It is no secret that Stardock are big fans of Star Control - Galactic Civilisations certainly owes something to Star Control II, as does the Stardock-published Sins of a Solar Empire. No great surprise then that Stardock has announced that it is actively pursuing the keys to the Star Control kingdom with a view to making a 'proper' sequel and glossing over the rather underwhelming Star Control III.

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When Stardock unveiled the PC Gamer's Bill of Rights back in August, it seemed like a cute little publicity stunt, albeit one that made a few dead-on points about the state of PC gaming. Once the press releases had been sent out it seemed as though we would all nod sagely and then everyone would get back to business as usual.

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Stardock has released twenty gleaming new screens from Galactic Civilizations II: Endless Universe.

GCII:EU is a stand-alone expansion pack (meaning, we think, that it can be played without the original game) that adds news race-specific weaponry, skills and resources to the science fiction strategy game.

Still no multiplayer - and this is presumably the scrag-end of the GCII expansions - but still some fun to be had if you like old-school 4X.

Galactic Civilizations II Gallery

With less than two months to polling day the time is ripe for Stardock to try and push copies of their Presidential Election sim The Political Machine 2008 - i.e. before the entire nation becomes so heartily sick of the election process that it would sooner set fire to its collective genitals than pay cash money for anything to do with politics.

Any armchair Karl Rove's might be tempted by a freebie version of the game, The Political Machine Express'08, which offers all the thrills and spills of the full game's 21-week election campaign, less a couple of extra features (such as running historical campaigns or trying to become president of an alien world)

We thought the 2004 edition relied a little too much on issues and rational thought - cynics and realists will be pleased to learn that the '08 version incorporates spin doctors, smear merchants and political intimidation.

The Political Machine Express '08[Stardock]

Well played, sirs! It's been announced earlier today that Sins of a SOlar Empire - Stardock's sleeper-hit PC space strategy game - has sold over 500,000 copies. That's around 400,000 at retail, and over 100,000 via digital download. Considering it's a very PC PC game (ie there are menu buttons everywhere), and cost only $US 1 million to make, calling it a success story would be selling it short by several orders of magnitude.

Wardell: Sins Of A Solar Empire Hits Low System Reqs-Aided 500,000 Units [Gamasutra]

Clever press release writers, knowing that the longer the release the less likely we are to read all the way to the end. I nearly missed out on the delay of Gas Powered Games' upcoming RTS RPG Demigod in this announcement concerning a publishing agreement reached with Stardock of Sins of a Solar Empire and Object Desktop fame. Stardock will be handling publishing duties and digital delivery of Demigod for the PC, originally slated for a late 2008 release. The reason for the delay?

To fully support a public beta that will launch this summer, the launch date for Demigod has been moved to February 2009. This will give the development team sufficient time to incorporate feedback from the beta players while polishing the game.

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