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Spore About Six Months Away

SimCity creator and all-around genius Will Wright recently publicly stated that Spore is about six months away. Whether that's six months from completion or release isn't said. CVG has his comments from a recent interview with Radio 5 Live: "Spore's an ambitious game - which he admits - that's essentially a life sim. Players start off as a single-cell organism and then create their species at every stage of its evolution - from its first steps on land through to tribes then a culture and then finally it's off to explore the galaxy. 'We've had to do a lot of testing to make sure that the game is accessible by a wide group of people', Wright went on to explain. 'I want the people who have played The Sims to be able to play Spore - I don't want it to be some thing just hardcore gamers play.'"

90 comments

  1. Insert witty subject here by whoop · · Score: 1

    Too bad, I was hoping for a nice birthday present early next year. With normal game delays, this could be pushed to summer-time.

    1. Re:Insert witty subject here by njfuzzy · · Score: 4, Funny

      Perfect for *my* Birthday. Which just goes to show that it all works out in the end.

      --
      My Photography - http://ian-x.com
      The Deathlings (comic) - http://thedeathlings.com
    2. Re:Insert witty subject here by steveo777 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's okay. If you live long enough, you'll probably have another birthday. For more information.

      --
      This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
    3. Re:Insert witty subject here by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe he's a Cauliflower, you insensitive clod!

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    4. Re:Insert witty subject here by krilli · · Score: 1

      Long, dry years of reading Slashdot. At last, something that is actually funny is said. Genius. I have acheived closure. Thanks.

      --
      Jag pratar lite svenska.
  2. Summary = Article by TheThiefMaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just like there isn't anything more in this post than in the subject :)

    1. Re:Summary = Article by Aladrin · · Score: 1

      That's because it's not really news. Nothing has changed. In fact, the only 'news' in the article is the official announcement that it's in final testing. 6 months of final testing is a -lot-, though, so I'm not sure I believe that... Unless they expect to have to make major changes.

      I actually think it's a lot more likely that the PC version is done and 1 or more of the consolse they plan to support at the initial release is lagging behind. They are probably feverishly working on it and hoping to be done in time but have the PC version to release 'on time' if things go poorly.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  3. The Coolest Thing by holmedog · · Score: 0

    The coolest thing about spore is going to be the way it handles "multiplayer". Basically instead of playing directly with other people, the other creatures/etc that is populated in your game will come from other users. Scores will be given to the creatures and stats will be collected about how many other uses use what content. It sounds like a really neat system.

    1. Re:The Coolest Thing by francium+de+neobie · · Score: 1

      I'm not really sure if that is actually a good thing.

      You see, the early stages of a Spore game is very much like an RPG game - you control your (generations of) creature and upgrade it as it goes on adventure. Now, as with any cRPG game out there, there is a bunch of power gamers, who would quickly arrive at an "optimal build" that is much more powerful than what a player would normally build without reading the spoilers. Putting a power gamer's creature build in my world would mean my creature can't compete with it unless I'm also doing a similar power gaming build, and that could take away a large portion of the fun of Spore.

    2. Re:The Coolest Thing by montyzooooma · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No.... it's not an RPG. It's an alien doll house by the guy who popularised Sim Dollshouse. The fun in Spore comes from sticking arms and eyeballs on your virtual pet. The games are simplified fare which will be torn apart by those mythical hardcore gamers. I think some people have been reading too much into the videos, which are usually 50% focused on the design screen and 50% showing the actual game, except the design screen IS the game. Just you wait, the Spore backlash will make Black And White look like GOTY material.

  4. 6 Months by Taimat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Right After Duke Nukem Forever - which will be released in 5 Months....

    --
    The above comments are not guaranteed to make sense to anyone other than the author...
    1. Re:6 Months by Vexor · · Score: 1

      This game is vaporware...just like Duke Nukem Forever. If you recall all those years ago this was how Duke Nukem Forever started. Same with Starcraft:Ghost. Few months here and there. Now how many years later since their initial launch date...

