galactic-civilizations posts

Stardock has made its living in part by making original games like the Galactic Civilizations series, the Political Machine series and the upcoming Elemental: Master of Magic. However, Gamasutra reports that the developer-publisher is also interested in reviving classic PC strategy games as well.

Stardock CEO Brad Wardell stated that they would like the rights to do a new Star Control series and have also discussed getting the rights from Atari to do a new Master of Orion title. Wardell states that Stardock would "....like to do a roleplaying game too" along the lines of an isometic title like the original Baldur's Gate series.

Is PC gaming dead? Not if Stardock and its CEO Brad Wardell have anything to say about it. The company has developed and published its own games like the Galactic Civilizations and Political Machine series but has also been an online and retail publisher on a large number of third party games. Last February, Stardock and developer Ironclad Games shocked the industry with the sales success of Sins of a Solar Empire. The space strategy title got great reviews as expected but no one expected the game to be a huge sales success as well, staying on the NPD Group's top 10 sales list for PC game software for over three months straight.

But that;s not all Stardock is doing. Their just released 2008 update to The Political Machine also has the debut of Impulse, the company's new digital download service for games that's also aiming to simplify how PC gamers install and play games in general. The company already has agreements in place with Epic Games, THQ and other developers and publishers to use their platform.

Big Download got a chance to ask Wardell a number of Stardock related questions, including some updates for Sins, their plans for Impulse, The Political Machine 2008, and some hints about Stardock's future game plans.

Twilight of the Arnor picks up some time after Dark Avatar, and the galaxy is in rough shape. The evil Drengin Empire still maintains major control while the Dread Lords quietly manipulate things from behind the scenes until it comes time to step out with a show of force. Fortunately, all hope isn't lost. The humans located the last of the Arnor, the ancient precursor race that holds the secret to defeating the Dread Lords. While the story might seem like pretty standard for space operas, the expansion delivers plenty of fantastic gameplay improvements and tweaks to make it compelling and keeps Galactic Civilizations II placed among the best strategy games around. Conquer the galaxy after the jump