The "Games on Demand" section of Microsoft's digital distribution platform Games for Windows Live "will soon be the home of day-and-date game releases from the industry's biggest names," the company declared today.

Alongside the day-and-date releases, which kicked off today with Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands PC, the company will be adding more games to the online catalog, including those that don't utilize Games for Windows Live functionality. Read more »

A pair of modern European PC classics are on sale at digital distributors, with The Witcher reduced by 50% and a grand 75% off S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

The coarse fantasy world of The Witcher can now be entered for $20 on Steam and Impulse. The discounts celebrate the worldwide digital availability of CD Projekt RED's fantastic fantasy RPG, which had previously been unavailable in many regions. Read more »

Update: Adventurous fans can now download the 1935 build of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. from FileShack.

Original story: In an almost unheard-of move, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernboyl developer GSC Game World has released an early build of its 2007 post-apocalyptic shooter, allowing fans a peek at cut levels and unfinished features. Read more »

In its latest weekend sale, Valve's digital distribution service Steam is offering GSC Game World's S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl for only $5--a savings of 75%.

Published by THQ, the post-apocalyptic RPG-shooter was released initially released in 2007. A second entry in the series, a prequel subtitled Clear Sky, followed this year.

Subscription-based PC gaming service GameTap has agreed to bring a number of games published by THQ to the service, the company announced today.

The agreement will see the addition of such THQ-published PC titles as Relic Entertainment's Company of Heroes, Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander, Iron Lore Entertainment's Titan Quest and GSC Gameworld's S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl to the service, among others. Read more »

New patches are available for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, updating U.S. and Non-U.S. releases of the game to version 1.006. Weighing in at just a few megs, the update offers multiplayer fixes and a new anti-cheat system.

Multiplayer game changes: Read more »

GSC Game World today announced that following the success of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, more games based on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe are on the way. The company plans to announce these products at July's E3 Media & Business Summit. "We are very happy of the players' positive reaction to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. all over the world. This fills us with confidence the team is on the right track and adds us strength to go for next exciting accomplishments. It will be very soon that we present our new interesting ideas and solutions," said GSC Game World CEO Sergiy Grygorovych.