sins-of-a-solar-empire posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Labor Day 'Impulse' buy: Sins, Demigod and Dawn of Discovery on sale

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 3rd 2009 at 9:51AM }

With what we're told is the weekend of Labor Day ahead of us, an Impulse sale is trying to do its best to keep us indoors on this last unofficial weekend of summer. The Impulse store currently has some great titles at deep discounts.

Stardock-published games Sins of a Solar Empire (with Entrenchment) and Demigod are both only $20. Meanwhile, the economic real-time strategy sim Dawn of Discovery is $25. There's plenty of other deals, including World of Goo for $10, so try not to spend those last fleeting days of summer inside. We dare you.

[Via Big Download]

Sins of a Solar Empire 'Diplomacy' beta begins fall, releases winter 2010

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 25th 2009 at 9:03AM }

The second micro-expansion for PC sleeper hit Sins of a Solar Empire will release in winter 2010. The Diplomacy add-on will increase the number of ambassadorial options to players in their conquest of the galaxy. You know, sometimes it helps to talk through the issues. Ironclad and Stardock plan to have a beta for the expansion this fall in order to work out any Vasarian bugs.

Entrenchment and Diplomacy have both suffered delays while jumping into the digital distribution galaxy. A third micro-expansion for Sins was previously announced, so the full 4X RTS space opera experience should be completed sometime next year -- unless there are more delays, of course.

Gallery: Sins of a Solar Empire

Second Sins of a Solar Empire micro-expansion might take a while

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 14th 2009 at 5:00PM }

With one out of the three planned "micro-expansions" for their flagship strategy title Sins of a Solar Empire under its belt, developer Ironclad Games has begun discussing changes included in the second batch of new content. Here's the good news: Ironclad is deep-sixing the current diplomacy system in favor of a deeper, more functional one. There's other minor changes as well, such as the inclusion of new terms of victory -- but peaceable relations seem to be the name of the game in expansion part deux.

Here's the inescapable bad news: Due to the radical changes the second expansion will bring about, it'll be a while before its ready to launch. Considering the first expansion missed three of its tentative launch windows, Ironclad co-founder Blair Frasier was gunshy when it came to revealing the release date for the new expansion. In his own words: "It'll be done when it's done." Brilliant.

Trailer of 'Entrenchment' for Sins of a Solar Empire shoots lasers, flies around

by Ben Gilbert { Feb 21st 2009 at 10:00AM }

We already told you about developer Stardock's upcoming expansion "Entrenchment" when it was announced last August. We told you about the delay that hit the expansion and pushed back its release window and then when it finally got dated (we were so proud!), only to get pushed back to February 25th (what a downer!).

Well today, we've got no bad news for you. The brand new trailer you see above and the less than brand new screenshots you see below in the gallery are all we've got for you on the Impulse digital download service-exclusive expansion coming in a few weeks. We apologize for the squished format of the video but we get what we get and we don't get upset.

Gallery: Sins Of A Solar Empire: Entrenchment

Sins of a Solar Empire's Entrenchment DLC delayed until Feb. 25

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 10th 2009 at 3:00AM }

We're "Vasari" to report that Sins of a Solar Empire's first "micro-expansion," Entrenchment, has fallen out of warp and suffered a delay until Feb. 25. Only available through Stardock's Impulse digital distribution service, the $10 add-on was recently given a Feb. 11 release date.

Stardock's Brad Wardell stated the extra time will be used to incorporate more feedback from the open beta. The expansion was originally expected to release sometime late last year. Hopefully production of the next micro-expansion, featuring diplomacy upgrades, will go a lot smoother than Entrenchment's development.

Gallery: Sins Of A Solar Empire: Entrenchment

Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment digs in Feb. 11

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jan 28th 2009 at 12:30AM }

Sins of a Solar Empire's first "micro-expansion," Entrenchment, received an official release date today of February 11. The $10 add-on, which will add several powerful defensive structures to the grand 4X RTS, will only be available through Stardock's Impulse digital delivery service.

Entrenchment is the first of three mini expansions expected to enhance tactics this year. The next addition will add diplomacy features and the last is still under wraps. With this much tactical choice, we fear having to put a week aside to actually finish a basic mid-sized match.