      --
      ~Vexed and loving it!
    2. Re:6 Months by Jarjarthejedi · · Score: 3, Funny

      And just before Nuclear Fusion, approximately 7 month away. Don't forget the flying cars coming in 8 months.

      I hereby predict and welcome our '6 Month's later' Overlords will arrive in approximately 1 years time, if we're lucky, in Soviet Russia.

      --
      There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
    3. Re:6 Months by IthnkImParanoid · · Score: 4, Funny

      I look forward to playing Spore on my fusion-powered computer (running a secure Windows OS) in the passenger seat of my robot controlled fuel cell powered flying car while listening to the inaugural address of president Kucinich.

      Everyone knows DNF will be exclusively released for the Phantom.

      --
      It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
    4. Re:6 Months by jandrese · · Score: 1

      Starcraft: Ghost was at least properly shitcanned.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    5. Re:6 Months by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Funny

      We need to get Jack Bauer involved (when he is not in prison).
      Whenever he is around everything seems to get done "within the hour"

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    6. Re:6 Months by Das+Modell · · Score: 1

      Not every game that's been in development for a long time is vaporware, and comparing Spore to DNF is absolutely ridiculous in so many ways. Spore was first revealed in 2005, so from the public's perspective it's been in development for just a few years.

    7. Re:6 Months by jnaujok · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't be ridiculous. Kucinich will never win...

      --
      Life, the Universe, and Everything... in my image.
    8. Re:6 Months by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Soviet Russia, you are six months later

    9. Re:6 Months by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 1

      He didn't say "President" of what...

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    10. Re:6 Months by WilliamSChips · · Score: 1

      That's because he has teleportation.

      --
      Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
    11. Re:6 Months by scibtag · · Score: 2, Funny

      And right when the Iraq War is scheduled to end as well. Maybe they're just waiting for the troops to get home so they don't feel left out.

    12. Re:6 Months by ultranova · · Score: 1

      I look forward to playing Spore on my fusion-powered computer (running a secure Windows OS) in the passenger seat of my robot controlled fuel cell powered flying car while listening to the inaugural address of president Kucinich.

      And by "robot controlled" you of course mean your android girlfriend made of shapechanging liquid metal.

      But why is the car powered by a fuel cell if you have fusion power ?

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    13. Re:6 Months by IthnkImParanoid · · Score: 3, Funny

      You can't just carry around a fusion reactor in your pocket, silly...at least not for the next few years. The fuel cell is for portable energy storage, not energy generation.

      As far as the android girlfriend goes, I think I'll wait until the shapechanging gel models come out. One little software glitch and you're making out with the business end of an industrial can opener.

      --
      It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
    14. Re:6 Months by ultranova · · Score: 1

      You can't just carry around a fusion reactor in your pocket, silly...at least not for the next few years. The fuel cell is for portable energy storage, not energy generation.

      Must be a big computer, then, if the fusion plant which doesn't fit into a car fits into it. Or am I missing the joke ?

      As far as the android girlfriend goes, I think I'll wait until the shapechanging gel models come out. One little software glitch and you're making out with the business end of an industrial can opener.

      Ouch. Good point. And on that note, don't run it on Windows.

      Linux-powered android girlfriend...

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    15. Re:6 Months by C0rinthian · · Score: 3, Funny

      Linux-powered android girlfriend...

      So kinda like a virgin. You know she's safe and clean, but the experience is going to be clunky and uncomfortable.

      (I kid, I kid)
    16. Re:6 Months by LingNoi · · Score: 3, Funny

      You can modify her to do anything you want. ;)

    17. Re:6 Months by Alsee · · Score: 2, Funny

      And 20 minutes later she has you modified to do anything she wants.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    18. Re:6 Months by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 1

      I think Salman Rushdie's got that one sewn up.

      Maybe not, after reading the article, it looks like they have divorced.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  5. Obligatory comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does this mean Duke Nukem Forever is next?

  6. you might still get it by jimstapleton · · Score: 4, Funny
    after all...

