<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[frogboy.wincustomize.com]]></title><link>http://frogboy.wincustomize.com/</link><description>Download free Skins for ICQ and WinAmp, Windows desktop themes, WindowBlinds, DesktopX and More!</description><language>en-us</language><pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:15:40 -0500</pubDate><lastBuildDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:15:40 -0500</lastBuildDate><generator>Carbon RSS Manager http://www.shellscape.org/</generator><managingEditor></managingEditor><webMaster>pford@stardock.com</webMaster><item><title><![CDATA[Gamespot: Editor's Choice Award!]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177742</link> <description><![CDATA[

[Full Review]
Gamespot has weighed in on Sins of a Solar Empire. Reviewed by Jason Ocampo, one of the strategy genre's top reviewers as well as an expert in other genres, his review thoroughly walked through both the strengths of the game as well as elements of the game that gamers should be aware of (i.e. this ain't no 25 minute action RTS). You can see his other reviews here.

]]></description> <pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:22:39 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177742</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">83da28df-b4c2-47ff-81f9-01d6c240469a</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[G4 X-Play Video Review]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177658</link> <description><![CDATA[ X-Play has reviewed Sins of a Solar Empire with a resounding "4 pirates out of 5!" We lost a star (or pirate) due to not including a campaign in with the game.
"Sins is one of the biggest surprises thus far in 2008, a game no self-respecting galactic grognard will want to be without."
Check out the whole thing.
View: X-Play Video Review]]></description> <pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:42:50 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177658</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">ccb98e4b-2166-48bf-99b6-21bd3646d5a3</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[1up / Games Radar Reviews]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177650</link> <description><![CDATA[The 1Up and Games Radar reviews have hit the streets!

"Sins is the fulfillment of Supreme Commander's promise -- zoom in to see the tracers of a fighter squadron launched from a carrier ship, and zoom out to take in 60 planets and five star systems at a time as utilitarian icons" -1Up.  
"With most RTS games shifting towards fast action at the expense of real strategy, it would be an unforgivable sin for a strategy fan to pass by this game on the shelf and not pick it up." -GamesRadar
 ]]></description> <pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:05:54 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177650</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">d9b2117c-fa98-45e2-932e-ab31a36a42dc</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Initial Review Round-Up]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177645</link> <description><![CDATA[The first reviews have started to come out!
 Here are some of the initial reviews of Sins of a Solar Empire!

Sarcastic Steve: 9/10 
Gaming Steve: 9/10 
Resonance Gaming: 9/10 
Out of Eight: 8/8 
Game Squad: 9/10
 The major game website reviews are starting to hit as well. Stay tuned!]]></description> <pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:44:50 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177645</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">6ad03f6f-20b5-49eb-ba4f-606dc53628c8</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[TweakVista 1.1 arrives]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177352</link> <description><![CDATA[Windows Vista has gotten a lot of bad press. A lot of it is unfair but as any Vista user can tell you, a lot of the bad press was avoidable.
Even the finest product can be marred by a handful of minor decisions that affect the overall experience.
In the case of Windows Vista, Stardock has identified these problem areas that Vista needs to resolve (either in a future SP or in Windows 7):

We need an OS, not a nanny. Vista has too many nags, confirmations, and reminders. 
Vista is too much of a one-size fits all solution. As a result, there is a service or start up program for nearly every potentiality. 
Usable information about the network, hardware info, and basic settings changes are too spread out and need to be consolidated. 
System responsiveness and memory use. Vista seems to always have something running, scanning, or getting in the user's way when they're trying to use the computer.
Stardock's answer to this is TweakVista.  TweakVista 1.0 established a foundation. It basically gave users a way to know what was running on their system and control it to a much finer degree than normally possible but in a way that was safer than most other solutions. It also allows users to modify the security settings without simply disabling them.
TweakVista 1.1 is merely the first step on the journey to let users start tweaking Vista themselves.  Here's what's new:

