Joystiq Video: Wired Spore Event, featuring Will Wright and Robin Williams [update 3]
by C.K. Sample, III 
{ May 11th 2006 at 5:50PM }
Last night, Randall Bennett and I had the good fortune to attend a special Wired event featuring Will Wright showing off his next masterpiece, Spore, with a wonderful guest appearance by Robin Williams. We managed to get footage of the entire event and we even scored interviews with both Wright and Williams. Thanks to everyone over at Wired for inviting us!
In the interest of getting this to you as soon as possible, we've uploaded the full 40 minute, 420MB file, which you can access via this link: [link]. Please right-click and save the file locally before viewing. It's 480x360 3ivx wrapped in Quicktime and should play nicely on your video-capable iPod, should you own one.
If you feel like waiting a bit and think that 420MBs is ginormous, then give us about an hour and we'll update this post with some separate chapter-sized versions of the video. Enjoy!
Get the video
[Huge] Get the full enchilada
[Cutdown1] Get the first 10 minutes (Will Wright introducing character creation)
[Cutdown2] Get the next 10.
[Cutdown3] Get the following 10.
[Cutdown4] Get the final 10.
Update: Someone was kind enough to make a torrent: [link].
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paul @ May 11th 2006 6:06PM
Did Robin Williams make a creature?
Dr Pope @ May 11th 2006 6:07PM
Woohoo! Looks like 40 minutes of pure yey, thanks Joystiq!
Les @ May 11th 2006 6:11PM
Might I humbly suggest you guys considering uploading this to either Google Video or YouTube and allowing folks to share it on their blogs? (With proper credit given to Joystiq, of course.)
That would be wicked cool of you.
NeoGoddess @ May 11th 2006 6:12PM
*Smiles* This is great, we're getting enough spore info/videos in the last two days my head will probably explode. I feel like I need to inject spore straight into my veins right now, yet they're going to make us wait until we can actually play.
Robin Williams is a funny funny man.
Jason @ May 11th 2006 6:13PM
how hard is it to put on Google video and Youtube? I mean this thing is huge!
C.K. Sample, III @ May 11th 2006 6:22PM
As I said in the post, we uploaded it big to get it online fast. Shorter versions are coming soon. And we'll be rolling it out to Google Vid and You Tube as soon as we can (but they have a 100MB cap, etc etc).
Les @ May 11th 2006 6:26PM
Coolness! Thanks for sharing it via Google and YouTube.
Ittiz @ May 11th 2006 6:36PM
Cool, I just can't wait for spore to come out! :)
Captain James Skull @ May 11th 2006 6:38PM
LINK BROKEN!!
AHH! WHY DO YOU TAUNT ME WITH VIDEOS OF SPORE I CANNOT SEE?!
jabbertrack @ May 11th 2006 6:44PM
Damn! Robin is a pretty big gamer... who knew!
C.K. Sample, III @ May 11th 2006 7:10PM
Sorry about the link snafu.... all fixed and working now.
Knox @ May 11th 2006 7:14PM
LMAO, Robin's creature was the epitamy of retardation. Poor thing, creating that was just cruel. Loved the vid Joystiq, and congrats on scoring the double interview.
Will @ May 11th 2006 7:35PM
Wow! And the download speed was incredibly zippy. Big thanks guys.
student @ May 11th 2006 7:41PM
Robin Williams was great in there and I bet it really did great for the press of the game. I was laughing at my computer and it really just makes you imagine how much fun the game can be when you have his commentary. They need people like him on those G4 gaming shows, he knows a lot more about games than the crap they put on there. The only thing that he mixed up was the "Wii Two" but talking about Black & White, Populous, Red Steel... you can tell he plays games. I remember the story back in the day, a reporter heard his daughter was named Zelda and said "Oh like Fitzgerald?" And he said "no, like Miyamoto." Classic.
Thumbs up for Robin Williams and two thumbs up for Spore, it has me really excited.
The one thing that does worry me though is the incredible emphasis on creature creation. Yes, there's adaptability but i wouldn't mind seeing more real gameplay than anything else. How much is there to do after you've made your creature?
devian @ May 11th 2006 7:44PM
*sporegasm*
Eliot Phillips @ May 11th 2006 7:49PM
I love the part where Will zooms out so you can see the entire galaxy and whoever is sitting next to the camera says "my god..."
Sagan @ May 11th 2006 8:18PM
There is one problem I see with this game: There is an entirely galaxy which I can spent countless hours on while exploring it. But Why would I want to do this? I mean, sure it's fun discovering new species. But after the tenth planet I will be like "Sure, I can fly over to that solar system, but all I'm going to find is randomly placed planets, randomly placed creatures and randomly placed artifacts. No "real" content."
As I said I am going to do this ten times, maybe even twenty times, and I'm probably going to have fun while doing this, but after that it is going to get boring, and I am going to want story and characters and nothing that is randomly generated.
Danno @ May 11th 2006 8:22PM
My god.... it's full of stars!
:D
I think Robin was calling it the Wii two because of the two iis. Maybe he was like thinking they were lowercase Roman numerals, which is the only reason that would make any sense to me.
Still, it's clear the dude's hardcore. Actually, I remember reading an article about his Everquest characters a while ago...
Danno @ May 11th 2006 8:24PM
Sagan: Well, yeah, but it's not like the Galaxy is passive. In the demo, you could see that Will pissed off another race that had galactic power. Think about building an empire and trying to rule the galaxy!
Also, I meant to include this link: http://www.palantir.net/2001/tma1/wav/stars.wav
Ryuukuro @ May 11th 2006 8:41PM
I agree with the computer: Robinoid babies must not be allowed!
