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E3

Spore Hands-On Impressions 57

Posted by Zonk from the will-wright-is-my-father dept.
Spore is being kept locked down on the show floor, available for preview only to members of the "Best in Show" committee, but there is still some information available for the rest of us. The official Spore site is now available for your examination, including an option to sign up for a newsletter. For hands on impressions, we turn to Gamespot and Gamespy. From the Gamespy article: "The game opens within the primordial soup, which absolutely teemed with blobs and squiggles of prehistoric life. As your creature evolved into a 3D environment and swam around in the sea, the water swarmed with life: plants, bubbles, little microorganisms. That same detail carried out once your critter walked out onto the land, where tiny insects buzzed around. Outer space was cluttered with comets, meteorites, gas clouds, and all sorts of interstellar phenomenon. Visually the game is a treat, not from state-of-the-art graphics but simply from a standpoint of detail and variety." Update: 05/20 15:43 GMT by Z : Wired has an interview with Wright at the expo on the game and what it means for gaming in general.
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Spore Hands-On Impressions More

Spore Hands-On Impressions

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  • I can't wait! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 19, 2005 @06:25PM (#12583626)
    This game sounds fucking great. I love the idea of being able to track how other people react to my creatures and other creations. It sounds like a really interesting game and one that will appeal to me, in particular.

    I don't think it will take on the level of popularity with "non-gamers" like the Sims did. It seems a little more "geeky" than the Sims. I can't wait for this.

  • The obligatory (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 19, 2005 @06:27PM (#12583641)
    Not for sale in Kansas!

    The concept for this game is just plain silly, there is not such thing as evolution!
    • You know I'm really sick of the trolls on this. I live in Kansas myself. If a community wants to decide to teach their children a different thing, that's their bloody business. I may not agree with it, but it is the right of the board and those elected by the people of the school districts and other places in question to set educational standards. There's a reason that the Federal government allows local governments to control those standards to a certain extent...

      If they want to believe Monkeys didn't tur

      • Re:The obligatory (Score:1, Insightful)

        by BlueHands ( 142945 )
        You are without question right. If they want thier children to growup clueless and unpreparded for college, that's thier choice.

        And it is OUR chioce to mock them relentlessly for being such asshats. As for the post,it obviously ISN'T a troll because lots of people here find it funny to mock them. (hint: it's because they are dumb)

      • Re:The obligatory (Score:2, Insightful)

        by lukeml ( 763692 )
        I'm sorry, but the state's (and in some cases the nation's) tax dollars fund public high school education. So concerned citizens have a right to question the ignorance of Kansas' school board. The U.S. as a nation needs to prepare its citizens to be able to compete in a global economy. Biology, especially in the field biotechnology, will be a huge driving force in the economy in the coming years. Is it the right of a community to perpetuate scientific illiteracy? Not in my opinion. We should prepare o
        • And in some people's opinion and beliefs those things are just as valid as your "scientific criteria." Not that I am discounting scientific evidence. But, there's room in this world for more than one belief system, is there not?

          • Re:The obligatory (Score:2, Insightful)

            by lukeml ( 763692 )
            Of course! There should be plenty of room for discussion about alternative beliefs and opinions. But if we're going to teach our students science, in a science classroom, in a public school, to prepare them for science at an accredited college/university, then we MUST teach them SCIENCE. Not astrology; not mythology; and not "intelligent design". Why? Because none of these concepts have survived the scientific process. If you want to teach our kids about intelligent design in Sunday school or philosoph

          • Re:The obligatory (Score:2, Informative)

            by brotherscrim ( 617899 )
            "But, there's room in this world for more than one belief system, is there not?"

            Sure, so long as it's not in a science class. They tend to be more effective if you restrict the instruction to science.

            So, just to recap: Faith and belief are fine, awesome even. But they're not scientific. I don't want science classes comprimised by lessons in bullshit and woo-woo, for the same reason Christians don't have guest sermons on taxonomy by Stephen Jay Gould.

            This "equal time" argument from the creatio
      • I absolutely agree that it's the Kansas school board's right to be fucking morons. It's also our right to call them fucking morons when that is precisely what they are being.

