Stardock Launches Impulse

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.