Why Spore Is Special

The New York Times is running a long piece by Steven Johnson, author of "Everything Bad Is Good For You." In 'The Long Zoom', Johnson describes just what is so special about Will Wright's Spore . From the article: "Despite the fictions, many of the themes of Spore are immensely valuable ones, particularly in an age of environmental crisis: the fragility of life, the connection between micro- and macro- scales, the complex networks of ecosystems and food webs, the impact of new technology on social systems. Spore's players will get to experience firsthand how choices made on a local scale -- a single creature's decision to, say, adopt an omnivorous lifestyle -- can end up having global repercussions. They will detect similarities between one level of the game and another, the complex balancing act of global trade mirroring the complex balancing act of building a sustainable environment. And traveling through a simulated universe, from cells to constellations, will, ideally, make them more curious about the real-world universe they already inhabit -- and show them that they have the power to shape that universe as well."

Comments

So when does Spore Nukum Forever arrive?

[sehlat]

Just curious.

The Future of Content, and new book: Mirror Lake

[SimHacker]

The Future of Content
What I learned about content from the Sims.
...and why it's driven me to procedural methods.
...And what I now plan to do with them.
Will Wright
Game Developers Conference
3/11/2005

Joel Jones and her family Will Wright and Cassidy Wright just published this beautiful new book, which I highly recommend:

Mirror Lake is the natural environment where Joell Jones, Will Wright and Cassidy Wright retreat for vacation to draw inspiration. Proceeds from this new book go to the Turtle Nest Protection Program.

Through the paintings and photographs of authors Joell Jones, Will Wright, and Cassidy Wright, this gift book looks at the nature and environment of Fripp Island, off the coast of North Carolina near Beaufort. The images and musings span more than two decades of visits to a coastal vacation spot that mirrors the process of leisure development in natural settings all over the world. In it we see and read about many aspects of nature, including the loggerhead turtles that once hatched freely on Fripp's beaches.

About the Authors

Joell Jones is an exhibiting artist with her studio in Oakland, California. She received her BA from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, and her MA from JFK University in Orinda, California. She studied painting with Michelle Cassou. Joell is married to co-author Will Wright and mother of co-author Cassidy Wright.

Will Wright is co-founder of Maxis Software Company in Emeryville, California, and designer of the computer games SimCity, The Sims, and Spore. Wright was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2001. He has been informally photographing at Fripp Island since 1999.

Cassidy Wright has been involved in art exhibits, and in the inventor sport of Robot Wars, since she was eight years old. In 2004 she entered the California College of the Arts in Oakland, California, to investigate her interests in a variety of media. She has been photographing at Fripp Island since 2000.