        They're quite welcome to teach religion in a science lesson if that is what they want to do. It only ruins a bunch of Kansas kids' educations; there will be plenty of people from other places to fill all those jobs that require a decent level of scientific knowledge.
      • A government-funded board does not have the right to teach *exactly* what they want. Nor does *anyone* have the right to mess up a child's education this way. If Kansas wanted to teach that 1+1=3 in a maths lesson, would that also be acceptable?

        I don't have a problem with people believing in creationism, provided they are clear that this is stems from a *religious* belief and has no scientific basis in fact. I don't have a problem with people objecting to evolution, provided their arguments are relevant
      • "it is the right of the board and those elected by the people of the school districts and other places in question to set educational standards."

        Absolutely. And it's the right of posters on Slashdot, authors, major media outlets and all major non-US governments to hold that decision up to the light of day and laugh at the silly people who are so threatened by real science that they have to ban (or otherwise cripple) its teaching.

        You have to admit it's kind of funny... well, unless you have the misfortune

    • Re:The obligatory (Score:4, Insightful)

      by drekmonger ( 251210 ) on Thursday May 19, 2005 @10:47PM (#12585503)
      Spore has nothing to do with evolution. Gameplay seems more like Intelligent Design, with the player in the role of God.
    • What if they market it as a fantasy game in Kansas? "Play in a fantastical dream world, where one type of creature can mysteriously transform into another, more advanced creature!"
  • For a second I thought they were making a star trek game based off that one episode...
  • or will it be. I'm not sure the game world needs another Sims(tm) game.
    But perhaps this will be another Katomari like hit.

    Either way, I'm sure it will be a blast.

  • I have a feeling (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    that this game could really grow on people.
  • Wow. I'd swear that's Mark Mothersbaugh [mutato.com] doing the music. Is it true? I'm still angry that I can't buy a Crash Bandicoot soundtrack-- say what you will about the series but the music was great.

    Maybe I ought to ask the biggest DEVO fan [boingboing.net] in the universe-- he ought to know.
  • Is it just me, or is anyone else freaked out by the SimCity 4 or SimCity 3000 (can't tell which, since I listen to both soundtracks all the time) music playing in the background at http://spore.ea.com/ [ea.com] ?

    I know they're both EA companies (Maxis and these other people), but it's still disturbing :)
    • Spore's original title was SimEvolution. They just changed it to avoid all the Bible thumpers.
      Video games are bad enough, but a video game about evolution? Forget ever marketing it in the midwest.
    • Um. This is a Maxis game. As in the same people that made Sim City.
    • It's from Simcity 4 rush hour (the expansion pack for Simcity 4). I can even check the name of that song.

      I guess they took a song they already had a license too and didn't want to make a new one. It's fitting anyway.
      • Doesn't sound exactly like the Rush Hour song, but it's dang close. Could just be the compression tricking me, but it seems remixed to be more "Spacey" or whatnot.

        Yay for off topicness.
  • Everything I read about Spore causes me to lose sleep due to anticipation. Why must you make your games look so appealing so far in advance of their release, Will Wright?

  • I've sworn off "revolutionary" gaming... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by patio11 ( 857072 ) on Thursday May 19, 2005 @09:40PM (#12585141)
    ... since playing Black and White. This sounds like another possibly quite impressive tech demo which was conceived during a bout of "I am a better game designer than you" one-upmanship. And like six separate stages of the game with completely different revolutionary mechanics? Thats great... how many of these are going to be fun to play? I'm not the type who shells out $50 to look at an avant-garde piece of digital art which happens to have some interactivity in the simulation.
    • I got the B&W vibe when I read about teaching your creatures to eat by dragging food. If Spore is anything like B&W, I will stay far, far away from it. That "game" was awful.
    • You are totally right: B&W didnt have a GAME. But neither does the sims. People Love the sims and yet B&W died a painful death. I think that is because the Sims doesn't try and be a game where as B&W did and failed.

      What is REALLY weird is that B&W flaws didn't show up when you first played it. For the first 20 hours or so your learning the interface, how to get things done, ect....and then realize there is nothing more. The game never comes.

