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Stardock's recently released 2009 customer report has quite a bit of info about the publishing company's Impulse download business. However there's also some speculation on the whole digital download industry for PC games. Company CEO Brad Wardell says that by his estimates, a new PC game title will get 25 percent of its revenues via digital distribution if it's released this year. That means that while brick-and-mortar stores still get the majority of PC game sales, the amount of revenues received from downloads represents a significant fraction that can't be ignored by PC publishers anymore.

Wardell also speculates that Valve's Steam service has 70 percent of the overall PC game download market with Impulse holding onto 10 percent for second place. We think those numbers could be debated but there's no doubt that Steam has the high ground in this industry with everyone else playing catch up. In Stardock's customer survey results, Wardell states that 61 percent of those who responded say they buy PC games digitally versus just 34 percent who still buy physical copies in boxes.

In the quest to find a truly great movie-based PC game comes the forthcoming release of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (yep, that is the full official title) from developer-publisher Ubisoft. The game, which tells a parallel story related to the upcoming (and, it has to be said, truly epic looking) sci-fi movie is due to be released on December 1.

PC game download sites like Steam, Impulse and Direct2Drive are offering their customers an in-game pre-order bonus that is apparently not in the retail version of the PC port. They consist of two weapons unlocks; the Dual Wasp for the RDA faction and the Fighting Staff for the Na'vi faction. In addition, both Impulse and Direct2Drive are selling a downloadable special edition of the game for $54.95 that adds six exclusive weapons and two extra character skins to the game. Again this special edition is not being sold in stores.

Thursday is a special day for many as PC gamers hit the download site to see what deals they can find. We have the latest list of price cuts to check out right now:

• GamersGate has an assortment of titles on sale including Kings's Bounty: The Legend for $12.49 and Frontline: Field of Thunder for just $4.95
• Impulse has several games on the price chopping block this weekend including Iron Grip Warlord for $9.99 and Supreme Commander Gold for $22.49.
  
• Steam has cut the price of Frontlines: Fuel of War to just $7.49 this weekend. You can also buy Star Wars Galaxies The Complete Online Adventures for 50 percent off until November 26. The newly released game Ninja Blade has a 10 percent discount for the first week Also you can get the original Dirt racing game for 80 percent off its normal Steam price with the pre-purchase of the PC version of Dirt 2. Finally you can pre-purchase Rogue Warrior for 10 percent off its normal price before its Dec. 1 release.
• Direct2Drive also has Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures for 50 percent off. You can also take $5 off of Torchlight from now until Sunday if you use the discount code 5OFFTORCH at checkout.
  

After reaching the top of the sales charts in the UK, Blood Bowl is now coming to North America. This free patch adds on a ninth all-new faction to the game existing game: the dreaded Dark Elves. The trailer shown above shows these devious players in action. Be aware that his patch is for the original version purchased directly from the official website, and not the one that's releasing on Steam next week, which already includes the Dark Elves.

"Blood Bowl, the imaginary forerunner of football, is an ultra violent team sport set in the Warhammer fantasy universe. It lets players compose a team of Orcs, Elves, Humans, Dwarves and many other fantasy creatures before jumping into the bloodiest arenas. The sport game is both strategic and violent. It requires tactics, a certain amount of game-sense and a lot of self-confidence."

Download Blood Bowl Dark Elves Add-On Patch (130 MB)
Download HD Blood Bowl Dark Elves Trailer (96 MB)
Check out all Blood Bowl downloads

While the fantasy-themed sports-strategy game Blood Bowl has been available via download for US gamers since it's official release last June, we suspect not a lot of folks knew that they could grab this unusual mix of genres from developer Cyanide Studio. That may change, however, with the announcement today that the game will be made available for download on Thanksgiving (appropriate for a game based loosely on American football) via the much higher profile Steam service

The Steam version will include all of the content of the previous edition and will add the new Dark Elves faction to the game's eight other playable sides (owners of the previous version can download a free update that adds the new faction). Steam is also offering a 10 percent pre-order discount to the game before it goes live. If you are looking for a very different game experience, Blood Bowl might be up your alley.

It's been just a few days since we have given anything away. So let's do this thing. Today the folks at Electronic Arts and Valve have given Big Download five Steam codes that can be used to download the full version of Left 4 Dead 2. Are you ready to shoot some zombies with your friends? You had better be if you are one of the folks picked to win this very cool prize.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on November 23
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Those five winners will be sent a Steam code that can be used to download a full copy of Left 4 Dead 2 (valued at $49.99 each)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to EA and Valve for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.

If you haven't gotten the zombie killing fix you need from Left 4 Dead 2 then perhaps running down the undead with a heavily armed vehicle might do the trick. Developer Exor Studios previously announced their plans to release their top-down action game Zombie Driver last month and today it revealed the game now has a December 4 release date.

The $9.95 game will be made available via download sites like Steam and Gamersgate on that date and if you live in Russia it will also be available in retail stores via publisher Akella. Hopefully it will be just the thing we need to keep our training up when the real zombie apocalypse arrives.

Last August Ubisoft announced that it was taking sign ups for people to beta test their upcoming and pretty unique looking WWI RTS game R.U.S.E. Today the publisher announced that the beta will begin on Monday, November 30 with a select group of folks chosen to take part.

Steam will be used as the service to distribute the multiplayer beta test client with two factions (the US and German armies) and three maps as part of the initial release. Updates to the beta will be released over time adding up to four more factions (UK, Italy, USSR and France) along with more maps and more gameplay modes. There's no word yet if the beta version will support the previously announced Windows 7 multi-touch features.

While many of us can go our local game retailer right now to get a boxed copy of the zombie co-op shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2, the folks over the pond in the UK are apparently going to have to wait to get their chance to shoot some undead in the head.

Valve's official Left 4 Dead blog site states that in that country "copies of the game are still arriving". They hope that by Friday morning everyone in the land of Monty Python and Doctor Who will be able to throw some pipe bombs at virtual zombies. The good news is that if you pre-ordered the PC game via Steam you can play the game in the UK right now. And now for something completely different . . .

It actually was a little later than what Valve had scheduled but a few hours ago the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2 did indeed go live on Steam. As expected the free demo for Valve's zombie shooter sequel has now shut down. It is no longer available to download via Steam and cannot be played anymore.

You might have seen a ton of reviews of the game pop up on the Internet already but nearly all of them are for the Xbox 360 version which was sent out to game journalists early. But what about the PC version of the game? We plan to post our thoughts later this week.