Spore Promo Video Leaked to YouTube

Khamura writes "As E3 draws near, those of us who have been following Will Wright's newest brainchild, Spore, are abuzz with expectation. And lo! Someone posted to YouTube a video that shows 'unedited footage of Spore that will be going to TV networks covering E3 next week'. It includes a look at the overhauled creature editor, a first glimpse of the texturing tools, and various other exciting things that had not been shown this clearly in the early prototype seen at the 2005 GDC. One of them is the ambient music when the UFO visits different planets." It certainly looks like the game we saw last year, but take with a grain of salt just the same.

Comments

I can't wait

[MBCook]

I still remember watching the 30 minute demo video that came out of GDC. I just can't wait for this game. The only thing that worries me is I don't think my computer (1.67 GHz PowerBook with 1 Gig of RAM) won't run it (very well). I think they said they would bring it to consoles so I guess I'll play it on the Wii/PS3/XBox360.

Re:I can't wait

[Hitokiri]

Over the last few months the Spore team has had a vareity of job openings for people who have experience in the handheld market. (Similar to this)

[speculation]
While this is hardly conclusive, its quite possible they are trying to hit all the markets. PCs/Consoles/Handheld Game Devices/Smart Phones/etc. On the PC or console you would have a full toolset and on the smaller devices it would be a scaled down version. (Spore Tamagochi)
[/speculation]

Re:I can't wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice try whoring for Apple-fan modpoints.

Re:I can't wait

[modecx]

Totally agree, but the only idea about it that I dislike at this moment is that EA is involved in any way with it. I can't help thinking that it'll be like Battlefield 2, in that it's a cool idea, and it's pretty fun even despite the frustrating bugs, crashes, and in game imperfections that make an otherwise excellent game merely mediocre...

Frankly, when the game comes out and it feels like it's a whole and complete, finished game, with a suitable level of polish, I'll be suprised. Then again, such a game might not be as likely to sell expansion packs!

And another thing that really irks me: Battlefield 2 copy protection. It makes you disable certian functions of CD drive emulators like Alcohol 120%, even if you're not using them to play the game! In the modern age of online multiplayer games, why the hell would a publishing company even care? The singleplayer mode isn't the draw of many gamers today. People want to go online and interact with other people. The key to going online is usually quite literally a unique key that is shipped with the game. If you haven't paid for the game, tough luck going online! A copy of the game is therefore useless for 99% of the people interested in playing it.

I like to make a CD image for games that require the presence of a CD in the CD reader, so I don't have to deal with it when I want to burn a CD, so I don't have to listen to the drive ramp up and down, and so I don't risk damaging my precious disc. Is that so bad? I still have to use my unique key to play online, and so does everyone else. There's not a practical way to cheat that system, so what's the deal?! iD didn't require that I have a CD in the drive to play any of their games since Quake3, I think. My Diablo II account was tied to my CDkey, so it didn't matter if I ripped it to the hard drive, and singleplayer was a yawnfest. That's something I actually like about STEAM; there's no need to screw around with discs and crap.

If someone wants to play the singleplayer aspect of a game there's usually a crack or two that will let one easily do this regardless of any protections the developers care to throw at us, so it's futile trying to protect a relatively miniscule part of a game that is clearly intended to be a multiplayer online game in that way. Make a compelling, fun, online game, and they will come--because they have no choice! Gaming is a unique industry because of this. If the music industry could make it so that you had to go online to get the full value of your music for whatever reason, they'd shit their pants with excitement.

Re:I can't wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Worst. Troll. Ever.

Re:I can't wait

[bedessen]

People want to go online and interact with other people. The key to going online is usually quite literally a unique key that is shipped with the game. If you haven't paid for the game, tough luck going online! A copy of the game is therefore useless for 99% of the people interested in playing it.

While this is generally true, I think you underestimate the number of cracked/private servers out there that don't check CD keys. Witness sites like epcgaming.com. Now obviously with a legit CD key your choices are much larger, but if you limit yourself to cracked servers you can still play a lot of multiplayer games online to your heart's content.

Re:I can't wait

[modecx]

This is true, and I probably underestimate the number of people that may participate on hacked servers, but at the same time, I think that it would be relatively easy on the part of the publishers and game associations to police these servers to the point that it would be effectively impossible to find one to play on; and that doing so would certainly be more friendly than to assume that all of your customers are criminals that would rob your bank accounts if given the chance. Of course, that kind of activity cannot be stopped, like file sharing... Even if you shut down every public P2P server around the world, there would still be tightly nit groups, and they'd become very secretive, and mostly invisible, just like kiddie porn traders--not that I'm equating the two. Efforts can be put forth that marginalize the number of people who don't pay to play, and they seem to work well enough... But it's like the old axiom: if you squeeze too hard, they'll slip through your fingers.

