Stardock’s digital distribution platform, Impulse, goes live today. I know what you’re thinking, but Epic Games, THQ, AVG, iolo, Gas Powered Games, Hothead Games, Ironclad Games, Meridian4 have apparently signed up to the platform. Notable games on there include Sins Of A Solar Empire, Unreal Tournament III, Gal Civ, and Space Rangers 2. No, Space Rangers 2 was awesome, go play it. Details below.
“Impulse is a platform first, a store second,” said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock Corp. “Our primary objective with Impulse is to address the issues users have with their Windows experience today. That includes being able to boot up a new PC, install Impulse, and then be able to press a button and have it install all of your software and games with one click.”
To this end, Stardock has been working with major PC game publishers and software developers to bring as many titles onto Impulse over the next several months. For developers and publishers, Impulse supports localized currencies, custom pricing models for affiliates, exclusive store items on a per-partner basis, publisher controlled availability, and more. For consumers, Impulse is expected to have the largest selection of digitally-available software on the market within its first year of operation. Currently Impulse features more than 100 games and software applications.
The most interesting bit of the announcement, however, is likely this: “Companies and individuals will be able to distribute their own branded version of Impulse starting in mid-August, and every time a user creates an account with an affiliated distributor, that distributor will receive a percentage of the gross revenue of any future purchases.” That’s a pretty good hook for those looking to make a move on the digital distribution arena.
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will this have the stardock central problem of completely and utterly failing if your digital distribution account email address is not the same as the paypal email address you used to buy the game? That issue (which means I need to email support any time I buy a game) is why I don’t really use stardock if I can help it.
oh, and surely enforcing no DRM is a bad thing as in, it’ll restrict the supply of titles. I mean, it’s not as if ludicrous DRM is mandatory on steam or even needed, and yet publishers still feel they have to put it in…
EDIT: It seems that registration of non-Stardock games is something that’s coming later. From the Impulse website:
Cool! That Space Rangers 2: Reboot is not available anywhere else, as far as I can tell! In English, that is. I saw on their forums you get it as patches for the Russian version. If I get it and re-buy the original (Starforce-free) too I’ll have spent $70 dollars on the game, but I think it will be worth it.
@Brad & @Phil:
I don’t get how that can possibly work. Surely a deal can’t be made with every single potential company out there, so how could you possibly set up an Impulse account that reinstalls and also keeps up to date all your possible software after a reformat with just the push of a button? Even for free software only, would Stardock really be able to include support for all the potential software people may use? Even software that serves very specific habbits and is possibly old and unsuported with no existing official source? I think the answer is no but I guess it’s a nice feature to have even if it’s for the potentially limited selection of more known and popular software types.
For the software that can be registered in Impulse, if it’s from another company then would Stardock be able to distribute patches for it and such? If not, then what would even be the point of registering it in my Impulse account in the first place? So again I think this will become a very limited feature with use only for software by companies Stardock has made deals with (which I guess will grow in numbers in time). I wouldn’t hype the feature just yet for that reason alone.
But maybe I’m wrong and they’ve found some clever way to do all this and it will blow me away. Stardock has a habbit of doing that in the pat :P
This Impulse thingie sounds rather spiffing, however also awesome is the The Go! Team.
Unfortunately i become disconnected from the interwebs in a week and no fundage is currently available.
/weep
apologies for any drunken ramblings
@Brad Wardell
You mean something like apt for Windows? Glad someone is finally doing that. I can imagine it being very useful, especially coupled with an online profile, even if it was limited to the basics (firefox, vlc, openoffice, gqview). I’d rather it was OSS, something so fundamental and low level shouldn’t really belong to a 3rd party IMO, but the community doesn’t seem interested. Good luck.
Eh, the fuck has your music or whatever store or band or (again) whatever have to do with Impulse? -.-
No, sorry, no DRM is AWESOME, if some close-minded producer don’t want to get it and decide not to launch something because that, Steam is always there.
