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It was recently announced that EA layed off 1,500 workers. They said that they will now be focusing on IP's that guarantee a profit. Such games Battlefield, Madden and Need For Speed. But what about all the new IP's that EA has created in the last few years. Such games as Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, Spore and Brutal Legends might never see sequels. Which is a such a shame as EA renewed themselves with these amazing games, that sold only decently.
"Games should be fun.
But sometimes they get to a point where the challenge simply becomes beyond frustrating and makes you feel like an incompetent, so you don’t finish. Sometimes maybe it is your lack of skill, but other times it is just poor game design.
Or maybe the game becomes so boring that it becomes too frustrating to even bother finishing. After all, every second is a second lost of your life you’ll never get back, and who wants to be stuck playing a game that’s no longer fun..."
"The Spore franchise continues to evolve as Maxis, an Electronic Arts studio, today revealed details about Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena – two games built from the ground up exclusively for the Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. Building on the franchise’s core tenets of creativity, exploration and adventure, Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena will immerse Nintendo fans into all-new experiences when the games launch this year."
"Zoom
Reality just took a back seat to the gaming world, with user-generated species in Spore outnumbering the variety of living creatures on Earth for the first time.
Maxis, the Electronic Arts studio, announced today that over 100 million different species had been uploaded since it released the Spore Creature Creator in June of last year.
That compares to scientific estimates of between 5 and 100 million species on Earth, although only around 2 million of them have been formally ca..."
""I know there's been a lot of talk about it internally," he admitted, further explaining, "but for us it's really an opportunity/cost issue. You know, we either do that or we continue creating new applications on the PC or we kind of go into the handheld arena. I can't specifically say what the plans are right now, but really all these things are measured against each other. We can't do everything at once, so we have to say, 'What platforms would it kind of evolve the fastest on?' So you can ..."
Jame's Walker goes back once again to find some games that might be worth you're while in checking out (previous ones include Grind Session, Super Back to the Future Part II, and recently Crue Ball. Go to source to have a little history on the game and how this Will Wright (Sim City/Spore) classic holds up.
Great episode of The Bender here. Not a super long episode like last week, instead we are now on a real schedule, no chit chat, all game talk. We debate the downloadable content being on the disc as well as an old topic of review scores... plus all the gaming news of the week. Grab us on iTunes by clicking here or just get the mp3 by clicking here.
In another response to the digital rights management (DRM) infamously implemented in Spore, the game's designer Will Wright, perhaps in light of the recent move to alter their strategy for The Sims 3, has said the games' publisher Electronic Arts (EA) is "learning".
"Although it was not close to its potential success especially because of its simplified, cartoonish gameplay, Spore is still a milking cow and Electronic Arts will certainly do its best to squeeze even the last drip of milk: therefore, the company has announced that four new Spore products will be released by the end of 2009, including a Wii port, Spore: Hero. Finally, the Sims have some competition expansion-wise."
"6:00 AM - Romp through the garden with your pets.
Slightly obvious imo: Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise, of course there is the sad chance it could be one of those many many (many) Ubisoft Petz games
8:00 AM - A PS3 game that dreams are made of.
A couple of choices here that all kind of make sense: LittleBigPlanet, Eternal Sonata, SingStar
11:00 AM - This should hold you over on Xbox 360 until Final Fantasy XIII releases.
These two Square games come to ..."
"Walking - it's a simple thing to do. But it's absolute nightmare to animate realistically, which is why some games, even with today's tech, make a pig's ear of it. Sometimes with hilarious results. And it's these results we're interested in.
Why some games make the simple task of putting one foot in front look like we've gone over on an ankle (which bloody hurts), we don't know? They should know better.
But here's a selection of our favourite comedy gaming walks, along with videos to g..."
"Today, 2nd January 2009, is the ninth day of Christmas. It may seem like Christmas is all but over-and-done with now, but Electronic Theatre are staying true to tradition and heading-on through those infamous twelve days! On this ninth day, The Twelve Games of Christmas enters its ninth edition, and today we run through the top-performing disc-based releases of September 2008. Hold onto your hats, its going to be bumpy from here-on out!"
"I played through dozens of games this year and tried at least a hundred more. And through them all, I experienced some amazing moments.
As I have done in years previous, here are my picks for My 10 Favorite Moments in Video Games for 2008. (As spoiler-light as I can make them.)"
"Were just a few days short from finding out the winners of Unigamesitys Best Games of 2008 awards, but theres still a small (and rather unpleasant) step that has to be made now, just to make it easier for everybody to understand that huge budgets and obscene amounts of advertising are not the only things needed for a game to be considered a success. Because, as you will see, we will not talk about unknown, indie or low budget productions - were talking about products that we, as gamers, c..."
