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Frogboy
Frogboy
Join Date 03/2001
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Impulse this week!

The next generation digital platform arrives

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June 15, 2008 9:28:13 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

For two years now, Stardock has been developing a next generation digital distribution platform.  Called Impulse, it is far more than a program that lets users purchase software and update. It is designed to open the door for developers and publishers to add new features to their programs and easily distribute them as well as providing an integrated community experience and let a player's various games all work together.

Check out the Impulse preview to get a better idea of what Impulse will be doing. 

Later this week, Impulse will be released to the general public.  Stay tuned!

View: Impulse Preview

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Frogboy
the_Monk
Join Date 01/2008
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Reply #1 June 15, 2008 9:46:39 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
   
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Frogboy
AlienTermite
Join Date 02/2008
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Reply #2 June 16, 2008 1:51:13 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Sweet!   
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Frogboy
Xapati
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #3 June 16, 2008 5:26:17 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
· Per Territory distribution. Are you a publisher who only has the rights to distribute a game in Italy but want to be able to sell your game to only people living in Italy? No problem, Impulse can do it and go one step further by only showing those customers living in the authorized territories your products.

· Impulse supports custom Impulse stores for different Impulse distributors. Are you a retailer or PC OEM who has their own specific agreements on selling certain games and applications at different (better) pricing? Impulse has you covered here as well.


Read: Europe to have a smaller selection and have to pay more for games just like in Steam. I really hate this, Digital Distribution was supposed to remove these glass walls that seperates European Gamers and American ones, but no. Companies still don't get it: Considering piracy has no such glass walls how do you want to compete? I seriously hope at least Stardocks games continue to be available everywhere for the same price.

Other than that Impulse itself looks really cool.
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Frogboy
WHIPperSNAPper2008
Join Date 03/2008
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Reply #4 June 16, 2008 9:48:22 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums

I hate to come off as a skeptic and I tend to trust Stardock, but I wonder, are there any rational reasons why a person would not want to have Impulse?

Does it run all the time, gobbling up RAM and CPU?

Does it mess around with the registry?

Is it set up so that it loads at startup?

Can I still play Sins online without it? Does it have to be running in the background in order for me to play Sins online?

What if I don't want hand holding and want to go download patches and mods and maps on my own the old-fashioned way without Impulse?

Since Sins is my only Stardock product, I guess I'm having a hard time understanding how Impulse will improve my gaming and computing experience. Being able to download a game you purchased in the past is nice, but what else does it have to offer me in exchange for my hard drive space? What will it do for me that I can't already to on my own?

I don't mean to rain on the parade or to be a heckler; I might love the product. However, I'm just honestly wondering about those issues since I'm a die-hard skeptic and cynic.

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Frogboy
Annatar11
Join Date 11/2006
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Reply #5 June 16, 2008 11:30:44 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Read: Europe to have a smaller selection and have to pay more for games just like in Steam. I really hate this, Digital Distribution was supposed to remove these glass walls that seperates European Gamers and American ones, but no. Companies still don't get it: Considering piracy has no such glass walls how do you want to compete? I seriously hope at least Stardocks games continue to be available everywhere for the same price.

Other than that Impulse itself looks really cool.


Well, it sounds like Stardock is trying to provide a somewhat generic distribution platform that can suit the needs of various developers/publishers.

Unfortunately, while Stardock themselves don't care to separe the US and European markets, most other publishers do.
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Frogboy
ZubaZ
Join Date 11/2001
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Reply #6 June 16, 2008 11:46:57 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Does it run all the time, gobbling up RAM and CPU?
No.  Run it when you want.  You might want to run the Impulse Dock all the time though.
Does it mess around with the registry?
It adds keys and values . . but no more that Stardock Central, the current app.
Is it set up so that it loads at startup?
Nope.  Again though . . the dock has value so you might wnat to enable that option.
Can I still play Sins online without it? Does it have to be running in the background in order for me to play Sins online?
No and yes. 
What if I don't want hand holding and want to go download patches and mods and maps on my own the old-fashioned way without Impulse?
Mods and maps will still be available through the website.  Updates and patches will follow the same pattern as with SDC and the web site.
What will it do for me that I can't already to on my own?
Improved game matching for online play!
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Frogboy
kryo
Join Date 05/2003
+458 sdemployee
Reply #7 June 16, 2008 11:59:56 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I seriously hope at least Stardocks games continue to be available everywhere for the same price.


It's something a lot of publishers demand. And as Brad said, it's possible that some publisher may only have rights to distribute something in a certain area. Not having this option would in such cases mean not having it available at all, for anyone.
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Frogboy
WHIPperSNAPper2008
Join Date 03/2008
+126
Reply #8 June 17, 2008 8:05:37 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Does it have to be running in the background in order for me to play Sins online?


No and yes.


"Stop right where you are! Do you know the score pal? If you're not cop you're little people!"

"No choice, huh?"

"No choice, pal."

Thanks for your detailed response. It doesn't sound like it'll be that bad and I guess I'll have to have it since I'm a Sins freak . (The dialog is from the movie Blade Runner, which every sci-fi computer game loving geek should watch.)
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