Spore finally evolves to retail Sept 7, 2008

55 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Feb 12th 2008 1:01PM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Mac, PC, Simulations, Mobile

Spore, the sim-everything simulator, finally got its amino acids together today and plopped out a release date of September 7, 2008. Looks like EA's boss was right that the long-in-production sim would reach retail "before the holidays" on the PC, Mac, Nintendo DS, and mobile phone platforms. Maxis' main man Will Wright said, "We're in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can't wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year." That makes, well ... just about all of us.

Spore countdown is: 207 days, 12 hours, 47 minutes and 35 seconds.

Gallery: Spore

Read – Spore movie announcement
Read – Spore text announcement

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Gallery: Spore (mobile)

Gallery: Spore Creatures (DS)

Gallery: Spore: new pics (12 Feb 2008)

Check out all our extensive coverage of Will Wright's Spore, including impressions of the PC, Mac, DS, and Mobile releases; news of the "creature-only" version that will be released early; some pics of Will Wright's office; and more!

Tags: BreakingNews, EA, Maxis, Spore, Will-Wright

(Page 1) Reader Comments

Huey2k2: Feb 12th 2008; 1:04PM

Wow... I seriously did not see this coming at all. FANTASTIC news.

Zertoss: Feb 12th 2008; 1:05PM

Happy birthday to me! Thanks, Maxis!

NeoGohan: Feb 12th 2008; 2:21PM

Sept 7 is my bday too. woot.

giantenemycrab: Feb 12th 2008; 2:32PM

Hey, mine too. What do you know, guess it's a popular date to be born. Happy birthday to me(and you guys), indeed. I can't wait to to grab this game, it's going to be so awesome.

Zertoss: Feb 12th 2008; 3:36PM

Sept. 7 is historically the day awesome people are born. I guess the same applies to games.

Lemmiwinks: Feb 12th 2008; 3:36PM

All three of y'all's parents started "sporing" you on New Years Eve.

eliteeggnog: Feb 12th 2008; 5:39PM

Whaddya know, mine too!

meledeo: Feb 12th 2008; 5:42PM

Haha, my birthday too. I guess everyone's parents like to get busy around Dec. 7. Pearl Harbor day = aphrodisiac?

Cesaria: Feb 12th 2008; 7:21PM

Mine is the 6th. :( I guess I'm not cool. *locks himself in bathroom*

madcatbg: Feb 12th 2008; 1:05PM

finally!

NeverSage: Feb 12th 2008; 1:06PM

Wow. Unexpected!

Shmil: Feb 12th 2008; 1:07PM

Sept 7 2008? i guess i'll book my ski trip to hell for that week

fyreblazer: Feb 12th 2008; 1:33PM

Don't forget your handbasket boarding pass.

Jonah Falcon: Feb 12th 2008; 1:11PM

There's also a fansite kit being released soon as well.

jynxycat: Feb 12th 2008; 1:16PM

Do want.

therpham: Feb 12th 2008; 1:26PM

With free bonus disc: Duke Nukem Forever!

FOXHOUND: Feb 12th 2008; 1:36PM

Maxis could make it up to us by offering any/all of the following:

a BATTLETOADS sequel
16oz bottle of CRYSTAL PEPSI
Duke Nukem SPORE creature("It farts to see!")
An APETURE SCIENCE jumpsuit & heel springs
Snipe eggs
Blu-ray playable Wii console with 120GB hard drive(LoL c'mon... the drive slot is blue luminated... do the stupor-math! ;D)
SimGame Developer (delayed until 20XX! How Realistic!)

Jonah Falcon: Feb 12th 2008; 1:43PM

Were you like this with the 7 year wait for Half-Life and the 6 year wait for Half-Life 2?

FOXHOUND: Feb 12th 2008; 2:39PM

Wow. Calm down, man. You're all over the place. x_o No one's hating on SPORE. We're just sarcastically/humourously skeptical. ;]

Biscuit: Feb 13th 2008; 12:53PM

7 year wait for Half-life?

Uh...no. Valve barely worked on HL 2 years.

Kevin: Feb 12th 2008; 1:26PM

In other news: Spore has changed it's release date to Jan XX, 200X.

tc: Feb 12th 2008; 1:41PM

good, cuz we all know what happens in 20x6...

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Feb 12th 2008; 1:44PM

...Are you asking for a CHALLENGE!?!?!?!?

BPM VII: Crisis Core: Feb 12th 2008; 2:10PM

I love to fight! And sometimes challenge!

Vegnagun bwf: Feb 12th 2008; 4:28PM

What's this!? A challenge has arisen from the ground!?

J.Goodwin: Feb 12th 2008; 1:39PM

Five months of polishing?

Hell, most console dev studios are happy to get three weeks to polish at the end of a project...and those are the studios that are releasing games that aren't crap.

