So today the big buzz about Spore was regarding a creationist website called Antispore.com protesting the game and attacking Spore for it's evolutionary teachings.
An Anti-Spore site has appeared online to protest against the evolutionary message of the popular game.
The site says that the EA game is their "biggest attack on Christian values to date" and "will not be tolerated".
Concerned that the game will "invade our homes and poison the minds of our children", the site's author writes:
"Yesterday I found out about a new game called Spore when my son asked me to buy it for him. It looked innocent enough at first and has E for Everyone ESRB rating. But don't be mislead, apparently 'everyone' means everyone they want to teach evolution to."
The site also attacks EA employees with the nicely worded: "not a single one with enough Jesus to stand up and say what they are doing is wrong".
An intrepid investigatory friends pointed out the following section of the blog:
But the Bible teaches us that God was not done with man. For we were His creation and He then spoke to Noah in Genesis 8:21-27 after the flood. “21. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never gonna give you up. 22. “Never gonna let you down.” 23.”Never gonna run around and desert you.” 24. “Never gonna make you cry.” 25. “Never gonna say goodbye.” 26. “Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.” 27.”Never truly believe anything you read on the Internet. There will always be cases of Poe’s Law.”
It’s these teachings that I’ve spent my life learning, believing and becoming, that have made me the woman that I am today.
OK, while I admit the thought that this might be fake occurred to me briefly, I was a victim of this most holy rick roll. Well done...though now the entire intarwebz is angry at the creationists.
Got my copy of Spore yesterday, and pretty much spent most of the day revelling in the sheer WEIGHT of the Galactic Edition box. So prettty...I want to make rubbings of the textured box sides. Or maybe make a rubber stamp out of them and make giftwrap...see, even the BOX is a sandbox!
I had social committments that prevented me from actually PLAYING until like 9 PM last night, but I finally got the kids to bed and fired up the laptop. Alone at last! I clicked that little desktop icon to launch Spore. There will be a plethora of reviews out there I'm sure, so I'll just throw in a few giddy and disjointed thoughts.
I love the tidal pool stage! I wish it had gone on longer, and I will definitely play it again. It's just beautiful, and I loved that there were bigger things beneath that you couldn't QUITE make out, and how each time you grew it zoomed out, that really felt like switching magnifications on a microscope to me.
At the start of the land stage, I walked over to some carcass, and started chowing, and then realized, that former creature had a NAME, that was actually somebody's creation, and that's when it struck me how VERY cool it is to have all this shared community content populating your game. Massively single-player is where it's AT, and I can't wait to play again tonight, and to strive to create interesting creatures that will amuse anonymous somebodys out there as they attack or team up with my creations in their own game.
So it's 9:30 Saturday night, we got the call from EB that my Galactic Edition of Spore is in, and will be ready for pickup tomorrow morning.
It's so exciting, I'm all nerves!
One thing, though, Maxis, WHERE'S my Spore count-down party night widget?!? It's not like we can have a line party here, we're all at home, and yet I feel like there's a connection between me and thousands of other Spore geeks right now, and I wish there were a way to convene and celebrate. After all, the saga of this game's creation has been a LONG one, we've been fans of this game for ages, and this is the eve of a new dawning. I just think it would have been cool (and very much in line with the social networking awareness they've displayed for Spore on other fronts) for Maxis/EA to open up a chatroom or something, or throw us a few launch party graphics to put on our blogs. But I'll forgive that oversight and celebrate in my head, along with the rest of you!
I'm going to head over to some of the fansite forums to see if there's anybody as hyped up about this as me. And maybe I'll wander into Creature Creator and make some cute big-eyed bunny or chick type thing. Just because I haven't yet. At this point, when I get the full version of the game tomorrow, I think I'll be starting off with Elsie. She and Flygar are my favorites so far.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 2008--The wait is almost over! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Maxis today announced that Spore(TM), the most anticipated video game of the year from the creator of The Sims(TM), has gone gold and will be available for the Mac and PC at retailers September 5 in Europe and September 7 in North America and Asia Pacific. Spore(TM) Creatures for Nintendo DS(TM) and Spore(TM) Origins for mobile phones will also be available globally September 7.
