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.

Morning Coffee E3 Edition - July 15th 2008

E3 has begun and there's no shortage of news, so here's a round-up of some of my favourite links from the conference:

• As you're probably aware (you can't call yourself a gamer if you aren't!) Square Enix has announced Final Fantasy XIII will be released for the 360. MTV Multiplayer attended the Square Enix press conference where a Q&A session was held. Here are some of the questions and answers.
• Major Nelson discusses some of the new features of the planned Xbox Live update. These include; storing a game on the hard drive so it'll run smoother, the ability to purchase stuff on the Xbox Live marketplace from any web enabled device, and (YES!!!!!!!) 1680x1050 support through VGA and HDMI.
• Portal: Still Alive is coming to Xbox Live Arcade!
• Gamespy has an excellent Fallout 3 preview.
• ...and more on EA's Dead Space.
• If you missed it here's Gamespot's coverage of the EA press conference.
• ...and here's what Will Wright said about Spore at that very press conference.
• Gamespot has some impressions of the intriguing Xbox Live 'MMO' quiz game 1 vs 100 (we have a version of the TV show over here in the UK, done by the National Lottery).
• Sim Animal? Ok.....

Um, we'll finish on that last one. More news coming your way soon!

A Selection of my Spore Creature Creator Creations.

I've been messing around with the Spore Creature Creator f0r a few days now and I'm loving it. I initially created some creatures with the trial version but I loved it so much that I purchased the full version. The full version gives you full access to all the parts and features of the Creature Creator (though I expect they may be further parts to unlock when the full game, Spore, is released) and it's high flexibility pretty much allows you to create any type of creature that your imagination can come up with.

My creations aren't amazing and, hopefully, I'll get a little better at it. Here are some of the creations I've made so far (you can add the creatures to your own Creature Creator by clicking on the name links, which goes to the Sporepedia):


This guy is known as Yurak (I know, it's a strange name) and the idea was some deformed version of a giraffe. I suppose I should probably have made him yellow but I thought orange went better with the black (it's a tiger giraffe!). Here he is with his kids:



Next up:



Limar!

And...



Deara!

Finally here's my attempt at creating a vaguely humanoid creature:



Homor (not Homer) also has his own video:



Check out my YouTube account for a few more! You can also visit my Sporepedia page.

Feel free to share your own creations in the comments. You can download the free and paid Creature Creator over at the Spore site.

Sporepedia Is Now Live!

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Spore was vaporware because, after-all, we haven't been hearing all that much about it lately. This makes it all the more surprising when, seemingly out of the bloom, the previously announced Sporepedia is suddenly released by EA.

The Sporepedia is basically an encyclopedic collection of the millions of creations that players have made in their own copy of the Spore universe - well, that is what it's supposed to be eventually. For now the Sporepedia is only populated by the creations the people of Maxis have designed but, once the game is released, you'll eventually be able to easily download them and add them to your own copy of the game.

The release of Sporepedia comes just a week before the Spore creature creator will be in the players hands (on June 17th). I for one can't wait - especially now that the system recommendations show that my aging PC can handle it!

Sporepedia - Maxis/EA

More Spore Goodness!

It's only a few days after EA officially announced the release date of Spore and the Internet has literally exploded with a tonne of new information about the most anticipated game of the year.

First-up Kotaku gives us a video of a new look at the creature editor. More is revealed about the parts that make up a creature, what they do, and what's needed to gain the parts. Creation extends to air, land, and sea vehicles as well as buildings, accessories and UFO's (although the fauna creation option seems to have gone). Also shown off is one of the community aspects of the game - the content browser - called the Sporepedia. Here you can share your creations and download more with other Spore players. You can also comment on creations, track how many times yours has been downloaded, and limit content being added to game to buddies. Of note is the ability to record your creations and instantly upload a video of them to YouTube.This section also shows off some incredible creations, which confirms the amazing flexibility of the editor.