Other idea I really love from Impulse (from Stardock games in general), is that you have an option for Box Download Game for guys like me that have a thing for physical copes. I took that option with Sins of a Solar Empire and was able to play, Day 1, while I waited for the boxed edition arrival. Hopefully, more companies will offer this type of small things.
Wha? You knew I was thinking about curing my own bacon? That’s incroyable!
Also, you plucky Americans and Europeans, with your fast, quota-less internet – you make me sick.
Well, truthfully, I make myself sick. I’m here in Australia, with a wireless connection at the blazingly fast speed of 256 kbps, quoted. I bought the Gal Civ bundle (because it looks oh-so-good) and I’m downloading it at home right now.
Woo hoo. Downloading for 8 hours and I’ve got 300 MB so far. When I reach my pitiful quota of 3 GB, it’ll be throttled. Someone throw me an optical fiber, please!
My main concern is this: What if Impulse shuts down?
Will I actually get an install .exe and activation code that I can back up to CD in case this company goes out of business, or loses the rights to a certain title?
I’m all for convenience, but if the last twenty years has taught us anything, it’s that *fans outlast companies*. And if we had to dial into a BBS on a modem to activate Ultima 7 we couldn’t play it today.
If Impulse works like a download client that automatically registers my game and downloads updates — fine. But if it keeps my activation code secret, if it needs to be installed *after* I buy my game, and if, like Microsoft’s DRM music, can someday disappear taking all my games with it — then I’m concerned.
Reading the comments here, the more I know the more I lose my impulse…
If this thing doesn’t have an offline mode like Steam does, I ain’t touching this with a 10-foot pole.
As said multiple times already, this thing doesn’t even have to run when you want to run the games you bought through it. You just run the game itself, as it would be if it was bought anywhere, except without any DRM whatsoever. So it doesn’t need an offline mode since you’d only ever use it for its online functions anyway. Buying games, updating them, and the like. Aside from that, you never have to run it. But yeah, I’m sure it works offline also though I haven’t tested as my connection is always on and I have no reason to shut it off. But really, the games work completely independently to it after install.
I’m not exactly sure what the service does that Steam doesn’t do, but I think this means that the online distribution wars is officially starting. So far, I’ll put Steam under FPS lover’s library and Impulse as an eclectic mix of small name titles.
The Political Machine 2008 is out on Impulse though, so I think that’s really cool (I am a bit of a politics dork).
Soo is there anyway for a EU-person to get SR2 Reboot now?
Would using proxy work?
I understand that it’s not Stardock’s decision to make it US-only, but it still pisses me off..
Space Rangers 2 sucks. Nice concepts and ideas, but terrible implementation.
I’m interested in how Impulse will do alongside Steam too.
Al3xand3r: Wow, thanks for great feedback and comments.
Looking forward (hopefully) to EU support.
Competition’s always good and all, but I really hope we either begin seeing every game at every big online distribution store, or that there won’t be too many more big players. Having to run five or so different platforms like this to play your games doesn’t sound like a fun idea..
That’s why Impulse is good, you don’t have to run it to play your games… It’s been said so many times already, it’s like the first biggest thing differentiating it from Steam, dur :P
That’s why his name is Llama.
Sadly, Impulse checks the IP, so the old trick of providing a valid credit card and a fake USA direction doesn’t fly (I did this to get Vampire: Bloodlines from D2D).
Why do you hate my money? *sad face*
Hi guys,
Okay I checked on SR2. It’s published in North America by Cinemaware who only has rights in North America. We’re going to be talking to their European and Russian publishers to see what we can do.
Re Games selection. Right now, Impulse obviously doesn’t have the same level of selection on games as you can get elsewhere. It’s akin to when iTunes first launched and it was well behind BuyMusic.com and such.
But in a few months, I suspect it’ll be at rough parity on the games side (other than exclusives). Plus it has the software side.
Re your existing stuff. What we’re doing is working with different publishers to get permission to support their existing customers. We use the Stardock games as a proof of concept – you could buy Sins of a Solar Empire in say Russia at the store and still update through Impulse. There should be a lot of announcements in this area in the near future.