I think the real task for the developers and publishers alike is to make the potential customer feel that there is no worthy alternative to playing with a legit copy of the game, and not only because of the fact that more people will be playing on legit servers. Battlefield 2 has the ranks and unlocks, Diablo2 the items and characters stored on the realms, other FPS games have the clan communities, and that kind of thing is very appealing to many players. It's all about tying the community around these games to legit versions of the game, while making it comparatively unfavorable to play without a legit version, and not making your end users feel like dirt at the same time. I think a balance can be struck somewhere in there, and I think some publishers are close to that balance.

Re:I can't wait

[legallyillegal]

who the hell modded this insightful? parent is completely off-topic!

Re:I can't wait

[Sven The Space Monke]

Actually, it's very easy to defeat the CD checks for Battlefield 2 (and most other games - the only exception is StarForce protected games), assuming the disc image is made properly. Check out a program called 'CureRom'. First, use A-ray scanner to determine the copy protection that is on the disc. Then, use the appropriate copy protection profile in Alcohol 120 to make the image. Then, use the CureRom profile editor to create a game profile (which specifies the location of the CD image, the executable to run along with command line parameters, plus a few other misc. options). Once the profile is created, just double-click the profile to have CureRom load the image on to the virtual drive and launch the game.

I do that all the time - I'm the sysadmin for a chain of LAN centers. We run Battlefield 2 (along with dozens of other games) using such a setup. Changing out discs is not an option for us, so if we can't use software emulated optical drives and image files to run the game, we just don't run the game - period.

Granted, it doesn't solve the assinine "you need the CD!" mentality some game publishers have, but it works.

Re:I can't wait

[modecx]

Good deal, thanks for the tip, I'll definitely be checking that out!

Re:I can't wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Policing those servers would put more limelight on publishers as "attacking" the customers. Look at the labels who do it to the server owners who are giving out their music. Even when they are justified in going after the person, the public responds negatively, occasionally boycotting the label for defending its intellectual property. Copy protection is more silent. It doesn't pull attention to the label, and is as, if not more, effective as the alternative.

Slashdot requires you to type a word to make sure you are not a program. Is it not fair or reasonable for them to put that security measure, assuming you are a program regardless of wither or not you are a program or not?

Re:I can't wait

[IamTheRealMike]

The singleplayer mode isn't the draw of many gamers today. People want to go online and interact with other people.

That's a nice theory but it seems that Spore is a single player game.

I like to make a CD image for games ... is that so bad?

No, it isn't bad. But you also aren't entitled to it.

Let's put this another way. It is inconvenient for me that when I buy something in a busy store I must wait in a queue to pay at the counter. It would be much simpler if I could simply throw the right money into a bucket and walk out. Why do they not let me do that? Why do they try and arrest me if I do this?

Well, uhm, when put like this it becomes obvious - you aren't allowed to do that because so many people would abuse it. By requiring you to pay at the counter, they can cut down on the numbers of people who accidentally forget to throw money in the bucket.

Likewise, it may be inconvenient for you to take care of your CD and put it in the drive, however, the people who made the game would rather you did so anyway because if it were optional a lot of people would accidentally download an image off BitTorrent and run it through an emulator.

Re:I can't wait

[init100]

Well, uhm, when put like this it becomes obvious - you aren't allowed to do that because so many people would abuse it.

Here in Sweden, one of the large food store chains have been using what they call "Shop 'n Go" for a few years, without any obvious problems. This system gives every customer a hand scanner at the entrance, the customer scans the bar code of every item they put in their cart, and instead of a counter where you pay, they have a check-out point. At this place, the customer places the hand scanner into a docking bay that transfers the registered purchases to the paying system. Then the customer pays using his/her credit card, without any human intervention.

To avoid people "forgetting" to register items with the hand scanner, the store picks a random sample of their customers for detailed inspection by a security guard. This seems to be enough to keep "forgotten" items in the carts at a minimum, otherwise you would guess that they had ditched the system by now.

Re:I can't wait

[modecx]

No, it isn't bad. But you also aren't entitled to it.

