I’ll be glad when the word “save,” as a verb, is no longer used when speaking of PC gaming. While not without its problems, the platform is no longer in danger. Regardless, Brad Wardell is making some valuable observations here.

Speaking of Stardock and digital distribution, Impulse Phase IV has just launched. The new website design is much easier to navigate, and I appreciate being able to filter by price. Ready To Play appears to be Stardock’s answer to Steam Community; I’m interested to see if Impulse will capitalize on what I think is a unique opportunity to one-up Steam on community features.

On a related note, EA has just partnered with, and added several games to, Impulse. Among them is Dragon Age: Origins (pre-order), The Sims 3, and Red Alert 3 along with its expansion, Uprising, which was previously exclusive to EA’s own digital distribution service.

Although Peter Moore’s view is probably limited to consoles, technically, the PC platform should be credited with having “laid the ground” for online multiplayer, communication, and content distribution.

News of this acquisition came as a relief to me because, due to 3D Realms’ tenuous existence, I’ve had concerns about Prey 2′s status. There is no telling if Human Head is still developing it, but the Prey IP should be in good hands now, at any rate.

This is nearly 30 minues of Jeff Gerstmann and Tim Schafer walking around at PAX while talking and letting their humor play off each other. Also, nerds.

Last time I heard from Shank it was being shown as an Xbox Live Arcade game. Now, fresh from the Penny Arcade Expo, GameTrailers has an extended gameplay video that they’ve filed under the “PC” category. This is great news, if it’s not an error, as the game looks wonderful.

At last, a zombie game that isn’t a first-person or twin-stick shooter, but a sim/RPG — and from a reputable developer, no less. By the look of those screenshots, the zombies may even be shambling.

It’s refreshing to see a someone in the press willing to play and cover the PC version of a multiplatform game. It’s not even a staggered release, which is usually the only time we hear about a PC version from anyone other than PC-centric outlets.

Although I’m wary of putting stock in non-announcements, I want to believe that publishers are coming back around to treating this platform right.

By now I hope you’ve noticed common theme in the items I’ve picked this week: the PC is getting its just deserts. News like this is so plentiful lately that it’s on the verge of becoming non-news; I’m okay with that.