X Games 50% Off on Steam

X Superbox

Take This Box of Super for 50% Off!

Thanks to Daniele over on Facebook for pointing this out. Apparently Steam’s Midweek Madness is to sell the entire X Superbox for 50% off, or $20. You also can get the games individually for half off as well. This amounts to:

Not a bad deal, if you ask me. While I’ve never been a huge fan of the X series my own self — I’ve usually found them rather dry, honestly — I know a lot of folks who love these games, so they’re at least worth checking out if you’re looking for detailed space economics wrapped in a space sim. :) Enjoy!

Spacey Snippets – 1/31/12

All those little dots are news stories...

Catching Up on News...

Hey y’all, been dang busy with SOL: Exodus stuff and work and so on, so a LOT of news has occurred since my last snippet entry. With that said, let’s dive right in, shall we? :)

Steam Holiday Sale = Cheap Spacey Game Goodness!

Steam Logo

Steam Holiday Sale Season's Greetings!

Steam is having its massive Holiday Sale, and many of the games I mentioned in my buying guide are on sale, including:

So if you don’t own any of these, get ‘em while they’re hot and cheap! Enjoy!

2011 Space Game Holiday Buying Guide

Santa's Spaceship

Instead of "ho ho ho" he says "pew pew pew". ;)

So it’s the time of year where presents must be bought, whether for friends or loved ones, and if you have that person in your life that loves space games, or is new to space games and wants to play more, it can be confusing to know what to get ‘em. There are a goodly amount of choices out there when it comes to computer-based space games, but they all cater to different desires. Does the person for whom you plan to buy a space game prefer piloting a spaceship? Or maybe they want to be more of a tactician, commanding their forces like an admiral, or maybe they want to even control an entire space empire?

I’ve thought of the games that are still for sale these days, whether newish or not, and have come up with a list that I feel could cater to any space game fan, new or old. Click below to check out the list, complete with links to the various places you can buy the games listed.

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X3: Albion Prelude Q&A – Freedom, Conflict and The Future

X3: Albion Prelude Logo

We've got more info on Albion Prelude and Rebirth...

When X3: Albion Prelude was announced last week, I was as surprised as anyone. As far as I and nearly everyone else knew, the next X game was X: Rebirth, due out next year. Therefore, not only to have a new game announced, but to have its release be mere days away, came as a shock.

When I came out of that shock, I contacted the PR folks covering X3: Albion Prelude and asked for more info. I was put in touch with EgoSoft’s Bernd Lehahn, who was nice and gracious enough to answer some questions, the answers to which you’ll find below. Enjoy!

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X3: Albion Prelude Announced Out of Nowhere!

X3: Albion Prelude Logo

I'm as surprised as anyone...

Well surprise, surprise, surprise. Out of nowhere, this morning I see a press release for a new game entitled X3: Albion Prelude. This new space game is a result of a new publishing deal between Deep Silver and Egosoft, and is due for release on December 15th…that’s next freaking Friday! Talk about keeping this close to the chest. Click below for more.

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X Series on Sale at GamersGate

X3: Terran Conflict Screenshot

This...purple thing...and more can be yours for a song!

As part of GamersGate’s Thanksgiving sale, they’re having a sale on all of the X games by Egosoft. This includes:

If you have ANY interest in these games at all, the Superbox is the best value. I’ve played all of these, and I’ll be honest, I found them pretty dry, but if you’re looking for an economic simulator in which your office is a spaceship, these might do ya. :) Enjoy!

Shawn of Star Wraith 3D Games Interview Part Two – The Demise of a Genre

Evochron's graphics are pretty explosive.

Shawn talks about the crash and burn of the space sim genre.

Welcome back! In part one of our interview with Shawn of Star Wraith 3D Games, we discussed his background, his previous and current releases, and the design philosophies he’s clung to during his career. In this installment, Shawn looks back at the demise of the mainstream space sim, and where the genre has gone since. Enjoy!

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Space Games are Almost Fifty Years Old?! Damn…

In doing research on all of the space games made for computers, I embarrassingly forgot about the first game, and the granddaddy of them all…Spacewar! (Yes, the exclamation point is in the title of the game.) Released in freaking 1962 (nine years before I was released), Spacewar! gave two players the chance to slug it out and destroy one another using only a few keys (rotation, thrust, firing weapon) in which to destroy their opponent. It’s crude now, but I can’t imagine how it was received forty-nine years ago.

In thinking of how far space games have come since then, I can only pick my jaw up off the floor. From rudimentary controls and graphics of Spacewar! to the amazing graphics and detailed controls of Freespace 2 and X3: Terran Conflict, for example, space games have been a microcosm for the evolution of computer games in general. As part of this journey of covering ALL of the space games released for computers, I’m excited to see this evolution first hand all over again.

Spacewar! will be the next game I review, so stay tuned. :)