cryostasis posts

Steam isn't the only PC game download site offering sales deals on main of their titles. GamersGate is also cutting prices on a number of their titles they have in their library of downloadable PC games. In fact two of the game's sales end today. One is Torchlight which can be downloaded for just $9.95. The other is for Borderlands which is on sale for $34.95.

Other games on sale until January 5 include Stormrise for just $11.98, Dark Sector for a mere $9.95, Cryostasis for $6.49 and a Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3/Red Alert 3 Uprising combo for just $24.95.

This is the full playable demo for Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason, a survival-horror action game.

Download HD Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason Demo (1.04 GB)
Check out all Cryostasis downloads

There's almost no activity on the retail front for new PC games but there are two interesting downloadable titles that are launching as well.

Cryostasis: Delayed from last week, Russsian-based 1C Company teams with Aspyr to bring this unusual FPS game to the US. Players must investigate what happened on board a nuclear icebreaker with temperature becoming a key gameplay aspect. Players with Nvidia graphics chips in their PC can check out more advanced PhysX based game physics effects.

A long awaited strategy game is the highlight of an otherwise slow week in new PC game releases:

Demigod: Developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Stardock finally release their highly anticipated strategy game (with action and RPG elements) to stores and also via Stardock's Impulse service. Players control massive Demigods (some as one big unit, others as generals controlling minions) . The game lets players gain experience and more weapons and powers as they play in a persistant online multiplayer world.

It's one of the biggest issues in PC games; trying to keep titles from being pirated. While some companies use DRM solutions to "protect" their games from pirates some gamers feel such features actually treat real customers like criminals.

Today 1C Company and Aspyr release Men of War, the first of five games that will ship to stores in the US under their publishing agreement over the next few months. In their press release today announcing that Men of War is now shipping 1C Company announced that the WWII RTS game will not have any DRM solutions. Indeed the other four games being released in the agreement (Death Track: Resurrection, Cryostasis, Necrovision, and 4X4 Hummer) wlll all ship to stores DRM free.

[Via email press release]

Earlier this year we reported that 1C Company had inked a deal with Aspyr Media to release a number of their games to retail stores in the US. However if you don't want to fool with that old-fashioned brick-and-mortal approach to buying your games you can also download all of the 1C titles from the Gamersgate download service.

The agreement begins today with Gamersgate offering up the WWII RTS game Men of War on their service for $39.99. In the next couple of months other 1C Company games will be released as digital downloads on Gamersgate including the action-racing game Death Track: Resurrection (March 24), the first person shooter Cryostasis (April 20) the racing sim Hummer 4x4 (May 22) and the first person shooter Necrovision (May 25).

Russian based game publisher 1C Company has been trying to get their titles in the US with mixed amounts of success. Today the game publisher announced a new US distribution deal with Aspyr Media to release several of their titles in the US.

The titles included in the deal are the first person shooter Cryostasis, the driving combat game Death Track: Resurrection, the WWII RTS title Men of War, the horror shooter NecroVisioN and the driving sim game 4X4 Hummer. All of the games are scheduled to be released in the US via Aspyr sometime this spring. Previously 1C Company inked a US distribution deal with Atari for a number of their games.

[Via email press release]

This tech demo is designed to show off the capabilities of Nvidia PhysX, but it also provides some very early looks at Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason. Windows Vista and an Nvidia series 8 or greater desktop GPU are required to run this tech demo. Continue reading for full system requirements.

"In development by 1C games, Cryosatasis is a FPS horror game set in 1968 on a Russian Nuclear powered ice breaker. With freezing conditions around the ship, and only partly working heating the conditions are tough – but ideal for creating a very cool looking FPS with interactive Nvidia PhysX gaming effects. This sneak peak demo gives you an opportunity to be one of the first to see the game actually running on your gaming rig. This scripted flythrough makes full use of GPU-accelerated PhysX features of your GeForce graphics card with some very cool environmental effects."
Download Cryostasis Nvidia PhysX Tech Demo (922 MB)

Back in June we got a chance to check out several upcoming titles from 1C Company and one of them was Cryostasis, a first person shooter that use heat and cold as a gameplay mechanic. The game has yet to be released but today 1C launched the official web site for Cryostasis, showing off more info, screenshots and a trailer for the title.

There's more to the game than just hot and cold running death, however. Developer Action Forms has also put in a feature called "Mental Echo" that gives the player a way to go back in time and even alter events in the past that affect the game's present. Currently Cryostasis remains on ice but should be released sometime in 2009.

Russian publisher 1C Company has announced a deal with GamersGate that allows the digital distribution portal to feature many of 1C's upcoming games, reports IGN. The agreement, which covers 13 titles, spans the third quarter of 2008 through quarter one of 2009.

GamersGate CEO Theodore Bergquist is delighted with the deal, believing that carrying many of 1C's most anticipated and popular titles "will ensure that GamersGate has first dibs on carrying strong titles from their portfolio."

1C Company International Sales Director Nikolay Baryshnikov echoed the sentiment, saying that the deal "is a great opportunity to deliver our games to players all over the world."

Big Download had the opportunity to go hands-on with a number of 1C's titles that will be featured on GamersGate, including Necrovision, Hummer 4x4, Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason, Death Track Resurrection and Men of War.