The exclusivity of ICO due to the players is part of the problem... but that problem is caused by low player counts (and of course, the attitudes of some players)... and Sins has always had surprisingly low player counts, from what I'm aware. Even before "smurf" terminology there were very low numbers of people online.

I'm pretty sure this problem wouldn't exist if playing online had been made a little more accessible to newbies, if it was actually advertised (and if, for instance, the Mesh problems had been fixed when the game came out, among other bugs). Everyone was a newbie when the game came out, after all... but due to circumstances (related to advertising and game design IMO) multiplayer never really took off.

But now that the game is old, the low player counts online are reinforced by the very high learning curve... those playing online have mainly been playing for years. It just isn't fun for a newbie to play and lose 30 games in a row before you start to understand what the heck's going on in a multiplayer game.

And those with attitude problems online don't help either, even though there aren't many of them.

to add to Wrath89 post ICO when it came out first was like a baby. Couldn't do pretty much anything. It just was. It took them a long time to patch it up to state it is today and people who stick with it have so much more skill than people who are coming now that almost newbies loose hart to stick around

Exactly my sentiment - I didn't question whether I should buy Rebellion or not.  I put my preorder in the day I found out about it.  Very few games in my life have achieved a certain "status" as far as hours played.  SOASE stands shoulder to shoulder with greats like Quake (1 and 3) and Doom (1 and 2).  For me, it's a matter of supporting future endeavors from IronClad and a desire to see future SOASE type games from them.  For me, Diplomacy was a bust as I don't think I have spent more than 2 hours playing it.  But I do not think it was a waste of money.

Of course, my patience is not unlimited (and neither is my bank account).  Poor customer service or a disregard for the customers will make me flip like *snap*.  But I haven't yet seen any indication that IronClad will rest on its laurels any time soon.  Nobody can make a hit 100% of the time.  I'm betting on Rebellion with the equity of Entrenchment.

Oh wow I only found out about the promo ending 6 days ago this morning! I wish I could save $10 dollar however as it is I have some big purchases upcoming this Nov I may have to delay getting Rebellion or come up with something.

I always planned to pre-order. However the problem was I didn't check Sins of a solar empire website that very often lately. I have been watching out for Sword of the Star 2, Heart of the Swarm, Skyrim, and Distant World: Legend on top of Rebellion. So many things to keep track for...

All kidding aside, I think the big thing, bigger than any of the others is simply that ICO is not advertised enough! More than that, there should be something on the initial ICO screen in game, 'If you can not connect, your version may be out of date..." and also a link to the forums from within the game.

I've heard from a few people that eventually made it to the forums a few years back that they tried ICO, it didn't work, and they assumed that the service was down or that everything about the game had went under. They never tried to patch it. Sure they could have looked on the internet but if it isn't extremely easy to do, the large portion of people that pick this game up casually are NEVER going to venture online.

Just some thoughts.

Well, now that the discount is over, if I do decide to purchase Rebellion at the $40 price, I'd much prefer to pick up a hard copy locally.  Maybe they'll bring the discount back again, temporarily, when it's closer to release or shortly after its release.

so, do you finally accept paypal?!

They are UNABLE to accept paypal until two weeks prior to the day the money will be drawn from the credit card / paypal account (i.e. the day the beta is released for testing). This is an issue with PAYPAL not allowing pre-order 'charges' farther than two weeks in advance. This is not a Stardock / IronClad issue. Send an e-mail to paypal. If you are not happy with their service let your voice be heard.

I would preorder if there was a physical copy version available. At the moment, Impulse sucks. Therefore, I will not be preordering the game until it is on Steam and/or a physical copy exists.

They'll be a physical copy, but probably not for a while yet.  It will be an upgrade option at some point if you order direct from Stardock.

shucks ... we can buy direct from stardock?  I think I bought the pre-order from Impulse. 

I want a hard copy as well...wish I'd have known this before.

All Rebellion pre-orders remain with Stardock, whether you did it while we still owned Impulse or not.

Will this hard copy be on store shelves?  I think it might help establish Rebellion as a first-rate product that people who see it on shelves might want to learn more about.  Anytime I pass by the computer software section at a big box store I look to see if I can find Trinity and I smile when I see it.

Ditto! I cruise by the PC game shelf on a weekly basis (sometimes twice a week!)

There are PC game shelfs?!?!