    Spore About Six Months Away


    Has been true for any given day of the past two years! Once a year, it will be ready in time for your birthday.
    --
    34486853790
    Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
    1. Re:you might still get it by Bobartig · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, there have been some tentative release dates, but it's only been "about six months away" in two distinct points in history, this being one of them.

      --
      This is where I get my recommended daily allowance of "Foot in Mouth."
    2. Re:you might still get it by jimstapleton · · Score: 1

      But, the tenative release dates I'm used to seeing are usually around 6 months away...

      --
      34486853790
      Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
    3. Re:you might still get it by Skevin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually, they were able to cut the development time short by changing the final goal of the game.

      Instead of trying to evolve single-celled life into a viable space-faring race to do battle with each other, your new goal is to evolve single-celled life into viable space-faring ravenous aliens to be the bad guys in Duke Nukem Forever.

      Solomon

      --
      "Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
    4. Re:you might still get it by peterarm · · Score: 1

      Nah, they should make you evolve into Duke Nukem, and then you can run around saying "it's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, but I haven't evolved teeth"

      Maybe there should be a new name: "Sporever"

      (The sad thing is that I really want to play Spore; at least, I want to play the ideal as presented in demos...)

    5. Re:you might still get it by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 1
      Are you saying that people don't want to play DNF? I, for one, will be the first in line to buy that game if it ever comes out (which I doubt). A game like that has pretty decent odds of being amazing (it was in development for 10 years, it must be good!) or hilariously bad. Either way, it'll be a fun part of gaming history.

      ...not that I actually expect it to ever get done. The world will probably come to an end, and DNF will still be in development.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
  7. Underwhelmed! by ThirdPrize · · Score: 1

    Last time i saw the graphics looked a bit "last gen" and the gameplay looked a bit repetative. You just go around interacting other cells/animals/cities/planets. I know its by Will Wright and it will pwn 90% of the PC gamers out there, but ...

    Any idea what platforms/consoles?

    --
    I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
    1. Re:Underwhelmed! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Underwhelmed Indeed. I was totally stoked about playing Spore when I first saw it... Now there are so many other cool games that ACTUALLY came out like Portal that make me not care as much about Spore.

    2. Re:Underwhelmed! by arb+phd+slp · · Score: 1

      Portal is certainly full of win, and I can see how the delays have pushed Spore off your gaming radar, but seriously. A three or four hour puzzle minigame compared to a Wil Wright sim?

      --
      There's a perfect xkcd for my sig but I'm too lazy to look it up. sudo someone go find it.
    3. Re:Underwhelmed! by Seumas · · Score: 1

      I'm not particularly excited by Spore. I'll probably buy it and at least something new is being attempted, but it looks like something a lot of people will stick in, play for a few hours or maybe a couple days and then never touch again. I don't care how many times people in the game industry say "it is completely open and free to do whatever you want and design absolutely anything you want", but there are always significant limitations. It's like when Vanguard game out and had "millions upon millions of limitless character customization options" and then it only had like... four hair styles.

      It looks like an ambitious game that will be very limited and only captivate you for so long in the game play before one tires of it.

    4. Re:Underwhelmed! by nschubach · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You make an interesting point. Would we be better off not knowing about stuff (building up hype) until it's ready? Is this why open source isn't gaining more steam? People expect the instant gratification? Your more likely to pick something up if it comes out "production stable" within a specific period of time? So let's say there's an ambitious project to create a game with ___ feature, but this is going to take years of development and bug testing. Would you like to know it's on the horizon or about 1 month before it's released?

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
    5. Re:Underwhelmed! by ThirdPrize · · Score: 1

      This is just another reason why episodic/indie gaming will take off in the future. Companies can't afford to tie up their dev teams for years at a time as
      a) no return
      b) technology changes so fast
      c) loss of momentum.

      I suspect b is the main cause of the problems at the moment and why consoles are so popular with game companies. Once you have a stable platform you can develop against for a couple of years then turn around gets quicker and the technology gets pushed. As it is yo have to start again from scratch every 12/18 months.