Well now this is good news. EA recently announced that they will be releasing their games on Steam. Well, now it has been revealed that the DRM protection of SecuROM that EA uses on some of their popular titles will be dropped for users that purchase the games on Steam.
"Just in time for the holidays, Valve announced that, Spore, Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Mass Effect, Need for Speed Undercover and EA SPORTS FIFA Manager 2009 are available now to gamers in North America via Steam, a leading platform for PC games and digital content with over 15 million accounts around the world.
In the coming weeks, Mirror's Edge, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, and Dead Space will also be added to the catalog of EA's titles availabl..."
Will Wright had the first idea, Ed Fries was the first to make it work for WoW characters with FigurePrints.com (we'll have more on them, including a studio tour, on Friday), Rock Band recently joined the party and EA has just announced Spore Sculptures!
3D printing is what it's all about - technology that can take a model from a video game and make a physical copy of it that you can pick up and show off to your friends.
Some games, like the prime example LittleBigPlanet, are greatly reliant on a certain thing to be successful. This is user created content, creating a whole new meaning for sharing a video game. It seems, however, that the companies are doing some rather controversial things leading to upset. Is user created content going into a dark place?
Read all about it in the blog by Marc "DjinniMan" Allie of co-optimus.com
"1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King / Blizzard / $36 (Average)
2. Spore / EA Maxis / $48 (Average)
3. The Sims 2 Deluxe / EA Maxis / $19 (Average)
4. Call Of Duty: World At War / Treyarch / $50 (Average)
5. Fallout 3 / Bethesda / $49 (Average)
6. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Exp. Pack / EA Maxis / $21(Average)
7. Grand Theft Auto IV / Rockstar Games / ($49 Average)
8. Left 4 Dead / Valve / $48 (Average)
9. Far Cry 2 / Ubisoft Montreal / $50 (Average)
1..."
A nice quick and to the point write up from Primotech that includes all the winners from the show on top of some random news blips (such as Pearl Jam's full album Ten coming to Rock Band, Brutal Legend confirmed for 2009, GTAIV DLC trailer, Gears 2 maps coming, Fight Night Round 4 coming 2009). See quote for full list of winners, go to source to see some more news from the event.
"You've read about some of our favorite games of the year. Now it's time for the disappointments.
The games below, chosen by the usual panel of Wired.com contributors, is in no way supposed to be a list of the worst games of 2008. Those are all for the Wii, cost $10, are about dogs and/or babies, and we wouldn't be caught dead playing them. No, these are the games that let us down the most this year. Most of them are actually good games. But they failed to live up to the hype, or didn't del..."
"Throughout December, Gamasutra will be presenting a year-end retrospective, discussing notable games, events, developers, and industry figures of 2008, from the perspective of our position covering the art, science, and business of games.
Previously, we tallied up 2008's top disappointments, downloadable titles, and overlooked games.
Next, we'll cover this year's top five gameplay mechanics (with ten other honorable mentions), calling attention to a number of innovative, novel, or part..."
"You can also set up ecosystems to fix the climate in place and pave the way for your own colonies, or just graffiti the place with mountains, valleys, new colour schemes and whatnot. In fact, as most of you will have already guessed, Spore isn't so much a game as a do-whatever-the-hell-you-like simulator."
"2008 Holiday Gift Guide
Need to gift a gamer? Everyone's a gamer nowadays, and every gamer has his or her own unique tastes. You can't buy the same game for your fratty jock friend that you bought for your nerdy, blister-thumbed nephew. Ah, stress! What to do!? Calm down; breathe into this paper bag, were here to help.
With the 2008 Holiday Gift Guide, we've sorted through the best gifts for gamers and divided them by player type. The jock? Try TNA Impact. The hardcore gamer nephew? Let..."
"As a big thank you to Spore fans and to celebrate the release of Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack, which ships to retailers today, gamers who download and install Patch 3 will be rewarded with 24 brand spanking-new and exclusive exoskeleton limbs for the Creature Creator!
To get the patch, launch the EA Download Manager to download and install it. If you didn't install the EADM when you installed Spore, you can get it from: http://files.ea.com/downloads/eacore/eadm-installer.exe
Additiona..."
Let's start with Spore. Spore (PC) has been rated 20th best invention of 2008. The concept of creating your own life form and then take care of it through the civilisations as the species thrives was just too enticing for Time Magazine to pass up on.
Wii Fit won best gadget of the year for the obvious reason that it's a great and fun way to lose weight, something crucially needed in this current day and age. It's something which appeals to the average modern day person, unlike running or h...
"Your forum account will be directly tied to your Master EA Account, so if we ban you on the forums, you would be banned from the game as well since the login process is the same. And you'd actually be banned from your other EA games as well since its all tied to your account. So if you have SPORE and Red Alert 3 and you get yourself banned on our forums or in-game, well, your SPORE account would be banned to. It's all one in the same, so I strongly reccommend people play nice and act mature.
