Gratuitous-space-battles posts

Today was Pi Day. How did you celebrate; with eating pie or by doing deep math equations?

• Steam has a new automatic update available for download for Gratuitous Space Battles.
• Steam has now added Atom Zombie Smasher to its lineup with a 10 percent discount until March 21.
• Bioware seems to be hinting at the next Mass Effect 2 DLC on its Facebook page.
• Now you too can have your own Portals right inside your home (but not really).
• EA Games head man Frank Gibeau apparently loves Fox News and its coverage of Bulletstorm; just not the way that you might think at first.

Gratuitous Space Battles has had a number of expansion packs already but the indie-made space strategy game from Positech Games is doing something a bit different for its next expansion. In fact you can go ahead and not only pre-order the expansion, Galactic Conquest, you can go ahead and play the beta version right now.

Galactic Conquest basically adds a multi-planet campaign to the game where players can move from planet to planet and conquer star systems rather than just the isolated battles that the game currently has. You can use any of the playable races in the game and the AI enemies come from player-made fleets (which means the game requires an internet connection) There's lots of other new features that will be added in the expansion which costs $6.99. You can check out a trailer for the game after the jump:

One man indie game developer Postiech Games has now released yet another mini-expansion for its cult hit strategy game Gratuitous Space Battles. This new expansion adds the Nomads race to the game with 10 new ships, five new ship modules and new ship bonuses.

However the more interesting thing about the Nomads DLC is the pricing. As described by Positech's Cliff Harris in his blog he is offering the DLC for a regular price of $5.99 and for a "discount" price of $2.99. There is no difference in terms of content. Harris admits this is a bit of an experiment, saying, "I would obviously prefer you bought the standard one." However he adds, "If you genuinely have very very little money and would have waited months hoping for a bundle or a sale, then you could make an argument you could get the discount one." You can get more info on this little sales experience on this web page which also has real time stats on which version is selling more or less. You can check out a trailer showing off the Nomads DLC after the jump:

Hard to believe we will be getting both StarCraft II and Civilization V in the same year. It will be interesting to compare sales of the two games when Civ V comes out next week.

• PC Gamer's week of Valve Software interviews makes for some interesting reading even if all the newsworthy stuff was leaked beforehand.
• From now until 1 pm Eastern time on Monday Direct2Drive has BioShock on sale for $9.95 and Supreme Commander Gold Edition for $14.95.
• A still-in-development notebook with duel touchscreens where the second screen takes the place of the keyboard? Wild.
• Gratuitous Space Battles' creator Cliff Harris gives a timeline for his upcoming projects including the mysterious "Game IV".

It was yet another fairly slow news day in PC gaming land. Is anyone surprised that Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam is being shown for the first time at the Tokyo Game Show?

• Lots of new patches are available via Steam for Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source, Garry's Mod, Fallen Earth, Gratituious Space Battles, and Stargate Resistance.
• Also the Steam release of Sacraboar has a new update that adds 10 new missions, new achievements, Steam Cloud supports and multi-monitor support.
• All of the Infinite Interactive Puzzle games, including Puzzle Quest 2, now have Steam Cloud support.
• The StarCraft II forums now have some answers to some common map editor questions.
• Want to make a mask that looks like Borderlands' Psycho Bandits? Here's how you do it.

The one man team at Postiech Games, Cliff Harris, has already released three expansion packs for his latest strategy game Gratuitous Space Battles. But neither the original game nor the expansions have had a proper single player campaign mode. This week, the game's official web site announced plans to provide exactly that.

The upcoming add-on, which doesn't have a release date or price yet, the campaign won't be of the typicial 4X style of game design but a "contextual 'wrapper' for GSB". It will add new feature such as crew and cash shortages, repairing ships between battles, the need for construction and repair facilities, and the ability to issue a retreat order mid-battle." The campaign will use fleets made by other owners of the game for lots more variety and will use the available races that you currently own. In other words, "The game will not care if you have any earlier DLC or not."

[Via Blue's News]

It was released back in March but now Battlefield Bad Company 2 has gotten back on top of Steam's weekly top 10 PC game sales list. The Digital Illusions-developed shooter likely benefited from a new permanent price drop to $29.99 that went into effect in the last week.

In second place this week is the pre-order for Worms Reloaded, the next game in Team17's turn-based strategy series. Another Team17 game, Alien Breed Impact, came in at the number 8 spot this week thanks to a mid-week sale. Thanks to a 75 percent sale this past weekend, the indie made strategy game Gratuitous Space Battles shot up to the number three spot. The full top 10 list is below:

1. Battlefield Bad Company 2 - Digital Illusions/EA
2. Worms Reloaded - Team17
3. Gratuitous Space Battles Collector's Edition - Positech Games
4. Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Map Pack - Infinity Ward/Activision
5. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
6. Just Cause 2 - Avalanche Software/Square Enix
7. Counter-Strike Source - Valve
8. Alien Breed Impact - Team17
9. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve Team Fortress 2 - Valve
10. Sim City 4 Deluxe - Electronic Arts

It was a fairly slow day for news aside from the surprise Torchlight II announcement. But as we have hinted before it's the calm before the storm begins.

• If you live in Canada you can order a pizza from Pizza Hut and get a chance to win Need For Speed World starter packs.
• More rumors of a new Syndicate game hit the nets. EA should just announce this game already.
• The Mac version of Gratuitous Space Battles is now available.
• Power of Defense is now on Steam for 10 percent off.
• A new Steam patch for Disciples III is now available.
• Impulse has Victoria: Complete on sale for 50 percent off until August 12, the release date of the sequel Victoria 2.

The space strategy game with the cool title Gratuitous Space Battles has already had two expansion packs released, so naturally the one man team at Positech Games decides its time for a third one to come forth. The expansion is titled The Swarm and its available to purchase and download right now from the game's official web site for $5.99.

For that price you get introduced to a new race in the game, The Swarm. They are described thusly: "The swarm will destroy you, but it's nothing personal." Ah we know the feeling. You will get 10 new ships, new weapons and items, two new maps and more. You can check out a gameplay trailer for the expansion after the jump:

Gratuitous Space Battles is still receiving support from its developer. When we initially reviewed the game, we also covered an expansion released shortly afterward titled The Tribe. It focused on a group of environmentalist aliens, in the same way that each of the other factions focused on a different trope or joining element. The newly released expansion pack The Order adds yet another group of aliens to the fray, but like The Tribe, it also throws in a few things besides just some fancy new ships graphics.