Who says? Some shrinkwrapped EULA that is displayed only after I've opened the package and inserted the CD into my computer, thereby automatically ruining any chance that I could return that product for anything but another copy? Did it say somewhere sufficiently visible on the front of the package, that I wouldn't be able to make a backup copy of my bought software? I don't know where you're from, but here in the US we've got this thing called fair use. We are, in fact, entitled to it. It's right there in 17 USC section 117. Hell, even if I want to make multiple copies for my own personal use, I have the right to do so, under certian rules.

If they have a warning on the front of the box AND when an ELUA visible on the outside of a box becomes binding contract opon transaction that supercedes legal rights, maybe you'll be right. I'm not agruing inconvenices.

You have to recognize the fact that copy protection shcemes are not meant to be uncrackable. They're meant to be difficult enough to crack such that anyone who wants a copy of some software will have to obtain it through legitimate channels for the first few months after a programs' release date; that is to say, when most of the sales of that program are expected to take place! Even those in the copy protection business have acknowledged this.

Re:I can't wait

[yuud]

While this is generally true, I think you underestimate the number of cracked/private servers out there that don't check CD keys. Witness sites like epcgaming.com [epcgaming.com]. Now obviously with a legit CD key your choices are much larger, but if you limit yourself to cracked servers you can still play a lot of multiplayer games online to your heart's content.

Yes, and I'm sure CD protection schemes stop this. They'd break that very quickly, as evidenced by the ease in which I can get no-cd cracks these days (yay).

If they're beating the cd auth system, they'll beat the cd-in-the-drive system.

Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[DrunkenTerror]

So what's the big deal? On every metasite the same comments, "The 30 min GDC vid is so awesome. This is the best game there could ever possibly be. If you don't like this game you should become a suicide bomber." I'm not that impressed, really. Maybe it's shooting over my head. I am sure a dumb sonovabitch, I admit, but what's the big deal? It's like SimEarth only you drive the bugs now? I don't get it.

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[FinestLittleSpace]

If it's any consolation, I felt like I'd wasted a few minutes of my life watching that video. I don't see what the big deal is.

The fogging is also dire.

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[carterhawk001]

The big deal is it takes the best concepts throughout gaming history and combines them in one infinitely open ended experience. This game is going to set a new standard for user creation in a game, thanks to its use of procedural....everything!

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[Anonymous Coward]

"This game is going to set a new standard for user creation in a game, thanks to its use of procedural....everything!"

Even the fanboys are procedural.

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[Anonymous Coward]

If hype were truth, we'd have had procedural everything in the mid-90s.

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[Eideewt]

It takes a few of the best concepts. Not all of them by a long shot.

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"I'm not that impressed, really. Maybe it's shooting over my head. I am sure a dumb sonovabitch, I admit, but what's the big deal? It's like SimEarth only you drive the bugs now? I don't get it."

I'm really impressed with the game, but I wouldn't call you names for not liking it. Frankly, I'm sick of that attitude on the web.

But, anyway, what I got out of it was that you could create a species pretty much from scratch. Then you could guide them through various phases of evolution until you get them to become super aliens that can buzz the galaxy and affect other species. Then, the planets you've touched get uploaded to a server somewhere. Eventually your game goes and downloads those planets so you can see what others have done. Essentially, it's a big open-ended game with a lot of variety. (And humor...)

To me, the game does look slick, but I think it's one of those things that just manages to appeal to several things I like. (sci-fi, evolution, advancing through the ages, behaviour of society, mindless torture of small innocent creatures...) I wouldn't say it's for everybody. I also wouldn't say that those who criticize others for not liking this game have much ground to stand on.

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[fish waffle]

what's the big deal? It's like SimEarth only you drive the bugs now? I don't get it.

The big deal is content-creation. In most multiplayer games that's the duty of the game provider, and at their expense. Here you do it, and they sell it! Everybody wins!

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[Daeity]

I agree with your comments, and believe that quite a few people will be quite impressed by the game. It's hype, publicity, and innovative ideas will really push the sales of this game. (I use the term "innovative" loosely, though, as there are many other games built, or being developed, that are very similar.)

This type of game has been a long time coming..

The initial stages are going to be really fun to start out as a basic organism and working up the evolutionary ladder (like the classic E.V.O). It's also cool that your creatures are automatically uploaded to a centralized server and redistributed to other players' games when they also connect.

