A Brief Updated Look at all the Upcoming Spore Games.

We all know that Spore is coming out pretty soon (if you don't you must have a pretty nice rock to live under) but, until know, we've known little about the spin-off games that will be accompanying it. E3 has given us a lot of new information so I've took some time to go over it and posted the most important things here. Stay informed!

Spore (PC/Mac)


First up there's been new information about the main game itself, especially as it was available for play testing at E3 this week. Most of the coverage seemed to concentrate on the tribal and space exploration stages of the game but there was also new information about the advanced editors.

The space exploration stage allows you to design your own spacecraft using an editor much like the creature creator already released. After your civilisation has celebrated the spacecrafts creation you go through a brief flying tutorial and then off into space it is! In space you can do various missions that extend from discovery (such as finding a downed spacecraft) to diplomacy with other races. Let's not forget the previously seen tractor beams that can abduct other lifeforms, which can then be dumped on other planets. Once you've completed your primary goal (to discover the centre of the universe) you have half a million other planets to explore according to EA. This all sounds well and good but I'm wondering if it will have enough depth to keep you interested in the long-term. There's only so many weird creatures you can take.

The advanced editors include the vehicle editor, which works the same way as the creature creator and allows you to morph and stretch your vehicle's chassis and then add wheels, wings, weapons etc. IGN, for instance, flew around in a spaceship which looked like a magic school bus. There seems to be no end to the creativity allowed and, apparently, this was also extend to buildings allowing you to create magnificent (if you're creative) cities.

There's a lot more to get into so you can check out these previews and impressions:

IGN - 'Next I discovered a world that had a fairly advanced society. It still hadn't reached space stage, but it did have cities full of tiny little Chinook people (the demo was using user-created content pulled from the Internet, and someone had actually made a creature that looks like a Chinook helicopter).'
Gamespot - 'When we first made our jump into space, we noticed that our home planet had a small moon orbiting it. By heading straight to this moon, we were given a brief mission to follow our onboard radar (a toggle-able power in one of our ship's ability menus, which also includes weapons and miscellaneous tools, such as tractor beams that can be used to abduct other life-forms) to a crash-landed spaceship, which we then scanned for data.'
Gamespy -
'For instance, our tribe was prospering and making new friends, but it was time to start dressing like future world leaders. The tribal clothing editor allows players to outfit their creatures with primitive attire. I decided our fish creatures needed a giant gold ring through the nose. And some feathers. With armored shoulder-pads. So far so good: My creatures started to look like extras from the "Road Warrior" movies.'

Spore: Origin


Spore: Origin is the name given to the iPhone version of Spore. With the iPhone apparently as powerful as Sega's old Dreamcast it's fast becoming the perfect casual gaming platform (most portable games are played on a mobile phone) so it makes sense that EA would want a piece of the pie. This is where Spore: Origin comes in and it seems like it will be a decent casual game for those away from their PC's/Mac's or even for those who aren't aware of Spore.

The game itself is a bit like the primordial stage in Spore, in that you direct a cellular level organism around and gobble up the smaller creatures. Controlling your little cellular creature is done by using simple tilt controls on the iPhone. It also infuses the creativity available in the main game you get to evolve your creature every few stages (the game allows you to use the iPhone's pinch controls to morph your creature). However, you have to watch out for the bigger creatures that will reduce the DNA metre you have to fill to complete the stage.

Spore: Origin sounds like Sony's previously released PS3 title flOw but with a little more customisation. While the iPhone will sport the best graphics and the tilt controls the title will also be available for other mobile platforms - meaning that they'll always be a way to get your Spore fix!

For more info check out this short IGN preview.

Spore Creatures



The DS version is taking a unique approach to the creature creator aspect of Spore. Due to the DS' inability to host a creature creator on the advanced scale of the PC version the solution is to piece together body parts. You can still stretch and move these parts around the body but it's nowhere near the freedom allowed by the main game. You can also colour and texture these parts so you're still allowed a fair deal of creativity. Your 2D creatures then move around in a 3D world (similar to Paper Mario) and more body parts can be found through exploring and taking on quests.

