A new update for the DeskScapes 3 beta has been released today.  DeskScapes is an application that lets you have animated wallpapers on your Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 (DS3 beta only).  There are hundreds of animated wallpapers, also called .dreams, available for download on sites such as WinCustomize.com.

The current beta of DeskScapes 3 is available for download if you have an active Object Desktop subscription, and is available through Impulse.

The latest update includes:

• Dream effects – Apply effects to .dreams allows you to change the way they look with cool looking filters
• Hybrid Dream Support – A Hybrid Dream is a new type of .dream that mixes static and animated images, which use significantly less resources
• DreamMaker with Hybrid Support

It’s a roaring Friday and we have another stack of sweet deals on Impulse this weekend.  While I have your attention, remember that time is running out to get into this phase of the Elemental: War of Magic beta by pre-ordering.  Get in before the end of September or you will have to wait until the next beta opening.

Now lets check out this weekends deals!

	Project Aftermath for 50% off - $4.99
	Fairy Tales – Three Heroes for just $19.99
	East India Company is 50% off - $19.99
	Capitalism II is 50% off - $6.99
	Age of Booty is 50% off - $4.99
	Scrapland for just $6.99

Check out the current sales we have going on in Impulse.

http://www.impulsedriven.com/explore/onsale

I came across the XP .msstyle convertor tool today, and I was very curious of what an XP visual style would look like on Windows 7 after conversion to a WindowBlinds theme.  To my surprise, it actually looks pretty good.

A little work needs to be done in SkinStudio, but overall the conversion worked pretty well.  I’d like to know the interest in wanting to use old XP themes on Windows 7.

Today we are happy to announce an update to the WindowBlinds 7 Beta.  The WindowBlinds 7 beta is currently available for active subscribers to Object Desktop , and can be downloaded via Stardock’s Impulse. 

New in this update:

1. XP toolbar & animations settings are back in the UI. They are under Settings now
2. On Vista the sidebar skin settings are back in the UI. Also under Settings.
3. Explorer backgrounds tab has been added to the UI. This will show on XP, Vista AND Windows 7.
4. New Textures tab added to the UI.
5. Support for enlarged menus on Vista / 7
6. Some additional skin sections added for Vista / 7 including new shadow sections.
7. The fixes for the start button clipping on multiple monitor Win7 boxes are in this build.
8. The old WB UI has a bigger button for the new UI and says Beta 2 rather than Beta 1.
9. You can drag wallpapers to the large preview area and it will copy them into the wallpapers folder off WB skins as it used to in WB6. Note that its the large preview area and NOT the list itself.

It’s time once again to wrap up this week, and as is customary we will kick the weekend off with another round of Impulse Weekend Buys!  Aside from these specific deals, I would also recommend checking out the newly released on Impulse, Civilization IV series.  Don’t forget to check out Majesty 2 which was just released this week.

Now for the Impulse Weekend Buys!

	Pre-order Tropico 3 for just $32.50 – 10% off
	Scavenger is 50% off - $4.99
	Droplitz is 50% off - $4.99
	Aztaka on sale for $14.95

Stardock is excited to announce the release of the fourth phase of its popular digital download platform, Impulse .

Impulse enables users to quickly purchase, download, install and update any of thousands of available games, applications, and utilities to their machine. Once purchased, the program becomes associated with their account. If a user purchases a new PC or reformats an existing PC, a user can install Impulse, log in with their account and instantly re-download all their programs.

In the year since its initial release, Impulse has garnered widespread support from major game and application publishers. Most new PC games, for example, are now released on Impulse and a growing number of application developers are releasing their titles on Impulse as well.

“The objective of Impulse is to make it so that your software truly belongs to you,” said Brad Wardell, president & CEO of Stardock . “Anyone who has ever dug through boxes of CDs or looked through old emails to find a serial number can recognize the advantages of Impulse.”

In addition, PC gamers will soon be able to make use of a new Impulse feature called “Ready to Play”, a revolutionary new free program that allows users to create instant virtual communities based on profiles in order to quickly get multiplayer games going with like-minded people.

“Imagine Match.com or eHarmony for PC gamers where users enter in their gaming preferences and some profile data and with that data, Ready to Play can recommend other gamers with similar gaming preferences. My idea of what is ‘fun’ in an online game is probably different from that of say a teenager,” said Wardell. “With Ready to Play, now you can quickly get games going with ‘recommended’ friends.”

Ready to Play will go into wide beta as part of the Impulse Phase IV roll-out this week. To learn more about Impulse visit www.impulsedriven.com .

The big and long weekend for Labor Day is coming up in the U.S., and to kick it off we have a huge sale on Impulse.  Grab some games off Impulse, and use this long weekend to get your game on!

Impulse Labor Day Weekend Sale

	Cities XL Limited Edition pre-order - $39.99
	Dawn of Discovery 50% off - $24.99
	Demigod for just $20
	Hearts of Iron Mega Bundle - $59.99
	World of Goo just $9.95
	Sins of a Solar Empire Bundle - $20
	Sword of the Stars: Complete - $24.99
	Sacred 2: Fallen Angel - $19.99
	Flatspace II - $18.95
	Evochron Legends - $18.95
	Aaaaa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity – 25% off pre-order
	Time of Shadows – 10% off pre-order

You can go directly to the Impulse store and see all the current sales!

Stardock and NVIDIA have announced a special Impulse ‘NVIDIA Edition” which will be specially branded for NVIDIA users.  Gamers will be able to be informed of video card driver updates and install them via Stardock’s Impulse.  Users will also use Impulse to see the latest gaming news and purchase and download PC games straight from Impulse.

"The single biggest issue preventing PC gamers today from having an optimal experience is a failure to update their video card drivers," said Brad Wardell, CEO and president of Stardock. "For many users, updating video drivers has been a complicated and sometimes confusing experience. As PC game developers ourselves, we recognized those concerns and, in partnership with NVIDIA, have taken a step to make the process more accessible."

Full press release can be read here.

Download the Impulse NVIDIA Edition here - http://download.nvidia.com/downloads/nZone/impulse_setup_nvidia.exe

When you see the new DeskScapes 3, the first thing you are going to notice is the totally new user interface.  It’s much sleeker than before, and one big new feature is the ability to preview the .dreams before applying. 

Check out the video to see more!

There was an issue with the beta appearing to expire earlier than expected.  There is an update on both Impulse and the download page that corrects this issue.

https://www.stardock.com/products/fences/downloads.asp