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Windows 7 is scheduled for general release on October 22nd.  Pricing for Windows 7 has also been revealed for full and  upgrade versions.  They have also started an upgrade program for people wanting to buy a new PC now, and will enable them to receive Windows 7 for free or at a significant discount.

Anyone who buys a PC from a participating OEM or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive an upgrade to the corresponding version of Windows 7 at little or no cost to customers. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program will be available until January 31st, 2010 – and is global! For more information on taking advantage of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, visit www.windows.com/upgradeoffer.

The retails upgrade prices for Windows 7 are:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

Full versions are:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

The best part is a special limited-time offer in which you can preorder Windows 7 for 50% off the upgrade pricing.  That means you can grab Windows 7 for as low as $49!  This will only go on for a couple of weeks, so you need to grab these before July 11th.

Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade - $49.99 from Amazon

Windows 7 Professional Upgrade - $99.99 from Amazon

Sources: Windows 7 Team Blog

This week on Impulse, Stardock’s digital distribution system,  titles from Ubisoft have joined and are now available for purchase and download on Impulse.

Ubisoft joins this week with Assassins Creed, Far Cry 2, and Heroes of Might & Magic V: Tribes of the East.

"Stardock has a proven track record as a publisher of quality PC games and an emerging platform for digital distribution with Impulse," said Andy Swanson, senior director of strategic sales and partnerships at Ubisoft. "We look forward to offering consumers yet another opportunity to play our award-winning franchises and receive our games digitally."

Additional titles will be forthcoming this summer.  For more information, and a free download of the Impulse client, please visit www.impulsedriven.com.

Many good things are associated with a Friday, and one of those is weekend sales on Impulse!  This weeks Impulse Weekend Buys are pretty sweet, so it’s once again a good time to get your PC game collection stacked up.

If you are not a current Impulse user, no problem, just grab your free Impulse download from www.impulsedriven.com.

This weeks Impulse Buys are:

• Sword of the Stars Ultimate for $7.99 / 7.99 Euro ($22 off)
• Democracy 2 for $11.49 (50% off)
• Kudos 2 for $9.95 ($5 off)
• Kudos: Rock Legend for $4.95 ($5 off)
• Kudos for $4.95 ($5 off)

If you are on Twitter, you can follow @impulsedriven for the latest news about sales, updates, and releases!

This update includes:

• Fix for HUGE cursors in the preview
• Fixes suspend/hibernate issues
• Misc Win7 Tweaks

This update does not officially support Windows 7 at this time, but it should be work without much issue.  Current users of CursorFX Plus can download the update via Stardock’s Impulse.  CursorFX is available for $19.95, and discounts are available for Object Desktop subscribers.

For more information, please visit www.cursorfx.com.

Stardock has released an updated version of Gas Powered Games popular PC action/strategy game Demigod today.  In Demigod, players take on the role of a powerful demigod whose objective is to defeat similarly powerful opponents in a quest to ascend into the pantheon of the gods.

The game features single player tournaments and skirmish as well as a persistent on-line tournament where players can compete in ranked or unranked games in a variety of ways. 

The new version of Demigod has focused largely on significantly improving the on-line experience of Demigod based on player feedback.

Version 1.01 includes a host of new features and improvements to the game including:

• Improved on-line connectivity
• Significantly improved computer AI
• Better in game detection between those who quit a game versus those who get disconnected
• Reduced bandwidth requirements
• More robust storing of online statistics (favor points, achievements, rankings, etc.)
• Better queuing of player actions in game.
• Lots of misc. improvements

Demigod users can download the new version via Impulse.  Demigod is available at most retail outlets worldwide or via Impulse (www.impulsedriven.com) for $39.95. 

To learn more about Demigod, visit www.demigodthegame.com.