Update: Stardock has asked the press to clarify that the below figures don't represent overall sales, but simply the breakdown of pirate-to-legitimate users at peak hours.

Original: While around 140K people tried to play Gas Powered Games' Demigod (PC) online Wednesday, only 12% or so were legitimate buyers, claims publisher Stardock.

"We ended up with 140,000 connected users, of which about 12% were actually legitimate customers," reads a status update from Stardock CEO Brad Wardell. An earlier message had put the percentage of pirated users at about 85%.

While pirates are unable to partake in multiplayer, the initial version of Demigod pinged a server for updates when the game started. That was changed in yesterday's patch.

"We spent a lot of time today trying to isolate out the warez users from the legitimate users," Wardell wrote, noting "it would require a lot of surgery to actually break them and even if we did, there'd be no friendly 'ha ha pirate' message which... Read more

Square Enix today announced that it will publish Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander 2, a sequel to the 2007 real-time strategy game.

No other details about the game, including platforms or release dates, were announced, just that these would be available "at a later time."

Square Enix did note this deal would be the first of several new publishing deals, with the company looking to expand its western development portfolio. Traditionally, the Square Enix group has only worked with other Japanese companies.

"We see great opportunities in European and North American markets, both of which are expected to be maintaining sustainable growth over these coming years," said Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix Co., Ltd. "Therefore, it is crucial we create alliances with proven developers such as Gas Powered Games in order to serve these significant markets better by providing products and services in tune with customer tastes."

In an effort to create standards for PC games and increase consumer confidence, publisher Stardock and Demigod developer Gas Powered Games today unveiled a document titled "The Gamer's Bill of Rights."

"As an industry, we need to begin setting some basic, common sense standards that reward PC gamers for purchasing our games," explained Stardock CEO Brad Wardell. "On the PC, publishers can release games that are scarcely completed, poorly supported, and full of intrusive copy protection."

The Gamer's Bill of Rights
We the Gamers of the world, in order to ensure a more enjoyable experience, establish equality between players and publishers, and promote the general welfare of our industry hereby call for the following:

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don't work with their computers for a full refund.
2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game's release.
4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum... Read more

Speaking to Eurogamer, Gas Powered Games founder Chris Taylor has revealed that the company will develop a third game in the Dungeon Siege series.

Gas Powered Games is currently working on the sci-fi RPG Space Siege (PC), and design on that game will influence Dungeon Siege 3. "There will be some things that are very much like Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, but some things will be simplified. I am done with multi-character parties; I really think that it's all going to be about a single hero. It's too much to manage," Taylor is quoted as saying.

In addition to Dungeon Siege and Space Siege, Gas Powered Games is also known for last year's ambitious strategy game Supreme Commander.

Gas Powered Games founder and Supreme Commander developer Chris Taylor said that the PC gaming industry needs to embrace new business models which sidestep piracy concerns to survive.

"PC gaming isn't dead. PC gaming—the old model— probably is," Taylor told GamesIndustry at GDC. "Secure PC gaming is the future—it's going to thrive and we've all got to get on that,"

Taylor suggested that server-based and online-authenticated gaming proves to be the most successful business model in an industry fraught with piracy. The developer envisioned an industry in which data would be accessed from a central server rather than directly from the user's PC.

"It's all got to be secure, we can't afford to make this stuff and give it away for free," Taylor said. "It inconveniences a little but now they know why. And then we can get the economics back in line and maybe we can actually start ... Read more

Gas Powered Games' latest project is becoming a little more clear with the release of a few more images.

Using the Supreme Commander engine, Demigod will borrow aspects of gameplay from RTS mods such as Warcraft III's Defense of the Ancients, allowing players to control a single hero unit within a massive online battle.

A release time frame and platform has also been revealed since the initial announcement: Fall 2008, on PC.

Chris Taylor and the team at Gas Powered Games will follow their 2007 RTS Supreme Commander with a take on a popular RTS modification, according to a 1UP report filed today.

The game, called Demigod, is said to at least partly derive its gameplay from Defense of the Ancients, the wildly successful user-created mod for Blizzard's RTS Warcraft III.

As in DotA, players of the multiplayer-focused Demigod will command a single hero unit, which can grow in power based on a leveling structure. Some of the hero units will have the ability to create lesser units and supporting structures, while others will make do with their own super powers.

According to the report, Demigod is being designed as a multiplayer experience, with an "emphasis on co-op play." There will be a singleplayer component, which Gas Powered Games characterized as a "training ground."

Platform and release date projections have yet to be announced.

THQ today announced that the standalone Supreme Commander expansion pack Forged Alliance has gone gold, and will ship to stores November 6.

Developed again by Gas Powered Games, Forged Alliance features a new singleplayer campaign, a new alien faction, over a hundred additional units and extra multiplayer maps.

"Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance tells the story of the UEF, Cybran and Aeon's desperate alliance as they fight for survival against the Seraphim, a long forgotten alien race that has returned to destroy all of humanity," said Chris Taylor, CEO, Gas Powered Games. "Adding a new faction, and giving the existing factions some crazy powerful new units opens up a wide range of innovative strategic possibilities, taking the single and multiplayer game to a place never seen before in an RTS".

Developer Gas Powered Games plans to expand upon the dungeon-crawling action RPG gameplay it employed in its Dungeon Siege series with its upcoming Space Siege. In a partnership with publisher Sega, the Redmond-based studio will deliver Space Siege for PC in Q1 2008.

Space Siege thrusts its protagonist Seth Walker into what is claimed to be a dynamic storyline set aboard a colony ship housing the last remaining members of humanity. Gameplay hinges on the continual choice of retaining Walker's humanity or adding on cybernetic upgrades that afford increased abilities but damage Walker's relationships with his fellow humans. That choice plays into the narrative elements of the game, affecting NPC reactions and plot paths.

"Chris Taylor and his talented team at Gas Powered Games are recognized as leading innovators in the industry," said Sega marketing VP... Read more

Sega of America today announced that it has signed a deal with Gas Powered Games, the studio known for the Dungeon Siege series and Supreme Commander, to publish the company's next PC role playing game. The game will be based on a new property.

"SEGA is continuing its march forward in building a strong western developed portfolio of games," said COO Simon Jeffery of Sega of America, Inc. "Partnering with well established and visionary game creators such as Chris Taylor and his talented group of at Gas Powered Games aligns perfectly with our strategy." Added Chris Taylor of Gas Powered Games, "Our focus at Gas Powered Games is to create exciting and visually stunning new worlds coupled with revolutionary game play experiences and we see SEGA as the perfect partner in achieving that goal for our next original RPG."

No details about the game, including an estimated release date, were revealed.

The guys at Gas Powered Games (Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander) send along word that they're expanding , hiring in virtually every department (art, animation, design, engineering and production). For a full overview of job openings head to their site.

THQ has issued this press release, announcing that the Gas Powered Games strategy game Supreme Commander has gone gold. The game will ship to stores worldwide February 20.

In the 37th century the galaxy has been ripped apart by three warring factions, each vying to eradicate the universe of all opposition and end the 1000 year Infinite War. The next generation world of Supreme Commander brings an all new level of scope and scale to the RTS genre, establishing a new benchmark in strategic and tactical RTS gaming. Experience a new level of control over countless land, sea and air units, and use the innovative zoom function -- scrolling outward to see the entire Theatre of War or inward to focus on the action -- to command your forces to victory. Developed by legendary RTS developer Chris Taylor, Supreme Commander offers a unique storyline, innovative gameplay and infinite online multiplayer battles.

New at FiringSquad today is this Gas Powered Games Q&A. Chris Taylor is asked about signing with 2K Games for future Dungeon Siege titles, pressure that comes with making a spiritual sequel to Total Annihiliation, Supreme Commander content download plans, Windows Vista, thoughts on next-gen consoles and the Uwe Boll helmed Dungeon Siege movie.

The latest issue of PC Gamer has hit newsstands and on the cover is Supreme Commander, the latest game from Gas Powered Games and Chris Taylor. Taylor is best known as the creator of both the Dungeon Siege and Total Annihilation series. While Taylor was never able to acquire Total Annihilation from Atari, he did tell PC Gamer that Supreme Commander is its spiritual successor.

The big deal with SC is that there is a galactic war going on in real-time and as the Supreme Commander, you can seamlessly zoom in and out of different battles, shifting from a satellite to ground-level view. The action takes place on land, air, and sea with a large variety of units, including "major units" that are huge, hulking pieces of steel many times larger than the standard unit. Think a Godzilla-sized unit marching along with your tanks.

Overall, the article has you coming away with the sense that Taylor is trying to reinvigorate the genre. He feels RTS games don't feature strategy of any kind and he's here to fix that. For instance, you can use a "Base Commander" to handle all resource management while you're off actually dictating the outcomes of battles. On top of that, he wants to create a sense of realism and scale that has yet to be seen; the battleships in Supreme Commander are so enormous, you'd need a dual screen setup to see the whole thing at the ground level view. Supreme Commander is set to release in 2006.

This press release announces that Electronic Arts and Dungeon Siege developer Gas Powered Games have signed a publishing agreement. Gas Powered Games will work on a real-time strategy game, due out in 2006.

The Gas Powered Games jobs page has been updated, listing several positions that need to be filled. The Dungeon Siege developer is looking for a character animator, a web developer, and several engineers for both Dungeon Siege 2 and their mystery RTS game.