Players who preorder Spore or Spore Galactic Edition from participating retailers will receive a coupon good for $10 off their next purchase of custom merchandise at www.zazzle.com/sporestore. For the ultimate Spore fan, the limited Galactic Edition will contain the 'Making of Spore' DVD, 'How to Build a Better Being' DVD (a 50 minute National Geographic Channel documentary DVD hosted by Spore mastermind, Will Wright), 'The Art of Spore' hardback book, an exclusive Spore poster, and a premium 100-page Galactic Handbook.
"We are so excited to finally get Spore into the hands of fans and players," said Lucy Bradshaw, executive producer of Spore at Maxis. "The Maxis studio has had an absolute blast creating Spore, but the fun is just beginning. The most engaging stories are truly the ones people create themselves, and we can't wait to see how players not only craft and explore the Spore universe, but hear what stories they have to tell as a result."
Spore gives players their own personal universe in a box, allowing fans to create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even spaceships. Players can then seamlessly share their creations with the world via the Sporepedia(TM) and explore infinite new galaxies created by other gamers*.
Unfortunately, Steve Wiebe failed to reclaim the Donkey Kong World Record this week at Twiistup 4, but you can read a full account of the attempt, as well as the background details on the whole battle with Billy Mitchell for the #1 score.
Also, if you've been hiding under a rock, then I feel it's only fair to inform you that Act 3 of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is live today! GO WATCH IT, it's only available until tomorrow at midnight. Then you'll have to pony up (Bad Horse, that was for you!) for the upcoming DVD. Which, if you're a Joss Whedon fan, you're going to want to do anyway; for it shall be full of extras.
In Spore news, joystiq.com has two, no wait, three interesting tidbits to share. First, the space phase of Spore is to provide 15 to 20 hours of gameplay, and has some sort of twist ending that is under wraps. Second, a producer at Maxis said that there is a strong possibility that Spore creations will be exportable to Maya (a real 3D modeling program). This might be a good time to let you all know that Maya offers a free personal learning edition. So if you've ever wanted to dabble in 3D creation, this is a great opportunity!
Thirdly, this was news to me at least, the same article mentions creating your own music in the game. What? Is there anything Spore doesn't do?
Oh, look! Will did a Spore presentation at E3! (clearly, he saw me talking to Molyneux yesterday).
Just listening to Wright speak about Spore is fascinating. I love him for his mind, you see, his passion for the sciences, for making them accessible, and for the desire to see his games become more than just entertainment. The Part 2 clip above shows the latest intro to the game, and the end, when the narrator closes with the overarching reality that the creatures of Spore were created and guided through their entire evolutionary existence by "YOU"...that literally gave me goosebumps. THAT is a God Game. The potential and vastness of it all simply takes my breath away.
One of the coolest things mentioned in this presentation was their latest irresistable promotional effort, Sporevote.com - celebrities using Spore! Elijah Wood, Emeril Lagasse, Curt Schilling, Stan Lee...talk about celebrity endorsements. I can't wait to see MC Hammer's Spore creation!
So today was the big day, the debut of Act 1 of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Their strictly word-of-mouth campaign seems to have worked; traffic volumes brought down the site this morning, and it's been up only briefly since.
The alternative, for those who simply can't wait, is to pay a nominal fee to see it on iTunes. That, apparently, is going pretty well too. According to the official fansite, it's rapidly climbing the charts there.
UPDATE: 7/18/2008. I finally saw Acts 1 and 2 last night, and I have to say that at first it wasn't grabbing me. But stick with it, it gets better, and there are a couple places where the dialog is just explosively funny. I'm really looking forward to Act 3!
