Round Up: Stardock Sins, Top Selling PC Games, Get-Well Gamers

Today's round-up includes news of a publishing agreement between Stardock Entertainment and Ironclad Games, the top 10 best-selling U.S. PC games for the week of September 24, and the rapid expansion of The Get-Well Gamers Foundation, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - Independent game developer Stardock Entertainment announced that it has reached an agreement to publish Ironclad Games’ 4X strategy game, Sins of a Solar Empire in North America. The game will be released to the company's TotalGaming.net digital distribution service, as well as North American retail stores in August 2007 for $39.95. While 4X strategy games have traditionally been turn based, Sins of a Solar Empire is real time, in which players will have to conquer worlds, engage in diplomacy and trade with other civilizations, and use the resources at their disposal to enhance their economy, develop new technology and increase military power. “Sins of a Solar Empire is exactly the sort of game we’ve been looking for,” said Brian Clair, Director of Games Publishing for Stardock Entertainment. “Ironclad is developing a beautiful and ambitious game that merges the best elements of 3D space-based real-time strategy and ‘4X’ games like Galactic Civilizations II.” - The NPD Group has released the 10 best-selling PC games for the week of September 24, and once again it was Blizzard's World of Warcraft on top of the chart. The popular MMORPG was followed by THQ's Company Of Heroes and Electronic Arts' The Sims 2 expansion Glamour Life Stuff. The Sims 2 itself was the fourth top selling title for the week, while LucasArts' Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and EA's Sim City 4 Deluxe ranked as fifth and sixth respectively. THQ's Cars Radiator Springs Adventures was the seventh top selling title for the week, followed by another Sims 2 expansion, Open For Business. Another Star Wars title from LucasArts was found on the list in the ninth position with Star Wars: Empire At War, while the overall PC sales list was rounded out by EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006. - California-based public game-related charity The Get-Well Gamers Foundation today announced that its network has expanded to 41 hospitals in 26 states. The expansion represents a 25 percent increase in capacity since last year. Representatives note that the recent growth is owed to recent campaigns with corporate partners, in addition to the efforts of private individuals stepping forward to support the charity's cause. The Get-Well Gamers Foundation brings electronic entertainment to children in healthcare facilities, and currently accepts age-appropriate console and hand-held systems as well as the games supported by these platforms. Visit the official charity website for more information. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include a look back at Star Trek V for the NES, analysis on the future of the Game Developers Conference, and an Xbox 360 commercial from India pointed out. - The latest updates on Gamasutra's sister site Serious Games Source include a new feature covering character weakness and Darfur is Dying, and a new experiment that saw a teenager controlling a video game with his mind. - The latest updates on Gamasutra's sister site Game Career Guide include a new feature covering getting a job in the game industry, and a call for participation in the upcoming "Tangible Play: Research and Design for Tangible and Tabletop Games" Workshop. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Atom Entertainment, Blizzard, Crystal Dynamics, Lucasfilm Singapore, Rockstar North, Rockstar San Diego, Shadows In Darkness, Spacetime Studios, STS International, and Turner Broadcasting System.