Spore System Specs Released, Creature Creator Coming Soon

Will Wright's long-awaited game, Spore, seems to be nearing completion, with a release slated for September. In anticipation of this release, EA has outlined the system requirements and will still be releasing their Creature Creator demo for experimentation on June 17th.

Re:I did not know this was news.

[allanw]

Anywho, they don't look as bad as I was thinking, and the fact that it supports onboard video with a dual-core CPU raises interesting questions about the engine.

It just means that the graphic engine goes from very low graphics to possibly high graphics.

Quite low

[Danny Rathjens]

pixel shader 2.0 == directX 9 == 128MB video cards from 2003
I suppose this is due to the long development. Hopefully the creative gameplay will overcome the lack of shiny and high res texture graphics. :)

Re:Quite low

[EvanED]

HL2 Episode 2 only required a DX7 video card, and recommended a DX9 one. I wouldn't exactly call that game lacking shiny and high res textures.

Modest specs -- pretty much what you'd expect

[merreborn]

I built a machine 6 months ago for about $400 that should work acceptably, according to these specs -- a $100 asus mobo, $100 for an old geforce 7600, $50 for the cheapest AMD dual-core proc, and $50 for 2 gig of ram.

Glad to see they took the time to make sure Spore will run on low end PCs.

Some actual Spore news...

[Bwana Geek]

Not mentioned in the article or summary is the much more interesting news that the Sporepedia [spore.com] is live. Go check out some of the creatures that the Maxis team has created. Some of them are quite different from those I've seen in previous media.

Re:Quite low

[JorDan Clock]

I think you meant the models have low polygon counts. Textures are what go on the models. And yes, the textures made the difference. While the polygon counts were up there, they weren't as bad Doom 3 (released around the same time, I believe) and the textures made it all look just that much better.

Re:After hearing about..

[Dachannien]

They apparently caved to the public outcry (EA listening to its customers? No wai!!) and have scaled back their copy-protection scheme. Now it will require verification when you first install the game as well as anytime you use it to retrieve online content (creatures, patches, etc.).

Re:Quite low

[Hadlock]

I guess the rate of advance has actually slowed a bit and 5 year old cards are not so terribly different from more recent cards
 
This is where I post This post [slashdot.org] and get modded +5 interesting yet again. People keep forgetting relatively new games like Team Fortress 2 will run on five year old hardware (With the settings turned down a bit) running on Windows ME. A $600 "gaming rig" will play any game out there at 1280x1024 at 30fps with all the settings set to high. Why so cheap? Because not a whole lot has changed since the bleeding edge technology of 2003. We've gotten PCI-e and SATA cables.... that's about it. Innovate or slash prices.

How bout that "Extended Download Service"?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you try to pre-order, you're taken to a helpful, filled-out order form that includes the Spore Creature Editor for $9.99 and an item EA calls "Extended Download Service" for $5.99. WTF? A helpful link next to the item explains:

"EDS means that with the purchase of your digital product, we'll keep a copy of your file for two full years, so you don't have to. You'll gain peace of mind knowing that we have your program stored and ready for you to download again at your convenience."

So what it sounds like is, if you upgrade your PC, the only way you can lay your paws on your software that you purchased from EA is if you also pay "protection" money to them. And then only for two years. Swell, huh?

Re:After hearing about..

[mrchaotica]

what's the big deal about popping your CD in the tray?

My laptop doesn't have an optical drive, you insensitive clod!

And no, I'm not joking: I install software by pulling the optical drive out of my girlfriend's desktop and hooking an IDE->USB converter to it, but there's no way in Hell I'm going to do that on a regular basis!

Re:Some actual Spore news...

[biovoid]

Very cool. The creature data is encoded as binary in the alpha channel of the PNG. That means any creature can be defined in under 2KB.

Re:I think its the best AI technique -- cheating

[biovoid]

The creature data is encoded as binary in the alpha channel of the PNG. 2KB of compressed data. Simple but effective.

Re:How bout that "Extended Download Service"?

[Kneo24]

Why not? STEAM does it and people love them for it! That of course doesn't mean they *have to*, but one would think if they want to stay competitive in that sector of the business, it would be a good idea.

Re:After hearing about..

[arkhan_jg]

Assuming it's the same securom restriction as mass effect (and previously bioshock) - which it's been said it will be - you'll get 3 install activation 'credits', which must be done online. Uninstalling/reinstalling on the same computer and the same copy of windows will re-use the activation already made, as of course will having your activation checked when you retrieve more creatures.

Reinstalling windows on your pc, or upgrading hardware will then cost you another of your three activations.

Once you've hit the limit, you'll need to phone EA tech support - a premium rate phone call in my country - and request permission to install your game, most likely then having to provide proof of purchase. Permission is granted on a case-by-case basis, and not guaranteed.

They caved only insomuch as providing a more restrictive limitation than bioshock, rather than a more restrictive limit than bioshock plus constant 10 day online activation.

It's not a purchase. It's a rental. I for one have cancelled my pre-order.