tropico-3 posts

Are you ready for more time to be an island dictator? Kalypso Media hope so. After relaunching the dormant Tropico franchise (previously publshed by 2K Games) with Tropico 3 in 2009, the publisher is working again with deveoper Haemimont Games for the game's first expansion pack, Absolute Power.

The expansion, due out this May, will give players a chance to flex their island ruler muscles again with an all new 10 mission campaign along with 10 new islands that can be played in a sandbox mod. There's also a new Loyalist faction that are devoted to you and your leadership. In other words, they want you in place for life with no more elections. New buildings, edicts, disasters and more are also a part of the expansion. Now go out there and build some statues of yourself; you deserve it.

It's one of the worst weekends of the year; the weekend in between the NFC and AFC championship games and the Super Bowl. Sure there's the Pro Bowl but that game is worse to check out than a junior high league football matchup. However we do have one thing that will make the weekend cool; some great game sales including a way to get a PC game for free.

That free game offer comes from Telltale Games who, as we reported earlier today, is offering the first season of Sam and Max for just $4.95 from now until Sunday. Telltale is also giving folks a chance to get one free game episode from any of their many episodic titles if they complete an online survey. The survey should take five to 10 minutes to complete. The free game offer is valid until Telltale gets enough data from the survey so if you want your freebie you need to move quickly.

In other PC game sales news, Steam is offering two game bundles for just $2 each for this weekend. One is for the Freedom Force bundle (with both of Irrational Games' super hero RPG titles). The other is for the X-Com bundle (with all five games in the sci-fi series). In addition Tropico 3 is on sale this weekend for just $13.60. Finally, while not a weekend sale, Steam has added a new bundle to its lineup, the 1C Complete Collection. You can buy 17 games from 1C Company in this bundle and pay just $69.99 for the entire line-up.

Direct2Drive also has a weekend sale, as it takes off $5 from the recent action game Dark Void for this weekend only. The discount is valid if you put in the code 5OFFDARKVOID at checkout. And for the next week they have the first person shooter Red Faction Guerrilla for just $4.95.

After all of the after Thanksgiving-Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales deals in the past week, things are settling down to something of a semblance of normal on the PC game download front. Today the DRM-free site GoG.com has added Tropico Reloaded to its ever growing list of games.

This a bundle containing the first two games, plus an expansion pack to the first title, in the island dictator series that was first released by publisher 2K Games (the second game actually is a pirate island sim game, but who's counting?) If you are a faithful reader of Big Download, you likely know that Kalypso Media took over the franchise and is now the publisher of both Tropico Reloaded and the all new game Tropico 3.

In related news, GoG.com has put the classic action game MDK on sale this week. You can purchase an download the game for just $4.99 until Sunday.

Today is the totally made up "Cyber Monday" holiday were supposedly folks at work do a ton of shopping online after the normal Thanksgiving weekend. The PC game download site GamersGate has wasted no time in launching their Cyber Monday 2009 price cuts this morning.

Among the games on sale for today online at the site are recently released games like Tropico 3 for $29.95, Section 8 for $24.95, Hearts of Iron 3 for $11.98 and Risen for $29.95. There are also a ton of Electronic Arts-published games on sale (way to many to be listed here) for 20 percent off their normal prices on GamersGate.

For the Thanksgiving Day period, PC game download site GamersGate has a few of its own price cuts it wants people to enjoy. From today through to Sunday it will take 50 percent off their normal price for two titles, Light of Altair and Croteam's first person shooter Serious Sam 2.

The savings continue on Black Friday on the site. From November 27 to December 4 Kalypso's island dictator sim game Tropico 3 will be on sale for 25 percent off its normal price. Also the upcoming action game Zombie Driver will be able to be pre-ordered on the sale for 10 percent off its normal cost.

The PC game subscription-download site GameTap is updating their site a little earlier than normal this week thanks to the US Thanksgiving holiday. This week the service has added the recently released island dictator sim game Tropico 3 to its paid subscription game line-up which means that folks who pay the monthly fee can be an oppresive island leader for as long as they like.

On a related side note, GameTap also has the full version of Infinity Ward's first person shooter Modern Warfare 2 available to purchase and download for $60. You may remember that other PC game download sites like Direct2Drive, GamersGate and Impulse have refused to offer the game for download from their services because of their objections to the game's required use of Steam to play. Apparently, GameTap doesn't share their concerns.

If you follow Big Download around (and if you do we will consider putting a restraining order on you) you know that we like to post up the big sales deals that the GoGamer.com brings us during their still misnamed 48 Hours sale. Today is no different as a ton of PC game titles are on the list with sale prices that will last until 3 am Eastern time Tuesday.

This week, the deals include recent PC games like Borderlands for $36.90, The Sims 3 for $32.90 and Tropico 3 for $27.90. Older games are cut to the bone such as Bionic Commando for $17.90 and the first Halo PC port for $12.90.

Players with a knack for micromanagement and looking for a big power trip may be interested in Tropico 3. In this third installment, like its predecessors, players take the role of a national leader, El Presidente, of a tropical island. Under your direction, the tiny nation needs build up an economic infrastructure from practically nothing, tend to the needs of its citizens, and get out from under the shadow of influence of superpowers like the United States and the USSR. However, being a national leader takes more than tending the peoples' every whim. In order to get a high score, players will need to skim a little here and there to put away for a retirement fund. Balancing power between what's good for your nation and what's good for you will be a constant act as the game progresses.

Download the Tropico 3 Demo
Check out all Tropico 3 downloads

This week gamers can be a evil Sith apprentice, a ruthless dictator and other roles in two retail releases and three downloadable titles.

Tropico 3: Publisher Kalypso Media revives this sim game franchise that was first started by 2K Games. Developer Haemimont Games created this third title in the series which puts the player in charge of an island nation. Will you be the typical island tyrant or a more benevolent leader? As usual there are pros and cons to both choices.

Much like Order of War earlier this week, it appears that folks who purchase the upcoming island dictator simulation Tropico 3 via Steam will be getting some extras that are not in the regular edition of the title. According to the Steam site, the Tropico 3 Steam Special Edition will have two extra maps for use in the game's sandbox mode.

In addition to the two new maps, the special Steam addition will also give players two additional costumes that they can use for their dictator avatar that can head down to the island itself to check out its subjects. We just hope they are appropriately goofy and garish.
Download Tropico 3 Demo (1.10 GB)