..."
The NPD Group has released their hardware and software numbers for the month of September, representing sales for the United States for the five week period of September 1st to October 6th.
The notables this month:
Hardw...
"If you thought that EA might have been humbled by the massive Internet backlash against its use of SecuROM in its recent games, then youd be wrong. Speaking at the Dow Jones/Nielsen Media and Money Conference, EAs CEO John Riccitiello claimed that the whole issue had been blown out of all proportion.
We implemented a form of DRM and it's something that 99.8 per cent of users wouldn't notice, claimed Riccitiello, but for the other 0.2 percent, it became an issue and a number of them la..."
""It was something I probably should have tuned into more. It was a corporate decision to go with DRM on Spore. They had a plan and the parameters, but now were allowing more authentications and working with players to de-authenticate which makes it more in line like an iTunes. I think one of the most valid concerns about it was you could only install it so many times. For most players its not an issue, its a pretty small percentage, but some people do like wiping their hard disk and instal..."
"Next is the untitled Space stage expansion, due for Spring 2009. This one gives the Space-travelling folk in the game the ability to beam down from their ships to explore other worlds and go on new missions. More than that, you get the "Adventure creator", which will allow players to build and share their own custom-made missions. Details on how exactly this will work are likely to surface in the coming months."
Erin Hoffman over at The Escapist has run through several legal issues surrounding gaming, and how gamers can, and need to protect themselves.
From legal action to items "stolen" in-game, to fighting EULAs, and of course... DRM - we have rights.
She cites several court cases involving these key issues as well - worth while to be knowledgeable about (and makes for an interesting conversation piece too.)
Turns out EA has come a long way from their previous stance on software piracy.
Check out this excerpt from an old Atari game manual.
They should have just used this when they created Spore.
Spore truly has some fun times to offer, watching your creatures rise from the muck to when they venture into space is a rewarding experience. And showcasing this tale is Jeremy, who gives a stage by stage account of how his race, the Turzex became the galaxy's biggest bullies. Humorous, fun and interesting this editorial is a good read.
Here is the top list of games that have sold all over the world, for this week.
Wii
In North America, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit came out on top. In Japan, Wii Fit and Disaster Day of Crisis finished on top. And in Europe, Wii Play and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 came out on top place.
Xbox 360
On the 360, Star Wars the Force Unleashed come out as second in both North America and Europe. Rock Band 2, Raiden IV, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 came out on top.
Playstation 3
In North Ameri...
A new evolution-type animal has been born called the Machinatons in Spore. Machinima.com explores the realms of these species and gives you the whole run-down on them, noting that they have the ability to fly.
"Spore has a ton of awesome customization features, including the ability to make your own vehicles. We hired Adam Covington, freelance artist, to create some vehicles from our favorite franchises, including Star Wars, Batman and more. Here's the group, we hope you enjoy it!"
Here are the games that sold the most in week 39, 2008. On the Wii, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit game out on top in most regions, along with Wii Play, and Star Wars: The Force Unleahsed. On the 360, the top games were Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Rock Band 2, and Janline. Again on the PS3, Star Wars: The Force Unleahsed is doing incredibly well, finishing first in two regions, not in Japan.
Go to the source for the full list.
Even though it is technically allowed in their EULA - EA is trying their hardest to limit/prohibit the resale of Spore.
Ars goes in depth into several other court cases of this nature - ranging from promo CDs, WoW account selling, to even AutoCAD.
Spore is drawing far too much negative publicity right now- and EA should really be pushing damage control more than anything else, but the more and more facts that come to light about their restrictions and shady business practices - the more...
In a class-action lawsuit brought up against EA, the Northern California US District Court has raised the point that Spore is installing a program to the users computer without their consent or knowledge, and make it extremely difficult to remove.
One is reminded of when a similar issue with Sony's rootkit was ruled in favor of by the FTC - basically stating that companies cannot install software on users' computers without express consent.
Even funnier - SecuROM was actually developed ...
As posted earlier EA was threatening to ban members for complaining about DRM and SecuROM issues in their official forum, which could also lead to banning them in game.
Senior members of the EA moderating staff have cleared the air and responded with how this practice is "absolutely not true" and not "in-line with EA's moderation policy".
Evidently somebody outstepped his bounds when making the initial statement.
The fascist state that is becoming Spore's online community is becoming more and more real. EA moderators are now proposing bans on anyone who discusses DRM issues in game or more specifically in the game's official forums. Not only will these ban you from posting to the message board, but you may even be forced to purchase a whole new copy of Spore in order to play again (let alone participate in the forum).
I am curious as to how this lines up with their TOS and EULA, because it doesn't ...
