Now available on FileShack is a 46MB demo for Gratuitous Space Battles, Positech's space fleet warfare simulator designed to thrill your inner space strategist.

Fleet lords do not directly control units, rather they design ships from a wide range of components, arrange formations and define behaviour then observe the ensuing gratuitous battles with enemy fleets--including armadas designed by other players.

Gratuitous Space Battles is now available for download from GamersGate and direct from Positech for $23, while a small sale at Impulse brings it down to $20.

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One-man outfit Positech has opened pre-orders for Gratuitous Space Battles (PC), offering immediate beta access to those that pay $19.99 for the strategy game.

"We are effectively selling the game early for people who want to play it while it is still in beta," sole developer Cliff 'cliffski' Harris noted on the official site. In a blog post, Harris said he "will probably overhaul a few sections of it before it's actually given a proper release" and will use the beta to balance the "massively singleplayer" game.

The developer also cautioned that it's "literally a bedroom coder effort... Read more

Positech Games, a one-man operation run by Cliff 'cliffski' Harris, is surely outdoing itself (himself?) with its latest project, Gratuitous Space Battles.

The game, as Harris describes, is "for everyone who has watched big space armadas battle it out on TV and thought to themselves 'I could have done a much better job as admiral.'"

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However, Gratuitous Space Battles is not about commanding those armadas--rather, the "game" part is centered around the design and tactical... Read more