Ian Bogost over at Gamasutra visited the ICE 2008 conference Toronto last week, where he spent some quality time with Spore, playing with the editor and following the reactions of the visitors to its booth. He noticed some unexpected behavior patterns:
I have no doubt that the game will be a success, but I wonder if new players will pick up the box and think, “I’m not sure I’ll be able to create anything good,” or “I’m not the kind of person who toys with life.” And I wonder what marketing strategies and play styles might combat this.
We also get some tiny bits of information on how the editor behaves when performing certain actions. It’s a good read covering the whatif’s and but’s that you always encounter with innovative games leading up to their release. Discuss this further in our forum.
EV’s are points you get when you post in the forum, which in the near future will allow you to get cool gear and possibly other secret upgrades to your account. The first 100 to register at our forum gets 10 free EV points for later use. Not only that, but the first user who manages to reach 100 posts will recieve an additional 50 EV’s. So hurry on and grab yours today!
Weather is definitely in. Belgian magazine PC GamePlay reports in a new hands-on preview that Spore features a number of different types; including:
Rain.
Storms with thunder.
Fog.
A complete day/night cycle.
Not only that, but in the creature phase you have to watch out for nocturnal predators at night. Apart from that little tidbit the preview offered no further surprises.
The fansite kit is now also available for download at the official site, at a considerably faster download speed. So grab it if you haven’t already, it’s worth it.
There’s also a small FAQ online with some interesting Q&A’s. On the topic of the much talked about system requirements they say that “While Spore offers a unique gameplay experience, our team is working hard to make sure Spore will be accessible to as broad an audience as possible.” So what to make of this? Wise from previous spec discussions and Maxis track record I think it’s safe to say that we are going to have to up our predictions a bit. The wording hints that such a complex game has to be somewhat demanding, and that they’re currently fine-tuning it to cut hardware requirements, but with no promises; hence the as possible. Hopefully though I’m just reading too much into it and we’ll end up with an acceptable result.
As previously mentioned there were some wallpapers in the fansite kit released. Since it was a pretty hefty download they have been uploaded for your pleasure to our wallpaper galleries, along with five Spore EVolve exclusives; chose between standard 4:3 format or widescreen. Our galleries now total over 200 items, so if you’re looking for some eye-candy head on over.
ComputerAndVideoGames.com got a one-page preview up that delivers some interesting pieces to the puzzle. Editor Tom Francis tells us of maracas producing factories, the art of diplomacy, and the epic monsters you might encounter during the different phases of the game.
…that race of fanged bunnies you experimented with on your first time through may come back to haunt you in hundred-foot-high form.
We are also told that the five sub-games are simple but addictive, and that you can unlock new features and bodyparts by eating and studying other creatures.
Hi guys and gals! If you’ve been here before I hope you all like the polishing that has been to the design of this place. We needed something new now that Spore is getting ready for launch later this year. Take a look around.
We used to have an old forum at this place too, but it had to be taken down to be juiced up a bit. Unfortunately all the posts and users got wiped in the process. However, to be honest, they weren’t that many to begin with. So hop on in and check it out too while you’re at it, maybe you’ll get to be the first user who registers!
British based magazine Total PC Gaming got a huge preview of Spore in their latest issue. Captainrave over at hookedonspore.com got a hold of it and reports the following:
You don’t have to evolve if you don’t want to. Create a super creature at any stage.
After you’ve reach the tribal phase you can longer evolve physically.
Civilization phase will feature different stages like medieval, modern and future.
There are over 500,000 procedurally generated star systems in the game.
EA promises to bring us the standalone editor soon!
What EA showed us was almost the complete game - every phase, plus their respective editors, with virtually no glitches. The only thing that remains to be seen is Spore’s online features” - Confirming what we already thought. Much of the work now is on the online part of the game.
More of this and scanned images can be found here. Hurry on and get it if you can! Below is the cover.
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