Jonah Falcon: Feb 12th 2008; 1:42PM

Bad math. 7 months. Well, actually, 6 months and a bit.

J.Goodwin: Feb 12th 2008; 1:47PM

I presumed that they would have to go gold at some point and stop polishing. I figured five weeks from RTM to the ship date, I could still be off a few weeks though.

Corbo: Feb 12th 2008; 1:54PM

As I understand it, most games, especially ones expected to be as popular as this, are done about a month or so before release so that the disks/carts can be made. Add in some time for what would have to be pretty extensive testing of multiple different versions and the timeframe makes a bit more sense.

And what makes you so sure that this unreleased game from the man and the team behind some of the best-selling (and actually best) games of all time will be crap?

J.Goodwin: Feb 12th 2008; 3:37PM

I didn't say it was crap.

I said that the console developers who get three weeks to polish are the ones (console developers) that aren't releasing crap.

I haven't played a Maxis game in years, but the last one that I did play, I enjoyed (one of the Sim City games). I'm not sure I'm in Will's target audience anymore though, since I really have no particular interest in this game as a game. As a long running troubled development soap opera, it had it's appeal :D

jynxycat: Feb 13th 2008; 9:37AM

From going gold to shipping to the manufacturer to shelves can be as little as two weeks. Console games usually take an extra week or so, as the console maker has to also check out the game to make sure it meets technical requirements. Luckily, PC developers don't have to worry about that, just the publisher's standards.

Chances are they'll submit a RC to EA well in advance though, since testing on this bad boy will take quite some time.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo): Feb 12th 2008; 1:43PM

Jesus christ. Wasn't this game supposed to come out like three years ago?

Jonah Falcon: Feb 12th 2008; 1:48PM

Um, NO. Who told you THAT?!

The alpha beta demo was shown at GDC 2005. No one thought it would be coming out in 2005, or even 2006.

When they hired Soren Johnson (of Civ 4 fame), everyone knew they were going to beef up the City and Civ phases.

Spore is more or less right on time. Honestly, a 4 year development is nothing for a game of this scope. Games like Half-Life 2 are LINEAR.

Spore is trying to do EVERYTHING, including a massively single player aspect.

bobartig: Feb 12th 2008; 2:54PM

Alpha Demo at GDC 2005? No, that wasn't an alpha. That was more like concept art.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Feb 12th 2008; 1:45PM

GoNintendo has a writeup about the Wii version.

Jonah Falcon: Feb 12th 2008; 1:48PM

There is no Wii version (yet). No manpower for any other platforms.

From the Press release:

Spore will be available for the PC, Macintosh, Nintendo DS™, and mobile phones.

I don't see the Wii there.

Wright's expressed a desire to develop it for the 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, and every single platform known to man.

Guess what? Unless EA says it, it's just words. For one, you need manpower to develop more platforms. That's why the Wii was dropped as an OFFICIAL platform for Civilization Revolution - NO MANPOWER.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Feb 12th 2008; 2:10PM

Hey jackass, if you'd actually GONE to GoNintendo.com, you would have seen the interview with Will Wright where he's talking about Wii Spore Development.

deaftly: Feb 12th 2008; 2:10PM

Well EA needs to invest in a man cannon then.

Fernando Rocker: Feb 12th 2008; 2:45PM

Jonah Falcon

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/12/will-wright-talks-spore-on-wii-delays-procedural-music/

STFU!

snowy: Feb 12th 2008; 1:52PM

ill believe it when im swimming in the primordial ooze

Jonah Falcon: Feb 12th 2008; 1:54PM

Which means - every morning? >:)

Blazur: Feb 12th 2008; 1:54PM

Great news!!

*head asplodes*

deaftly: Feb 12th 2008; 2:07PM

Replying before Jonah Falcon does!

J.Goodwin: Feb 12th 2008; 3:39PM

You mean the WWDF?

Shawn: Feb 12th 2008; 2:15PM

oh yeah, this game should be excellent at the office, can't wait

sam: Feb 12th 2008; 2:15PM

Are games often released on Sundays? Seems odd.

xeleion: Feb 12th 2008; 2:18PM

It seems to be becoming more and more common. Brawl's going to be released on a Sunday, and if I remember correctly, Guitar Hero III was released on a Sunday too.

BPM VII: Crisis Core: Feb 12th 2008; 2:16PM

I cannot believe it!

Blazur: Feb 12th 2008; 2:25PM

Yeah, neither can I. I'm pretty effing excited about this game, and this news came as a pleasant surprise. Hopefully it doesn't get pushed back :(

What version is everybody getting? I'm definitely opting for the PC version. Consoles become obsolete and don't offer as much control as a keyboard/mouse. Spore could very well be a keeper which will keep getting reinstalled every several years.

I considered the Wii, but frankly I'm not too confident on the horsepower or multiplayer capabilities this console has to offer.

Now if we could only get a release date for SC2 ;)