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Spore Hands-On Impressions

Posted by Zonk on from the will-wright-is-my-father dept.

Spore is being kept locked down on the show floor, available for preview only to members of the "Best in Show" committee, but there is still some information available for the rest of us. The official Spore site is now available for your examination, including an option to sign up for a newsletter. For hands on impressions, we turn to Gamespot and Gamespy. From the Gamespy article: "The game opens within the primordial soup, which absolutely teemed with blobs and squiggles of prehistoric life. As your creature evolved into a 3D environment and swam around in the sea, the water swarmed with life: plants, bubbles, little microorganisms. That same detail carried out once your critter walked out onto the land, where tiny insects buzzed around. Outer space was cluttered with comets, meteorites, gas clouds, and all sorts of interstellar phenomenon. Visually the game is a treat, not from state-of-the-art graphics but simply from a standpoint of detail and variety." Update: 05/20 15:43 GMT by Z : Wired has an interview with Wright at the expo on the game and what it means for gaming in general.

12 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. I can't wait! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting
    This game sounds fucking great. I love the idea of being able to track how other people react to my creatures and other creations. It sounds like a really interesting game and one that will appeal to me, in particular.

    I don't think it will take on the level of popularity with "non-gamers" like the Sims did. It seems a little more "geeky" than the Sims. I can't wait for this.

  2. The obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not for sale in Kansas!

    The concept for this game is just plain silly, there is not such thing as evolution!

    1. Re:The obligatory by drekmonger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Spore has nothing to do with evolution. Gameplay seems more like Intelligent Design, with the player in the role of God.

    2. Re:The obligatory by lukeml · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm sorry, but the state's (and in some cases the nation's) tax dollars fund public high school education. So concerned citizens have a right to question the ignorance of Kansas' school board. The U.S. as a nation needs to prepare its citizens to be able to compete in a global economy. Biology, especially in the field biotechnology, will be a huge driving force in the economy in the coming years. Is it the right of a community to perpetuate scientific illiteracy? Not in my opinion. We should prepare our students in a variety of subjects like English, math, and science. Biology is a science. Evolution is THE major theory of biology. Thus, biolgoy classes in high school should be teaching evolution. No serious college or university is going to be teaching "intelligent design" in a biology class. Should we teach astrology instead of astronomy? Numerology instead of mathematics? Intelligent design instead of evolution?

    3. Re:The obligatory by lukeml · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Of course! There should be plenty of room for discussion about alternative beliefs and opinions. But if we're going to teach our students science, in a science classroom, in a public school, to prepare them for science at an accredited college/university, then we MUST teach them SCIENCE. Not astrology; not mythology; and not "intelligent design". Why? Because none of these concepts have survived the scientific process. If you want to teach our kids about intelligent design in Sunday school or philosophy class, be my guest. But in biology (and in almost all of science), there is no more important and supported theory than the theory of evolution.

    4. Re:The obligatory by brotherscrim · · Score: 2, Informative

      "But, there's room in this world for more than one belief system, is there not?"

      Sure, so long as it's not in a science class. They tend to be more effective if you restrict the instruction to science.

      So, just to recap: Faith and belief are fine, awesome even. But they're not scientific. I don't want science classes comprimised by lessons in bullshit and woo-woo, for the same reason Christians don't have guest sermons on taxonomy by Stephen Jay Gould.

      This "equal time" argument from the creationist crowd is a joke. If it had scientific merit, creationism would be accepted by the scientific community. It doesn't, so they don't.

  3. I've sworn off "revolutionary" gaming... by patio11 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... since playing Black and White. This sounds like another possibly quite impressive tech demo which was conceived during a bout of "I am a better game designer than you" one-upmanship. And like six separate stages of the game with completely different revolutionary mechanics? Thats great... how many of these are going to be fun to play? I'm not the type who shells out $50 to look at an avant-garde piece of digital art which happens to have some interactivity in the simulation.

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
    1. Re:I've sworn off "revolutionary" gaming... by BlueHands · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You are totally right: B&W didnt have a GAME. But neither does the sims. People Love the sims and yet B&W died a painful death. I think that is because the Sims doesn't try and be a game where as B&W did and failed.

      What is REALLY weird is that B&W flaws didn't show up when you first played it. For the first 20 hours or so your learning the interface, how to get things done, ect....and then realize there is nothing more. The game never comes.

      Spore could TOTALLY be the same way OR it could be a fantastic, break out game. There is no way to tell for "revolutionary games" until it is out. Imagine someone describes tetris to you - how boring and repetitive. Yet likely one of the best video games ever, simple because everyone knows it and has played it.

      I also tend to think that the game will either make or brake itself on the final stage, since that is where the real interactive aspect kicks in, if i understood the GDC info correctly.

      --
      I mod everyone down who says "I'll get modded down for this." I hate to disappoint.
  4. E.V.O? by Dizzle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This game sounds a hell of a lot like E.V.O:The quest for eden for the SNES (or something like that). Basically you start out as a fish, eat other fish to get evo points, then get evolutionary things like fins and teeth and stuff. The game got very loopy at the end, but it sounds like a VERY similar premise.

    --
    -Dizzle
    "I most likely AM so interested in myself."
  5. Saw it above, but... by TJ_Phazerhacki · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I must say - I am torn between eager anticipation, and relentless horror. Black and White looked revolutionary - it was even fun to play - for the first level....

    The only reason I am even bothering to follow this one is that it's Will Wright. C'mon, anyone who can turn out good games on a track record like his deserves some anticipation.

    Just don't let him know, or he'll get caught up in the hype himself (Ahem, ahem, Fable? The entire freaking lionhead team???)

    --
    Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
  6. Great game by ElectricInkPen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I had the opportunity to see Will Wright personally demo Spore at the Living Worlds games conference a couple of months back at Georgia Tech...and it looked incredible. The whole reaction and scripting driven system just made everything look awesome, and funny little creatures with razor sharp teeth, and extra hands growing from their posterior make for good laughs. The whole content-compression ratio, or however he described it is what will make the multiplayer universal thing great here though...a few kb of "dna" and you've got thousands of creatures across thousands of player's game worlds.

    --
    Jaron _ at _ ElectricInkPen.com Penning the Web Electric
  7. I don't want to evolve by nelG · · Score: 5, Funny

    For those who just don't want to evolve out of the primordial slime, is it possible to just stay a microbe?

    Of course to get the full benifit of the game, my microbe army will develop thriving civilisations, with advanced technology like all those other multi-cellular organisms that think they're better than us microbes.

    They will feel the wrath of our doomsday device... or maybe just a runny nose - haven't decided yet.