Next-up is 1UP's new preview of Spore, where it's revealed that players will be able to play any phase (Creature, Tribal, Civilization, and Space phases) straight out of the box. This does defeat the traditional format of progression in a game but highlights Spore's sandbox nature in which you make the game for yourself (much like The Sims). There's also an interesting video interview with Will Wright, part two of which will be coming our way soon (if you'd rather read than watch then Newsweek has another interview up with Will Wright, in which he explains the reason for such a long delay. Here's an interesting quote from Will: "If I took a building from my city, the program can look at other content that thematically matches that City Hall, and suggest that to me.").


Moving away from the PC IGN has a look at the Nintendo DS version of Spore. The game will be called Spore Creatures and while it will still retain some aspects of the creature editor it's a much linear product than its bigger brother. It's more of a adventure game in which you form relationships with other creatures, attack hostile creatures (using the stylus to slash) and explore the world for new body parts. The sharing aspect comes in the form of DS to DS. There's also a look at the mobile phone version of Spore. This is just the cell stage of the game but does include community aspects as you can register you creation online to battle against other players creations.

More Spore info:

Joystiq - '...we got too preoccupied gathering some fish and didn't leave any tribe members at home. While deserted, a large feral creature -- he reminded me of a monster from Where the Wild Things Are -- lumbered in to snack on our food stocks.'
- 'Spice is still the game's resource, but different planets harvest different colors of Spice. You can take advantage of these varieties with trade routes through the galaxy.'
- Also includes an incredible 81 new screenshots.

CVG - EA will release the creature creation editor a few months before the arrival of Spore (much like the body shop was released before The Sims 2).

Wired - "For any city, for any colony I make, a [musical] theme will be generated for it," he said." the music generator allows users to jump in and create their own themes by clicking and dragging musical notes. "I could put in the Star Wars theme if I wanted to," Wright said.

DS Fanboy - Europe will get Spore two days before the US release date (which is great for me!)

Gamespot - 'We chose to use a flying-saucer-shaped vessel as a template, and from there we altered the proportions, applied different colours and patterns, and adorned our creation with various cannons and lasers. Although there was no way that an advanced civilisation would be caught dead in such a monstrosity, it's clear that the tools will let players create pretty much anything they can imagine.'

There's your lot!

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.

Analyst Believes Spore Will Be Delayed.

Mike Hickey, an analyst at Janco, believes that Spore may be delayed due to recent share underperformance at Electronic Arts. I didn't mention this before but the game was reported to be roughly ready for release around March/April. Potential delays would mean the game wouldn't see the light of day until the second half of 2008.

I think the popular saying 'No shit, Sherlock!' applies here. I say this because we've pretty much grown accustomed to seeing Spore being delayed and, hopefully, all these delays can only be a good thing. Personally I wouldn't mind if the game was released after Summer because I will have finished university then and, thus, have more time to spend gaming and creating a race of male genitalia.

Analyst: Spore To Be Delayed To Fall/Winter 2008? - Gamasutra (Via CVG)

Spore to be Released on the Mac. Still no Sign of it.

Yesterday it was announced that EA are 'bringing its highly anticipated game Spore to the Mac sometime in 2008'.

"We couldn't be happier to bring Spore to the Mac at the same time as the PC version. Spore is a highly creative game and I look forward to seeing what the players come up with to fill the universe they design," said Wright in a statement. - Macworld

I don't really care much for this news but I would if I owned a Mac. So few developers both to bring out a version of their game for Mac's so this is exciting for people who own a Mac.

So why did I bother blogging this news if I don't really care? Well, it says 2008 so, even though there's not an official release date yet, it makes me more confident the game will be out this year. I'm getting increasingly worried about whether or not my rig will be up to it so I'm hoping the system requirements are on par with The Sims 2 (and providing smooth gameplay of course). Also, let's face it, we hear very little news about Spore so I'm taking it upon myself to report the news that does appear.

Mac owners shouldn't get too excited though. Considering how long this game is taking I wouldn't be surprised if it slipped into 2009. Still, fingers crossed eh?

(Via Kotaku)

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.