However, I'm concerned about it's addiction factor (an essential requirement for highly successful games). The creators have pushed the games' replayability elements (ie, the creation and evolution of your own creatures), however after your creature is fully evolved, and the "Age of Empires"-esque part of the game starts, things will quickly become repetitive and monotonous.

ie, build city, travel to other planet, conquer, rinse, repeat.

Maybe it's just me, but I just have a very bad feeling after the evolution part of the game is completed. The reason I believe this is because I believe that games need goals and milestones. Without goals, there's nothing a player can work towards. (Imagine games without impressive end-game cinematics, or if Level 60 WoW players couldn't collect more powerful equipment.)

Now... for those things that you like in a game (ie, sci-fi, evolution, advancing through the ages, behaviour of society, mindless torture of small innocent creatures...), keep your ears open - there's another game in development that meets all of those needs and even takes it to the next level.

- Daeity

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[MindStalker]

I've seen a lot of hints that the final game will include quest/missions that you can choose to complete. Of course when your already a god what reward will you get? I have seen a buy mode where you can buy others creations so maybe virtual money (though being single player it will be worthless like sims 1 money) will be the reward. With the right quest/rewards model it can stay addictive like other online games.

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[Garrett Fox]

I admit, but what's the big deal? It's like SimEarth only you drive the bugs now? I don't get it.

DT, why do you hate America?

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[DrunkenTerror]

*turns down the volume knob for Garret Fox*

If I can't hear you, I can't answer your question! I'm sorry! I have to move on. AC? *points to AC*

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[Anonymous Coward]

Eventually your game goes and downloads those planets so you can see what others have done.

Which didn't really work for SimCity 4. They had an online portion of the game where you would attempt to interact with other cities in the same region (controlled by other players).

Cooperative play really doesn't function well in a mostly anonymous multi-player world. Too easy to grief, too hard to punish the griefers.

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[masklinn]

You misunderstood how it'll work.

Basically, every planet & specie created by players will pe uploaded on the intarwub, and every copy of Spore will be able to "get" them from the servers to include them into the single-player environments. You will see and interact with the creations of other players (or even your former creations), but they will be controlled by your computer, not by other player.

It's a purely single player game upgradable via the web, kind-of like Total Annihilation was if you didn't have any friend and didn't use the Boneyard (you could use the web to download mods and units to expand your game)

Re:Carlos Mencia is really funny and original

[GmAz]

I wouldn't flame you for not liking the game. But to me, it gives me the sense of Sim City, The Sims, Command and Conquer and a bunch of other genres in one. I love the fact that you can create a "bug" any way you want it and in real time, the game figures out how it moves, fights, reacts and so on. To me, its the kind of game you can sit down for 10 minutes and play and enjoy it without feeling the compulsion to keep going into the wee hours of the morning. I am looking forward to the later part of the game where you fight other tribes and worlds. It just looks fun and expansive, almost limitless.

Populous

[BrookHarty]

Kinda reminded me of a old game, Populous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous

Re:Populous

[KugelKurt]

The beginning of Spore is more like E.V.O. on SNES.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.V.O.:_Search_for_Ed en

Re:Populous

[MBCook]

For what it's worth if you watch (and listen) to the GDC video he talks about the various phases and where he got the inspiration. Among the phases are the Sim Earth phase (the early one, but he doesn't say this), Populous (when your creatures form tribes), Sim City Lite (when they get a city), and I can't remember if there were any like that.

He does explicitly acknowledge that one part of the game is Populous like.

Re:Populous

[KDR_11k]

You forgot the Pacman phase when your creature is still an eucaryote.

Re:Populous

[mqduck]

Yaay. Sorry, I just like that someone else is thinking the same thing.

Wasn't a very good teaser/trailer

[MrJynxx]

After watching that trailer, I still have no clue what this game is about.

Mrjynxx

Re:Wasn't a very good teaser/trailer

[ZephyrXero]

You need to watch the GDC video to get a good idea of the gameplay. To put it briefly, it's a universe simulator. You start off controlling a single microbial organism, and evolve it up to a cognitive level as a human brain, then you control a community of the creatures and it's sort of like sim city for a while, then you can battle other civilizations, and eventually travel to other planets...

Re:Wasn't a very good teaser/trailer

[KugelKurt]

"Spore is a computer game designed by Will Wright that simulates the complete history and future of life. (...) Spore is, at first glance, a 'teleological evolution' game: the player molds and guides a species across many generations, growing it from a single-celled organism into a more complex animal, until the species becomes intelligent. At this point the player begins molding and guiding this species' society, progressing towards a spacefaring civilization."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_(game)

Re:Wasn't a very good teaser/trailer

[jericho4.0]

If you liked any of Civ/Sim City/The Sims, or even GTA for its openness, do yourself a favour and watch the GDC demo.

