on creating the virus that will wipe out all of human civilization. Beyond crafting the bug that will kill us all, th... [read more]
4/3/2008 By Zoomba in Sins News
What exactly has been chasing the Vasari? Why are they on the run? The Vasari were conducting experiments on mammalian species discovered on a remote terran planet on the outer ring of the Vasari Empire. Isolated from each other, the captives did not appear to pose a threat with their aimable features and peaceful nature. Together the furry creatures possessed a power greater than the Vasari had ever known. The small muliticolored creatures each bore a un... [read more]
4/1/2008 By Craig Fraser in Sins News
Twitter has really become one of the most popular "social network" sites around today. It's different than something like Facebook, as this is a way to connect with friends and others, and basically just make short posts (140 characters) about what you are doing, your thoughts, work, etc. Since the political season is heating up even more, and politics is a hot topic on Twitter, we have created our own account for The Political Machine. It will be regularly updated with links and... [read more]
3/28/2008 By Island Dog in Political Machine News
PLYMOUTH, MI - March 26, 2008 - Do you have what it takes to be the president? Today Stardock Entertainment announced The Political Machine 2008, a new PC game that puts players in control of the 2008 presidential campaign. Play as the campaign manager for a host of candidates including Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, historical candidates or design one from scratch. Players then choose their campaign battlegrounds and are off on the campaign trail to face a host of challenges i... [read more]
3/26/2008 By Frogboy in Political Machine News
Stardock is pleased to announce The Political Machine 2008. Developed by the same team (literally) that made Galactic Civilizations II, The Political Machine 2008 puts the player in the role of campaign manager for a Presidential Candidate. Players choose a candidate they want to run for President or can design their own from scratch. They then pick a scenario (current day USA, future world, Civil War USA, Drengi, or other scenarios) and then begin their quest to be elected President. ... [read more]
3/26/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
Here are some screen shots of our current internal build of The Political Machine... Players can visually design every aspect of their candidate. The candidates in the game aren't "modeled". We just provide the pieces and the rest goes from there. All candidates are bobble-headed in order to make them more like real-life politicians. You can go on cable TV shows and answer the tough questions which can affect your standing. You're not just a player,... [read more]
3/25/2008 By Frogboy in Political Machine News
Our target release date is June 17, 2008 -- give or take a few days based on retail needs. Below is our tentative schedule: Beta 1: April 24. All users who pre-order the game will be given access to it. Beta 2: May 8. All users who pre-order the game will be given access to it. Release: June 17th-ish. Stay tuned! [read more]
3/25/2008 By Frogboy in Political Machine News
GameSpy has taken a sneak peek at the upcoming version of The Political Machine. Check it out here: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-political-machine-2008/ [read more]
3/25/2008 By Frogboy in Political Machine News
Welcome to the brand-new Political Machine 2008 website! Have fun! [read more]
3/25/2008 By Frogboy in Political Machine News
In its May 2008 issue (vol.8 iss.05) Computer Power User dedicated a full page review (pg.91) to Sins. The review starts off with the following sentence "The game’s title evokes great imagery, so it’s kudos to developer Ironclad Games for not only penning a great name but creating a game that keeps you from getting a good night’s sleep." It is a straight forward commentary with no hype and is written from a jaded gamers perspective. Note: The link only goes to th... [read more]
3/22/2008 By Spartan in Sins News
Ironclad Games and Stardock Entertainment are proud to announce the release of the first Sins of a Solar Empire demo! Available at Gamespot, the single-player only demo offers a taste of the full game for those who haven't yet taken the plunge into galactic warfare. Features: Play as the Trader Emergency Coalition (TEC) Learn the basics through four tutorials Fight on two small scenario maps against up to two AI players Conquer a randomly generated medium map against up to three... [read more]
3/21/2008 By Yarlen in Sins News
Wired Magazine just published it review of Sins on itsgame blog. "For the strategy hardcore, Sins is a masterpiece. The threeraces are extremely varied and require vastly different strategies, thetech tree is immense yet surprisingly self-explanatory, and thediplomacy options are simple but can dramatically shift the course of agame." [read more]
3/19/2008 By Spartan in Sins News
Despite the phenomenal success of Sins of a Solar Empire both in terms of sales and in reviews, we are just getting started! Ironclad and Stardock have a whole host of goodies in the pipeline for Sins of a Solar Empire. First, we've decided to split the next major update into two parts. This way, we can release an update sooner. The first update will be called Sins of a Solar Empire v1.04. This version will contain some balancing updates based on player feedback, more comp... [read more]
3/18/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
Despite that most sales of Sins of a Solar Empire thus far have been through TotalGaming.net (direct digital download), Sins topped the charts last month at retail for PC games. Here are the stats courtesy of NPD : February 2008 Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Sins Of A Solar Empire World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest The Sims 2 Free Time Expansion Pack World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack World Of Warcraft The Orange Box The Sims 2 Deluxe The Sims: Castaway Stori... [read more]
