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Spore Creatures creeps onto iPhone and iPod Touch

by Randy Nelson { Jan 25th 2010 at 8:30PM }

Remember Spore? EA would like you to, this time by means of a seriously retooled version of the Nintendo DS release, Spore Creatures, for iPhone / iPod touch. Announced during GDC 2009, the game hit Apple's iTunes App Store today as a top-down affair costing $6.99.

Like almost every game released under the Spore banner, we suspect that the creature creator is its strongest element. We can't imagine the actual game -- which has players adding new parts to their creatures in order to tilt-control them past obstacles -- will really have legs, so to speak. But hey, we could be wrong ... or you could just wait for the lite version to find out for free.

Spore Creatures ($6.99):

Gallery: Spore Creatures (iPhone/iPod Touch)

Dr Pepper giving away free EA DLC with every purchase

by Ben Gilbert { Jan 6th 2010 at 4:00PM }

We can only imagine the planning meeting at Dr Pepper HQ, during which someone shouts "We must garner that critical gaming demographic! How will we ever best something as inimitable as Game Fuel?! It's got 'game' right there in the title!" Instead of copycatting the naming idea, though, Dr Pepper recently detailed an already announced partnership with EA to give away codes for downloadable content. The promotion details lists a handful of games -- Mass Effect 2, Battlefield Heroes, The Sims 3, Spore, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 -- which have "unique DLC" tied to them.

Rather than forcing an unknown amount of soda purchases out of its customers, we were told this afternoon by a customer service rep that "Every bottle wins." More specifically, each bottle contains a code that can then be redeemed on the Dr Pepper website, thus allowing participants to choose their system and DLC from an available list. We flatfooted to the local AM/PM and didn't spot the prize-bearing bottles, but we'll update this post with more information as we get it.

Steam users report Spore online account issue

by JC Fletcher { Dec 18th 2009 at 2:40PM }

Yes, some adventurers are still exploring Spore and its would-be vast, online universe -- at least, they're trying to. Since late last year, some Spore buyers who purchase the game through Valve's Steam distribution service have been unable to access the game's online component. The issue seems to be related to the serial number that's required when setting up a Spore account, but not provided with Steam copies of Spore.

Users who contacted Steam were told that Valve is working with EA to fix the issue and to continue to play offline until a fix is delivered. A Steam representative, posting in one forum thread, addressed angry users, claiming, "The ETA for a fix is 'as soon as possible.'" In the meantime, if you're about to buy Spore from Steam ... just buy it somewhere else.

Spore Islands launches on Facebook, prepare to drown in invites

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 6th 2009 at 3:00AM }

You likely spend a great deal of your time on Facebook informing your so-called "friends" that, no, you don't want to see their farm, or join their mafia, or become a vampire, or fight their superhero, and so on. We're afraid you'll be adding a new form of denial to your repertoire: "No, I don't want to birth a species from the loam, and force it to fight against your species in an adorable Flash-based display of survival of the fittest." It's a tad verbose -- but if you're not interested in EA's Spore Islands Facebook app, you're going to be saying it a lot in the coming weeks.

If genetic engineering is your bag, Spore Islands sounds like a fairly robust offering -- well, as robust as games built into social networking sites get, anyways. Players can create a species, plunk them down on an island, watch them fight for territorial dominance, improve their stats through evolution, then move them to a friend's island to attempt a hostile takeover. You can check out the game for free on EA's Facebook page -- just go easy on the invites, okay?

Spore Creature Creator builder creates iPhone game about destroying

by Randy Nelson { Oct 29th 2009 at 8:00PM }

Chaim Gingold spent the past few years creating ways to create things in Spore, most notably the game's Creature Creator. Now the former Maxis design lead has decided to take a different path, making an iPhone game that's all about destroying things ... as a creature. Titled Earth Dragon, Gingold's debut effort on the App Store puts players in control of a dragon with some very simple needs: Laying waste to castles and enemies, and abducting princesses. It relies on simple tilt and tap controls to fly, smash and breathe fire.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Gingold spoke of his philosophy on iPhone development, saying, "My mantra while developing Earth Dragon has been 'Make Donkey Kong, not Super Mario Bros.' Think small! If people like it, you still care, you can pile in the other million ideas you have later." As for what he'll do next, it seems that iPhone will again be his platform of choice. "I have a ton of ideas sitting in my personal prototype vault that I've never been able to figure out what to do with, but I think many of them would work nicely on the iPhone, which is exciting to me."