The stylus is put to novel use by being used in fights with other creatures. Creatures are taken out by effectively 'slashing' the monsters with your stylus. If you want more creatures to 'slash' you'll also apparently be able to share creatures with your friends over wi-fi.

For a bit more information check out these short IGN and Gamespot previews.

Anything Else?

Despite the insistence of a rather annoying girl on Livejournal there has been little information about what's happening with the Wii version (that means there's NO release date yet). It's not a port so this was not the reason for the PC delay but Will Wright did say they're currently in the planning stages.

Other than the Wii Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are still under consideration.

Nintendo E3 Press Conference.

Nintendo kicked off their conference with a video of people smiling and playing the Wii followed by the slogan 'We promise to keep the world smiling'. Well, from the things they've unveiled today show that Nintendo are very serious about keeping that promise.

Here's a quick run-down of the games and new innovations that Nintendo showcased.

Shaun White Snowboarding



Shaun White himself appeared in all his ginger glory! The game is controlled through use of the Wii Balance Board so you have to lean left and right to take turns. Nintendo's Sammie Dunnaway also made a fool of herself by trying it out.

Animal Crossing: City Folk


We all knew it was coming but Nintendo officially unveiled it during their press conference. While the game itself looks like a better looking version of the DS Animal Crossing there's a number of new innovations that takes advantage of the Wii. Firstly, as well as your town, you can also travel to a city where you can take part in auctions, visit the Happy Room Academy (how dare they give my house low points!), get some new fashions at Gracie Grace or get a new hairstyle.

Communication is once again handed through letters. However, you can now attach photos and send them to your PC or post them on the Wii message board. The biggest aspect of the new communication tools, however, is the Wii Speak. This is a whole new piece of hardware that acts as a microphone but the whole room can speak into it and interact with another room of players anywhere in the world. So, basically, people visiting your town can now speak to you instead of using some cumbersome chat interface.

Wii Motion Plus.

Wii Motion Plus is another new piece of hardware that records your exact movements and renders them on the Wii. This means characters on the screen will now follow your exact slight movements instead of during some pre-canned movements based on what direction you moved the Wiimote in.



Taking advantage of this new piece of hardware is a new Wii Sports game known as Wii Sports: Resort. They played with it on stage showing off Frisbee throwing, jet-ski riding and sword fighting (which, because it now follows your exact movements, looks pretty damn awesome).

Also shown was Wii Music. Using the Wiimote and nunchuck you can play up to 50 different instruments such as drums, a saxophone, a piano etc. You can then combine these together and play as band with three other people (which is what they did - to the Mario theme tune!). Although, again, it's cringe worthy I have to admit that it looks damn fun to play around with. Hell, after these announcements I may well go and get myself a Wii!

Wii Music is out in spring 2009.

Other Stuff (Including DS Games)

A few other games unveiled include:

Spore Creatures (you can share your creations on the DS just like you can in the PC version. The stylus is used to create creatures.)
Guitar Hero: On Tour (song sharing between versions)
A new Pokemon game (great...)
Grand Theft Auto: China Town (this was pretty surprising considering the family friendly DS. It takes place in Liberty City with a whole new game engine.)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Rayman Raving Rabbits: TV Party.
Call of Duty: World at War (Looks pretty good graphics for a Wii game. It uses the Wii Zapper and has a co-op mode)

Last but not least, Sony is next.

Spore Release Date Finally Announced!

The Gods have finally seen fit to grace us with a Spore release date, leaving their masses of worshipers moaning in ecstasy (I should so write erotica). One of the Gods, of course, is the legend himself, Will Wright. From EA and Will comes the official release date of September 7th for PC, Mac, Nintendo DS and mobile phones (I wonder if every single version can make the same day).

"We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore," game designer Will Wright explained. "And the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year." - Gamespy.