Australian software sales for the week of September the 21st for all consoles, the Wii and the Nintendo DS.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed heavily dominated the all consoles top ten, also managing a respectable second on the top ten Wii games from being beaten by Wii Fit which also managed third being the best all console seller other than Star Wars. Wall-E managed top spot for the DS chart closely followed by Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What To Eat.
Overall the Nintendo Wii was by far ...
Thomas Sutcliffe, a writer for The Independent (a newspaper) has written an article about video games.
His argument is that, despite video games becoming a massive media, it still isn't getting the coverage it deserves. He takes Spore (though he spells it wrong) as an example and discusses how even such a popular game only managed a tiny piece in the back of the paper. This is the complete opposite to sport or films which can take up the whole front page.
He believes that given current ...
"Today, Electronic Arts have announced their UK Christmas 2008 family gaming line-up. While many of these titles will already be familiar to both Casual and Hardcore Gamers, there may also be one or two surprises...
Spore is the latest creation from Will Wright - the mind behind the Sims series of games, but when you buy Spore you're not just buying one game, you're buying five of them in one. While this is one of the things that makes Spore great but is also its downfall.
UK Software sales currently for all consoles, the Wii and the Nintendo DS.
It's no surprise that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has come out on top of the all consoles chart. Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii performed as expected, taking second and third on the all consoles chart along with first and second on the Wii chart. More surprising statistics include Imagine: Teacher achieving fourth on the DS chart!
Spore update 1.01 has been released for the PC/Mac game, which fixes a few bugs, and adds cheats. Here's the list of everything that was added, and updated.
New features
Spore got pwned?
That's right, Spore has received a rather negative review (for the Nintendo DS version, at least) from a website called The Star.
The review builds up your excitement by talking about how people have been waiting a while now and the features. They then finish off, however, with a rather derogatory statement:
"A grind through a short sequence of uninspired levels, given drive only by the kind of collect-'em-all completism that continues to fluff up weak games a decade...
The list of the top selling games has been once again released. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has come out on top for pretty much every system, doing really well. For the Wii, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit came out first and second. On the 360, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Tales of Vesperia, and Rock Band 2 came out in the lead. For the PS3, again, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game out on top along with Afrika in Japan; Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4 came high as well. To see t...
It seems EA is finally responding to the complaints of hoards of gamers (and about 15,000 Amazon.com reviewers) and is loosening its grip on the DRM and Spore.
They have agreed to increase the number of activations from 3 to 5, and will allow users to deactivate a machine without having to contact customer support.
Too little too late? That is for the gamers to decide - so I turn the question to you gentlemen (and ladies).
It's that time of the week again, this time with Yahtzee taking on Spore. Will Spore be an affront to his Christian beliefs or will it end up being just another run of the mill generic ?
A handful of gamers have taken their protesting of the restrictive DRM issues in Spore to a whole new level. By taking it to the game itself.
Forget negative reviews on Amazon, this should get the developers and game masters' attention more than ever. (And its good for a few cheap laughs)
Be sure to read the descriptions - check the link for a better picture perhaps- they are quite amusing.
There have been tons of complaints about the DRM in Spore ever since it has been released, mainly because of the fact that the game can only be activated on three different computers.
MTV went in and talked to EA about what the plan to do about combating that problem, as well as other ones. They responded, hit the quote and source to check it out.
Machinima.com has uploaded a video that shares all their knowledge about the Machinamals - a group of species who have evolved from the Machina type - in Spore. They tell us about their fighting ways, how quick they grow up, and a lot more!
Our friends over at Arstech see what all the hoopla is about with this DRM business and Spore.
They seem to have a little better luck than most of us wish EA customer support - though they have to jump through the usual hoops to get a competent representative.
Ultimately, they are told that "you could install the game all day long on the same machineit was limited to installations on three separate machines." - possibly clearing up some of the issues with this whole 3 installation limit.
The UGO Games Blog recently got their hands on Spore Origins, which is basically a iPhone and Touch version of Spore, stripped down to only the Cell Stage. You have to go through 30+ levels to try and eat food, but in order to do that, you need to dodge the bigger creatures.
The game allows you to save twenty different beasts, but sadly there isn't a way to transfer them to the PC version of Spore. UGO notes that Apple needs to set up multiplayer for the game, with all of the trimmings (le...
Here is a list of the top 5 video game sales on Amazon, for week 37 in 2008. On the Wii, Mario Kart Wii and Wii fit came out on top for most regions, but beaten by One Piece Unlimited Cruise: Episode 1 in Japan. On the Xbox 360, Dead Rising, Infinite Undiscovery, and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames came out on top. Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo 3 are also up there as well. For the PS3, Metal Gear Solid 4 came out second in every region. Afrika and Grand Theft Auto IV came out top.
To see th...