If you're keen on playing the game -- which, in Gingold's words, contains "the most intense level of cartoon violence Apple allows" -- hit this link to the iTunes App Store. Just want to see it in action? Check out the video after the break.

Continued →

Fox making animated Spore movie; Ice Age director onboard; procedural generation, probably not

by Christopher Grant { Oct 2nd 2009 at 10:03AM }

EA is on a movie-making tear thanks to that deal with UTA; it's got The Sims, Dante's Inferno, Army of Two, Dead Space, and Mass Effect. And now, Variety reports that Twentieth Century Fox is signed on to create a CG-animated movie based on EA's make-anything-you-want sim Spore, with Ice Age's Chris Wedge signed on to direct. To put it another way, they're turning the infinite-possibility space of Spore (read: the whole point of the game!) into a distinctly finite feature film. Procedural generation: out the window. Players as creators: nope!

In their place, we'll have a script by the duo of Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, who've written the upcoming films The Princess and the Frog and The Return of King Doug. Blue Sky Studios -- the team behind Ice Age and Robots -- will handle the whole CG-animation part. Keeping watch over their golden goose, EA's Patrick O'Brien and Maxis' Lucy Bradshaw are billed as executive producers.

Of the source material, Wedge said, "From every perspective -- visually, thematically and comedically -- the world of Spore provides the potential to put something truly original on the screen." Bradshaw misses the mark even further saying, "With more than 100 million unique creatures uploaded to our website, it's clear that people are passionate about the game, and it will be exciting to offer a powerful medium like film in order to expand their experience with Spore."

Spore Creature Creator 2-D set free in your browser

by Randy Nelson { Sep 17th 2009 at 2:00AM }

Now here's some ... creative marketing. Maxis has launched a Flash-based browser version of the Spore Creature Creator that mimics the customization found in the retail game fairly closely. Only, y'know, in 2D. All 250 parts found in the 3D creator are available and there's even the option to import creatures from millions found in the Sporepedia (although we found many are "not supported" at this time).

The app is promoting the impending October 6 release of Spore Hero on Wii (and Spore Hero Arena for DS), but, even if you're not juiced about either game, it's great for creating loving, extremely flattering versions of your friends, family and co-workers -- which must then be placed on their Facebook feeds, of course.

Former Maxis employee working on new project, SpyParty

by Griffin McElroy { Aug 30th 2009 at 5:00PM }

If you enjoyed the bioengineering action of Spore, you owe Chris Hecker a debt of gratitude. He was a contributing developer for the title, and is a six-year employee at Maxis -- rather, he was an employee, until he was let go from the company during Maxis' recent round of layoffs. However, he's not recovering from the downsizing by crying into his ice cream -- instead, he's using his newly found free time to develop one of the most interesting-sounding independent games we've heard of in a while.

Hecker's project, SpyParty, pits two players against each other in two different roles -- one plays the eponymous Spy, who must move around a party, discreetly completing objectives and blending in with the other guests. The other player is a Sniper who must identify the Spy's movements, and, well, snipe them. The game was received fairly well when demoed at GDC earlier this year -- now, we hope Hecker will have the time he needs to crank out a finished product. Best of luck, Chris!

[Via Big Download]

EA confirms Maxis layoffs, publisher still committed to Spore

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 26th 2009 at 5:31PM }

Joystiq has learned that at least a couple dozen employees of EA's Maxis studio were laid off today. EA confirmed that the publisher had reduced the workforce, telling Joystiq in a prepared statement, "EA has taken action to reduce the workforce at Maxis as we focus the business and focus Maxis."

The publisher stated it remains committed to Spore and other Maxis IPs. All eligible employees will receive severance and outplacement assistance. If you have more details or anything to add to this story, please feel free to contact us.

Spore spinoffs for Wii and DS arrive in October

by JC Fletcher { Aug 17th 2009 at 10:00PM }

Ready to make some more bulbous, off-putting creatures? EA has announced the official release dates for the latest Spore universe games, Spore Hero for Wii and Spore Hero Arena for DS: October 6 in North America, and October 9 "internationally" (which means PAL regions).

Spore Hero is an action game in which your gross-looking critter searches for creature parts and attempts to save its home from destruction. Spore Hero Arena is a fighting game, in which you fight! It features four-player local multiplayer and one-on-one online play.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this announcement is that October is nowhere near Spring 2010. Look at that, two whole games coming out this year.

