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Spore Editor Available June 17th
Dr. Eggman writes "Ars Technica heralds the coming of the creature editor for the highly anticipated Spore. A previously promised downloadable demo of the creature editor from the game, due on September 7th, will be available June 17th. Furthermore, a full version of the creature editor will appear as a standalone product at the same time for $10. According to EA: 'The demo lets players shape, paint and play with an unlimited number of creatures, using 25 percent of the creature-making parts from Spore. Gamers can then share these creations with their friends, including seamless uploads to YouTube.'"
No mention of it, so it sounds like you will be paying this as a premium just to try out the editor before the game is finished, which doesn't appeal.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
You mean bridge that previously impassable void between adolescent giggling girl & overwieght middle-aged grumpy fat bloke? Impossible!
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Like many here, I have been waiting and watching all of the endless demonstrations of this game, because it really caught my attention. However, my interest is waning with each new demo.
Am I the only one who doesn't like the direction the artwork is going? Maybe it's partly the presentation format but there's more to it. The early demos had a nice art style, realistic colors used in a gentle way, subtler textures. The more recent demos have shown the same super-saturated colors that plastic toy manufacturers (and Redmond OS designers) prefer to use. Even the space shots and primordial ooze scenes seem less realistic and more schematic in nature lately. In short, What was M. C. Escher is now M. C. Hammer.
Maybe they're spreading themselves too thin with an insanely aggressive multi-platform release (hello, Nintendo DS simultaneous release with 2D pixel art!?). Maybe there are some real technical challenges to making this "pervasively online yet not at risk from griefers" panacea they appear to promise. But honestly, don't make it suck on purpose.
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No offense to the starving college students in the audience, I was one once and I've been there, but: $10 is far, far below my care threshold these days. I'm a grown-up, I earn a salary, and $10 for an oodles-of-enjoyment toy is an absolute no-brainer for me even if it doesn't come with a discount for the actual game. Typically, nothing I buy for $10 is intended to last, anyhow. That doesn't even cover a sandwitch or movie ticket these days, and I can virtually guarantee that I will get more child-like glee out of that critter editor than I did out of seeing, e.g., Jumper.
(Maybe I can mock up that Anakin Skywalker guy, just so I can feed him to hungry predators.)
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Xbox 360, PC, PS3 just like the Sims. And then maybe a retarded version for handhelds.
this is the EA side of spore showing its (dark) colours. Some executive going "OMG! this has taken too long, can't we sell something right now?"
Who wants to play with just the editor??? I'd have thought the first stage of spore would have been a much more interesting as a standalone, buy the first part (for DS, PC, Xbox, PS3, mac) download the full game for just XX.99 extra
The timing is just right for a "omg it's just around the corner", but the completely wrong part of the game is being sold off as a standalone.
Conspiracy theory #2 is that they don't want to pay artists to create the models of things for the final launch, better to sell the useless editor and make people do the work for them.
Am I right? Or am I right?
Rule of thumb: if they talk about an incredibly amazing AI that pretty much takes over your computer, checks your bank accounts and calls you a moron for having not invested in XYZ which has risen by 200% last month, and you think it may be true, you're in for a disappointment. See Oblivion.
On the other hand, if you expect an above-average AI with good gameplay dynamics giving an overall very pleasant experience, perhaps with a bit more of creativeness than the usual, you're in for an enjoyable experience. See Oblivion.
I was about to say 13256278887989457651018865901401704640, but it appears this number is private property.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Hey, it's that or we bring back Roland.
SIG: HUP
All my wife wants to do in Spore is make creatures, heck, all she does in the Sims is make us and then produce 10 spawns from "us". She's got a real bun in the oven now though, so maybe she'll get over this faze, but the whole point of this is: if I can spend 10 dollars to make her happy until we have to take care of a real spore, I'll take it.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
I have been awaiting Spore for quite a number of years, since I saw it demoed the first time in person, even though it really isn't a game I would normally enjoy. Since then I have had one massive concern which is already proving out... that I am going to be totally brought out of the experience with stupid/inappropriate user generated creatures.
Sure they can be marked offensive and eventually removed, but I will still have to play against boob-shaped creatures, and flying butts. Leave it to nerds to instantly go for the juvenile garbage. Even national gaming mags have pieces where they state they can't wait to make crap like that.
Ugh, I've lost my interest. Sorry EA this is going to be the downfall. Guaranteed.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
This editor will allow is to finally reanimate Duke Nukem to kick some mutant ass, in... Duke Nukem SPOREVER!
So, lemme get this straight. You have to pay for an editor for the world's first "Massively Single Player Game" that mines it's install base for interesting content?
They should be paying us as developers!
No offense, Spore is the ONLY game I am looking forward to, but I just think this is pushing the definition of "demo"... Even if they gave it away, it wouldn't be freeee....
I wrote The Sims character animation for Maxis, and also a tool called "SimShow" that we released before the The Sims release date.
SimShow enabled players to view and create their own character skins, so that when The Sims was finally released, there were already web sites publishing hundreds of characters for the game. (Many of them would have been impossible for EA to legally publish themselves, like Spiderman, Star Trek characters, etc.)
The Sims was much to complex to release a demo version, because it required a critical mass of objects to work. We could not release a stripped down version with only a few objects or levels, like most other video games. Instead, by releasing a tool to create content instead of a hamstrung demo, it improved the game when it was eventually released, instead of delaying it.
That approach worked quite well for The Sims, so it's no wonder that EA is repeating it with Spore.
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
Spore will not make the September 7th date.
It'll be pushed to "Holiday 2008" with the excuse that they have to go through our millions of submissions to populate the world.
It will then be pushed to "Q1 2009", with the excuse that they want to make sure the servers are ready ready for our massive influx.
The game will release in April, 2009, with many features missing. These features will be available "soon after release", but will never fully materialize.
The game itself will enjoy moderate initial sales, but will suffer a quick drop off. Total worldwide sales will not break 400,000 (ever).
Drop in productivity? Hah.
You my friend have never met Tetris.
Invented by the Russians to destroy the American workforce and turn us all into fat lazy slobs.
Besides - it's not as if the typical office machine would be able to run spore anyway. Don't show up to work? Someone else will, so don't bother coming in on Monday, either.
With Tetris, all you need is a web browser, a cell phone, or a calculator, and you're in business, while still looking like you're in business.