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StarDock
Stardock Corporation is a software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Microsoft Windows due to the collapse of the OS/2 software market between 1997 and 1998. The company is best known for computer programs that allow a user to modify or extend a graphical user interface as well as personal computer games, particularly strategy games such as the ''Galactic Civilizations'' series, '' Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion'', '' Elemental: Fallen Enchantress'', and ''Ashes of the Singularity''. Stardock created and maintains WinCustomize, a graphical user interface customization community, and developed the Impulse content delivery system before its sale to GameStop. Many of the skins and themes featured on its site are for software that is part of their Object Desktop windows desktop suite. They are based in Plymouth, Michigan. History Stardock was founded b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stardock Corporation Headquarters Building Plymouth Michigan
Stardock Corporation is a software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Microsoft Windows due to the collapse of the OS/2 software market between 1997 and 1998. The company is best known for computer programs that allow a user to modify or extend a graphical user interface as well as personal computer games, particularly strategy games such as the ''Galactic Civilizations'' series, '' Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion'', '' Elemental: Fallen Enchantress'', and ''Ashes of the Singularity''. Stardock created and maintains WinCustomize, a graphical user interface customization community, and developed the Impulse content delivery system before its sale to GameStop. Many of the skins and themes featured on its site are for software that is part of their Object Desktop windows desktop suite. They are based in Plymouth, Michigan. History Stardock was founded b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brad Wardell
Bradley R. Wardell (born June 24, 1971) is an American businessman, programmer, author and AI Engineer. He is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Stardock, a software development and computer games company. Wardell's specialty is the design and programming of artificial intelligence and game mechanics for turn-based strategy games. Career Early career Wardell built PCs and worked as a check proofer while studying at Western Michigan University. He graduated in 1994 with a degree in Electronic Engineering, specializing in Computer Engineering. Wardell was involved in the design and implementation of ''Galactic Civilizations'' for OS/2, one of the platform's few games. He led development of ''OS/2 Essentials'', followed by ''Object Desktop'', a package of utilities and desktop enhancements. When the OS/2 market collapsed, he shifted Stardock to Windows, heading development of PC game ''Entrepreneur'' (now '' The Corporate Machine'') while coordinating the crea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Object Desktop
Object Desktop (OD; previously the Object Desktop Network or ODNT) is an online software subscription service created by Stardock for OS/2 and relaunched for Windows in 1997. Object Desktop includes most graphical user interface customization and productivity products offered by Stardock, including ''WindowBlinds'', ''Fences'', ''DesktopX'', '' Tweak7'', ''IconPackager'' and ''ObjectBar''. History OS/2 (1993 to 2001) Object Desktop — initially entitled ''The Workplace Toolset/2'' — was developed over three years by Brad Wardell and Kurt Westerfeld subsequent to Stardock's ''OS/2 Essentials'', a pre-registered set of OS/2 shareware. Object Desktop 1.0 was followed by 1.5 and Professional' versions following in short order. By 1997 the OS/2 ISV market was flagging, and many customers were switching to Windows NT 4. 1997 OS/2 revenues were 33% of those in 1996, and they fell to 25% of 1996 levels in 1998. This led to their decision to switch to Windows in mid-1997. Nevertheles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impulse (content Delivery)
Impulse was a digital distribution and Multiplayer video game, multiplayer platform. Originally developed by Stardock to succeed Stardock Central, it was purchased by GameStop in March 2011, and was subsequently rebranded as GameStop PC Downloads, with the client being renamed GameStop App. The client was discontinued in April 2014. Impulse facilitated the purchase, download and updating of software. The platform also provided blogging, friends-list, chat, Matchmaking (video games), game matchmaking, achievement (video gaming), achievements and ranking to certain games. Features Impulse helped users purchase and download software. Purchases were tied to an account on GameStop's servers, and could be downloaded from anywhere that allowed the use of the Impulse client. Storefront Impulse provided a storefront that supports localized currencies, territory restrictions and a process for refunds. Publishers and developers that once used the Impulse storefront include Activision, At ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galactic Civilizations
