However if a gamer wants to install the game again on a new PC, all he or she has to do is sign on again with just their email address. Impulse Reactor's servers will then recognize the user and allow the game to install and be played on the new PC with no fuss. Wardell told us that the Impulse Reactor software does not require the actual Impulse store client software to be installed (unlike games that use or are downloaded from Steam which do require that the entire Steam client run in the background). That should please brick-and-mortar stores that might be concerned that a competitor's software might be installed in a PC game they sell in their retail locations.

The next version of Impulse Reactor is scheduled to be released by Stardock this spring alongside the release of their next major game Demigod. Currently under development by Gas Powered Games, the mix of action, RPG and strategy is coming along well according to Wardell. He emphasized that Demigod, unlike their 2008 space strategy hit Sins of a Solar Empire (developed by Ironclad Games) was designed to be learned and played quickly. Indeed, Wardell told us they have no plans to offer any in-game tutorials for Demigod, saying "If we have to offer a tutorial to learn to play this game then we failed in our design."

Wardell is still keeping some of the details of Demigod's multiplayer options under wraps, saying officially that there will be a persistent element to the game. One of those persistent elements is the ability to create online tournaments with players fighting either on the forces of light or darkness . Tournaments could go on for weeks at a time. Players will also be able to earn points that they can cash in to add new items and weapons to their persistent character. As far as pre-orders for Demigod, Wardell revealed that at the moment they are running about twice the amount of units than Sins of a Solar Empire did before it was released.


Big Download will have more coverage of Demigod before its release later this spring. Meanwhile Stardock continues to add publishers and games to its Impulse download service (ironically it recently added a number of THQ games for sale via Impulse). The first of three micro-expansions for Sins of a Solar Empire are now scheduled for release in February and in 2010 Stardock will release its own internally developed fantasy turn-based strategy game Elemental: War of Magic. It also has yet another unnamed title that it will plan to release in 2011.