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.

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]

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.

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.

4X strategy games are usually doing good just to get noticed. The titles are by their very nature an acquired taste usually appreciated only by a select few, reason enough why we imagine that the devs at Ironclad Games are breaking out the good glasses this evening, patting themselves on the back for a job well done while finally uncorking that bottle of 1995 Chateau Margaux that's been gathering dust in the cellar.

The reason for the celebration? It turns out that the studio's debut 4X game, Sins of a Solar Empire, has sold more than 100,000 units since its release on February 4, making it the top selling PC game in North America for the week based on sales data compiled by Gamasutra. It's anyone's guess how long PC gamers' love affair with Ironclad's space epic will last, but for now at least it appears that in the kingdom of the keyboard and mouse number crunching and micromanagement are king.

[Via press release]

In another CES 2008 announcement, Microsoft has highlighted nine new additions to its Games for Windows endeavor, promising to "continue the momentum for Windows-based gaming in 2008" and "revive" the PC gaming space. The titles due to be dressed in Microsoft's colors include:

• Alone in the Dark (Atari)
  
• Bionic Commando (Capcom)
• Conflict: Denied Ops (Eidos Interactive)
• Empire: Total War (SEGA)
• LEGO Indiana Jones (LucasArts)
• Microsoft Train Simulator 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Sins of a Solar Empire (Stardock)
• Space Siege (SEGA)
• Tomb Raider: Underworld (Eidos Interactive)

The list not only cements the "Underworld" subtitle to Eidos' next Tomb Raider, but provides reassurance as to the longevity of Microsoft's initiative. Games for Windows is sure to be around for quite some time if Alone in the Dark manages to arrive under its banner. Microsoft's polite press release is also keen to remind us that other expected 2008 titles -- Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Borderlands, The Club, Fallout 3 and Frontlines: Fuel of War -- will stand beneath the flapping emblem.