Lighthouse Interactive have announced that their 4X strategy title Sword of the Stars has gone gold. Released dates are August 22nd in the US and September 1st in Europe. In case you wer wondering, as was I, 4x is described as;

Players eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate their way across the galaxy and can now do so against other players, the result of which are epic online multiplayer battles across deep space.