Given the recent backlash against the DRM and SecuROM in Spore, you would think that EA might change their tactics? Nope- they are standing strongly by it, though they have lightened up and are allowing 5 installs before you have to contact their wonderful customer support for Red Alert 3.
"We've done our best to scour the pantheon of user-generated creatures to snag what we like to call the Top 50 Spore Created Creatures. By using an extremely experimental, and far-too-complicated-to-explain ratings system, we've been able to rank the creatures across three primary categories: creativity, execution, and tons of personal bias. We never set out to look for the run-of-the-mill creations that the internet is now flooded with. We wanted to find some user creations that take their cu..."
The MTV Multiplayer Blog and Will Wright each gave their thoughts on the Cell Stage in Spore, the first playable level in the game. MTV notes that the Cell Stage may be the most successful part of the game, saying that "It appears to come close to achieving all imaginable possibilities for controlling the phase of life it depicts, in this case that being life that hadnt yet walked on land."
Will Wright, a developer for the game, said that the level serves more as a tutorial, where you lea...
"I created this blog to find support for and follow my progress in letting Electronic Arts know that their biggest attack on Christian values to date will not be tolerated.
We can not allow the gaming industry to invade our homes and poison the minds of our children.
After all, their billions in revenue and all the advertising in the world are no match for the power of God."
Amazon.com has decided to remove the most negative reviews for Spore. The review was rated 3000 out of 3300 of being helpful, and was a good review. To read it click the source.
Along the lines with my previous article about EA customer support- it seems that gamers are not as happy with spore as they thought.
You are required to activate the product over the internet, and if something goes wrong- you have to call EA (we all know that will be a joy).
The game is barely pulling 1 star reviews on Amazon (With over 1200 1 star reviews!) Not bad for a game that has been filled with anticipation for almost 10 years now.
"Heres a list of this weeks U.S. game releases. The most popular games are Spore on PC / Mac, Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise on DS, Yakuza 2 on PS2, and NHL 09 & NHL 2k9 on multiple platforms. On the downloadable games front weve got todays Wii Shop titles Groovin Blocks, Cho Aniki, Final Soldier, as well as Samurai Shodown II, RocketBowl, and Shotest Shogi on Xbox Live Arcade (updates Wednesday). American McGees Grimm: The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs will join the GameTap lineup (upda..."
"As wonderful as the content creation and sharing options are, the one consistent complaint Ive seen is that the gameplay seems to have been dumbed down for the sake of appealing to a more casual audience. Was it?
Id say thats quite accurate, Wright told me. We were very focused, if anything, on making a game for more casual players. Spore has more depth than, lets say, The Sims did. But we looked at the Metacritic scores for Sims 2″, which was around 90, and something like H..."
Ars has given a thorough review of the new, highly anticipated and acclaimed Will Wright game- Spore.
They touch on all of the technical points, as well as some of the games key features- from the opening bits when you are just creating your creatures, all the way down to the point in time where you colonize the world (peacefully - or with an iron fist - you decide)
It is a bit lenghtly, but well worth reading if you are still on the fence about Spore.
If you wish to skip to the Go...
Flippin' sweet week to be a DS owner, and well, if you're reading this (as in, on a PC), it's also a good time to be a gamer. Spore comes out for the DS and PC, sports fans get NHL 2K9 and NHL '09 to choose from on all consoles, and DS owners also get Viva Pinata, the fabulously old school RPG Mazes of Fate (finally!), another interesting looking RPG Lock's Quest, a new color for the system, and more.
"It will only take 30-60 minutes for the install to complete before you can begin conquering galaxies in Spore before anyone else! Please note that you will be charged for the game on the 28th of August and your statements will reflect this.
Spore ships on September 5 in Europe and Asia and on September 7 in North America."
"Ahead of Spore's September 7 launch for PC and Mac, genius creator Will Wright has been talking about the create feature that's so far spawned more porn than yesterday's Bristol pirate.
But Wright says he's not offended by the army of cock monsters that invaded the internet following the release of the Spore Creature Creator. Quite the opposite in fact.
"When you give players creative control, you have to expect they're going to do the unexpected," he told the AP.
"Some of it's reall..."
EA was able to put up the "cell-stage-only version" of the "iPod Spore" on iTunes yesterday. As you might have expected, MTV Multiplayer thinks the mobile version of the game is boring.
They note that the Creature Creator for Spore lets you create whatever you want, but the iPod version limits you. Since they know what Spore is already capable of, they feel that the iPod version is disappointing.
Look out for the full version of Spore on September 7th.
"Atlanta-born Wright, a bespectacled, mop-haired alien obsessive who builds robots for research purposes, said Spore was inspired by the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program.
"I believe there are other intelligences out there, and the closest is several galaxies away," said Wright, 48, who grew up building model cars and dreaming of space travel."