      --
      I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
    6. Re:Underwhelmed! by Reapy · · Score: 1

      I have to agree. After all the hype, when they finally demoed the product, I felt.. MEH. I think the procedural animation was really cool, but when I looked at what they had, I felt like there wasn't enough interesting gameplay, and more like a cool concept that is fun to watch. I'd almost rather watch it on autopilot then run around.

      I also wonder how different each world will be, especially if certain leg/arm/body combinations are going to end up killing off your species if they don't work well together, that will further limit the variety. Also, when you get up to the building stage, what are you going to end up doing besides picking from like 10 "furniture" sets to make your super duper custom race?

      But, maybe this is why they are giving it 6 months.

    7. Re:Underwhelmed! by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      Like the Sims? Yeah, that sure didn't go anywhere...

      BTW, I'm not sure where you've read claims that "it is completely open and free to do whatever you want and design absolutely anything you want". If someone did indeed say that, you have a right to be skeptical. But I don't recall those claims being made about Spore. To be honest, I attribute that sort of over-promising and under-delivering to Peter Molineaux. Not maliciously, mind you, but I think he tends to dream bigger than his programmers can realistically deliver.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    8. Re:Underwhelmed! by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      I'm not going to disagree with you that episodic content may start making inroads. I think viable integrated distribution/payment methods such as Steam, Xbox Live, and whatever-the-PS3-service-is-called will certainly help push this along.

      But regarding your reasoning... it's not quite that simple. Nowadays, no game developer "starts from scratch again" every 12/18 months. Every game development company I've worked for had a core engine which was relatively stable. Even porting the engine to other platforms only meant rewriting specific sections. Every once in a while, a section of the engine is completely tossed and re-written from the ground up (I'm currently doing that now with our audio and cinematic subsystems). Even when starting from scratch, there are generally large portions of code that are pulled over to the new project verbatim.

      Software engineering is just too expensive (and modern games are too complex) to toss well-engineered modules out. It's much more economical to use solid engineering design principles so that it's easy to reuse, upgrade, or replace modules as required. Many time, you can forsee some technological advancements many years out, and make sure your engine is designed to expand in those directions.

      BTW, my take on why consoles are popular with game companies:
      a) Huge installed base means potentially large profits
      b) Stable development platform means fewer compatibility issues
      c) Piracy is less of an issue (which is also a big reason PC games are all going MMO)

      Honestly, for any company, they'll simply go where there's a ready market, so certainly I'd say a) is the most important reason there. Believe it or not, development on consoles is no 'simpler' than on a PC. Here's a few disadvantages consoles have:

      a) More primitive development tools / harder to debug
      b) Unstable/unfinished libraries early in the product life-cycle (Sony is especially bad at this, but all consoles suffer from this to some degree)
      c) Less forgiving than PCs (one byte too much allocated, and it's game over, unlike the virtual memory of the Windows platform)

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
  8. Sounds like EA, Will Wright by fistfullast33l · · Score: 3, Funny

    and the Iraq War proponents have both started converting time to Friedman Units.

    1. Re:Sounds like EA, Will Wright by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jesus Christ, does everything have to do with the war? Do you people do anything but bitch on /. Seriously...

  9. Call Me Cynical by Squiffy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Call me cynical, but the wider the audience is, the dumber the game will be.

    1. Re:Call Me Cynical by mcsqueak · · Score: 1

      Well, you have to account for the "lowest common denominator" after all.

      Myself, I could never get into "The Sims" I found it horribly boring. The last Will Wright game I really enjoyed was Sim City 2000... I played that for YEARS, and even had it on a PocketPC for awhile.

      Reticulating Splines? Yes please!

    2. Re:Call Me Cynical by MWoody · · Score: 1

      Cynical.

    3. Re:Call Me Cynical by ifrag · · Score: 1

      I thought SimCity 3k was also about as good. Granted not many concepts there could be claimed as "original" since 2k had many of them. But it did take much of what was good about 2k while still progressing the concept. I think they dropped those huge skyscraper city in a box buildings, but by the time you had those the game was basically played out.

