Death to retail! This kind of problem could be fixed within hours or days, and for a lot less money, if all games were attached to digital distribution platforms like Impulse or Steam. Not that this particular issue affected the digitally distributed versions in the first place.

So Demigod had some problems. I canceled my pre-order a few days before release, so I haven’t experienced them, but they don’t sound fun. Gotta say, though, I don’t think I could be upset for long with how candid Stardock has been about the issues and their efforts to correct them.

Of course it is.

Radashay!

This could be a blessing in disguise for the Witcher franchise. If you’ve checked out our forum lately (hey, check out our forum!) you might have seen that I’ve been playing through The Witcher on PC. As I play I’m trying to evaluate whether or not I think the RPG playing console audience would be receptive. Much of the game is designed with old-school CRPG ideals in mind that console players may not understand. I’ve been afraid that it would flop. It’s unfortunate that it’s been canceled for financial reasons, but still, it may be a good thing for the brand, much as the cancellation of the Xbox 360 version of World in Conflict was.

And it’s no joke. Not just a sampling, it’s the full game soundtrack. Pretty good music here, check it out. I haven’t listened to it all yet, but I’m keeping my ears open for an AudioSurf video candidate. We’ll see.

Yay! If you haven’t checked out Opera lately, you really should. Opera is currently my preferred browser and has been — for the most part — ever since it went ad-supported (don’t worry, that was about 9 years ago – it’s all free now). Version 9 is a thing of beauty and the alpha builds of version 10 are showing promise as well.

Surprise. Now get off Demigod’s back. I mean, the Rook can dish it out, but he can’t take it.

This trailer appeals to my sensibilities. Hard.

This is probably just my tinfoil hat talking, but GameStop doing this feels like an intentional slight against Stardock’s Impulse service. Anyone who buys Demigod at retail will shortly have their eyeballs on a competitor’s store, as the game requires Impulse activation. Customers bringing the game home and attempting to activate could have hit a brick wall and been left with half a game. This would have no doubt sullied their attitude toward the service. Fortunately, Stardock was on the ball and that didn’t happen; the game’s release was moved up a day.

After what was probably the cruelest April Fool’s joke to come from the games industry just a few weeks ago, Microids has officially announced – fo’ reals this time – plans to develop Syberia 3. It seems Sony could impede their ability to turn a profit, however.

Please forgive the GameSpotness, but they got the interview. Ugh. Anyway, lots of interesting info in here. Particularly a video that I hadn’t seen elsewhere, kind of a tech demo from inside Rage. Also, word of some as-of-yet-unannounced games that will debut at E3. So far we know about Wolfenstein, Doom 4, Rage, and Quake Live (still technically in BETA). Could it be Quake V?

This game looks like great fun. I’m surprised to see another PC/PSN game, we don’t see many of those. I think the last one was Everyday Shooter. Trine’s from the same developer that made Shadowgrounds, so here’s hoping its multiplayer isn’t local-only too.