impulse posts

Tuesday brings us some more price cuts on PC game deals plus a beta giveaway:

• Steam has a mid-week madness sale on the strategy-RPG Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes from now until Thursday for just $5.
• Direct2Drive has Magicka on sale for today only for just $4.95.
• Direct2Drive also has three casual games (Air Strike II, Obulis and Cake Mania) on sale for $1.99 each for today only.
• Impulse has Cultures on sale for today only for $4.99.
• Amazon.com has Starcraft II on sale for today only for $39.99.
• Curse.com has a bunch of Age of Empires Online beta keys to give out today.

It's another manic Monday but the PC game sales cycle just begins yet again. We have the highlights:

• Direct2Drive has a one day sale for The Sims 3. You can get the game now for $19.98.
• Impulse has put the pro hockey game NHL 09 on sale for today only for just $4.99.
• GamersGate has put a number of games on sale all this week including Supreme Commander Gold Edition for just $6.80.
• And just a reminder: This will be the last day for Steam's The Potato Sack bundle of 13 indie games that now all include some kind of Portal 2 content. Each game is on sale for 50 percent off or you can get all 13 in one bundle for 75 percent off.

Today's newly revealed PC game sales have hit the net and they are all pretty good, thank you very much:

• Steam concludes its 2K Games sales event with a one day sale of Civilization V. You can get the game and also all of its DLC packs for 40 percent off.
• Steam's weekend sale is a bundle of four games in the Splinter Cell series on sale for $25.98.
• Direct2Drive has BioShock 2 on sale for today only for just $4.95.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Star Ruler for just $10. It also has And Yet It Moves on sale for today only for just $3.99.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has Lego Harry Potter Year 1-4 on sale for the next week for $14.99.

Keep saving money and you will have more to give to others when you die. That's at least one good reason to check out today's PC game sales:

• Steam has Borderlands, both regular and Game of the Year Editions, on sale for 75 percent off for today only. All four of the game's DLC releases are also on sale today for 75 percent off.
• Direct2Drive has Torchlight on sale today only for just $3.75.
• GamersGate has a lot of space-based games on sale from now until Sunday including Star Trek Online for $5.98 and Star Ruler for $12.48.
• Impulse has the puzzle game The Machine on sale today only for a mere $3.75. Also Galactic Civilizations II Ultimate Edition is on sale for 30 percent off.

You want PC game price cuts? So do we. Let's see what we can find today.

• Steam has both BioShock games on sale for today only for $4.99 each. The BioShock 2 four pack bundle is also on sale for $14.99.
• Steam has put Magicka on sale from now until Thursday for just $4.99, just in time for the just released Magicka Vietnam expansion pack. You can also get the Magicka four-pack bundle for $14.99 and Magicka with both Magicka Vietnam and the Wizard's Survival Kit for $7.99.
• Direct2Drive has Dirt 2 on sale for today only for $4.95. It also has three casual games (Star Defenfer 2. Gish and The Island: Castaway) for just $1.99 each for today only.
• Impulse has put Mactabilis on sale for today only for just $2.50.

Monday's PC game sales are as usual a variety of various titles that are on sale for today online:

• This week, Steam is holding daily sales of their 2K Games catalog and also allowing three Steam owners to will all of 2K Games' titles on Steam. Today's Steam sale has both Mafia games, plus all of the Mafia II DLC releases, on sale for 75 percent off.
• Direct2Drive has World of Goo on sale for today only for $4.95.
• Impulse has put the acclaimed adventure game Machinarium on sale for today online for $4.99.
• Amazon.com's Deal of the Day has put Civilization V on sale for today online for $29.99.

Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has been making the interview rounds on several web sites talking about the sale of its Impulse PC game download business to GameStop. Destructoid chatted with Wardell about how he sees the future of gaming in general and he seems very optimistic.

He states, "This is the greatest time in gaming since I've been into games. I mean think about the past, let's say, 18 months. If you'd look at the releases of interesting things, it's so cool!" He talks about how social gaming and handheld gaming have expanded but also mentions the PC exclusive title Minecraft. ""I mean look at Minecraft, right? Would Minecraft have been possible 5 years ago? This is the greatest time in gaming history, and we get to be part of it. And [...] the problem is I have a hard time sleeping because I don't want to miss anything!"

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."

It looks like Direct2Drive has multiple sales deals this weekend. Let's look them over now, shall we?:

• For today only you can purchase and download BioWare's acclaimed RPG Mass Effect 2 from Direct2Drive for just $9.95.
• For this weekend only you can get 20 percent off all of Direct2Drive.com's games if you put in the promo code "SHOWERS" at checkout.
• Finally for the next week you can save up to 80 percent of a selection of Direct2Drive games devoted to various transportation themes.
• Meanwhile Impulse has Juiced 2 Hot Import Nights on sale for today only for just $3.74.

We got some PC game sales to tell you about so listen up because one of them gets you a free game:

• Green Man Gaming is giving away Reign: Conflict of Nations from now until Sunday if you put in the promo code REIGN-100PC-RPSPO (thanks Rock Paper Shotgun). The same site has a number of other strategy games on sale this weekend.
• GoG.com has a 50 percent discount of games from publisher 1C Company this weekend.
• Impulse has Scrapland on sale for today only for a mere $2.49.
• The OnLive streaming PC game service is selling Unreal Tournament 3 for today only for just $5.