The biggest game of the year? It better damn well be!

Spore Release Date Announced. - Gamespy.

Review: SimCity DS.

Before we go any further I’m just going to come right out and say it; SimCity DS is a highly addictive game. If a game keeps you up to the wee small hours playing it (in this case, around 6am) then you’d be hard pressed to argue that the game has no redeeming qualities. Redeeming? You ask? Well, as addictive as this game may be it, like many other games, suffers from a number of problems that annoyingly snatch a ‘must own’ title out of it’s cowering hands.

For those of you who have never played a SimCity game before - which, if this is the case, you deserve to be shot – the game is all about building a city. Of course, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out but it’s not as simple as it may sound. Your city planning will be split into three different zones; commercial, industrial, and residential – and it’s up to you to come up with a plan that will hopefully present you with a working city and a nice amount of profit coming back in return. Still sound easy? Well, on top of that you have to supply the basic necessities of water and power, figure out a good transit route consisting of roads and railways in order for your Sims to get to work without being stuck in traffic all day, and keep Sims happy with police stations, hospitals, parks and schools to name but a few. If you haven’t played a SimCity game before and are trying to figure out how this can possibly be fun then let the detailed tutorial guide you through the basic aspects of the game or you’ll find that being in constant debt doesn’t make for the most entertaining gaming session.

So, now we’ve got the basics out of the way I’ll lead you on to the first frustration of the game. It doesn’t say so on the box but you’ll probably want a spade handy if you’re going to play this game. No, you won’t be digging any holes with it; you’ll be whacking your advisor repeatedly over the head. After the random personality test has matched you with an advisor you’ll be, at first, happy with the company. You see, the advisor can be pretty helpful at times. You’ll be notified about what your city needs through the advisor and the various ‘important’ guests she calls you back to the office for. At first you’ll be happy that some Grandma came and informed you that the city needs more hospitals but, after the hundredth time and having just placed ten hospitals down, it can get annoying – especially since your advisor tends to agree and makes you feel bad like shooting them when you decline. Unfortunately you can’t fire the advisor but I suppose the game would be a lot harder without some kind of guidance.

When the advisor isn’t bothering you with some Fireman who thinks the city needs yet another stadium they’re screaming that there’s a fire or similar disaster somewhere in town. Blowing into the mic can put out fires but, in my experience, there’s little point because the fire tends not to spread if you’ve got a few fire stations. This leads me on to the various mini-games that will constantly interrupt your labours. Whether it’s tapping fireworks to make them explode or poking Santa in order to make him drop presents it makes you wonder just why these are in the game. Sure, the developer is probably just making more use of the touch screen ability but when the whole game is built around touching the screen there’s little point in them being there. I say this because SimCity DS is simply too hard for kids. The game retains the basic aspects of expenditure, income and taxes that will seem very much alien to children. For anyone else the mini-games are fun at first but quickly become pointless. I realise the DS is all about innovation but the game would have been fine without them.

A game like SimCity may sound perfect for the DS but touch screen control does have it problems. For some unknown reason the developers put in a undo action for building things by accident but opted not to let you undo demolition. Anyone who’s played on a DS knows that it can be easy to slip from time to time, especially if you’re traveling in a car or on a bus. Due to this it’s quite easy to destroy half your city just because a sudden movement made you slip. This means you have to be extremely careful when you want to demolish something or, as the games advisor unhelpfully points out, plan your city well enough that you don’t have to demolish something in the first place.

Your first few attempts at building a thriving city may end in disaster but you can be safe in the knowledge that you can come back to an older city later on to improve it with your new found skills, that is until you realise that you can only save one city. It’s probably down to memory constraints but the ability to only save one city is pretty ludicrous. One part of SimCity I always enjoyed was the ability to go back to an earlier city and be proud of my creation. Now any previous cities will become ghost towns lost in your memory, which severely depletes the games lifespan.