(Is it a Robinoid or a Robinsaurus?)
Nolon @ May 11th 2006 9:06PM
Why you people wish to watch in on YouTube and Google ? Honestly thats lame. Whatever happen to good old download the video and watch it. It isn't hard. Not as though we are all on 56k modems. I mean don't get me wrong. I like watching things on YouTube and Google. But it never compares to downloading it.
Kevin @ May 11th 2006 11:25PM
Ack! I skipped this because I was at the Microsoft party and too tired afterwards. Was there any cool swag? MS gave out these exclusive Xbox Live kits which were pretty decent, and I netted some wacky faceplate. Anything good from Wired?
ssonicblue @ May 12th 2006 12:49AM
could someone put a link to the Google or Youtube vids? I can't seem to find them.
Peter @ May 12th 2006 2:29AM
This game is gonna be great. This is taking video game creativity to it forefront. Creating your own creature and its own world that it lives in. I will probably buy this game, and this is from a person that doesn't really love the Sims games at all. Will Wright is an absolute genius. When people say video games rot the mind, they should first look at this game before they make rash judgements.
Jared Schwager @ May 12th 2006 8:37AM
I swear, this game gets better every time I see another video of it. This game has given me the most hype out of any game at E3 this year. And a big bonus is that it's for the PC. I won't have to worry about having to buy a PS3/Xbox 360/Wii.
As someone else said. The download speed was quite nice. I hit a high of 805 KB/sec.
web design uk @ May 12th 2006 9:24AM
I really can not wait for Spore to be released
marcelg @ May 12th 2006 10:16AM
This game is awesome!!! I cannot wait to get it on my 360!!!! Weeeeeehoooo!
Alek @ May 13th 2006 4:24AM
"There is one problem I see with this game: There is an entirely galaxy which I can spent countless hours on while exploring it. But Why would I want to do this? I mean, sure it's fun discovering new species. But after the tenth planet I will be like, Sure, I can fly over to that solar system, but all I'm going to find is randomly placed planets, randomly placed creatures and randomly placed artifacts. No 'real' content."
Well, if you were watching, you will have learned that it's NOT all random. Most of the content comes from players who have made their own civilizations and planets. Maybe you're not a big exploration person, but with this level of godlike vastness, millions of others undoubtedly will.
If it's pulled off right, this will be the biggest thing to hit the game scene since the invention of multiplayer Deathmatch.
Psy236 @ May 14th 2006 1:06PM
Hey marcelg, as far as I know, it's going for PC only. I don't think it'll be on 360. I could be mistaken tho but I haven't heard anything about console access.
And when r they gonna announce release date?!?!?!
P.S. DLing the movie as we speak
DinnyHoon @ May 14th 2006 1:48PM
I've never heard of this game. How odd. Meh....
lprsti99 @ May 14th 2006 2:43PM
"Hey marcelg, as far as I know, it's going for PC only. I don't think it'll be on 360. I could be mistaken tho but I haven't heard anything about console access."
Nah, in this interview: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/spore/707976p1.html wright confirms that spore will go on all platforms, including cellphones, but the PC version will come out first
bl8ant @ May 15th 2006 12:09AM
ok, i dont need a Wii anymore. (i still want one of course)
and i dont need a ps3 either. although, can i really live without the next 4 chapters of ratchet and clank? and jak and daxter? and sly? maybe. i dont know yet.
and i never needed an xbox 360. there are cheaper and easier ways to burn down my house.
but if you havent already guessed by my blatant microsoft bashing, i'm a mac user. have been since 1978. am i actually going to have to install (an albeit pirated) version of whatever pathetic ripoff of OS X microsoft is peddling as a user interface on to my pristine, mid-2007, 8-core, 24mhz macPimp desktop? of course i'll have a few thousand tb's of storage, which should be enough to hold the 8 DVD vista install, provided it's done by then. but then what? i've got a PC hiding in my mac. i'd rather have a nuclear bomb implated in my head.
spore for mac. that's all i want to hear.
josh @ May 15th 2006 3:00PM
i want it... now.
187 John Doe @ May 16th 2006 9:10AM
Robinson doesn't say Wii two, he says Wii too as in as well.
This games sounds great, it is sort of multiplayer though not like WoW where you need to be online all the time which is what I hate about WoW.
I also think how it's strange that this is the first I hear about this game. And this is going all platform? Mobile phones too? Can you connect on your mobile with what you do at home or how will that work? I hope it isn't released for Macs. Macs are not made for games (I own one).
Looks like it'll consume the rest of my life.
Mini-Me @ May 17th 2006 12:17AM
IRT 32.
I believe RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 came out for Mac. Wouldn't be too surprised if this did.
Jimbo @ May 21st 2006 9:55AM
is it definatly coming out for all platforms? and is a demo going to be released before the launch for spore?
mike @ May 29th 2006 10:08AM
is there gonna be a demo for spore before its released???
Shadowfax @ May 29th 2006 6:39PM
This is one game I'm looking forward to! Now I am in no wise a serious gamer, but after reading and seeing just how massive, original, and ever-growing this game will be, I'm definitely buying this first-day it comes out.
P.S. Is anyone else having trouble with the download links? I've been searching for some high-def videos of Spore, but they seem hard to come by. Google/YouTube a low-res, IGN wants money, and now Joystiq is a broken link. Any thoughts or suggestions?
TheMafia @ Jun 6th 2006 2:57PM
You think 420 MB is big??? ....what is wrong with you ppl? ...still on a commodor? Pre-Dial-up?(whatever that might be)
Chris @ Jul 10th 2006 3:42AM
If you want to hear everything there is to know about spore, come check out the spore dedicated wiki:
http://www.sporewiki.com