Spore Creatures Now Outnumber Known Earth Species 128
GBC writes "AFP is reporting that, as of a week ago, the number of creatures in the "Spore" database exceeded the number of known species on Earth. They are created using 'Creature Creator,' which is available in a free (with limited parts) or paid download at the Spore website. Will Wright seems extremely happy with the progress so far: 'We hit 100K in 22 hours and a million by the end of the first week. The numbers are just blowing us away.'"
What percentage are... (Score:5, Informative)
...penis creatures [ctrlaltdel-online.com]?
Re:What percentage are... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What percentage are... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What percentage are... (Score:4, Funny)
No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. The author's a cad.
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Re:What percentage are... (Score:4, Funny)
Don't be angry, Buckley. Your art and comedic skills should improve...eventually.
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Hey now, just 'cos I think OP was OT doesn't mean you should start hurling insults. I'm NOT Buckley.
I can be funny when the situation demands.
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Bad link (Score:2)
I do hope you realize that the link you made to "your" profile does nothing for any of us. I mean, did you even look at the URL to notice that there's nothing that uniquely identifies your account in it?
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Re:What percentage are... (Score:4, Funny)
But sooner or later, the novelty of creating giant animated penii will wear off.
If that's true, how do you explain Second Life's continued existence?
Re:What percentage are... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What percentage are... (Score:5, Funny)
But sooner or later, the novelty of creating giant animated penii will wear off.
Speak for yourself
8========D ~~
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That smile face has a really long nose!
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Pssst! It's penises! It's also octopuses and viruses! The word penis doesn't even end in "-us" for fuck's sake!
Re:What percentage are... (Score:4, Informative)
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You two stop being penii.
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Re:What percentage are... (Score:4, Funny)
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I'm going to make a planet of vagina creatures then use them to bilk the penis planets of all their wealth...
that's not milk you're drinking there
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It's not a penis creature, it's vermiform fauna. The fact that it shoots a viscous white goo when you pat its head is completely coincidental!
(having not played with the creature creator yet, I would be horrified to discover such a thing is possible)
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Actually you can only make them spurt... er, shoot... er... SPIT purple goo. Although you can make them do it on command, as often as you like.
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Although you can make them do it on command, as often as you like.
Ah, that must be where the novelty is for these guys.
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Now, the myriad of Goatse creatures that I saw...
Yes but... (Score:4, Funny)
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Exactly like real life!
Or was that just the varieties of humans on this planet...
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It really says something about the people who'll play this game, no?
How many per user? (Score:1)
Re:How many per user? (Score:5, Informative)
# Total number of creatures uploaded: 1906743
# Total Users Total number of users: 675241
# Creatures Uploaded in last 24 hours Creatures uploaded in last 24 hours: 30567
# New Users in the Last 24 Hours New users in last 24 hours: 7853
1906743 / 675241 = ~3 creatures per person. I've uploaded 130 myself, but there are a lot of of 1-time-only-creature creators too. As far as I've seen, very few users are over more than 200 and even 100 only somewhat common.
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Yeah, this is just like the hoopla over the American Idol people saying there were more votes for AI than for the last presidential election. However, since people voted multiple times (MANY multiple times), while it seems to imply that there is more interest in AI than politics, it is just a misleading statement that makes it look as if Americans only care about the next big singer (whether or not we are is beside the point, this is only about misleading #s due to multiples being allowed).
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Yes, yes, realistically 1 voter = 0 votes.
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No no no
As N approaches the actual voter, his respective vote appears to diminish to 0.
Now we have to ask if accepting a vote is even important in a popular election anymore, or are the reported figures just being generated with an abacus and a shaker table? (Hint for the imaginationally impaired, shake an abacus on a flat surface and then read it. It should always change to some degree)
No, I'm forgetting that these are the people who can't use an abacus in the first place.
I am /me and I approve this mess
Worried (Score:4, Funny)
Should it worry me that there is more interest in fake creatures then real ones these days? This is turning into Pokemon on Meth...
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You have it wrong. More of x does not mean people are more interested in it. There are far asteroids than planets in our solar system, but planets receive a lot more interest.
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nor are planets, nor are regular species. The whole argument that quantity=interest is extraordinarily specious.
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Tweakachu! I choose you!
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I helped (Score:2)
My amazingly large number of 3 creatures helped add to that database.
And it's only been out for a month (Score:3, Insightful)
I guess this takes the concept of Wikigroaning [somethingawful.com] to a whole new level.