Snapshots. This is a basic feature that lets people mess with things in a lot safer way. It's more useful in many respects than "Microsoft System Restore" because what it does is pinpoint changes to what's loading on start up. The snapshot feature lets people pin-point apps that are causing problems and be easily eliminated. 
Process Exploration. Resource Page now has a services tab so that all those "svchost.exe" processes can be easily looked at to see what they're really doing. 
Service Explorer. It's not hard to look at services in Vista if you know what you're doing. TweakVista, however, lets users easily manage what services are running and includes a way for each service to be part of a web forum thread where users can discuss in depth each service and why they do or don't need it. 
Locked File Query. Ever have a file that you can't delete or modify because it's in use by some other program? Now you can find out which program is doing that and terminate it.
There are many other smaller new features in TweakVista 1.1.  The main goal was to set the stage to begin going more in-depth to let users regain more control over their computer and do so safely.
In the long term, Stardock hopes Microsoft will integrate some of the fixes and tweaks we're making into the base OS.  But in the meantime, you can take care of these things yourself in a secure, safe, and effective way with TweakVista.
Screenshots:
  
  
Download: www.tweakvista.net
]]></description> <pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:11:23 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177352</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">53992c22-35d9-4033-82ef-446036faee01</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Drengin Digest: February 2008]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177315</link> <description><![CDATA[Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor is being worked on heavily. This week we started implementing a new feature that allows players to have the AI design ships for them. So for new players in particular who just want a decently designed ship, they can now get it with this new option.
Obviously the AI is going to be a major element of what we start working on. Beta 5, which is due out later this month to those who have pre-ordered it, will be the first beta with significant AI enhancements. It will also have a host of other tweaks based on increased internal play testing.
The last beta, beta 4C, was the first one to provide updated AI to the minor races. We haven't seen too many reports on any differences in their behavior. We'll be making a lot more tweaks to them. Basically, minor races will behave the same as major races in the final version except that they won't colonize new planets. But they'll invade, research, and just generally behave smarter than they have in the past.
For the past couple weeks, Stardock has had its collective attention on Sins of a Solar Empire. It's been a lot of work to get that out but the results have been fantastic. It's currently the #1 game in North America according to Gamerankings user interest polling. Sales have been phenomenal as well and the first few reviews have been very positive.
In the next week or so, we'll be migrating to an updated forum back-end that should be (in theory) much faster than what we have today.  It should also have a lot of cool new features. Naturally, everyone will hate it. :)
Most of the Stardock games team is working on the upcoming 4X fantasy strategy game which will be turn-based and have turn-based tactical battles and support multiplayer.  It uses a brand new engine we've been developing that allows players to zoom out and see the world as a cloth (Tolkien-esq) map or zoom in to see individual leaves on trees. The reason we've developed our own engine is so that we can have fine control on the hardware requirements. We want people with 5 year old systems to be able to play the game easily (and I mean play it VERY easily) but at the same time allow players with the latest DirectX 10 cards to get an incredible visual experience too.  We'll open that up for pre-orders (which will allow users into the beta) probably by end of Spring.
So that's what's happening.  Let us know if you need anything.
Cheers!
 ]]></description> <pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:05:03 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177315</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">5952d926-e6d3-4225-94de-aa30b2afc5e6</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Take a picture, win a shirt!]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177123</link> <description><![CDATA[So you make a product and somehow you manage to get it at the store where millions of people see it. Pretty exciting eh? Thanks to the support of PC gamers, Sins of a Solar Empire is now at retail in most of North America.
Now, to thank you back, here's what we're going to do:
Take a picture of you (or a loved one) holding a Sins of a Solar box at a store, post the picture here in the comments along with which store you were at and get a chance to win an official Sins of a Solar Empire T-shirt.
The first 20 people to post pictures will automatically get one (we'll email you with shipping info and shirt size).  After that, we'll randomly select good pictures and keep sending shirts out while supplies last.
 ]]></description> <pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:32:21 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177123</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">cb8cfe73-6392-4f00-b5d0-26907a4bbff5</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Is skinning a community or a market?]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177007</link> <description><![CDATA[When skinning first got started, there was a kind of unspoken understanding between the people who made software and the people who used the software. There would be a symbiotic relationship between 3 groups.  The first group, the developers, would create software to customize the look and feel of your applications and desktop. The second group, the skinners, would create the content for these programs. And the third group, the users, would work with the first two groups to help test and ensure the software worked fine by giving detailed reports on betas and even releases to help perfect the program in general.  In return, the software was far far cheaper than software in other markets. Thus was borne the "skinning community". 