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) have finally rated the RTS game Spore -- because of mild language and animated violence, it was rated PG.
One of the reasons the BBFC were tempted to rate the game as such was due to a group of aliens in the game that were referred to as "little buggers". To check out the other reasons why Spore got a PG rating, hit the source.
Will Wright is a legend in the gaming industry and you're now able to send in your questions to him! In case you don't know who he is, he is the co-founder of Maxis and created the game almost all of us know, SimCity.
Later on, Wright would help create The Sims, which has sold over 100 million copies, making it the best selling gaming franchise in the world! He is also helping in the development of Spore, where you're able to create your own beasts. The game will hit stores on September 7t...
"She then added that a "flora editor" may be among these additions, allowing players to create their own plant species as well, presumably for your creatures to munch on. I'm sure the internet community will keep things completely tasteful when it does come out and certainly will not produce a field of phallic trees or some such.
If you want to hear more about the future of Spore, be sure to check out the interview we did with Maxis senior producer Morgan Roarty on 1UP FM."
"Thumbles: Will said this week that atheists have been more vocal critics of Spore than religious gamers, contrary to his expectations. What are your beliefs, and did they influence the decisions you made developing the game?
Lucy Bradshaw: I think that Spore takes an approach that can be interpreted by the player. The religious devleopment of your species as it reaches its civilization stage is one of the choices that you have as a player. The team itself had some strong opinions about thi..."
"The wait is almost over! Electronic Arts Inc. and Maxis today announced that Spore(TM), the most anticipated video game of the year from the creator of The Sims(TM), has gone gold and will be available for the Mac and PC at retailers September 5 in Europe and September 7 in North America and Asia Pacific."
The Spore Creature Creator is essentially a demo of the tool you use to create your species in game Spore. Now this has been available for purchase for some time, but for those scroungers and cheapskates there is a free version coming with the Sunday Telegraph here in Australia, at least according to the advert that I witnessed.
It gave the impression of being the full version but no news on whether this will occur outside of Australia.
The article, written by EndSights.com's Aram Kuredjian, argues that gamers are unduly and unfairly attacking EA because of their sports franchises, pointing out the great games they have published in recent years like Rock Band, Orange Box, and upcoming games like Spore, Sims 3, and Dragon Age: Origins.
"At its press conference just now, EA announced that over 1.8 million creatures have been created by people using the Spore Creature Creator -- that's more than the number of known species in the world (1.5 million)! The Creature Creator has been available less than a month, meaning all of those creatures were created in just that amount of time. This is an especially staggering number considering the real game in which these creatures are used, Spore, isn't even available yet.
Spore creato..."
"LOS ANGELES, California (AFP) - - The "Spore" alien population is exploding, boding well for the September launch of the latest brainchild of computer game legend Will Wright.
The response astounded even Wright, maker of the world's top-selling computer game "The Sims."
"I was really hoping we'd get 100,000 creatures by September and a million by the end of the year," Wright said Monday while demonstrating "Spore" on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo video game trade show in Lo..."
" 
" 
"Even if you are not going to get Spore, the creature creator has such amazing design it is a must see for any fan of games. However, again, it really one step up from a demo, so if you like a purpose to your game and get angry or frustrated if there isnt action, action, action, then you may want to wait for the full version of Spore. However, this will appeal to those people who love playing the Sims, just to build the house... and tear it down so you can build another one."
The annual E3 Media & Business Summit, known as E3 is coming up soon between 15-17 July. There will be new games and announcements, but that's not all! Major game producers will be spreading big news, so be sure to take a look.
Gamespot have listed the games they're most anticipating and what will be seen at E3. The list includes the following: "Lego Batman", "Resident Evil 5", "Resistance 2", "Saints Row 2", "Soulcalibur IV", "Spore" (yes Spore!)... see the source for more.
"UNIQUE GALACTIC EDITION CONTENT
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'Making of Spore' DVD video
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'How to Build a Better Being' DVD video, by National Geographic Channel
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'The Art of Spore' hardback mini-book
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Fold-out Spore poster
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Premium 100-page Galactic Handbook"
Is there any limit to what this game can do? The only limit truly is your imagination and skills with a mouse. A look at some of the enemies in Half-Life - including the Strider, Antlion, Hunter, Honudeye, Bullsquid, and of course - the Headcrab.
"So I was all excited to download the free Spore Creature Creator, until I was coldly informed by the installer that my Powerbook isn't up to scratch. I'm humiliated. All I can do is longingly cruise the Sporepedia, looking for Spores That Look Like Stuff. Geeky stuff, mostly, like the Trogspore above. That looks really good."
A user on YouTube, oxyborb, has made Petey Piranha using the Spore Creature Creator. Petey has been Mario's enemy in some games and is on the roster for Mario Super Sluggers.