''Galactic Civilizations'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Stardock and released in March 2003. The game is a remake of an OS/2 series of the same name. An expansion pack entitled ''Altarian Prophecy'' was released in 2004. A sequel, '' Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords'', was released February 21, 2006. On May 14, 2015, Stardock released '' Galactic Civilizations III''. On April 26, 2022, released Galactic Civilizations IV. Gameplay The goal of the game is to eventually dominate the galaxy. It is possible to achieve victory through war, cultural domination, diplomacy or by developing overwhelming advanced technology. Story The game is set in the future. Humankind has made contact with the 5 other major alien races. Space travel is risky and expensive, requiring huge jump gates which only permit travel between two specific points. Because space travel is so difficult, the galaxy remains mostly uncolonized. The humans make a great discovery—hyper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashes Of The Singularity
''Ashes of the Singularity'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Oxide Games and Stardock Entertainment. The game was released for Microsoft Windows on March 31, 2016. The game features massive battles involving thousands of units on vast battlefields. As such, it requires relatively high-end hardware. A standalone expansion pack, called ''Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation'' was released in November 2016, but was later merged into the main game. Gameplay ''Ashes of the Singularity'' is a real-time strategy video game, featuring two primary factions: the Post-Human Coalition and the Substrate. Its main distinction is its ability to handle thousands of individual units engaging in combat simultaneously, far greater than most other games of its kind, across large maps and without abstraction. This is achieved through a newly developed engine called ''Nitrous'' designed to fully leverage modern 64-bit multi-core processors, reflected in the relatively high system requ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fallen Enchantress
''Elemental: Fallen Enchantress'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Stardock for Microsoft Windows in 2012. Gameplay ''Elemental: Fallen Enchantress'' has a single-player campaign, and a nonlinear "sandbox" game-play. Outside the campaign, players win by conquering or allying with other factions, fulfilling a master quest or casting a spell of making. The player controls a pre-built or custom sovereign leading a faction with different characteristics affecting gameplay. The sovereign founds the faction's capital city and may then be sent to explore the world or govern the settlement. Multiple settlements can be built by other units, but city building sites may be far between. Settlements can research technologies, build military units or town improvements or harvest nearby resources. As settlements grow they become specialized in economy, research or military might. Outposts can be built to harvest resources in places without city sites. The sovereign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WinCustomize
WinCustomize is a website that provides content for users to customize Microsoft Windows. The site hosts thousands of skins, themes, icons, wallpapers, and other graphical content to modify the Windows graphical user interface. There is some premium or paid content, however, the vast majority of the content is free for users to download. Site history WinCustomize was launched in March 2001 by Brad Wardell and Pat Ford, both of whom work at Stardock. After the dot-com recession had taken down many popular skin sites, WinCustomize quickly grew in popularity due to a combination of wide variety of content, uptime reliability, and being the preferred content destination by Stardock customers. The site has grown at a far greater pace than its founders had anticipated. It has managed to avoid having to put many limitations on users or having to resort to pop-up advertising because of its corporate patron Stardock subsidizing its costs. This growth has prompted several site rede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GameStop
GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates 4,573 stores including 3,018 in the United States, 231 in Canada, 417 in Australia and 907 in Europe under the GameStop, EB Games, EB Games Australia, Micromania-Zing, ThinkGeek and Zing Pop Culture Australia, Zing Pop Culture brands. The company was founded in Dallas in 1984 as Babbage's, and took on its current name in 1999. The company's performance declined during the mid-to-late 2010s due to the shift of video game sales to online shopping and failed investments by GameStop in smartphone retail. In 2021, the company's stock price skyrocketed due to GameStop short squeeze, a short squeeze orchestrated by users of the Internet forum r/wallstreetbets. The company received significant media attention during January and February 2021 due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