      Then comes along SC4, which I never managed to get into at all. First of all you can't compete with your neighbors since, wow, my neighbors are also actually my other cities. That whole cityscape thing made no sense to me at all. They also (foolishly IMO) decided that the micromanagement of building all the little streets was too difficult so that became all automatic when you build a big enough chunk of zone. Any serious hardcore SimCity player had mastered so many forms of layout that they could rapidly zone and interconnect areas, and if you were really good you could map out the mass-transit on the first pass. That aspect of the game getting screwed up (automated) badly is what really turned me away from it.

      --
      Fear is the mind killer.
    4. Re:Call Me Cynical by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 1

      Well hello Cynical, how are you doing? Have you met my friend Sarcasm? I bet you make a perfect couple.

    5. Re:Call Me Cynical by DrEldarion · · Score: 1

      Yeah, man. Those games with wide audiences like Simcity, Tetris, Mario, and Wii Sports are totally crap.

    6. Re:Call Me Cynical by Ailure · · Score: 1

      Micromanagment in SC4 became automatic?

      Are you sure we played the same simcity? Simcity 4 is easily the most micromanagement-heavy Simcity ever.

    7. Re:Call Me Cynical by ifrag · · Score: 1

      I'm referring to how the low level local roads are built. In 2k or 3k, dragging a large residential zone made exactly that, residential only. Try making something standard like a 6 * 10 block of residential in SC4 and it starts filling in roads, at least on mine it does. If there is a way to turn that stupid option off I'd like to know.

      --
      Fear is the mind killer.
    8. Re:Call Me Cynical by MikeTheMan · · Score: 1

      That can't be true, because look at Counter-Strike and TF2...those games got bett-- oh wait.

    9. Re:Call Me Cynical by Ailure · · Score: 1

      Remember that commercial and residental zones lots need to be next to a road. You can hold down shift to disable auto-street functionality, but keep in mind that the zone arrows in each "zone rectangle" need to be pointing against the street as you build them. (version 1.0 have no arrows in Simcity4, so if you don't see any... update)

      And from the sounds of it, you hadn't gotten really far in Simcity4. The traffic simulation in it is rather advanced compared to older simcities, and can even get quite complicated at times. The rush hour expansion pack (aka Simcity4 deluxe) makes life easier with it's traffic query tool... which should honestly been in the vanilla version.

  10. Delays are not always bad. by Devir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now the time has come with Spore delays that people equate it to Duke Nukem Forever. For one, Will Wright is a perfectionist. He wont let trash get released. he wants the game acessible to more than the hardcore. The money spent developing would justify the need for a wider audience.

    People dont make games simply because they want to, they need to take a serious financial look at cost versus estimated market. You cannot simply jump in, spend $20,000,000 dollars in development and expent the game to be a 5 million copy seller.

    Remember Sims 1? That was a huge risk for EA to take. A risk that paid off beyond what anyone imagined. They game was simple, barren of serious content and low graphics. It was all done in a way that if the game didnt sell well, at least they didnt invest excessive cash into the game. By making it expandable, they had planned for it's potential success. Years later Sims is going strong.

    Spore is in a similar category. It could flop, it could be the boulder that crushes the sims dominance. But if they release a game, that is buggy, and crash prone, that they plan to patch repeatedly for another year, the game will be quickly dropped and fail miserably. So in taking this risk, they must be 100% certain that Spore is complete, 99.9% bug free and acessable to a large ammount of people, both hardcore and non gamer alike. It's not easy to do this. It takes time, planning, implementation, testing and more planning and revision. Give it time, it will be worth the wait.

    Now, Duke Forever. It's an FPS, no where near as complex as Spore. It should have been out after 2 years development. It was basically an empty promise that kept the company alive. Duke = Vapor, Spore = Real.

    1. Re:Delays are not always bad. by mcmire · · Score: 1

      "Now the time has come with Spore delays that people equate it to Duke Nukem Forever. For one, Will Wright is a perfectionist. He wont let trash get released."