3/16/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
The Sins of a Solar Empire Video Contest has come to an end and the winners have been chosen. Stardock and Ironclad send their thanks to everyone who entered the contest; you all did great. Grand Prize Winner: Swiss Knight 2nd Place: Carbon016 3rd Place: Lord Atlus Swiss Knight's video will appear in the July 2008 issue of PC Gamer's demo disc. Be sure to pick up a copy. Congratulations to all of our winners! [read more]
3/14/2008 By Yarlen in Sins News
Sins of a Solar Empire v1.03 has been released! The new update adds dozens of new features to the game based on player feedback. In the month since its release, Sins of a Solar Empire has sold nearly 200,000 copies worldwide (with revenue split pretty evenly between retail and Stardock's digital distribution system). It is also the highest rated PC game of 2008 thus far with Editor's Choice Awards from every major PC game publication and website. The game blends real time game play with “... [read more]
3/12/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
The April/May 2008 issue of Games for Windows Magazine is dominated by Sins of a Solar Empire, with mentions on the cover, review section and more! The Games for Windows team rated Sins with an A- plus an Editor's Choice award saying, "While games like Medieval II have tried to marry the tenets of Civilization and StarCraft, Sins is the first game to successfully do so without storing them in separate compartments." The April/May issue is now available at newstands. [read more]
3/12/2008 By Yarlen in Sins News
Lately there have been a lot of articles that have painted the PC market as being "doomed" due to piracy. Piracy is certainly a major issue that PC game developers have to deal with. But there are other issues at hand that we think are larger. If you're interested in our take on PC game piracy, read the article below: >> Piracy & PC Gaming [read more]
3/10/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
It appears Sins is making the grade; especially inthe scifi world. Scifi.com just published it review of Sins and gave it an "A+" grade. For more information please follow the link. "what makes Sins so terrific has primarily to dowith its epic pacing, which—applause please—rejects the RTS wonk maxim thatunits should be able to cross a map in under a minute. - Matt Peckham" [read more]
3/7/2008 By Spartan in Sins News
Sins of a Solar Empire is the highest rated new PC game of 2008 as well as the best selling new PC game of 2008 but we're not resting on our laurels. Even now, version 1.03 of Sins of a Solar Empire is in internal beta. Stardock and Ironclad are working through the features and testing the new updates based on player feedback. Once that's done we'll get a demo version out and then move on to 1.04. Here are some of the new features going into v1.03: 1) Significantly updated ... [read more]
3/5/2008 By Frogboy in Sins News
This is just a quick note to let everyone know we've extended the deadline for the Sins Gameplay Video Contest to this Thursday, March 6th. So if you had a video you weren't able to finish in time, you have an extra day and a half now to wrap it up and get it posted. Good luck! [read more]
3/5/2008 By Zoomba in Sins News
To whom it may concern; I, along with several friends, run an independant video game podcast. ( www.therumblepack.com ) We have over 30 episodes under our belt and we have a pretty consistent (if a little tiny) fanbase. We were interested in discussing with anyone from Ironclad the motivation behind publishing with Stardock and thoughts on DRM and copyright protection. While I'm the biggest fan of sins on the podcast everyone was interested in talking to a group of developers who are will... [read more]
3/4/2008 By halo58415 in Sins Developer Journals
Maximum PC, a print magazine dedicated to PC gaming hardware, has published a review of Sins of a Solar Empire in their April 2008 issue (available now). You know it's going to be good when the editor of the magazine tells readers not to overlook Sins in his editorial, and the review doesn't disappoint either. Maximum PC awards Sins of a Solar Empire a 9 out of 10 along with their KickAss award saying, "The fine mix of 4X-style depth and RTS-inspired design makes for an irresistible and ad... [read more]
3/4/2008 By Yarlen in Sins News
FiringSquad has published their review for Sins of a Solar Empire today and rated it 91% with an Editor's Choice award! Here's a quote, "It’s been a long time since a developer has taken such risks in development and it is deeply impressive that so many of these risks have paid off for the members of Ironclad." Read the entire article at: http://www.firingsquad.com/games/sins_of_a_solar_empire_review/ [read more]
3/3/2008 By Yarlen in Sins News
EuroGamer has published its Sins of a Solar Empire review today and rated it a 9 out of 10! Here's a quote, "You can file this next to the Total War games, the Ground Control/World in Conflict lineage, Defcon, and all those other glorious individualists who are implicitly against the tank-rush rush." You can read the entire review at: http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=93758 [read more]
3/3/2008 By Yarlen in Sins News
Sins is one of the deepest real-time strategy games to be released in years... Well if you are Polish like me then you should know this site. If not check it out. An interesting read to be sure. Some highlights are: Gameplay: 9.5 - Amazingly deep 4X combat that works in real-time. Some matches might drag out for a bit too long, though. Presentation: 9 - Great-looking ships and the interface is really easy to use. Graphics: 9 - Decent technical graphics which scale to low-e... [read more]
3/2/2008 By Spartan in Sins News
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