Last week, we let everyone know that GameSpy was doing their Readers Choice voting for various Game of the Year categories.  The votes cast there were not for the main GameSpy Game of the Year events, just Readers Choice.  Well, today GameSpy fired off the editors picks for best PC games of 2006.  We placed #6 on the overall list , but took the gold for Best PC Turn-Based Strategy Game of the Year ! Here's a sample of what GameSpy had to say about Galactic Civilizations II: ...

In addition to developing fine applications such as WindowBlinds, Multiplicity and ObjectDock (to name just a few), Stardock occasionally does a bit of game development.  Earlier this year, we released a title you might have heard of; Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords .  Turns out this little strategy game was pretty well-received by the gaming world, garnering Editors Choice and high ratings at major media outlets, making it the #7 highest rated PC game of 2006* So it's no...

A little holiday note from Scott T and the rest of the fine guys and gals of the Stardock Entertainment team... While this time of year tends to keep even the most cool and collected people on their toes, every so often you need to kick back and unwind. As our own little holiday gift to you, we've released several fun and simple arcade games to help you 'zone out' and forget about all those presents that still need wrapped. In Stardock Central there's a section called 'Free Stuff'. Ther...

You've shown your support for us at GameSpy.  You've spread the love and merriment at 1Up.  I'm sure you've also told all of your friends and family which game is the best PC game this side of Barnards Star.  Well, though your tireless efforts on our behalf are always appreciated, we must once again reach out to you, our devoted fans, to help further spread the word of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. This time around, it's the GameSpot Best & Worst 2006 Awards.  T...

Google, known best for its currently top-of-the-heap web search engine and assortment of connected tools, has teamed up with the United States National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) to help the space agency learn how to manage and use the massive amounts of data it collects every year.  The partnership for R&D efforts was announced by Google in September of 2005 but it wasn't until today that it became official. The project to work with NASA on data analysis as well as novel ...

Ever been working on a word document for hours on end?  You know, the project plan for the multimillion dollar project you've been tasked to have finished by 8am tomorrow, or that thesis paper you have to hand to your adviser by 5pm.  Those critical files that, if lost, will make you consider finding the nearest bridge to jump off of.  We've all lost documents before to either drive crashes, power outages, or you accidentally deleted an entire section of a document and then accid...

Another week down, and just two left before we close the book on 2006.  This week saw a few interesting articles that you may want to go take a look at if you haven't already.  Topics range from printers to holiday gift ideas, and a look at WC2k7 Personal Pages. Stardock Holiday Gift Guide By Zoomba Every day we're adding a new gift idea from among the Stardock family of products.  So far we've talked about Object Desktop 2007 & WindowBlinds, Premium Suites and our A...

Corel, maker of the popular Corel Draw graphics tool suite announced today that it had acquired InterVideo Inc. a leader in the digital media creation and player software market.  Known best for its DVD player software, InterVideo was purchased for a price of $13.00 per share, a total price of $198.6 million in cash.  This expands Corel's presence in the digital media software market as they now possess the broadest portfolio of tools in the industry.  The InterVideo deal brin...

Editors at PC World are always on the lookout for great utilities for the PC to write about on their website and in the print magazine.  These columns spotlight software most people might never hear of.  Well, this week PC World Associate Editor Erik Larkin is looking for great Vista-ready tools that will help simplify your PC experience.  One of the programs picked was ObjectDock 1.5 (Shareware). Here's some of what Erik says about one of our most popular tools: Whereas P...

Gartner, IT research firm extraordinaire, is making a few predictions about what technology users will see starting in 2007 and going forward.  A big one is of Vista perhaps being the last major release of Microsoft Windows.  According to a CNet news article, they're thinking that Vista represents the end of the monolithic operating system era as the world moves more towards a flexible update model. In addition to chatting about Vista, they predict that: Blogging will hit its p...

Sometimes, the skinner in your life just has all the software they need already.  They've got Object Desktop , they've got ObjectDock , heck they even have Aquarium Desktop 2007 .  Oh dear, whatever are you going to do?  Well, in that case you just have to resort to some pretty extreme measures!  Measures so extreme, they can only be properly dealt with by picking up a few of our Premium Suites ! Yes, that's right, they may have all the software but do they have all t...

Brad, Kristin, Derek and Joel are back at it again this week with the next-to-last podcast of the year.  Join our intrepid podcasters as they tackle those difficult, hard-hitting topics that are the hallmark of the show. This week, Kristin corrals the Three Stooges as they talk about the HP Spying lawsuit, Apple's rumored iPhone, DRM and a moon base in 2020.  Joel tosses in with the news that the TV show Firefly is going to be made into a MMO, and everyone chats a bit about the gra...

In the world of Operating System User Interfaces, Apple has long been considered king of the hill when compared against Microsoft Windows and various Linux and UNIX distributions.  Aqua, the GUI introduced with OS X has long served Apple and helped to keep the company ahead by having the "cooler" interface.  But Aqua is starting to grow a bit old.  Sure it gets tweaks and additions now and then, but we've had Aqua as long as Windows XP has been out, and with Vista moving to the n...

Today, it's going to be a little more light-hearted and fun.  One of our more popular products is Aquarium Desktop 2007 , an application that adds swimming fish, treasure chests and various other animated doodads to your desktop.  It's a great program to put on a kids PC, or maybe a machine belonging to an older relative who might find this sort of thing fun. The Aquarium Desktop 2007 application sells for less than $10 (9.95)and would make the perfect stocking stuffer for your...

One of the most touted features of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords was the artificial intelligence, which can give even the best players a run for their money.  The AI was written by Brad Wardell, who took some time recently to write up some of his thoughts on the AI in the upcoming expansion, Dark Avatar, for an IGN Developer Diary . It's an interesting look into AI and how technology like the new dual and quad core processors open up a lot of potential for better AI in games wi...