The video in this article looks more graphicly polished, the editor has more tools and now shows textures, and I belive some of the control mechanisims might have changed (UFO flight looks different).

Awesome!

[ZephyrXero]

I'm gonna lose about 3 years of my life when this comes out...

I just hope that it works well with WINE ;)

Re:Awesome!

[Deadguy2322]

If it doesn't, all the penguin-molesters will definately be compatible with WHINE.

Re:Awesome!

[Bradee-oh!]

More like lose 3 years of your life trying to get it to work with WINE...

Re:Awesome!

[KDR_11k]

Of course it will work with wine. Getting drunk and imagining you're playing the game never fails.

More footage and commentary

[Doytch]

This week's 1up show also has a new Spore clip with some Will Wright commentary.

Publicity hurting Spore

[reldruH]

I think Spore looks like an absolutely amazing game, but the worst thing that could happen to it is all this publicity. Even I realize my expectations are so high right now that Will Wright needs to go to the future and get a microchip to plant inside my brain (for total immersion) for this game to meet my expectations. As much as I love seeing it covered on Slashdot, I think all this publicity will lead to massive disapointment when a million people all fire up their computers, realize it's a great game, but it's not the end all be all of gaming.

On the other hand, part of me really believes Will Wright has a time machine in his backyard.

Re:Publicity hurting Spore

[MindStalker]

but the worst thing that could happen to it is all this publicity.

To me publicity will never destroy the game. What could destroy the game is the publicity causing EA to dictate changes in design. Scary Scary thought.

Re:Publicity hurting Spore

[reldruH]

The publicity (hopefully) won't change the game at all, but it'll have a huge effect on your perceptions when you play it. If you're expecting total nirvana, and only get greatness, you're going to be dissapointed, and people don't enjoy/play/spread the word about games that they were dissapointed in. On the flip side, if you're expecting next to nothing and you get greatness out of a game, you're going to go rave about it. Same game, two totally different reactions.

Blame EA

[ludomancer]

EA is riding on this game as it's next major cash cow. Following grand-stupid-publisher tradition, they for some reason still believe it's a good thing to destroy hopes and dreams with all the hype before release.

Re:Google Video

[Anonymous Coward]

Please don't try to be a karma next time, and just check to see if it's the same video or not. In this case, it's a totally new video, very unlike your posting.

Re:Google Video

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Not the same video AT ALL. Plus, that's from the 2005 GDC, and that video is REALLY old.

Not a teaser/trailer per se

[mowph]

Reportedly, this isn't an official trailer, but rather a set of clips released to the press. The evening news will go through it and pick the bits they like, and add a voiceover based on the information in the press kit. The official trailer will almost certainly be saved for a big unveiling at E3.

In terms of titilation, it would be better to watch the gameplay preview (including Will Wright's voiceover, explaining what the heck is going on), or just wait for the E3 clips which will invariably hit the net not far from now.

Indirect Slashdot effect?

[atomicthumbs]

All the youtube video downloading sites are down. I think that this article has produced an Indirect Slashdot Effect!

Space Porno Video??

[Neoncow]

Did anyone else read that as Space Porno Video leaked?

The text is so small on the front page... yeah.

Re:Space Porno Video??

[KDR_11k]

Um no? But if procedural sex between space aliens is your thing then you didn't misunderstand.

"unedited" video

[Anonymous Coward]

The video looked pretty edited to me. When I think of "unedited," I imagine seeing things like loading screens, and generally seeing things in chronological order; the youtube video seems to be a random collection of highlights, which have been edited together. Maybe it's an ad minus the voiceover? Standard promotional leak, really.

Off-topic? I don't need no stinking mod points!

[modecx]

wah wah wah wah wah. I bet you sound like all the adults from the Peanuts holiday specials.

infinite loop

[ichigo 2.0]

who the hell modded this insightful? parent is completely off-topic!

Re:infinite loop

[jackbird]

Who the hell modded this funny? Parent *Linux Sucks!* is completely humorous!

Blocked!

[WinnipegDragon]

YouTube is blocked at work here. Is there any other source for this video yet?

Re:OOooh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you stopped beating your wife?

Re:OOooh!

[DrunkenTerror]

No! Yes!

D:
Khaaaaaan!!!