Felix H. Cat (thanks!) dug up some higher quality screenshots from SXWS, ten to be exact, along with an a small article from PC Magazine to go with them. If you’ve read the previous recaps posted you won’t miss much.

Edit: GameSpot’s got coverage from SXSW as well, no screenshots though.

Will Wright’s keynote presentation from SXSW is out on video, along with several recaps and articles retelling it; including Kotaku, 3pointD.com and Joystiq. The quality of the video isn’t the best, so the recaps will help if you have trouble hearing what he’s saying.

Will Wright (one arm in a sling): All those pictures you just saw [projected on screens before the talk] are from the Hubble. I broke my arm skiing, before you ask. I had way too much coffee today, so I’ll go fast. They asked me to speak here, I decided I’d come and talk about story. Then a week ago I read that I would be demoing Spore, so I’m mashing the two together.

It’s similar to previous presentations of the game; the difference this time is that the game looks more finished with the new and updated graphics and better interface. As always you’ll see some fantastic creations by Will accompanied with a couple of good laughs.

Get well soon Will!

Thanks to Lualmoba for the news tip.

Edit: We managed to find a video with better quality from the presentation. It’s a bit shorter, but in this one you’ll actually hear what Will’s saying.

You’ve probably already noticed the new and updated look in the latest Spore videos from GDC. Some think it’s too cartoony, while others feel it fits the overall style of the game. Vote in the new poll and make yourself heard in the forum.

Don’t miss our YouTube channel where we’ll be gathering the coolest Spore videos. If you haven’t seen the GDC videos for instance take a peek and you’ll find them there!

Well, almost.

Wired has a blog up in which Wright says Spore will have a “Septemberish” release date. He also says that his games, such as SimCity and The Sims are actually toys, not games.

“Most games put the player in the role of Luke Skywalker … This is more about putting the player in the role of George Lucas.” He goes on to say that Spore is “a philisophic toy” which will be “an amplifier for the player’s imagination.”

This pretty much confirms the rumors which have been putting the game in the September/October bracket. While it’s nothing solid, at least it gives us a general time frame and with the recent videos from GDC it looks like this might actually be a realistic date.

GameSpot has posted a recap from the GDC 2007 speach by Spore’s design lead Chaim Gingold. The speach revolved around the challenges the Spore team faced when trying to make the editors as fun and easy to use as possible.

Spore’s design team quickly discovered that there were myriad challenges with an emergent editor that embraced open-ended creativity. It had to be easy and fun. It had to satisfy a broad range of fantasies and expectations. The output had to work in the animation system and with the game’s rule sets. And how do you intuitively design a 3D object editor with a 2D interface for non Maya-savvy players?

The speach also touched subjects as current trends in game design and how the information age has brought back elements from humanity’s past into today’s society.

Some new videos of Spore were recently shown at the GDC and they are now online! In each of the video’s we get some new footage of the editors. The Tide Pool one looks to have got some major upgrades since we last saw it.

-Tide Pool Phase
-Creature Phase
-Tribal Phase
-Civilization Phase
-Space Phase

Thanks go out to Spores Illustrated for the links.

Recently Kotaku has put up an article, recapping Chris Hecker’s apology during his session at the GDC, “How To Animate A Character You’ve Never Seen Before”. At the start of his session, Chris Hecker took a 180 and apologized for what he said about the Wii the other day.

I don’t know who has read the internet, yesterday. In a [unintelligible] panel I said a bunch of things. I was trying to be thought provoking and entertaining and fun and a lot of the stuff went too far over the top—on the entertaining and fun side, so that it was no longer thought provoking, just inflammatory. And in the process I hurt a bunch of people I care about. And so, I want to apologize now.

He also went on to say that he believes that Nintendo is passionate about games, and they should be applauded about the innovations they’ve made with the Wii, not to mention “making a console that you don’t need to mortgage your house to afford.”

Interestingly enough, he also made sure to let people know he wasn’t saying this for Maxis or EA. This might be true, but you have to wonder if someone at one of those companies criticized him for the remarks he had made. EA’s new CEO has already stated that they wish to start making more games for the Wii, and having one of their employees bash the system and compare it to two gamecube’s which are taped together isn’t the best way to build a relationship between two companies.

IGN has put up an article talking about one of the developers of Spore, Chris Hecker, and how he isn’t exactly a big fan of the Nintendo Wii. During a rant period they had at the GDC today, Hecker decided to give his opinion of the Wii, saying it is ” a piece of s***!”.

Apparently he thinks Nintendo is taking the wrong approach to gaming, and that the Wii is underpowered and uncapable of bringing us the next-gen experience that the other consoles can. He also says that Nintendo doesn’t have a love for games, while both of it’s competitors do.

This is interesting as Spore is to suppose to be released on Nintendo’s hand held console, the DS.

You can read the full article here.

Thanks to Spore Planet for the news.

It looks like I’ve been hired to be the new news reporter here, so I thought I’d say hello. Things should start to speed up soon with the release of the game (hopefully) getting closer. Chaim Gingold, one of the developers of Spore, is scheduled for a talk at the GDC on March 9th, so hopefully he slips up and says something we don’t know yet. Either way, I’ll be doing my best to keep you informed with everything Spore.

Do you have a burning interest in Spore and know basic html? We’re looking for one or two news reporters here at Spore EVolve. So if you think you got what it takes use the contact form to say hi and tell us a little about yourself. No previous experience required. The pay? Our visitors’ love.