      Spore could TOTALLY be the same way OR it could b
    • But look at the track record... this is Will Wright, who has a history of making games that people enjoy, as opposed to Peter Molyneux, who has a history of making games that don't live up to his hype.

  • E.V.O? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Dizzle ( 781717 ) on Thursday May 19, 2005 @09:49PM (#12585208) Journal
    This game sounds a hell of a lot like E.V.O:The quest for eden for the SNES (or something like that). Basically you start out as a fish, eat other fish to get evo points, then get evolutionary things like fins and teeth and stuff. The game got very loopy at the end, but it sounds like a VERY similar premise.
    • I thought immediately about ECO, a game on my old Atari ST back in the late 80's. I think it was availible on the amiga as well:

      http://www.atari.st/view.php?id=498 [atari.st]

    • EVO for the SNES is a great game. I just played it last December on my SNES copier. The game is strange though, in story and gameplay mechanics. To this day I am not sure if it was a platformer, action game, RPG, or an adventure game... but it is a fun game to play, so that is all that matters. It is easy to pick up, easy to learn, and doesn't take more than a week of playing several hours a day to complete :)

  • Saw it above, but... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TJ_Phazerhacki ( 520002 ) on Friday May 20, 2005 @12:55AM (#12586124) Journal
    I must say - I am torn between eager anticipation, and relentless horror. Black and White looked revolutionary - it was even fun to play - for the first level....

    The only reason I am even bothering to follow this one is that it's Will Wright. C'mon, anyone who can turn out good games on a track record like his deserves some anticipation.

    Just don't let him know, or he'll get caught up in the hype himself (Ahem, ahem, Fable? The entire freaking lionhead team???)

    • As a Fable owner, I understand it was a disappointment compared to the hype. But, it still was a fun game with above-average graphics.

      However, I don't see hype as such a bad thing. Sure, it gets everyone's hopes up and then crushes them like a fat chick in a vat of popcorn. The good thing it does, is encourage innovation. Even if the game itself can't live up to the innovation, the ideas it puts into the gaming industry can be very valuable, even if not realized for several years.

      People just need to t

  • Great game (Score:2, Interesting)

    by ElectricInkPen ( 798717 )
    I had the opportunity to see Will Wright personally demo Spore at the Living Worlds games conference a couple of months back at Georgia Tech...and it looked incredible. The whole reaction and scripting driven system just made everything look awesome, and funny little creatures with razor sharp teeth, and extra hands growing from their posterior make for good laughs. The whole content-compression ratio, or however he described it is what will make the multiplayer universal thing great here though...a few k

  • I don't want to evolve (Score:5, Funny)

    by nelG ( 101890 ) on Friday May 20, 2005 @04:10AM (#12586777)
    For those who just don't want to evolve out of the primordial slime, is it possible to just stay a microbe?

    Of course to get the full benifit of the game, my microbe army will develop thriving civilisations, with advanced technology like all those other multi-cellular organisms that think they're better than us microbes.

    They will feel the wrath of our doomsday device... or maybe just a runny nose - haven't decided yet.

  • Microbes and three-legged dinosaurs.
    hrmpf

    If this game is so open-ended, then how to I build my ownUnicron? [unicron.com]

  • This game just looks too smooth...
  • It looks pretty interesting. I would probably buy it too, if it turns out to be as cool as it looks. Except for one thing. It's being put out by EA Games. Remember them? [blogspot.com]

    I do.
  • Here's a summary that I wrote up of Will Wright's Spore demo, which he gave at the Game Developers Conference:

    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
    http://www.donhopkins.com/home/WillWrightSporeDem o .html [donhopkins.com]

    "Advice: If you have a weird idea that's so outside of the box, don't forget it. You should go back and revisit your weird ideas later

  • Here's a summary that I wrote up of Will Wright's Spore demo, which he gave at the Game Developers Conference:

    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
    http://www.donhopkins.com/home/WillWrightSporeDem o .html [donhopkins.com]

    "Advice: If you have a weird idea that's so outside of the box, don't forget it. You should go back and revisit your weird ideas late

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