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Steam has 70% of PC download market, says Stardock

We always knew that Steam was a massive endeavor, continuously filling up the treasure chests in Valve’s basements. But we never really knew how big a chunk of the market it has, and now Stardock, one of its competitors, says that Steam has about a 70% of the digital distribution market share on the PC, which, as Kotaku points out, is about the same market share that Apple has in the digital music download sector.

This can only add to the criticism that Valve and Steam should be separated into different companies. But don’t count on that any time soon.

BioShock 2 multiplayer trailer

A sweet and short trailer, showcases some nice and fast paced multiplayer action. And some awesome one-liners.

Serious Sam HD dropping on November 24

The original Serious Sam was one of the great, old school shooters, no realism here, just big enemies and bigger guns. And lots of great humor. The HD upgrade of the game, still developed by good ‘ol Croteam, will be released on PC on November 24, for only $20, and if you pre-order it on Steam, you can get it for $18. Great deal if you haven’t played the original. And you should have!

New StarCraft 2 screenshots

Blizzard has released a bunch of new StarCraft 2 screenshots, and boy does this game look pretty. Expect a lot of Koreans to upgrade their PC rigs in 2010, when the game hits the stores.

Supreme Commander 2 walkthrough trailer

After announcing Supreme Commander 2 for a February 2010 release, Gas Powered Games released a lengthy walk through trailer for the game, explaining the details about the new tech. Very informative stuff.

Dragon Age DLC revealed

EA has announced a new DLC for the highly successful RPG Dragon Age: Origins. The BioWare developed RPG’s first DLC, titled “Return to Ostagar”, will be released this holiday for just $5. The DLC will offer a chance for the player to “revisit Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens’ darkest hour, to reclaim the honor and learn the secrets of Ferelden’s fallen king”.

While it’s okay with a cheap DLC, it seems a bit too early. We’re in the process of reviewing the game (review coming soon!), and we’ve already strolled through some 30 hours of gameplay. It’s not like the game is light on content as it is.

Frontlines Fuel of War 75% off on Steam

Remember Frontlines Fuel of War? The semi-sci-fi multiplayer shooter that was created by a pack of Battlefield developers? Yeah, we thought so. If you didn’t try out the game before — we can understand if you haven’t — you got a pretty good deal for it on Steam now, as the game is 75% off the normal price, meaning it retails for only $7.50.

BioShock 2 special edition revealed

Well, don’t look surprised, of course BioShock, like all other highly anticipated sequels, was getting a special edition set. The BioShock 2 Special Edition package includes the game, a 160-page hardcover art books (we love those) and the soundtrack on CD. But there’s more! For the first time (at least we think), the set includes a orchestral score on vinyl. Yep, vinyl. How retro is that? Pretty retro if you ask us. The special edition will retail for $99 on consoles and $89 on PC and will be released on February 9.

Assassin’s Creed 2 review

Assassin’s Creed was one of the few original and interesting new IPs that was released two years ago, bringing a new setting not often explored by games, alongside some original combat and acrobatics. The sequel — and of course there’s a sequel — looks to build upon the success of the first game, and offer something new. While the gameplay remains mainly unchanged, the new setting, in Renaissance Italy looks just as great as ancient Jerusalem did in AC1.

The story continues where the previous ended; Desmond, in today’s time, escapes from the complex that kidnapped him and captured his mind. This time he teams up with the good guys, and gets back in the seat in the machine that sends him back a few hundred years to Italy, during Leonardo da Vinci’s time, where he’ll play an assassin, in order to train himself the skills. We won’t go into detail of the story, but rest assured that it’s pretty well told and written, although the cut scenes and dialogue aren’t exactly top notch. Read the rest of our Assassin’s Creed 2 review

BioShock 2 cover revealed

2K Games has revealed the cover of the highly anticipated BioShock 2, which is scheduled for a February 2010 release. As you can see above, it’s quite similar to the original BioShock 2, this time though, as the PS3 cover suggests, PS3 owners won’t have to wait a full year to play the game.

Supreme Commander 2 coming Spring 2010

Square Enix, the new publishers of Supreme Commander 2, have announced that the Gas Powered Games RTS will be released during Spring 2010 on PC and Xbox 360. As you may recall, the original Supreme Commander was released during Spring of 2007, so a good three years without a great sci-fi RTS. SupCom 2 is set 25 years after the original game, and features a ton of new units, maps and campaign missions, in addition to a much more streamlined game engine.

Left 4 Dead 2 review

There was understandable outrage when Valve announced a sequel to Left 4 Dead, to be released only a year after the original game, giving a hint that it might be a yearly series, something very untrue to the Valve spirit (which is quite the opposite: quality delays). Is there merit to the criticism and concerns? Has Left 4 Dead 2 too little to offer compared to last year? In short, yes, in long: yes, but it’s still a heck of a lot of fun.

The story in Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D 2) followed the same type of story and gameplay as its predecessor, the main campaign follows four survivors, played via online co-op with three other players, where the point is to escape through a maze and myriad of zombies of all kinds. It’s a style of gameplay where teamwork absolutely counts, in L4D 2, it counts even more. Don’t even think about going solo — you’ll be picked to your bones very quickly. The new campaign follows four new survivors, this time they seem to be more varied with better personality, however the AI is still lacking a bit behind, where they’ll often run in front of you, despite that it’s very clear that you’re shooting a very big gun right next to them. But this, of course, is gone when you play co-op — which you should, that’s the whole point, anyways. Read the rest of our Left 4 Dead 2 review

Nvidia launches GeForece GT 240

While we wait for Nvidia’s next gen chip, codenamed “Fermi”, the company has followed its old style of re-branding and re-releasing old chips. Well, not quite this time, as the new GT 240 chip is still the same technology, but is built on 40nm process and includes DirectX 10.1 support — at a time where the big deal is DirectX 11.

The new graphics card is mainstream oriented, and should offer decent performance and low power consumption, at a decent price. The chip is outfitted with 96 stream processors clocked at 1360MHz, while the graphics core runs at 550MHz, with idle power load at just 9W. It’ll retail later this week for $99.

Modern Warfare 2 airport scene cut in Russia

The infamous Modern Warfare 2 airport mission “No Russian”, all 5 minutes of it, has apparently been cut in the Russian version of the game, in fear of sparking outrage in the country, but, more importantly for Activision, it could result in a ban. The mission, where the player basically mows down Russian civilians at an airport, has already been altered for the German public, where if you shoot any civilians, it’s game over. Which means that pretty much means the mission is useless in that case.

Modern Warfare 2 sells close to 9.4 million copies in first week

It’s no surprise that Modern Warfare 2’s launch was anything less than a huge success considering the game was pre-ordered over 4.5 million times but VGCHartz has rounded up some preliminary week one data and the results are quite outstanding.

It seems that all together, the game has sold close to 9.4 million copies across the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC raking in an astounding $600 million for Activision. Now let’s just wait until the holiday season comes and goes and we’re sure to be seeing some ridiculous numbers.

I think it’s safe to say we will be seeing Modern Warfare 3, 4, 5 etc because I mean, it is Activision, after all.