Re Impulse and being on-line. Not only does Impulse not care if you’re online or not to play your games or apps but it doesn’t even have to be loaded.
Impulse is trying to get its installed base by being a compelling enough utility in its own right (the dock for starters with more features coming). We don’t want people feeling forced to keep Impulse loaded.
Brad:
“Okay I checked on SR2. It’s published in North America by Cinemaware who only has rights in North America. We’re going to be talking to their European and Russian publishers to see what we can do.”
Well that’s interesting, because I live in the UK, and I had NO problems buying Space Rangers 2 from Stardock Central a few months ago.
Thanks a lot for the update Brad.
I understand that you are not all-powerful and you want to provide the best service for users and companies, and I get there is a license problem with regions and so, but I would like to ask you to make all that is possible to avoid too many situation where only a region has a game available. It’s really frustrating being interested on something at the store and not being able to buy it because your localization, looks the anti-internet for me. At least, try to pass the message to the producers because I really think they are losing lots of potential sales worldwide.
This, like the old games problem with CD protection you explained at QT3, is something that goes against the best interests of the companies and it would be good they notice it.
Competition is good, so I’m glad that this exists along with Steam. That said, I doubt I’ll use it.
Having two platforms with games seems annoying to me (Steam and Impulse). I’d like to use one platform for all my games, not one for some and another for the other. (Oooh, rhymes! Or something!)
There’s only a problem with Steam’s definition of platform which has to constantly run if you’re going to be gaming. Impulse thankfully doesn’t follow. Not having to run it to play your games really makes a big difference in how intrusive it feels. It’s just a way to buy games, like opening a web page really, while incorporating an efficient delivery method (simpler than making large downloads via your browser alone) and today’s expected extra features like auto updating, communities, and the like for those who want to use those.
I don’t see any downsides to using Impulse alongside Steam as you only ever have to open it when you want to buy or patch something while there are a few gems on it that you can only get through it (speaking about digital distribution at least) like the Gal Civ II saga which everyone should play. People should try the platform before judging it in this way, it seems it’s the Steam annoyances that speak when people aren’t willing to try this which is a shame as they don’t exist here and it basically boils down to just saying “I don’t want to buy games that Stardock offers” as that’s the only “annoyance” you’d have from trying it since it doesn’t force anything else on you other than its 17mb installation.
Anyway, the benefit of having platforms like these is that you can get your games from a few select reliable sources without worrying about trusting independent developer’s site x with your credit card information. The benefit of having multiple platforms like these is a healthy competition. You don’t want anybody having the monopoly whether it’s in retail or digital distribution. With Impulse being so unintrusive and promoting no DRM then perhaps you’ll see Valve making steps to make Steam itself less intrusive than it currently is for example. And of course, if a game is available in mutliple sources you can always just get it from your preffered source, showing them what you’d like the rest to be more like if you want them to buy games from there instead. Your money speaks.
I just think of these things as new age stores. Retail may be dying but that doesn’t mean people will start trusting any random site for ther purchases. In general we still need “stores” which can offer us security, selection, easy browsing, and an efficient delivery method that isn’t restricted by a specific developer’s limited resources. Stuff like that is why I enjoy this kind of service, cos it really is a service, both to players and developers. Developers get extra exposure by appearing on popular platforms, players get the features already mentioned.
So maybe we’ll all end up using a handful of Impulse like unintrusive and lightweight platforms. Or maybe when all the related companies see the space is getting a bit crowded and the wider selection starts to hinder usability they’ll turn to doing this completely within the browser, sort of like Instant Action (but installing the games properly). Or maybe development will be taken in a different direction I can’t think of right now. Either way, competition will certainly help shape it to the better benefit of all involved parties, developers and consumers alike.
Al3xand3r, do you work for Stardock or something? You’re coming off like a really obvious viral marketer.
Okay, you win. If this feature is even half true, I’ll be using it (I just set up my PC and laptop, so I guess I’ll be checking it out quite a while down the road). I’m still hoping King’s Bounty arrives on Steam instead of Stardock, though.
