I used to build my own machines. I took great pride of getting the last clock cycle of power out of them. To get one more frame per second out of them.  Then I got married, had kids, and now just am happy to be able to play games at all let alone overlocking my video card or purchasing a premium motherboard. So when Half-Life 2 came out, I decided to get a new computer. One that was pretty well set up for gaming. I haven't played HL2 yet because I want to experience it in its maximum vis...

..A long time ago Stardock developed a game for OS/2 called Galactic Civilizations. It was published by a small company called "Advanced Idea Machines". Stardock never saw a penny of royalties from the retail release of the game.  Learning from history, for Galactic Civilizations 2 on OS/2, Stardock decided to self-publish it.  To get to retail, it worked with a distributor called Micro Central.  Micro Central filed for bankruptcy and never paid a cent in royalties.  Years l...

I admit it. I'm a bad man.  It's not my fault though, I just don't have enough free time to be a good man.  You see, I play World of Warcraft.  It's a massively multiplayer on-line role playing game (MMORPG).  In MMOs, you are, in theory, supposed to group up with other players to go on quests and such.  I did this a lot when I was first got the game.  I even have a guild with around 100 members.  But as time has gone on, it's increasingly difficult to find peo...

NPD has released the top 10 best selling PC games for February. Here are the results: February 2008 Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) Sins Of A Solar Empire (Stardock) World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest (Blizzard) The Sims 2 Free Time Expansion Pack (EA) World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack (Blizzard) World Of Warcraft (Blizzard) The Orange Box (EA) The Sims 2 Deluxe (EA) The Sims: Castaway Stories (EA) Crysis (EA) Stardock's Sins of a Solar Empire...

Stardock is pleased to announce that Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor has gone into final gamma testing. The expansion pack to the critically acclaimed space strategy game, Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, completes the Dread Lord saga with the return of the powerful Precursor civilization, the Arnor. 

Arguably the most comprehensive expansion pack in strategy game history, Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor has more new features and content than Galactic Civilizations II had over the original.

A labor of love, Twilight of the Arnor is nearly complete.  This week, we are putting it through final gamma testing as lots of content and goodies that were held back during the public beta are integrated in, tested, polished, etc. 

The July issue of PC Gamer has arrived and for fans of Sins of a Solar Empire, it's definitely a collector's item. It includes a complete modding guide that walks through Galaxy Forge and provides tips on how to create your own mods. It also includes a column by Brett Todd that goes over some of their favorite mods including "7 Deady Sins" by Danman, Dawn of Victory by Slipstream Productions, Sins Plus by UZII, the Texture Pack by Max Tael and more! And if that wasn't eno...

      Just some screenshots of Sins of a Solar Empire.

When designing your own character, there is a button in the bottom right that you can use to take a snapshot. Use the arrow keys to move the box around (keyboard arrows that is) and the two buttons on the control panel there to size it. The saved file is then kept in documents\my games\polmachine2008\snapshots

Not to be outdone by the release of Impulse, Stardock also released The Political Machine 2008, a PC strategy game that lets players run for President!

  The Political Machine 2008 By Brad Wardell, Designer, AI developer, Political Junkie.   In a nutshell The Political Machine 2008 is a PC strategy game in which players run for President. Players choose the scenario they want to play in (USA 2008, USA 1860, “Europa”, and Drengi), choose a candidate (or make one) and then do what needs to be done to rack up the electoral votes on election day. The game includes a campaign mode in which players go ...

We are back from PAX and what a week it was. PAX is definitely the best computer game trade show of its kind. While there, Stardock, Gas Powered Games, and Ironclad showed off our latest and greatest and the teams got to know each other. We had a great time! The Gamer's Bill of Rights, Demigod, Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment, and The Political Machine got a lot of attention. Here are some scenes from the show...   Darth Vader approves of the Gamer's B...

Release time: Wednesday September 17th, 2008 at approximately 1pm EST. Free political strategy game gives players a chance to run the Obama or McCain campaigns The Political Machine Express released September 17th - Plymouth MI. Stardock, the company behind such games as Galactic Civilizations, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Demigod has made available The Political Machine Express.  This free strategy game, puts players in the role of the campaign manager of either John Mc...

Galactic Civilizations II v2.0 is a major free update to Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar and Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor. Galactic Civilizations is a turn-based space strategy game set in the 23rd century. In it, humans have begun colonizing the galaxy and have encountered several alien civilizations, some friendly, some hostile. Players must guide humanity by building fleets of ships, researching new technologies, negotiate treaties, fight wars, and much more. I...

  Part I: First Impressions Galactic Civilizations II: v2.0 is a free update for Galactic Civilizations II players. It's an expansion pack's worth of updates designed to address all kinds of suggestions players have given us. Plus, we said that Twilight of the Arnor was going to be the last expansion pack for GalCiv II and since we're giving this away, it's technically not an expansion pack...so...we...er...made good on our promise that there'd be no more expansion packs af...