blind-mind-studios posts

Last week developer Blind Mind Studios announced it would pull its space strategy game Star Ruler from being sold from the Impulse PC game download service. It said its decision was based on the feeling that Impulse's soon-to-be new owners Gamestop would not respect independent game developers.

While GameStop has yet to officially comment on the matter, Gamaustra got Brad Wardell, the head of Stardock and the soon-to-be former owner of Impulse, to comment. He states, "I was really surprised. By his own admission, Impulse is 25 percent of his (Blind Mind Studios) revenue."
He adds, "Impulse is going to continue to function as it has. If a developer wasn't paying attention to this, they wouldn't notice any difference. ... On one hand, they [say they] trust me, but they don't trust me enough to realize I vetted [GameStop]. Stardock didn't have to sell Impulse."

When Big Download spoke to Stardock's Brad Wardell last week about selling the Impulse part of the business to game retailer GameStop he told us that the sale was a win for PC gamers. But at least one indie game developer sees things differently.

Blind Mind Studios, the developers of the indie space strategy game Star Ruler, have announced on its web site that it will pull the game off of the Impulse service once Impulse is under GameStop's control. According to the statement, Blind Mind Studios is making this decision "due to GameStop's long, negative behavior toward the PC platform and independent games. We would never have signed onto distribution through GameStop, and being forced into this situation has only made it worse for us. We feel GameStop cannot serve as the leader of a true competitor in the digital distribution market."

The developer hopes that people who have already purchased the game on Impulse will continue to receive automatic updates. Big Download has emailed both Stardock and GameStop for comment.

[Thanks Blue's News]

Is the world ready for yet another space strategy game? Indie game developer Blind Mind Studios hopes the answer to that question is, "You betcha!" On Saturday the developer officially released its own entry in the genre, Star Ruler. One of the game's many features include a procedural generated universe. The only limit, according to the game's official web site, is dictated by the speed of your PC's processor.

Other features include massive battles with ships that can be hit with indivisual componant damage, a "unique" research system, multiplayer with online and LAN features, mod support and more. Star Ruler is now on sale for $24.99 at GamersGate and Direct2Drive. However it will be on Impulse starting Tuesday and if you order the game from them now you can purchase it for $19.95.