gamersgate posts

There's just a few days left before the end of February 2011 but there's a few (actually a lot) of PC game sales that will make the last days of the month fly by:

• Steam has cut the prices of all of the games it has in the Command and Conquer series by 75 percent off.
• Direct2Drive has cut the price of all of the MMO games in its lineup by 15 percent this weekend if you use the promo code "hotpockets" at check out.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend, including 50 percent off its Might and Magic V bundle. Also for today only it has MySims on sale for 50 percent off and the FPS Chrome for $5.
• GamersGate has a lot of Atari published games on sale for up to 60 percent off this weekend.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has Tropico 3 Gold Edition on sale this next week for just $14.99.

We have been following the progress of Dead Meets Lead for a little while and today developer Keldyn Interactive has announced that the upcoming the pirate-themed zombie action game will be made available for download at several PC game sites, including Impulse, GamersGate and Desura.

Desura is also currently taking pre-orders for Dead Meets Lead at its web site. The normal price for the game will be $13.99 but pre-orders will get a 30 percent discount, cutting the price down to $9.75. Pre-orders shoulf show up on Impulse and GamersGate soon with the same discount. Dead Meets Lead is currently scheduled for release sometime in the second quarter of 2011.

Painkiller Redemption, first announced earlier this month, now has a release date. The fourth game in the first person shooter series will be made available for download on February 25 according to publisher JoWood. The game is due to come out the same week Bulletstorm, developed by Painkiller's original developer People Can Fly, is scheduled for release.

While People Can Fly had nothing to do with the making of Painkiller Redemption, Jowood certainly hopes something of the 2004 original game will rub off on this new single player only entry in the series. This game, which has just six maps but has over 6000 enemies, according to the press release, is priced at just $4.99 according to a pre-order listing at GamersGate.

As the week heads into the weekend PC game download sites are offering their usual price cuts on select titles. Here's what we have currently:

• Steam has cut the price of Tom Clancy's HAWX 2 this weekend down to $24.99. The Open Skies DLC also has a price cut to $4.99.
• Direct2Drive has Civilization IV The Complete Edition on sale for today only for just $9.95.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Dead Rising 2 for $19.95.
• GamersGate also has a number of games on sale this weekend including Aliens Vs Predator for $6.78.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has Street Fighter IV on sale this weekend for $14.99.

Most people believe Valve's Steam PC game download service currently dominates that market but will it stay number one forever? The head of one of Steam's rivals doesn't seem to think so. In a new interview at IndustryGamers GamersGate CEO Theo Bergquist states, "To be honest, we're not afraid of Steam. We think they are peaking now while the market is still very hardcore. In fact, we know from the feedback we receive from customers, one of the reasons we have such great growth is because many gamers out there don't like Steam and see GamersGate as a better alternative."

The article claims that GamersGate revenues from game downloads went up 73 percent during 2010's holiday time period (like Valve, GamersGate is a private company and doesn't reveal specific revenue numbers). It also claimes that 80 percent of GamersGate's revenues come from just 10 game publishers. Even though more and more PC game sales come from digital downloads, Bergquist says that there is still a lot of growth still to be tapped, saying, "I think 2011 will be a tipping point for digital downloads in which they should really take off. "

On this Super Bowl weekend, PC game download sites are breaking out the price cuts to save you some money so you can buy more chips and dip for your party (MMMMM...chips and dip).

• Steam has put the King Arthur RTS-RPG game on sale for just $2.99 this weekend. The Saxons DLC is also on sale for a mere $1.49.
• Direct2Drive has put all of the game it has from publisher Icebrrg Interactive on sale for 75 percent off from now until Monday.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Blood Bowl Legendary Edition for $9.99.
• Gamersgate also has a number of PC games on sale this weekend.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has put Blur on sale for the next week for $14.99.

It may be Thursday but today is when most of the PC game download sites present their deals for the weekend and more. Get ready to spend a little or a lot of money (depending on how many sales you hit):

• Steam has both episodes of Penny Arcade Adventures on sale in one bundle for just $2.99 until Monday. Steam has also finally added The Sims 3 and all of its expansion packs to the site. You can get all of them in one bundle until February 3 for $89.97, a 50 percent price cut.
• Direct2Drive has the first Red Faction game on sale for today only for a mere $2.50.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Star Trek Online for $7.49. Also Red Faction Guerrilla is on sale for today only for $5.
• GamersGate also has a number of games on sale this weekend.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has put Battlestations Pacific on sale for the next week for $14.99.
• GoG.com has put all 11 TopWare games on sale for 30 percent off each or all in one bundle for 50 percent off.

We have a bunch of weekend and other PC game sales to write about so let's not waste any time with the talking; we have some money to save:

• Steam has cut the price of the original Dead Space game to just $6.80 this weekend, a 66 percent savings. Also if you pre-order Dead Space 2 from Steam you can save 75 percent on the original game.
• The newly released RTS game Apox is now on sale via Steam for $9.99, a 33 percent savings, for the next week.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including the Master of Orion collection for just $5.43.
• GamersGate also has a number of games on sale this weekend including King Arthur for just $4.99.
• EA's online store has all of its games on sale for 20 percent off from now until 7 pm Eastern time
• Games For Windows Marketplace has 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven on sale for the next week for $4.99.

Our pal Andrew Yoon of our sister site Joystiq went over to the Paradox Convention press event in New York City today and gave us some more info on what publisher Paradox Interactive had to say today (thanks Andrew):

• Paradox's CEO Fredrik Wester told the crowd that in 2010 the publisher generated 45 percent more revenue than in 2009 and has generated a whopping 1,000 percent more revenue compared to 2003, nearly all of it from PC game releases (specific financial numbers were not disclosed; Paradox is a privately owned company).
• Paradox formed the GamersGate PC game download service in 2006 and later spun it off into its own separate company. Paradox now gets 70 percent of its game sales via digital download services GamersGate's revenue in 2010 came in 45 percent higher and its profits are up 300 percent (again no specific numbers were revealed).
• Magicka, the humor-filled fantasy action-RPG from developer Arrowhead Game Studios, is close to being released and in fact could be out as early as next week.
• Cites in Motion, the transport sim game from developer Colossal Order, should also be out soon as well, according to Paradox.

The holidays are all gone and now it's time to get back to normal. That is, as far as PC game download sales are concerned. Here are the price cuts we have found for this weekend:

• Steam has The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena on sale this weekend for $5.
• Direct2Drive still has all of its games from 1C Company on sale for 75 percent off.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Need For Speed games for 50 percent off and Demigod for $4.99.
• GamersGate also has a large number of games on sale this weekend.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has Alpha Protocol on sale this weekend for $14.99.
• In celebration of "Trogday" Telltale Games has put Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People on sale until January 20 for $14.95.