[Via Big Download]

Gallery: Sins Of A Solar Empire: Entrenchment

The Best of Big Download: December 15-21

by Joystiq Staff { Dec 21st 2008 at 12:00PM }

This week is the last one in 2008 that will likely have a lot of major gaming news but Big Download still has lots of plans to cover the past year and looking ahead to 2009 in the next several days. In the meantime let's look at the highlights from the past week:

Exclusive features

Contests: We have lots of contests that we are running this week. You still have time to enter for your chance to win a free copy of Galactic Civilizations II, Demigod, Prince of Persia, a Red Alert 3 game and swag pack or game codes for GoG.com.
Reviews: We have our final verdicts on Prince of Persia, Strong Bad Episode 5, and American McGee's Grimm: A Christmas Carol.
Cities XL preview: We go hands-on with the upcoming ambitious city sim game from Monte Cristo.
Left 4 Dead game guide: Our final game guide for Valve's shooter takes a look at some of the more interesting achievements.
Countdown to the biggest PC game news stories of 2008: What was the biggest story in 2008 for PC gamers? We give our picks for the most memorable events of the past 12 months.
Big Download's 2008 Rose Ceremony: We give out roses to those folks and groups who made news in PC gaming in 2008 and refuse to give roses to others.
GamerApps - GamerDNA: We take a closer look at the new social networking site for games.
Indie Showcase: Our weekly look at the indie games scene takes a look at some new artistic minded browser based games.
Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes takes a look at in-game health features.
Big Iron: Our weekly hardware column gives out their first annual hardware awards
Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games takes a look at the B-movie game inspired title Cottage of Doom.
Virtual Bargain Bin: Our look at cheap games takes a look at two games that have been released for free at GoG.com, Beneath a Steel Sky and Lure of the Temptress.

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Sins of a Solar Empire v1.1 available; features AI, graphic, trade upgrades

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 19th 2008 at 2:30PM }

Stardock and Ironclad have put a capital (ship) amount of work into the free Sins of a Solar Empire v1.1 patch. The crisp Advent laundry list of fixes and upgrades is incredibly long, but many players will be happy with the simple fact that the buy/sell and pirate window is now on the main screen.

Stardock also reiterated that those who pre-order the recently delayed $10 Entrenchment expansion will be included in the upcoming beta, which will have its details "announced soon." Now, in all seriousness, could Sins pretty please get a campaign mode to flesh out the lore?

Sins of a Solar Empire expansion delayed [update]

by Jason Dobson { Nov 11th 2008 at 8:00PM }

The quest for universal superiority may have hit a bump in the galactic highway as Voodoo Extreme reports that Entrenchment, the forthcoming expansion to Sins of a Solar Empire, has been pushed back from its expected release next week. Instead, VE3D reports that the game will available exclusively as a digital download for Impulse users in January.

While disappointed, we can't say that we're all that surprised. After all, the construction of race-specific subspace inhibitors and defense platforms is no easy task, especially while trying to get a leg up on the hectic Vasari holiday shopping season. While we wait, a subspace transmission has been dispatched to Stardock representatives for an official word.

Update: Stardock's Brian Clair, aka Yarlen, has confirmed the delay on the game's official forum, writing that Entrenchment "will first be put through a public beta test for pre-order customers" in order to "finely hone" the expansion before it is released. He also notes that a final release date has not been set, and that it will "largely depend on beta feedback."

Sins of a Solar Empire sells 500,000 copies

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 5th 2008 at 12:00AM }

Stardock has revealed that its sleeper PC hit Sins of a Solar Empire has sold over half a million copies. The company's CEO Brad Wardell tells Gamasutra that 400,000 units were sold at retail, while 100,000 in sales came from digital downloads. Not bad for a full-bodied PC strategy game that cost less than a million dollars to make.

Wardell is certainly becoming an interesting character in the narrative of this industry, with relatively small publisher Stardock really stepping up. He explains part of Sins' success is that it was designed to run on a "four-year-old video card" and still look good. He says there might be a "piddly super-mega effect" that gets missed, but the result is more sales for the game, a strategy which sounds similar to Blizzard's take on being a PC developer. Sins' first mini-expansion, Entrenchment, will be available for $10 later this year.

[Via Big Download]

Stardock reveals Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment

by Justin McElroy { Aug 29th 2008 at 9:30AM }

Did you ever finish a six-hour long match of Sins of a Solar Empire and think, "What I really want is more"? If so, you have some serious, clinical mental problems. But, you've also got some good news coming your way: Today Stardock announced the first expansion to the game: Entrenchment.