"Hey! People aren't just using the Spore Creature Creator to make penis monsters. Creative kids are trading cocks for controllers just look at what Kotakuite zOmbi's friend Eric made in the Spore creator editor a few minutes ago. Yep, that's right, Eric made an Xbox 360 controller."
"Any time you give human beings a vehicle of expression, they are liable to try to impress you...OR degenerate the medium to portraying the most primal acts and functions. Over the past few days, humanity has been using the Spore Creature Creator to flood Youtube with tons of penis monsters, booby monsters, and vagina monsters. There's videos of monsters (though technically the same monster) bumping uglies. Spore porn (Sporn?) is all over the internet. These people are the kids that made i..."
"How far is too far in the Spore Creature Creator? PC Gamer's Kristen Salvatore found out the hard way this morning when she got a time-out in her email from EA.
Less than a day after responding to Tim Edwards member contribution to the Spore Creature Creator community with Boobaliciousa somewhat more gynocentric take on the same themeshe received the following cordial but unambiguous email:
quote"Hello [Perv],
Your Electronic Arts account has been flagged for violating the Electr...
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"Spore Creature Creator available for both Mac OS X and Windows enables users to create creatures using design tools taken from Spore, a virtual life game created by Will Wright, designer of Sim City and The Sims. Spore takes the Sim City and The Sims concepts to an extreme, where you create a life form from its first stirrings in primordial ooze all the way up to an intelligent, spacefaring civilization.
Spore Creature Creator lets you assemble hundreds of parts into a creature of yo..."
Live Streaming Video of Spore being played. You can literally do anything, create anything in a total free roaming environment. If you for some reason were EVER on the fence about Spore - this should seal the deal.
"The Creator itself, which will be hitting the public soon, is impressively flexible. All of the pieces you place on your creature have various manipulation points which you can click, drag, and turn to mold your digital putty into something unique. You can alter how many spinal columns it has, how many limbs it sports, whether it has eyes sticking out of its head or recessed into its bodythe options really are pretty vast. Wings, beaks, claws, horns, and more are all available. The slick int..."
It was bound to happen, people. It appears user 'disciple' over on the YakYak forums has gotten his filthy hands on the Spore Creature Creator utility; he's come up with some rather interesting results. See for yourself.
There's also a video through the source, but I dare not upload it.
Sporelebritarianism: David Lynch, Carlos Santana, Flight of the Conchords make creatures for charity
Okay, so Electronic Arts isn't all bad, because this idea is freaking awesome. The company got together a bunch of celebrities and asked them to create a creature using Spore's creature creator. The winner of the contest will see $15,000 going to the charity of their choice. Who's participating? Santana, Lynch, Stan Lee, the dudes from Flight of the Conchords, and a bunch of others. (If you aren't familiar with FotC by the way, I highly reccomend it.)
Spore is expected to be a huge hit as well as a fantastic game when it is released. For those of you not in the know Spore will allow you to create your own race and take them through the various stages of the evolution and turn them into a mighty civilisation. Obviously one of the most important decisions you make will be just what kind of species you create and with the IGN's preview of the creature creator you can begin deciding now.
"A new trailer has been released showing the first stage of Spore known has Cell Phase. You start the game a single cell organism which is dropped onto a planet by the way of a meteor. From there you are basically trained in the ways of Spore and how it all works. There you can play has a meat eater, vegetarian or both. You earn DNA and collect parts to develop you creature further, make your choices wisely. Your choices have long lasting effects on how your creature will develop so you have t..."
Following the announcement that Mass Effect will not be using the almost Orwellian modified SecuROM authentication protection, Spore, EA's other big game has been changed as well. SecuROM will still be used, but in a modified reauthentication process that only checks on installation and when the online function is first used.
The positives that can be brought from this announcement apart from the obvious are that this new process will not require a CD in order to play after installation. I...
Remember my story about Mass Effect for the PC needing to be authenticated every 10 days? Well Bioware and EA have apparently had a change of heart and changed the system. Now you will only need to enter a code when first installing the game and when you purchase additional content. No word on what's happening to Spore.
A lot of PC gamers are pretty excited about these two titles hitting the computer arena, but would you like them enough to check it every 10 days for the rest of your life?
What am I implying you may ask? Well for those of you who have played certain PC games will know that sometimes as a anti piracy scheme a developer will occasionally make you log onto a certain site and activate it via the Internet or you get banned. Well Bioware seem to have taken this method a little too far, making y...
For those of you who are absolutely hyped about Will Wright's (SimCity, The Sims, SimAnt) latest creation, Spore; like myself. We have a release date and a price! Spore fans rejoice, we're one step closer to the full game.
The Creature Creator will only be a demo of what you'll find in the full game. However, creations are limitless as per your creativity. The release date for the demo will be targeted for a June 17th release at a price of $9.99 USD. "Pay for a demo?!" you say, however ple...