      It's one thing to want to polish your game. That's a good thing -- game developers don't do that enough IMO. But it's quite another to show everyone how great, how innovative, how new and exciting and complex your game is......... and yet polish and improve and polish and improve and test and polish and test and improve and polish the thing until you think it's perfect. I mean, the demos look pretty functional to me -- what else is there to add/test? (Granted, I haven't seen half of the new demos, so I don't know if there *are* any new features, but I've seen enough of the old ones to know how to play the game and what all it can do.) Sure, it's a different kind of game, and it deserves more development time than any normal one, but when a well known game architect has been working on something for 7 years I think it's alright to get kind of suspicious. (Then again, I believe the Sims was in development for 5 years before it was released, so I guess it's normal for Will Wright.)

    2. Re:Delays are not always bad. by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      "Duke = Vapor, Spore = Real."

      On Slashdot, it's vaporeware unless it is on store shelves or it's Apple.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    3. Re:Delays are not always bad. by Goldsmith · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't know, this all seems very Peter Molyneux-ish to me.

      A developer is making an extremely complex game (like Black and White) after making a very sucessful simple game (like Populous). The complex game takes forever to finish, features are in limbo, there are lots of cool videos, but... is the game any fun?

    4. Re:Delays are not always bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Statistically, most Will Wright games have not been very good. Have you ever played SimEarth or SimAnt? Anyway, Spor looks like a collection of mixed mini-games - I just can't imagine it being that much fun.

  11. Team Fortress 2 by Chyeld · · Score: 1

    Having waited for a game that was almost as delayed as DNF, and loving what finally came out, I'm more than willing to let someone like Will take his time and get Spore right, six months is a blink of the eye.

    1. Re:Team Fortress 2 by Jthon · · Score: 1

      Except that after 8 years of development they basically released the exact same game as before but with updated graphics. They even recreated the popular 2fort map. It's a nice update to a classic game, but not exactly what I'd expect after 9 years of development time.

      In the end I think they must have scrapped and rewritten the game several times. Anyone remember the old 1999 screenshots/preview of TF 2 when it went for realism?

    2. Re:Team Fortress 2 by Chyeld · · Score: 1

      If you examine the developer's commentary in the game, yes they had to scrap and redo major portions of the game a number of times before they found what they liked. Noteably, one of the first versions had a "Commander" ala Natural Selection that they really wanted to keep but couldn't ever get to 'groove' right.

      What they delivered was an excedingly well polished execution of a classic. I don't begrudge them the time it took to come up with this, any more than I'll begrudge Will taking the time to get Spore right. Somethings really are worth their waits.

    3. Re:Team Fortress 2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [...] six months is a blink of the eye. I have terminal cancer, you insensitive clod!
  12. Doubts by ScotchForBreakfast · · Score: 1

    I know this is a Will Wright game but the more I hear about it sounds like a Peter Molyneux game where there are some keen concepts around the edges of the game but I wonder if the core game play will be able to make it worth playing.

  13. Editor didn't RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Article says six months from release.

    RTFA!

  14. Urination (Not OT) by Anti_Climax · · Score: 4, Funny

    Am I the only one that can't hear about spore without thinking of this Penny-Arcade comic?

    --
    Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
    1. Re:Urination (Not OT) by garyok · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Hmm, while water sports with Will Wright have a certain allure, I always think of this gem. And the Maxis guys liked is enough to do their own version of it with the Spore graphics.

      --
      One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
    2. Re:Urination (Not OT) by Anti_Climax · · Score: 1

      I thought of that one as well, but it was definitely after the words "Pee on is Will Wright" rang through my head.

      --
      Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
    3. Re:Urination (Not OT) by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Thanx for the link. That comic strip was a pisser.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  15. More concerned about the Wii Spore release by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Does this mean it will be Christmas 2008 before I can play Spore on my Wii?

    And will this finally be released for the Mac (or Linux) instead of just Windoze, since I've given up on future "upgrades" of Windows since WinVista?

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:More concerned about the Wii Spore release by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

      No Wii or Mac OS X release = no sale for me.