We're not even going to try to decode what the $9.95 expansion (due late this year) adds to the game, so here it is straight from the space horse's mouth: "Entrenchment promises to bring fans a Starbase defense platform for each race (extremely powerful and armored bases housing a variety of weapons and other upgrades capable of defending an entire planet), turret upgrades for each race to make them more powerful mine fields and a Subspace Inhibitor platform that will slow enemy ships within its range."

...Umm, great?

Sins publisher Stardock keeps piracy 'in perspective'

by Jason Dobson { Jun 24th 2008 at 10:00PM }

Piracy. It's an dark cloud that prompts many companies to employ draconian measures like DRM or electric shocks (coming soon to a game near you!). One notable exception is Michigan-headquartered Stardock, which refuses to include copy protection in its games, a policy that interestingly hasn't kept its most recent release, Sins of a Solar Empire, from putting up respectable numbers both online and at retail.

As Stardock CEO Brad Wardell explains it, piracy is an issue that "has to be kept in perspective," and in a recent Big Download interview he further played the common sense card, stating that "the people who actually buy games don't want to be inconvenienced or treated like a criminal." Wardell adds that while Sins "definitely" would have sold more had piracy not been an issue, "everyone who buys games knows they could easily have gone out and stolen it if they wanted to." It's a perspective often trumpeted by the gamer community, but it's even more refreshing to have it come from within the industry itself, and gives us one more reason to keep Sins of a Solar Empire sitting on our desktops.

Sins of a Solar Empire releases today in UK

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 13th 2008 at 3:00AM }

Although we're sure plenty of Europeans have already pirated Sins of a Solar Empire -- and really, we can't blame you -- the game officially launches in the UK today. The surprise PC hit will cost £30 in the UK and, although the press release speaks about the "European retail box," we can't seem to currently find a release date or price for the rest of the continent.

Sins of a Solar Empire has no disc copy-protection, but supports those who purchased a copy with patches, which have greatly improved the game since launch. UK gamers who got the game through nefarious means, please feel free to support this excellent strategy game with a retail purchase. You want a Sins of a Solar Empire 2, don't you?

[Via Big Download]

Gallery: Sins of a Solar Empire

Joystiq interview: Demigod, Sins, and the death of PC gaming

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 24th 2008 at 12:25PM }

With publisher Stardock's rise the last couple of years and the announcement that it'll be publishing Gas Powered Games' next title, Demigod, it was time catch up with the two companies. We spoke with Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell and Gas Powered Games' founder Chris Taylor and asked some niggling questions on our minds ... and fired a few total shots in the dark which yielded results (like Demigod on consoles?). Find out more about Stardock and why Gas Powered Games decided to hook up with the little-publisher-that-could for its next title in our interview.

OK, let's get right into it, what's Demigod?

Chris Taylor - Demigod is a frantic team-based action game with RPG and RTS elements mixed in. If that doesn't sound familiar, it's because we're sort of inventing a new style of hybrid gameplay. The player selects a Demigod, and fights for a place in the pantheon of Gods in these incredible arenas. Each battle puts the player in command of either an Assassin Demigod, or General Demigod. These two types gives the player a choice of whether they command just the single Demigod, an Assassin, or whether they take command over every single unit in the game, like a traditional RTS, a General.

Gallery: Demigod (PC)

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Sins of a Solar Empire finally gets demo treatment

by Jason Dobson { Mar 21st 2008 at 9:00PM }

Sins of a Solar Empire might just be the best game you've never played. Then again, maybe you have, considering how well the PC game has been selling since its early February debut. Still, if there's one thing that's been missing from the experience, its how to court those players still on the fence, with a demo for the 4X strategy hybrid being noticeably absent. Until now that is, as Iron Clad and publisher Stardock have finally pushed out a demo, which is currently available for download from Gamespot.

The news is great, really, but the question as to why the demo took so long to produce had to be asked. So we did. We broached to topic with Stardock president and CEO Brad Wardell, who told us that "when Sins of a Solar Empire was released, Stardock and developer Iron Clad felt that our first priority had to be to existing customers...once we released v1.03, we were able to spend the necessary time to put together a quality demo." Quality is a word people throw around too easily, so those of you who pick up the demo, drop us a line below and let us know if Wardell's comments are justified.