A fan site kit with lots of goodies inside has been released for the public. The 397 Mb zip got tons of cool stuff; including:

• Glyphic backgrounds.
• High-res wallpapers.
• Icons and logos.
• Renders of creatures and vehicles.
• Photoshop layered images.

So check it out, even if you don’t have a web site that needs some extra glitter.

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!

(if things look a bit weird, press ctrl+f5)

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.

As expected - but now definitely confirmed in a community day with Maxis in Madrid, Spain - there will be no water or air creatures in Spore; though the game will feature a glide capability with the right body parts. Furthermore we learn that there will be no moons, the game will run well on a mid-range PC, and you might get engaged in mass battles. There’s a bunch of other questions answered too so check it out! Thanks to spore.es for translating this to english.

Brian Appleyard, with the Times, recently had a look at Spore and got the opportunity to create his own animal; a dinosaurish beast, appropriately called Bryan. The article however is more about Will Wright, Spore’s focus, and its heritage from The Sims, rather than a preview of the actual gameplay. No news, but an interesting take on the phenomena we know as Spore.

Google Blog got a short entry about the YouTube integration Spore will have. Via the YouTube developer API provided for Spore you’ll be able to upload your own creature videos from the game directly onto YouTube. Since the creature editor will be released as a free download before the actual game you’ll be uploading cool videos in a not so distant future!

In an article about the next big thing in video gaming Spore is mentioned as one of the contenders for that next blockbuster title.

That’s not to say there aren’t any massive games coming soon. Chief amongst them is Spore, the much delayed but just-announced title from Sims creator Will Wright, in which players control a shepherd over a species from the amoebic to the galactic.

Popular Mechanics mentions the risk the industry could face with going back to producing sequel after sequel instead of being innovative, if Spore would fail.

Watch Will Wright talk about his first computer experiences and his love for Care Bears.

In two interviews over at IGN Maxis’ Lucy Bradshaw, Morgan Roarty and Will Wright answered numerous questions regarding many different topics, including the release date and the ongoing fine-tuning of Spore.

IGN: We’ve seen a lot of pseudo-release dates pop up here and there, was the game ever seriously going to release before this September?

Lucy Bradshaw: This is really our first real public announcement about release dates, this is our formal, this is when we’re definitely going public with it. This is a lot. So September 7th, 2008.

Oh, and you can actually do your own national anthem. How cool is that!

We’ve returned after exploring the galaxy. Someone had to do it.

And boy are we glad to see a final release date for Spore! September 7 is the date when your social life will end and the fun begins!

Will Wright: The wait is almost over. We’re in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can’t wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year.

Spore will be simultaneously released for PC, Macintosh, Nintendo DS, and mobile phones.