    2. Re:More concerned about the Wii Spore release by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      Originally, Will Wright told my son that he was going to make a Wii version (and he said something about a Nintendo DS version) of Spore. I hope that's still on track.

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  16. howabout just a stable or open source SimCity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i'm so tired of creating a city only to see it crash and once corrupted, is gone forever

    i miss my homes

  17. Along with.... by spooje · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Yes, it'll be released in 6 months and come in a 2 pack with Duke Nuke'em Forever

    --
    Tea and kung-fu. Life is good. Rising Phoenix
  18. Spore is finished. by The+Iso · · Score: 2, Informative
    --
    "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." - Bob Dylan
  19. STILL 6 months away! by liegeofmelkor · · Score: 1

    Thats only a couple months closer than when it was 9 months away 9 months ago. So, if 3 months of estimated release time decrease equates to 9 months of real time, I estimate spore could be out in 18 months. That means we can all finally play this game in Mar-April 09. Hooray!

  20. Spore: Amiga version... by OakDragon · · Score: 1

    Spore: Amiga version will be out 2 months after that!

  21. Anti-war wimps like goatsex. by MikeFM · · Score: 1

    This comment has as much to do with this article as the parent. Lets take every chance we have to start a pointless political flamewar between the child killers and the wussies. I of course don't care to take a side in the issue because I'm to busy looking at pr0n. Due to my sticky hands, my ballot will probably have hanging chads too. It's all a conspiracy man!

    --
    At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
  22. Bah, totally unrealistic by patio11 · · Score: 1

    Who would listen to Kucinich when you had the tribal beats of your own race of cycloptic camoflauging tentacle monsters as an alternative.

  23. Anyone else prefer the old graphics? by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 1

    I don't know about anyone else, but I like the graphics better back when he first demoed it at the 2005 gdc. The game art just looks too cartoony now.

    Hell yeah, I'm still gonna buy it.

  24. In other news... by Wiseman1024 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The first half 2008 will be full of awesome releases. Spore will rival with Duke Nukem Forever, Perl 6 and bytecode compiled Ruby, and it'll be the year of the Linux desktop! On top of that, we'll have about a hundred amazing new storage and display technologies we were reading about weekly in Slashdot.

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    I was about to say 13256278887989457651018865901401704640, but it appears this number is private property.
  25. Games industry needs to be beaten by the cluestick by LingNoi · · Score: 1

    They need to take a page out of the book of marketing a movie. You market your games 2 months to release and until then keep quiet about it.

    I really don't get why no one has learned this. Surely it would be pointless to hype something up over so many years because we all know what happens when it goes wrong.

  26. Constraining the game too much? by OnyxLilninja · · Score: 1

    I believe the concept for Spore is excellent, however I am worried that by shoehorning it too much into the traditional confines of a 'game' that it will lose it's fun. The sandbox gameplay with interesting emergent behaviors from your evolved creatures is enough for me, I wouldn't need arbitrary traditional goals to enjoy myself in Spore. Lets hope it isn't dumbed down too much for 'The Sims' players.

  27. Talk about not knowing your market by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Sims IS hardcore. So harcore that people buy expansions after expansion while it is THEM that create the real content, pay for sites hosting user made content and spend ages working around all the shortcomings of the original product.

    First update for most people? To get rid of the cartoony look of the characters and get some realistic faces in there.

    The Sims community is as hardcore as the flightsim crowd. This is NOT a casual game. Casual gaming is web-based. Games you can pick up and play AND finish in a few minutes. The Sims AIN'T.

    In fact the only difference between The Sims, flightsims, trains sims and the "traditional" hardcore crowd of FPS lovers, is that the first group can speak proper english and has touched a member of the sex they find attractive.

    But in time and money spend on the game, in many ways the former group is even more hardcore.

    So what does he want Spore to be? A tetris type game OR a The Sims?

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  28. Also Coming In 6 Months... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I heard the Iraq War will end in 6 months!

  29. the one I have been waiting for by tRANIS · · Score: 1

    this is my reason to by a new computer
    this or darkfall whichever comes out first

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    Oh wait was I supposed to say something witty here?!?