Even into 2008, where a typical new game is $50 to $70 and the typical utility software is $50 to $70, the most popular desktop enhancement software programs remain $20 or less.  In fact, Object Desktop, an entire collection of desktop enhancements, is only $50. To put it in collection, WinRar, which is most commonly (let's be honest here) used to compress pirated software, is about $40 all by itself.
As skinning has become more mainstream, the relationship between the three parties has evolved.  Increasingly, the content creation is shouldered by fewer and fewer people. We created the Master Skinning program as an effort (a successful one) to encourage skinners with high degrees of talent to continue sharing their creations.  The net result is that content is starting to cost money because so few new users are creating it (even for relatively simple things).  Similarly, users are much less inclined to participate in open beta programs.  Look at the CursorFX release. There's multiple posts complaining in the vaguest terms that it doesn't work on their systems.  It works here just fine. Nearly everyone here is running CursorFX on XP or Vista without incident. We had an open beta but we received very few reports on it.  
The reality is, while the skinning "community" still exists, it is now a small sub-section of the "skinning market" which is made up of traditional consumers who simply expect (with good reason) to pay money in exchange for a program and content that just works.  There's nothing wrong with that. That's how every other market works. But those markets don't support products that are $10 to $20.  Those products are $50 to $70.   The only reason WindowBlinds isn't already a $40 program is because of the skinners and that it still gets significant help from the community in testing new beta versions (though drastically less than in the old days when, ironically, it had far fewer users).
Skinning is continuing to evolve. It's evolving increasingly into a more traditional consumer-oriented market.  Stardock, I suspect, will have to adapt with some system that allows users who are contributing time and effort to the community to get credits which lets them buy the software at a less expensive price while traditional consumers pay the un-subsidized rate for the products. 
I've written an article that goes into more detail.  Click the link below to check it out. ]]></description> <pubDate>Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:42:38 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=177007</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">f3fb8f6c-4621-4094-9f53-394cdf220ae7</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[GameSpy: Editor's Choice Award]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=176800</link> <description><![CDATA[GameSpy has released their review of Sins of a Solar Empire. The first review from one of the major game magazines.  From the review:

The reason that Sins of a Solar Empire works is that it truly respects and celebrates both styles of strategy gaming. It marries the grand scope and Nietzschian will-to-power embodied by the best "4X" conquer-the-universe titles with the adrenaline-fueled immediacy and moment-to-moment decision making of a great real-time strategy game. More than that, it uses the best aspects of both styles to create a uniquely enjoyable experience that shouldn't be missed by any strategy gamer out there who thinks they've got what it takes to rule the galaxy. 
The final score was 4.5 out of 5 with the primary negatives being that the game doesn't include a story-driven campaign (it includes massive sand box creation tools instead) and some problems with Ironclad Online which are addressed in the 1.02 update. 
We highly recommend you check out the full review as GameSpy's Allen Rausch is one of the top strategy game reviewers in the industry.
View: GameSpy Review 

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]]></description> <pubDate>Sun, 10 Feb 2008 21:28:29 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=176800</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">15dbbe9b-dcc5-4207-8bbc-e74ffa158ad0</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sins of a Solar Empire v1.02 released!]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=176243</link> <description><![CDATA[Sins of a Solar Empire v1.02 is now available for download. To get it, use either Stardock Central or click on the update button within the game itself.
So what's new? We have the full official change log here.  
In brief:

Fixed a bug on Ironclad On-line where games in progress would sometimes linger and show as available resulting in a "Rejected by host" message. 
Siege Frigates now use more fleet supply and have somewhat fewer hull points. 
Pirate strikes come less often 
Random map options that don't have pirates now available 
Various tweaks and improvements to ICO (Ironclad Online) 
Various tweaks and improvements to the game UI in game (more info available) 
Various small tweaks to weapons and defenses
The map designer has been integrated into ICO so you can design your own maps and other players will use them within ICO.
We plan to provide regular free updates to the game to thank users for purchasing the game.  We hope you're having a good time playing the game!
Note: We've noticed from looking at player screenshots around the net that most people haven't changed the graphics from their low-res defaults. See this post for more info.
To get it: Use Stardock Central OR click update from within the game.]]></description> <pubDate>Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:51:51 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=176243</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">4d6b537b-b814-4501-a390-2ad465d517dd</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[CursorFX updated]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=176222</link> <description><![CDATA[Stardock updated CursorFX today with a minor update to make it able to use CursorXP themes a bit more seamlessly. Thanks for everyone's feedback.
www.cursorfx.com
 ]]></description> <pubDate>Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:36:04 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=176222</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">7d0cb402-1ce4-4ef5-bed0-8faf896ec479</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[A victory for strategy gamers!]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175880</link> <description><![CDATA[  
After years of being told that PC gamers are really just console gamers but with different game controllers (mouse and keyboard) and that in-depth strategy was dying, we now have some conclusive evidence that no, that serious strategy games are alive and kicking.
Behold:
#1 at Gamespot:
 
#1 at IGN:
 
#1 at 1Up:
 
And what about sales?
#2 at Amazon.com, #3 at EBGames.com / Gamestop (And it sold out, they've replenished). Sales at other retailers who have it in stock say it's "selling very well" (but no rankings yet).
Why is this significant?
Because the reviews haven't hit yet.  People are buying this game sight unseen despite relatively little coverage, PC gamers so much want a real time strategy game that has 4X depth that they are going out, en masse to find out more about this game and buying it.  
You are making your voices heard.  People who buy PC games may have consoles but they don't necessarily want their PC games to simply be ported console games or console-like games. 
We thank you for your support!  We hope we are living up to your expectations.
]]></description> <pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:09:43 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175880</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">84799e3d-c921-4778-854e-18153f00177a</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Games for Windows podcast]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175869</link> <description><![CDATA[ The latest Games for Windows podcast (2/6/2008) features a lengthy discussion of Sins of a Solar Empire. To find out what the editors of Games for Windows (formerly Computer Gaming World) think of the game!
Check it out!
View: http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3148397]]></description> <pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:54:28 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175869</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">5138012e-f4e1-4fff-8092-544d5dfe16f1</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Sinner's Digest]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175486</link> <description><![CDATA[On Monday, Sins of a Solar Empire was released digitally. On Tuesday, the retail launch began. And so it's Wednesday. Where do things stand?