No Ted, I can simply appreciate something I’ve tried for what it is rather than speculate over it in a negative way from past experiences from other different programs (Steam). I think Brad proves Stardock have no problem talking about their software up front with no tricks like you, again, speculate. So, yeah, I prefer to defend it against unfounded attacks and educate people who don’t know much about it. What’s wrong with what? Did I attack Steam in some unsensible manner or praise Impulse in obnoxious ways as to be called a fanboy or what?
Frank, why hope for King’s Bounty on Steam? It’s a single player game so why would you want to run extra software which more or less requires an online connection (offline mode has been broken for me for sometime now)? Or even if your connection is always on like mine, or offline mode works for you, why wish to run any kind of processes like said steam.exe alongside your game? I just don’t get it. What makes you want it for Steam, especially if you intend to install Impulse after all?
The game will work completely independently to any platform if you get it via Impulse while Steam restricts that. So where’s the benefit? Okay, Impulse may not give a big advantage if you don’t mind a few wasted resources that Steam requires, but where’s the advantage of Steam in order for you to prefer getting it through that? It can’t be security or anything similar since Stardock have been proving their safety since 1999. So what is it? I’m honestly curious.
Maybe it’s the fact you have all your games on Steam and so basically use it as a list of all the games’ shortcuts to start them up from? That’s easily solved, look what I’ve done to my PC:
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4376/shortcutsjn6.jpg
That’s shortcuts of all my currently installed games, whether they’re Steam or Impulse or neither. Just make a new toolbar on your taskbar, it’s rather easy and I think works better than opening the Steam window… And you could make different folders within that toolbar, sort of like a small version of the Start bar, so you’d click games and then hover over “favorites” “rpgs” “fps” “source” or whatever other categories you want.
The North America only thing – like others I find this really, really frustrating but what then turns that frustration into anger is how the reasons are never explained by the publishers.
Have Ubisoft ever come out and explained why Assassin’s Creed is unavailable to Europeans from Steam?
Anyway, I have lots of respect for Stardock, some great games, so I hope this is a success. Competition is always a good thing.
I wasn’t interested in getting in a conversation about it, but I prefer steam over retail because (1) I don’t like keeping another disc around and in good condition (2) I like being able to re-download stuff anywhere and easily. I prefer it to impulse simply because I don’t have an account on their system yet. King’s Bounty came to mind at the mention of SR2, though I don’t actually have any idea what Katauri/1C’s publishing plans are.
Anyway, the gist was that if impulse will let me keep DaemonTools, CutePDF, MiKTeX, etc. easily available and up-to-date, that’d be cool. Thanks for the idea with the shortcuts. I’ve got a similar thing, PStart, for tiny games on my USB drive (like Cave Story), but I think I’ll stick to the quicklaunch if I need more shortcuts.
Just to clarify, I didn’t ask why you prefer it over retail (I do also), we’ve obviously been discussing digital distribution methods.
Anyway, [Ryo]I see[/Ryo].
FYI, there’s a setting in preferences that says “Prompt for install directory.” Which suggests that Impulse can indeed pick a directory on a per game basis when installing. Yay! Now to get Valve to do that too. :P
Great, there’s one good thing about Impulse I didn’t catch (I guess cos I don’t need it, setting it to install all my games to F and applications to C was good enough). Maybe that can prove I’m not from Stardock to those people >_>
I’m not sure if I can divulge that information… But I am in Europe, and I have been able to buy and play SR2 Reboot.
You see, there’s a commercially available program, titled “Hide my IP”. And it has a free 3 days full functionality trial. Of course if someone could use it, set the setting at “use US proxy” (important!), and forget about it, and try to buy the Reboot, it would succeed like others have done.
But he should remember to turn it off before logging into the paypal system, since the paypal is not as forgiving, and can temporarily suspend one’s account for that. Proven!
As for the other things, the download works like a charm with the Excalibur publishing version (UK version?) of the game. No problems so far.
Enjoy.