Gallery: Spore Hero (Wii)

Gallery: Spore Hero Arena (DS)

Spore Galactic Adventures now has over 100k user-created levels

by Ben Gilbert { Aug 1st 2009 at 11:00PM }

(click to Galaxy-size)

After Spore Galactic Adventures launched in late June, we expected a similar torrent of user-created content that arrived with the original game's release. Though not quite the same in terms of exponential upward curves, the expansion has just surpassed the 100,000 mark of user-created adventures.

For those of you who haven't been spending countless hours with the Robot Chicken-created DLC, there's clearly plenty of other stuff to keep you occupied. EA Maxis suggests you check out "The Silent Beacon," "Valley of a Thousand Deaths" and "The Fog," but we know better. How about the only good version of Sonic in twenty years? Sold!

Gallery: Spore Galactic Adventures (PC)

Dave Perry gives first video tour of Gaikai

by Ben Gilbert { Jul 1st 2009 at 1:30PM }

Between OnLive and Gaikai, we're not sure who to trust less. Both systems are clearly operating under some form of unknown dark magic, allowing the mysterious services to stream high-def gaming directly into your television and computer browser. Both services though -- luckily and necessarily -- have representatives willing to happily test our skepticism in OnLive's Steve Perlman and Gaikai's Dave Perry.

The video (found after the break) has the latter demoing Gaikai, streaming games from Mario Kart 64 to Spore to EVE Online, all from his Vista-powered PC running Firefox on an 800-mile trip between the server and his home. He claims in the video to be streaming all of the games demoed from sub 1-megabit internet speeds and says that "even a NetBook" could run Gaikai with no problems. From what we can see, things are running smoothly, though unlike OnLive, we've yet to get our hands on the equipment. Perry says we'll see more at this month's Develop Conference, so for those of you itching for more Gaikai, you've got a two-week wait on your hands. Perhaps you should play some of those old, less magic-filled gaming consoles you have.

[Via Edge Online]

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Robot Chicken's downloadable Spore adventures are totally tasteful, just watch

by Randy Nelson { Jun 19th 2009 at 6:30PM }

When we first heard that the creators and writers of adult swim's stop-motion comedy goldmine, Robot Chicken, were going to be creating DLC adventures for Spore: Galactic Adventures, we knew the results would be ... unique. Now EA has released a short video showing Seth Green, Tom Root and the rest of the show's writing staff "at work" on the content, followed by a run-through of what they came up with. "Unique" doesn't describe it; in fact, we're not sure any word could. "Nutshit," maybe.

So thanks, Robot Chicken. You've managed to make us want to re-install the game, if only to find out whether Whiney rhino actually obeys the evil clown and shovels the poo he fears so much. Spore, June 23 is your day to shine.

Robot Chicken creators making DLC for Spore: Galactic Adventures

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 19th 2009 at 9:00AM }

The Robot Chicken writing team is designing a free downloadable campaign pack for Spore Galactic Adventures, set to be available at launch on June 23. The campaign was conceptualized by Seth Green and Matt Senreich, then presumably executed by their underlings. The DLC includes "exploding poo, angry yetis, ruler yielding librarians and more," of course.

The team's exploits (in creating the DLC, we hope) will be tracked at the Spore WTF site. At least getting the Robot Chicken crew involved might get "the targeted demographic" talking about Spore again.

EA officially details Spore Hero, Spore Hero Arena

by Jason Dobson { May 12th 2009 at 10:15AM }

Electronic Arts has elaborated on what playing Spore will be like once the primordial goo takes shape on the Wii and DS later this year. The Wii's motion-sensitive Spore Hero will play out as a story-based action game, as players save their planet from being blown to bits while collecting more than 250 creature parts. EA also notes that this take on 2008's evolutionary experiment will feature a new version of Spore Creature Creator, one that's been "enhanced" for the Wii. We expect minigames are somehow involved.

For would-be gods on the go, Spore Hero Arena instead will focus more on combat. Here, creatures travel between planets to slug it out to become the champ and collect spoils, which, in this case, are special abilities to give a creature enough of an added boost and inflated ego to take on the next rival evolutionary misfit. Spore Hero Arena will also support local multiplayer battles for up to three players, or allow two players' creations to go up against each other over Wi-Fi.

Neither Spore Hero nor Spore Hero Arena have been given an exact release date yet, with both expected to evolve onto store shelves sometime this fall.