This will probably be sexy when it's full of content.
Steam gets a lot of attention as the premiere digital distribution system and social network for PC gamers while Stardock’s Impulse has mostly hung out in the background—however today Stardock announced they’re going to change the rules a little by rolling out ImpulseTV.
ImpulseTV will feature walk-throughs, tutorials and tips for gaming as well as highlighting new games with commentary from expert game journalists like Jason Ocampo, formerly of IGN and Gamespot as well as Brian Clair, formerly of Avault.com. “There’s a lot of real gems out there that people would normally never hear about,” said Ocampo. “With ImpulseTV, we hope to shed some light on great games—both famous and unknown.”
“We will be constantly enhancing the features of ImpulseTV over the course of the next year,” says Brad Wardell, the outspoken CEO of Stardock. “ With ImpulseTV, fans obtain access to intelligent, honest conversations about games and everything they might need to make a decision about purchasing that game—everything from video, commentary, online friends who have that game, chats, discussions and more all in one. It really enhances the Impulse package as a whole and I’m proud of what the team has accomplished.”
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While we’ve seen this type of move on consoles, particularly the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, this is the first move to implement a strong video component into a PC platform and frankly, there’s a valid reason for that. PC users have full access to the internet and hundreds of gaming sites featuring daily offerings of video and there’s really no reason to chain your media to your download distribution system.
That said, many PC gamers are big fans of Stardock and the philosophy of their CEO (particularly his strong stance on DRM) and it’s exciting to see what kind of content they’ll be bringing to the table. Hopefully Stardock still has a few surprises in store that will make ImpulseTV a compelling addition to their already solid platform.
Stardock also rolled out a few other new features to Impulse; First up, Windows 7 users will get taskbar jump lists. Right now the jump lists only adds handy shortcuts to launching programs or Impulse sections but Wardell mentions support for community features, and presumably Impulse TV features will be coming soon.
Another new feature is the implementation of search throughout the web-driven areas of the interface, such as the game store and the community section. As they start adding a lot of new content it’s easy to see why they made this a priority.
Finally, Stardock made an interesting change to their top 10 lists: Previously, they were based simply on the number of units sold, which they feel was biased in favor of inexpensive titles. To correct this they’ve changed it to reflect the total revenue of a game or application sold.
These are small steps forward in comparison to ImpulseTV but features that are appreciated nonetheless.
If you already have Impulse keep an eye out for the update—past Impulse updates have been gradually rolled out across the user base so it may or may not have already arrived. If you don’t have Impulse you can get it here:
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