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EA's (Limited) Creature Creator For Spore Released
JimboFBX writes "The Spore creature creator has been released. It's a limited demo, but it lets you make a full creature and test drive it a little. It gives some insight on what you'll be able to do with your creatures. Personally, the novelty already wore off within 10 minutes. From what I can tell, the full creature creator is a separate purchase from the actual game. Gotta love EA." An anonymous reader points to a thread at More Awesome Than You alleging that this creature creator also contains some phone-home features which might be cause for concern.
Has anybody seen any logical explanation for charging for the full version? The entire idea of releasing the creature creator is to have a population of creatures ready for when the game is released, as far as I've gathered. If so it makes no sense to limit it.
Is it as simple as "we think we can get a few bucks off of this so let's charge for it", or is there some other reason?
Legit version has malware-ish features. Warezed version will certainly be clean. Do they WANT people to pirate or what?!
Circumcision is child abuse.
It's quite entertaining (Goatse-monster aside) to toy with this program.
Some of the limits in the creator are a bit silly (like only having carnivore mouth options and not including herbi- and omnivore), but it's still fun, and very easy to learn to use.
I can't wait to get my hands on the full game - but I really hope I get to set the language myself and not be limited to whatever the installer has detected on my system.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
The "free" demo does also come bundled with SecuROM, so, downloader beware.
Also, it includes about 8 items out of each of the menus. If you're wanting to, you can pay the full price for the demo and get everything, and then proceed to upload your content to help out the developers by allowing them to have content ready when the game launches.
So, basically, you're paying EA to make their game world better, and they don't even trust you enough to give you access to the limited edition of the demo without some pretty intrusive spyware. And EA wonders why they get such a bad rep?
____________________
Clouds in the Sky,
Water in a bottle
Gotta love the penis monsters....nothing beats getting your entire civilization wiped out by being that rock with their cocks out....
<a href="http://kotaku.com/5017350/when-spore-penis-monsters-attack">When spore penis monsters attack</a>, you can't beat the title.
Orbis terrarum est non altus satis
I've been looking forward to the creature creator for some time. Ever since I was a kid, I have had a really overactive imagination...something like this is exactly what I have been looking for!
Given the horrible fact that the retail game will have SecuRom, I will likely just buy a copy in the store, then download and play a cracked copy.
I've heard rumours that the creature editor contains SecuRom as well, but that doesn't bother me TOO much at this point...likely gonna be formatting my computer soon anyway. ATI, hurry up and release the 4870!
Living With a Nerd
Now all we need is the vaginasaurus to go with it.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-cjbTXOeMM
While my Mac mini is more than powerful enough on the hardware end, now I have to shell out $139 to buy a new version of OS X ... just to run this thing.
Sigh.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbvbyzvXOOc
;)
That one had me laugh out loud at work today.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Turns out the leaked version of this has been around for at least a week. Various xChan boards have been doing threads featuring a variety of memes that were created using it.
Not terribly surprised that the "demo" is crippled. It's EA after all. Too bad about the SecureROM nonsense, though.
for it seems we will need their 'fixes' to be able to play our LEGITIMATELY purchased version of this game.
on a sidenote, i have to ask - has it become a tradition to hire iditos for top level management positions in gaming firms ?
Read radical news here
Now, SecuROM in the installer-- that is worthy of note.
The game does utilize an internet connection for legitimate purposes. The banner at the start seems to be loaded off the internet (advertising the full game). There's a section in the "Sporepedia" that has links to purchase the game, advertisements for Spore merchandise and other things which I would think are loaded dynamically off the net. And the game of course lets you create and upload creations.
More, you know, evidence of malicious intent would be nice before people start running around like the sky is falling.
He and Floppy should mate.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
I might be interested in this game if I can make Cthulhu & the Gang. Otherwise, meh.
I bet you'll have a USB "receptacle" to add your genetic distinctiveness to your creature. I realize this is as sexist as saying Bill Clinton wont make a good first lady, but the 3 girls who will confuse Spore for "The Sims: Primordial beginnings" will realize their mistake when they see the custom controller.
Winkey shortcut mapping for 64bit windows. WinKeyPlus
This is a perfect example of what I like to call "BioShock Conundrum" (since that was my first experience). Why buy when pirating is a more enjoyable and pleasant experience?
We're being inundated with penis monsters.
It's a new category: sporn
yay for innovation.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I installed the demo yesterday. It was a royal pain in the ass just to get it working. Had to uninstall the EA Download manager because it was bugged up (script error popups!) and then the demo itself just up and quits if I do ANYTHING that takes me out of the demo (such as Alt-TAB, or if the firewall pops up, or even clicking their own links that launch a browser!!). Pretty nutty, but I can say it has something by Macrovision, not Securom.
Why should spore demo have securerom?
TO show all those mind-consciousness systems
[ organic humans ] that we at EA are absolute
dictators.
You can only install the demo two times.
Then you have to pay 10 dollars more to
install it again.
Securerom is absolute perfection.
PERFECT for EA and their greedy corporation.
EA is not afraid of showing you how greedy
they really are.
My prophecy for the future :
Spore is NOW an online game. You must have
an internet connection. NO single player game.
Hey guys,
I just wanted to point out what nobody has said (for North America, anyway) yet: If you buy the Creature Stand Alone, it counts as a preorder for Spore, in that if you buy spore at the EA online download thingy you get the CSA's price back off your purchase.
Now I'm not naive enough to think that that's going to stop most readers here from just warezing it anyway, but breaking the law is breaking the law; so for those of you who want to do it legit, this will save you money.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
"... breaking the law is breaking the law;" ...
So: all laws are equal? They all have the same moral and ethical value? I think not.
Too many laws in recent years have been passed for reasons of power and profit, rather than morals or ethics. There is a big difference.
Some laws DESERVE to be ignored!
I am not trying to state that unlawful copying is a good thing in the vast majority of cases. But, on the other hand, NOBODY has a right to install software (rootkits, malware, services) on my computer without my PRIOR CONSENT.
NOBODY!!!
The latter offense is vastly greater than the former. One might deprive a business of a bit of profit (at least theoretically, but in practice it is far less than claimed). The other is an unforgivable intrusion into someone's personal world and personal information.
I am a professional in the software industry also. But I look to larger issues than someone "pirating" "MY game". Social justice must be addressed as well. And spyware isn't it.
- I thought the download was available on the 18th. Wrong, it's available at 12 noon on the 18th. *sigh* Why make a program available starting in the middle of the day?
- The EA Download Manager isn't downloading the full version. Because I have the trial version installed already. Uninstall that.
- Fyi, your instructions to uninstall don't work. The trial version was not listed under Start / Programs. I had to use the control panel's program manager to uninstall it.
- Now the download manager works, but the full game install is asking for a CD code that was not part of the emails that you sent me.
Criminy. The game (even though just the creature creator, and even though just the trial version (so far)) is still great fun.Thank you for releasing the SPORE Creature Creator on an international world wide scale. Except for in Australia, where you've left us out in the cold with no where to legitimately order, pay for and download our very own copy.
You jerks.
Lots of love,
BFM
I downloaded the trial version of Spore Creature Creator to see what this game is about. I install the game fine but when I fire it up for the first time I get...
What the hell is that? Apparently,
Right. File Monitor program? Please elaborate. Are you flagging ZoneAlarm or a virus scanner? Those are the only two programs I can think of that could be monitoring files. Well EA, whatever the problem is, work it out with SecuROM and keep me out of it. You aren't giving me confidence in your final product. If I shell out 55 bucks am I going to be on the phone with you for hours to get this resolved? I hear good things about Pirate Bay...only time will tell.