Stylistically the game isn’t the best-looking DS game out there but, as you can see by the screenshots, it isn’t terrible. The zoom function isn’t that great so don’t expect to see immense detail on the buildings yet some of them stand out well enough to give your city an air of originality. Don’t expect skyscrapers either. Although the game has as number of tall buildings these tend to be around the size of an apartment block or a small office, I suppose anything bigger would have filled the screen and blocked off anything behind it.

Once you’ve tired of the build-a-city mode there’s save-the-city. In this mode you have to accomplish tasks like rebuilding a city after a major earthquake or, on the more mundane side, solving a cities traffic problems. Save-the-city games can’t be saved and, as a result, are relatively short so perfect for a ride in the car. There’s also a mail mode that allows you to swap landmarks with other people who have the game. Unless your friend owns the game it’s a pretty safe bet that you won’t be using this mode as the likelihood of coming across anyone else who has the game (since you have to be near them) is pretty slim and the benefits are probably only fun for about five minutes.

At first glance putting SimCity on handheld sounds like an idea worth slaughtering a pig or two in sacrifice for and, for the most part, it is. However, SimCity DS is more likely to have a chicken slaughtered for it. While the ability to play SimCity on the move is amazingly cool you’ll often get frustrated through simple things such as trying to demolish a building. That said the game does offer a decent amount of playtime, even if you’re only allowed to save one city. SimCity DS is one of those games you’ll take with you on a long journey. For SimCity veterans – like myself – the games incredible amount of mothering will probably not appeal to you but it’s addicting enough to hold your interest for a few days and a welcome distraction from the PC versions. Is it worth a look? If you can get past it’s faults then it’s probably the best management sim fix you can get on the DS. If a game can keep me entertained enough to play for hours at a time then I'm willing to forgive some of it's faults.

Seven-out-of-ten.

Buy From Amazon.com!

New Spore Information.

Whatever happened to Spore? I hear you cry! Well, the game was notably absent from last weeks E3 and the throngs of journalists hoping to play the game were denied. In comes IGN with the reason.

IGN has a new video, screenshots and an interview with Maxis VP of Marketing Patrick Buechner. If you don't want to bother reading it (although if, like me, you're so interested in this game that you devour every last piece of information then you will) I'll summarise it here:

• The game is in the Alpha stage of development, meaning most of the games main features are done and it's coming down to tweaking and polishing.
• The team are getting extremely positive feedback from play testers (to be fair wouldn't a guy who's job is marketing say this anyway?)
• There are so many genres mixed into the game that the player has to adapt their play style and gaming experience of each genre to fit each one.
• Since the team are already committed to making the game playable at the Leipzig Games Convention in August they didn't want to fit it into multiple events by showing it off at E3 as well.
• The press will be able to play the game at the Leipzig Games Convention but it will be behind closed doors.

Patrick also talked about the DS version of Spore:

• The DS version of Spore will be out around the same time as the PC version.
• You won't be playing the whole evolutionary arc on the DS version but the main focus will still be customisation.
• It won't interact with the PC version in any way.
• Both versions should be out sometime shortly after April 1st 2008.
• The creature editor portion of Spore will be released several weeks in advance of the core game.

So, sorry Spore fans but it looks like we're going to have to wait until August for new information on the game. Let's hope it will be worth the wait.

E3 2007: Spore Update - IGN.

Quick! We Must Contact The Boys At Nintendo!

I think I'm about to die...

Why?

A man cannot exist without his Nintendo DS!

The good thing is that I actually have my Nintendo DS but the bad thing is I have lost the valuable contraption that supplies it with it's life force.

Yes, my friends, my DS charger has been taken by the little people.

I think I'll go and cry in a corner until I suddenly realise I should get around to ordering a new one.

Sneak Like a Ninja!

I should be shot.

In order to win the Flower Festival on Animal Crossing: Wild World, for the Nintendo DS, I cheated by robbing other villagers flowers.

What? You didn't think I'd bother planting them myself, did you?

I'm off to repeatedly hit Tom Nook with a spade.