"The Creature Creator functions identically to the creator you'll find in Spore. You'll be able to create an unlimited number of creatures. Mold them, apply body parts, [and] paint them. Once you've made a creature, you can bring it into a test area where you can walk it around and try a variety of animations."
Following the announcement of a Macintosh release of Spore, EA and Apple have unveiled Spore for the iPhone platform. A short demonstration of what the final product could look like was shown at yesterday's iPhone Software Roadmap Event in Cupertino, California.
Spore is set to be released this September via the iPhone App Store. Pricing details have yet to be revealed.
"Dead Space (Oct 31, 360/PS3/PC)
Dead Space feels eerily similar to Aliens, but the introductory trailer and our first hands-on demonstrated a level of suspense, mood, and intensity we haven't seen in a while. The premise: the entire crew of a deep space mining ship has gone missing, and it's up to you, the sole survivor, to rid the vessel of alien baddies. It should be noted that EA's survival horror only marginally beat out Left 4 Dead (360/PC), the fast-paced Zombie Killer by Valve with ..."
Delayed, delayed and delayed. That's been the story for Spore, always being delayed... however it recently (and finally) managed to get an EU release date of 5th September for the PC, MAC and DS versions.
However, rumours have already begun to surface about a next-gen version of the game being considered, and better yet, the Wii version is already underway....
In a whopping 34min long user video; Will Wright demos Spore, at NASA. Unfortunately, it's a shaky cam that cuts out periodically, so, the whole demonstration was really longer than 34mins. Will answers some audience questions as well that give us a bit more information on the game.
SPORE, the epic cell to empire civilization building game will be arriving in stores the weekend of September 7th. SPORE starts off with the player creating a single-celled organism and eventually that will evolve into a full creature whose race's end-game is the colonization of the galaxy.
"To call the upcoming game Spore, from the genius mind of Sim City creator Will Wright, ambitious would be a massive understatement. Some have even wondered if its possible to make a game of this size and scope fun. Theres even some who believe that the game, which was first shown off in 2005, and will take the player from a simple multi-celled organism, all the way through the process of evolution until you reach space exploration and extra-planetary colonization, may never come out."
"Official Release:
At the Macworld Expo today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced that SPORE will be available for the Mac later this year. From Will Wright, creator of the mega-hit The Sims comes Spore, the only game that allows creative personalities to explore the depths of their own personal galaxy. A sneak peek of the game will be on display at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, CA throughout this week. A PC version of the game will also be released later this year.
We ..."
"With this year's gaming harvest already played and beaten and filed away into memory like so many saves, it is time now to look on.
Past the bulbous shores of 2007, far off in the distant recesses of release schedules, lies the gone-golden bounty of untapped potential. And while many may slip their surly bonds and give flight to the year 2009, more still will cement their crusted plastic into delighted hands. Here we mark the prophecy of the PC legacy, a concrete, yet tumultuous hour of re..."
So, the Wii gets Spore, something I am glad to hear as a self aware fanboy, but apparently Wright is acting like one too. I don't mind what he is saying about the other consoles since it is his opinion, but does he realise how much flaming this whole 'the Wii is not a / is the only next gen console' causes? It is just nonsense at this point in my opinion.
It looks like Spore has an actual release date, now. According to one very large online retailer known as Amazon you can now preorder your copy of Spore. With a price listed as $49.99 and a boxshot to go with it. Amazon is giving it a release date of March 03, 2008.
Will Wright's Spore could well prove to be one of the most influential computer games ever created - should it ever arrive. Moreover, publisher Electronic Arts has this week revealed that the game will arrive when it's ready, and not a moment before. What? EA not rush out a game for quick profit in favour of actually offering a top quality release? Never!
The Smaller version of E3 came and went, and what we realised was that there were some big name games missing from the event.
In particular there were 7 games that were missing from E3:
- GTA IV
- Spore
- God of War 3
- Rainbow Six
- Prince of Persia 4
- Peter Jackson's Halo
- Final Fantasy XIII
Recent rumors have suggested that Will Wright's evolution sim, Spore, will possibly see another delay, this time into 2009; the game's release has already been pushed back once until sometime next spring 2008. However, Electronic Arts was quick to point out that this speculation currently holds little ground, being based on misconstrued information.
"In a conference call to discuss today's financial results, EA said that Will Wright's highly anticipated evolution sim, Spore, is no longer in the company's plans for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2008. Most in the industry had expected the game to be released later this year, perhaps in time for the holiday shopping season."
![Box shot of Spore [Europe]](http://i.neoseeker.com/boxshots/R2FtZXMvUEMvU2ltdWxhdGlvbi9MaWZl/spore_frontcover_small_RwaDI6mxUpeEnIn.jpg)