As I type this, Amazon.com has Sins of a Solar Empire listed as the #2 best-selling PC game in North America.  Obviously, World of Warcraft and The Sims just can't stand up to the marketing juggernaut of the Sinners...cough.
Meanwhile, Penny Arcade, which is extremely popular at both Stardock and Ironclad mentioned the game today. We're pretty excited about that and you'll be seeing a lot of Sins stuff over there as it's where the bulk of our web budget is going. Penny Arcade only allows games that they have tried and liked to be advertised there which I think is a really impressive stand to take.
We are hoping to have the first post-release update out THIS WEEK. Now, those of you already familiar with Stardock won't be surprised by this. But for gamers who aren't used to getting lots of free updates that aren't just "bug fixes" you're in for a pleasant surprise. 
This week's update will add some new maps (maps without pirates for those who want pirate-free games).  It will also cure the annoying bug where games in progress wouldn't dissappear off Ironclad Online (ICO) and so you'd get a "rejected by host" message when in fact it should have disappeared or said "game has started". And the tutorials are fixed for users running at high resolution.
Retail availability is spotty still.  I went to Best Buy today and they have it in the ACTION game area.  Sins is many things but it is not an action game. But it was well stocked at least. So if you're going to Best Buy, look in the action area...
Next week we hope to offer a preview of the first significant post-release update. We're reading through the forums and considering everything from adding a "faster" game speed option for people who want a faster game pace option to new options regarding pirates to getting AI opponents to take over for disconnected players automatically.  Right now, you probably noticed we're all over the forums.  
The first major reviews should start showing up early next week I imagine.  I read the Game Daily review and the Shacknews review (I'm a pretty big Shacknews fan).  I won't comment on the Game Daily one (it got an 8 but reads like a 9.5 so its score surprised me a bit).  I do recommend the Shack review even if I don't agree with all of it. I think people who play the game will really enjoy the visuals of the game a lot.  Let me put it another way (to use two of my favorite RTS's of recent memory) zoom in to a unit in Supreme Commander or Age of Empires 3 and ask yourself if they have the detail of a zoomed in unit of Sins.  One of the reasons Sins has become so popular so fast despite little publicity is because you can zoom out and see the entire map and zoom in fluidly to see quite detailed individual ships fighting it out.  But the Shacknews review is high quality IMO.
The first of the Forge tools is now available. They're a free download in the downloads section. Go ahead and create your own maps and other goodies and upload to share with others. There's a ton of mods in the making and more tools coming!
And lastly, the fun has only begun.  In all my years as a gamer, I've never seen a period in the game industry in which the right game showed up at the right time.  First, Sins is the only major new PC strategy game (that I know of anyway) coming out until, well next Fall/Winter time frame (feel free to correct me -- I've been looking pretty hard though).  And secondly, Sins will continue to evolve.  You think the game needs X, go ahead on the forums and make your case. Just be sure that you show you have played the game or aren't expecting Sins to simply be a clone of some existing game or something.
 
Stay tuned!]]></description> <pubDate>Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:22:16 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175486</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">eb27eb77-5879-43bc-8d21-03588340ff86</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sins of a Solar Empire Retail Launch]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175144</link> <description><![CDATA[Yesterday saw the digital launch of Sins of a Solar Empire.  Today begins the official retail launch of the game.  
The following retailers should have Sins of a Solar Empire on the shelf starting today or by the end of the week:

Best Buy (launched at 2pm today) 
EB 
Gamestop 
Target 
Circuit City 
Walmart 
Fry's
Regardless of where you buy the game, you'll get the full direct digital service from Stardock. That means you'll be able to re-download your game on Stardock Central (and soon Impulse) even if you lose your DVD. In fact, once you've created an account, you'll be able to re-download the entire game even if you lose the DVD and serial # and everything else.
And just as we do with our other games, we plan to provide frequent updates based on player suggestions and feedback. These updates are not required to play (except for on-line games of course for synchronizing reasons) so if you don't want to update, you don't have to.
Here are some highlighed screenshots from the launch:
 
 
 ]]></description> <pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:01:00 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175144</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">b2e35d1e-9fbd-4ff7-9553-307784a002cb</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[CursorFX officially released!]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175138</link> <description><![CDATA[Stardock is pleased to announce the official release of CursorFX.  CursorFX is a free program that allows users to customize their mouse cursors in ways far beyond what Windows is capable of doing on its own.
The default Windows mouse cursor technology is the same today as it was in 1993 when Windows NT 3.1 was released. It lacks functionality and visual effects that are easily possible with any remotely modern PC.
CursorFX updates the Windows mouse cursor engine to support fluid animations, alpha blending, effects, real-time shadowing, user-action mouse states, mouse cursor resizing on the fly, color changing, trails, and much more.
CursorFX is a replacement to CursorXP which only ran on Windows XP.  CursorFX runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista and includes dozens of new features and tweaks over CursorXP.
A gallery for CursorFX cursor themes is available on WinCustomize.com to download hundreds of free mouse cursors, trails, effects, and more.
CursorFX is a free program. A plus version is available for $19.95 that adds more features.  To learn more and to download, visit www.cursorfx.com. 
Screenshots:
  
