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Sins of a Solar Empire sells 500,000 copies
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]
New artwork from Champions Online reveals character origins
Cryptic Studios continues to reveal more of the world of Champions Online and tease us all with intriguing story elements for its more prominent superbeings. Included in this new series of images are comic book-style, wordless origin stories of Defender, Doctor Destroyer, Ironclad, Justiciar, and Menton. The sheer amount of information Cryptic is willing to share with its fans is heartening, especially since it's likely that we won't even see the launch until next year. Expect more content to come, including video of Jack Emmert discussing the Champions IP and how it differs from City of Heroes.%Gallery-17946%
Sins publisher Stardock keeps piracy 'in perspective'
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
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-15134%
The Digital Continuum: Omega solo solution
There was a time in my MMO playing when I would spend hours looking for a group in games like Final Fantasy XI. No television was watched and no handheld gaming devices were manipulated during those prolonged waiting periods. I just sat there chatting with whomever I could in-game. Today, I don't think I could see myself doing this even with the aid of a Nintendo DS or a PSP with which to chip away the hours. Hell, I probably couldn't even do this with one of my favorite shows like Lucky Louie or Flight of the Concords.This is why it warms my heart to know that Champions Online will contain not only solo content across every level, but some kind of secret endgame feature called the Omega System. My first reaction upon this revelation was simply, "Wow" I certainly hope that with a title like "The Omega System" Cryptic has a compelling endgame feature planned that will amaze everyone or at the very least please everyone.
Check out the Champions Online stars in comic form
Some brand new and very awesome concept art is being shown at the Champions Online website. This is a bit different from some of the previous stuff though: you get to see the heroes and villains of CO in the way that heroes and villains are meant to be seen -- in comic form.The characters on show are the heroes Defender and Ironclad, and villains Doctor Destroyer and Menton, and the frames of the comics depict their origins. A forum thread has been provided for any feedback on the artwork, and so far it is overwhelmingly positive. The character causing the most divided opinions is Menton, whose exposed and enlarged brain seems to leave people on both sides of the fence. For the record, we think you look fine Menton -- now please don't mess with our free will.
New Champions Online wallpapers feature wider pixels
It wasn't very long ago that there were only two Champions Online wallpapers to plaster across our pixel-powered screens. Now Cryptic has been kind enough to add Menton and Ironclad to their desktop background selections, bringing the total to four wallpapers. We hope this becomes a regular thing as they reveal more NPCs, as we're very certain that some of the coolest characters are still beyond the lore horizon.Thankfully, Cryptic has seen fit to make their wallpapers fit widescreen monitors as well. Which is something we -- and apparently a lot of you -- asked for the last time Cryptic was nice enough to offer us these things in the first place -- so thank you Cryptic. Now would you kindly keep working on bringing our utmost superhero fantasies to life? Thanks, we owe ya one.
Ironclad destroys Champions Online evildoers
A new heroic character has come charging out of the Champions Online website. We've all seen these "alien from far away" characters before, but this alien (by the name of Drogen Lar) was involved in an accident that fused his DNA with a molten experimental alloy. Instead of dying horribly, he was given a ridiculously resistant living-metal body. Don't try that one at home though, even if you're sure your highly experimental alloy is perfectly safe.
Sins developer says not to blame pirates
It seems like many developers in recent months (with a few notable exceptions) have been trying to take an honest appraisal of the declines in sales PC game makers have seen across the board over the last half-decade. Piracy is the old boogeyman which, while it is still a serious plague on the industry, is far from being the lone culprit. A few weeks ago, Brad Wardell of Stardock, the publisher behind the spectacular Sins of the Solar Empire, posted a rant on his blog here he points to the fact that his company's game has risen to #1 on the PC sales charts despite having no piracy protection; proof positive that piracy isn't the lone factor in PC gaming's stagnation.Wardell offers a number of other explanations. For one, other developers are still too focused on the "cool factor" instead of profitability. A lot of times, it seems games are developed to garner magazine covers and not to make money. Many developers also develop games that are likely to be snapped up in China, where piracy usually cannibalizes most of their market share. (Thankfully, this is a factor MMOs are more resilient to, given the way they are monetized.) The other factor playing to the industry's disadvantage, he says, is that they're only just now realizing that developing games for hardware that next to nobody owns means that next to nobody will buy your game. (We're looking at you here, Age of Conan.) Some pretty interesting opinions from a guy succeeding just outside the mainstream.[Via GamePolitics]
Sins of a Solar Empire finally gets demo treatment
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.
Ironclad's Sins sells more than 100,000 in less than a month
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]