Rob
Me too... (Score:2, Insightful)
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It reminds me of that old joke:
"I wish I had enough money to buy an elephant."
"Why do you want an elephant?"
"I don't, I just want the money."
It's a relevant size measurement. People know there are a lot of Earth species - this must mean there are a lot of Spore "creatures." The point is that people put (at least some) effort into creating these things, which means that it must be doing alright. If the average person spent a mere five hours on a creature (although I haven't used this due to system require
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It's more like .5 hours. I put my 12 year old brother in front of it for the first time and he made an impressive looking creature in about 30 minutes. It is an amazingly simple tool to use. If the other parts of Spore are as streamlined and elegant as the Creature Creator it'll be one of the most impressive games in years. I doubt that will be the case, though. There are some tutorials on the Spore website. You can watch a Maxis employee throw t
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Oof, thanks. MEANT five minutes, not hours. The meager math following that inane statement uses five minutes.
Besides, the average human can't spend five hours on ANYTHING.
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It's a relevant size measurement
So, this is the "Library of Congress" for biology:
Professor: There are more ants in that anthill than known species on Earth!
or just Spore?
Will Wright: We've got more creatures than known species on Earth!
I stand by my complaint about relevance. :D
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The number created for Spore also are created in a vacuum. They aren't all on the same planet competing for resources and space to live.
The creature creator would have been much cooler.. (Score:1)
... if it had a console where you can hack the creature's DNA! Or at least try altering the DNA to give it mutant powers!
Really it would be a fun exercise and it and it could teach what can go horribly, horribly wrong with just a little nudge to the DNA here and there. 8)
Re:The creature creator would have been much coole (Score:3, Informative)
Really it would be a fun exercise and it and it could teach what can go horribly, horribly wrong with just a little nudge to the DNA here and there.
You obviously haven't seen the creatures that already have been created with this software. Some of them are the definition of "horribly wrong."
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That'd just not work, you'd end up either changing an intron or breaking some important protein blueprint, making the creature unable to live. It's like letting you fire specific neurons in your creature's brain, you'd just end up causing seizures.
DRM on Creature Creator? (Score:3, Insightful)
I've mostly been staying away from Spore because of the fairly restrictive DRM it's supposed to be shipping with. Anyone know if the creature creator tool also installs the DRM?
I just recently re-formatted and re-installed windows, and I'm trying not to bog it down again with crapware like DRM systems that drag down my system performance.
Personally, since I can't get the full game without DRM, I'm not sure I'm too interested in the CC even if it *doesn't* have the DRM, since it's not *much* use creating a creature but never playing the game.
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From what I've read even the free creature editor comes with SecuROM, so yes, you should stay far away from it.
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From what I've read even the free creature editor comes with SecuROM, so yes, you should stay far away from it.
Which is common now, apparently because the executables from "demo-esque" variants of games could often be editted (without too much difficulty) to run the full game, given the full game's data files. So if the demo doesn't have DRM, then they've just made their big DRM investment worth even less, by doing most of the hacker's/pirate's (depending on your POV) job for them already.
At least, that's the best explanation I've ever run across as to why freely distributable demos get DRM. I don't know how si
Re:DRM on Creature Creator? (Score:5, Funny)
I just recently re-formatted and re-installed windows, and I'm trying not to bog it down again with crapware like DRM systems that drag down my system performance.
Then why did you install Windows?
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There's no DRM built into WinXP or Win2003 (and probably none in Win2008). Of course, there's no sane reason to install Vista.
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DRM (Score:3, Informative)
Gah!
I did that several months ago. It hasn't allowed me to watch my purchased DVDs since. Apparently, it doesn't like my VGA connection to my monitor.
I had to go learn how to rip DVDs just so I could watch the video I legitimately purchased.
Ironically, WMP 10 has no problem playing the ripped content, or any DVDs that I burned myself.
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But even after installing WMP10 you can still watch your DVDs on a real player - the DRM is in WMP, not in the OS.
Tricky Geniuses at Maxis/EA (Score:4, Insightful)
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True, but don't discount the cost of building the software. It's over-budget, behind schedule, and from what I've seen so far, totally kicks ass!
Re:Tricky Geniuses at Maxis/EA (Score:4, Interesting)
It's over-budget, behind schedule, and from what I've seen so far, totally kicks ass!