Download: www.cursorfx.com]]></description> <pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:43:44 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175138</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">85af9f4e-b219-43c0-a275-2dd021173244</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Launch Day Impressions!]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175069</link> <description><![CDATA[Yesterday marked the launch of the digital release of Sins of a Solar Empire, today at 2pm EST, the retail edition should begin showing up at retailres such as Best Buy.
Here's some links to some impressions and feedback from around the net:

Quarter To Three
War Gamer Forum Impressions
Comment here with links to yours and we'll look at making more
Here are some suggestions on maximizing the fun factor:

I saw some people talk about game pacing. The game has three game pacing modes: Slow, Normal, Fast.  It's designed to appeal to a very wide range of users and these settings have pretty dramatic effects.  If you find the game pacing too fast, you can change the various settings at the start. If you find it too slow, you can increase the speed as well.
The Tutorial has a glitch that requires users to run at 1024x768. We're going to release a minor update later in the week or early next week that addresses that.
If you have any ideas or suggestions on tweaks and such you'd like to see, visit our forums and we'd love to hear them! We plan to release free updates based on player feedback.
Pirates. They're bastards for sure. Read the manual regarding them. But basically they will attack every N minutes the player with the highest bounty. However, if you don't want pirates in your game at all, create a map (or use an existing map) with no pirates. 
On multiplayer, some games on multiplayer don't disappear immediately off of ICO and will report "rejected by host". So don't worry, you're not being really rejected -- well not by the game anyway.
If you have an nVidia card with recent drivers and have any problems, turn the planet detail to high if you have it on highest. 
We're glad you guys like the game! We're very excited about how things have gone so far! Lots of cool stuff to come!]]></description> <pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:27:45 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=175069</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">c3c548cf-69bd-4fb8-b4fc-89585efe8a34</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Launch Day Is Here!]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=174729</link> <description><![CDATA[[Click Me: Launch Day FAQ]]]></description> <pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:14:36 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=174729</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">3d4822a3-e03a-403b-af09-a65bd2e962c9</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[deviantART about to hit 50 million submissions!]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=174658</link> <description><![CDATA[In a few hours, our friends at deviantART will hit their 50 MILLIONTH submission (deviation).
But for me, the most amazing thing about deviantART is its popularity.  It is now in the top 50 most visited websites in the world.  
Let me put that in perspective. deviantART is more popular than MSNBC.com, CNET.COM, MTV.com, Gamespot, IGN, and many other extremely well known sites.  
In fact, more people go to deviantART.com on a typical day than CNN.com.  That's how popular the site has become.
What started out as a skinning site has become the world's dominant art site.  Obviously, customization isn't a focus these days, I think it's still amazing how the site has grown.  I'll be the first to say that for the life of me it's beyond my grasp. I've never (and continue not to) understood the desire of people wanting to submit random stuff.  I understand people wanting to share skins or icons or software and other such things, but not scans of sketches or random art.  And that's what makes deviantART so revolutionary. It's not an obvious concept (at least not to me).
Congratulations deviantART on your 50 millions submission!
 ]]></description> <pubDate>Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:06:53 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=174658</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">9ed9d720-9e50-4e97-b6f0-8b7bb1c32abf</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sins of a Solar Empire Gameplay Example]]></title><link>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=174632</link> <description><![CDATA[
So what is a game of Sins of a Solar Empire like?  Just like we did with Galactic Civilizations, we've put together a story based on playing a full game. 
View: Rage of the Ishendi]]></description> <pubDate>Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:07:39 -0500</pubDate><comments>http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=174632</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">7b579121-e104-4728-91c1-f301a6de9800</guid></item></channel></rss>