Journal: Sword of the Stars Early Release!

Sword of the Stars, the premiere release from Vancouver-based developer Kerberos Productions hit the virtual streets last night with an early release from GamersGate. GamersGate is the online storefront of Swedish developer/publisher Paradox Interactive, specializing in strategy games from Paradox and independent developers. IGN announced on Tuesday that Sword of the Stars would be available this week from Direct2Drive, the online store operated by IGN's parent company. GamersGate scooped them with a midnight GMT downloadable release of the game.

For those prefering a physical CD & box, Kerberos' CEO Martin Cirulis has confirmed that the game will be available in big box retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Fry's Electronics, Micro Center, Target, and Wal-mart on the official North American release date, 22 August. A "release day" patch for Sword of the Stars will also be available Tuesday, with a number of minor bug fixes and added convenience features. That patch, along with a PDF version of the manual will be available to online purchasers early next week.