Massively

Alganon expands to Impulse distribution

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, News items, Alganon

Alganon isn't necessarily the darling of the MMO world at the moment, with a large number of people drawing conclusions about it before even setting foot in the game. So, really, more or less par for the course. But it has launched, it's developing its content, and it's clearly making moves to get itself noticed as something new and good. And if recent moves are any indications, one of the best ways to get yourself noticed is expanding on to the much-beloved digital distribution sources. The game has just been made available on the Impulse service, run by Stardock.

Those of you with acute memories may recall that it wasn't so long ago that Alganon had an exclusive setup with Direct2Drive. However, expansion is always a good thing, especially for a smaller studio looking to improve their visibility. There's no word on any exclusive giveaways a la the plethora of Fallen Earth bonuses for different services, but that's all right -- it's good enough to know that if you have a want for the game, there are more ways to go about getting it.

Alganon expands to Impulse distribution originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fallen Earth arrives on Impulse, offers more exclusive attire

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Business models, News items

If you play Fallen Earth and are resolutely dedicated to having as many unique pieces of clothing as possible for your character, you probably already have a couple extra copies from your need for faction-centric t-shirts and a really awesome hat. Add another one on to your list as the game moves on to the Impulse digital distribution store, offering two exclusive items for purchase: the Fancy White Boots and the Snazzy White Hat. It's unlikely that you'd purchase the game again just for a pair of boots and a hat, of course, but for new players these both promise to be quite the enticement.

The boots are the more durable of the two, offering 31 primary armor, 20 secondary, and 10 tertiary, as well as a 3% bonus on all saving throws. The hat, on the flip side, offers about half of the armor and a bonus to the Scavenging, Nature, and Geology skills, excellent boosts for any new character. The game's array of extra items are all offering roughly the same overall bonus, but they give reason to pay attention as it spreads to different distribution methods, not to mention keeping the game fresh in people's mind. So if you haven't given Fallen Earth a try yet, perhaps the promise of some fancy white dancing shoes with matching hat will get you moving.

Fallen Earth arrives on Impulse, offers more exclusive attire originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steam estimated at selling to 70% of PC market

Kyle Horner — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Opinion

Where did you buy your last MMO and where will you buy your next? Chances are you'll be getting it on Steam or so the story goes according to Brad Wardell, head honcho over at Stardock. We're inclined to agree with his assertion that Valve's digital distribution platform holds roughly 70% of the PC market as many of us here at Massively have been buying our MMOs -- and PC games in general -- on the service for some time now.

So is it a good thing or a bad thing for MMO players? Our experience with purchasing games like Aion and Champions Online through the service has been positive, and so long as no complications arise via patches or other client issues we see no reason to stop utilizing the service unless better offers appear.

The only real MMO-related issue we can see is with collector's editions. Some games offer a different set of bonus material for people who opt out of the physical copy and go for the digital, but certain items like art books, mouse pads and other bric-a-brac can't be delivered through a wire... at least, not until sometime in the far flung future.

Now, as far as the Steamworks integration issue goes... Well, that's a whole other sack of fishes.

Steam estimated at selling to 70% of PC market originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cities XL launching in North America on Oct. 9th

Kyle Horner — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Launches, New titles, News items, Cities XL

This year's October seems like a busy month for gaming, and if you're into city building games it just got a little more crowded. Monte Cristo Multimedia has announced that Cities XL will be released in North America on October 9th and that it will come in two formats. You can either get it through a digital download or by mail order in case you prefer a boxed copy, and shipping is free. Both options will be available through the official website, but it's also possible to get the digital version from Steam, Direct2Drive, Trygames, Impulse Driven and Gametap.

We're sure plenty of you are excited to hear this news, or at least the small legion of you who've been building (or have wanted to be building) massive cities for the past several months.

Cities XL launching in North America on Oct. 9th originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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