That's the way it should be. It's why Blizzard is one of the only group out there that makes a good product - Damn the release date! A better game is better for everyone in the long run. Really, that line should read:
They're putting every resource they have into making this the best, taking every day necessary to make it even more awesome, and from what I've seen so far, totally kicks ass!"
*insert joke about how DNF must be, ipso facto, the greatest game ever made*
Re:Tricky Geniuses at Maxis/EA (Score:4, Insightful)
Quoth Shigeru Miyamoto: "A late game is only late for a while. A bad game is bad forever."
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The database is incomplete (Score:2, Funny)
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Re:The database is incomplete (Score:4, Informative)
My mom always told me . . . (Score:1)
Beware of the Spores (Score:3, Funny)
"The Spores Dana, beware of the Spores, and the Invid. Beware of the Invid. They will come in search of the Spores."
How many Spore creatures are Duplicates? (Score:2, Interesting)
I wonder if anyone has duplicated another user's creature without knowing about it....
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Yey for EA, Can't wait for expansion (Score:1)
wow (Score:1)
A crying pity (Score:2)
Wow, was I looking forward to this game. *Did* I love that free creature creator demo!
Wanted to buy the full version, but here in Europe it costs 10 EUR instead of 10 Dollars. And when I sniffed about I found - secuROM.
And my happyness collapsed into a crying heap. SecuROM! And, yes, the full game will have it too!
Good-bye, Spore. I'm really very sad, but it looks like we'll never meet...
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huh - it's interesting to see this - pudge does lots of it too but usually keeps it to his journal. not saying it's bad, just don't know that i've seen other editors actively advocating political positions in the front page threads.
will there be some sort of 'official' slashdot take on things or is it just more of a free for all? and if so, does the editor thing come into play at all - as far as moderation and what not, or are you guys operating under different rules than the rest of the participa
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-1 No Indiana Jones reference
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Have you seen the millions of miles of untapped, yet leased land given to the oil companies already?
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Actually, no they don't. The predictions are that ANWR will require 10-30 years of exploration before extraction can begin save for 1000 acres along the coast that have already been explored.
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Have you seen the millions of miles of untapped, yet leased land given to the oil companies already?
Other than leased land so far underwater that we lack the technology to drill, oil companies are currently pumping *everything* they can stick a drill into, even slow-moving interns! Oil is $140 a barrel, man - is there some non-greedy oil company you're imagining here?
What a retarded meme.
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I've seen pictures of Gabriel Anwar.......pretty hot (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000270/).....especially in certain scenes in Body Snatchers.
Layne
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Here is a long picture diary [jmg-galleries.com] of a trick to ANWR that prove you absolutely positively don't know what you're talking about. But then, I think that should be apparent given the name of Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.
Drilling in ANWR would not yield significant benefits to the oil market until 2026 according to the Department of Energy [doe.gov].
It seems before you should tell people to get perspective, you should stop deluding yourself with homemade "facts".
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And if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.
We should be reducing our oil dependency. Period. Full stop.
Doing irreparable damage to the ecology of ANWR for a theoretical supply of oil that at the most generous estimates would supply the US with less than 6 months of oil in 20 years is not good policy.
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I remember the whole "we won't get benefits for 10 years" arguments 10 years ago, man, and 20. Drill here. Drill now.
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We need to be focusing on moving away from oil. We need to find a fix for our problem, not a temporary patch that will only last a short time.
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Drilling in ANWR will not destroy a wildlife preserve, or even be noticed by the wildlife - there's a *lot* of land up there. Your proposals might help the cost of gas, but they would fail to piss off hippies, so they have no benefit to society. Come up with a way to make bio-diesel directly from vegetable rights activists (Soylent black?) and maybe you'll have something.
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Have you been to the Arctic? Tundra [wikipedia.org] is [gudzon.net] not [angelfire.com] barren [cornell.edu].
It is treeless, but thats a long way from being barren. Many areas are covered with flowers, moss, lichen, and are host to all sorts of birds, insects, mammals, etc. The huge caribou herds are the most obvious wildlife. Lush, no. Beautiful, yes. There's nothing quite like coming over a hill and seeing the entire side of a mountain covered with blooming purple flowers.
You're right that oil drilling will disturb only a tiny fraction of the area in the r
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In all seriousness, what does drilling for oil under the ground have to do with wildlife above it? Not that I necessarily agree with doing it, with gas at absurd highs it seems high time to start exploiting our reserves, which include massive amounts of oil shale.
Norway seems a roughly similar environment, did drilling for oil somehow extinctify all of their wildlife?
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