I've also been watching the E3 coverage on G4tv, which has been pretty good. Heard that Portal: Still Alive (which is apparently NOT Portal 2) is going to be an exclusive on Xbox Live Arcade. Sah-weeeet. If they're going to make it as easy as a download for me to play it, I'm IN. OK, even if they hadn't, I'm not missing it this time around. I wonder if Jonathan Coulton will do another end credits song for it? I mean, how could he not, but at the same time, how could he match Still Alive?
Also caught the Microsoft press conference, and had one of those awkward moments as I realized none other than Peter Molyneux, my previous flame before this new Spore thing with Will Wright, was taking the stage...
Oh god, it's Molyneux. What should I do? Pretend I don't see him, or be proactive and go over there? Damn, why did HE have to show up here, things have been going just great with me and Wright, I don't NEED this right now...ehhhmmm, hi Peter. How've you been? How's Lionhead doing? Hope things are going well.
What's that? Fable 2? Oh, man, don't start with me on that again, yes, I've heard of it, but I told you, we're THROUGH. I'm not getting involved again, I just can't go through getting my hopes up on the next big thing, and you painting your wild fairytale stories of gaming nirvana...you always reel me in with that stuff, and then the reality is invariably less than what you promised. No, Peter, Will and I are happy now, we're really building something meaningful with this Spore thing. He cares about my social networking needs, he makes it EASY for me to make gorgeous 3D animals, and then upload videos to Youtube. I never knew it could be like this.
Alright, listen, I'll hear you out, and see your preview, just because I still do care, deep down...I really do wish you the best, but I'm telling you, I'm not interested.
(oh cripes, he's employing a little chickadee-type bird, my kryptonite. We've been together since Bullfrog and Dungeon Keeper, he knows me all too well.) Oh wow, look at that medieval town in all it's quintessentially medieval goodness...what, you have a ridiculously smart pet dog in Fable 2? You can play as a girl? You walk across the world and see little globes of light that represent your friends in THEIR games, and you can go invite them into YOUR adventure, right then and there? Holy cow.../swoon
No, dammit, nooooo! I've seen this one before, and I know how it ends! I gotta go, Peter, it was nice seeing you, good luck with Fable 2 and Dimitri and all that.
Wow, how awkward was that?! Well...maybe I will keep an eye on Fable 2's progress. You know, mostly just to avoid showing up at the same social gatherings...
On the night of June 17, in an ancient time-worn grotto, a group of hooded figures danced at a great bonfire. The Cyclopean ruins of some unnamed and ancient city kept the gathering secret in a concealing embrace. Round and round they danced, celebrating the approaching fruition of something cosmic, and diabolical. Far greater than the horror of this scene was the revelation that these persons were none other than Will Wright and the EA/Maxis team responsible for the impending new evolution simulator game, Spore.
It's been established that these guys know how to print money. They did it with the Sims series, and for whatever reason, the Federal Reserve never pursued the matter. Now I'm convinced they're about to do it again, starting with a devastatingly clever teaser program the likes of which I've never seen. It's sort of a pre-order program, except they have a regular pre-order program too.
Spore itself is not out until September, but EA/Maxis recognized the fact that players were going to relish agonizing over every tiny little detail of their creatures, and would spend literally hours playing with the character generation portion of the game. Why not let them get a jump-start? And so they released the creature creation portion of the game on June 17, as a free trial download, and as a $10 deluxe version.
Unlike regular pre-order programs which yield some trivial tchotchke in exchange for a downpayment and committment to buy the product (this helps marketing project retail sales figures, and is typically not a profitable exercise), Creature Creator is the actual character creation portion of the game. Not only that, you can download both the free trial and the full version, something most pre-order programs shy away from to avoid annoying their retail distributors.
Now, does the $10 you slap down for the full version go towards your $50 purchase of the game? NO, no it doesn't. And will we pay it anyway? If the fact that the initial wave of traffic crashed the EA store when the pay option went live is any indication, the answer is yes. There they go printing money again.
So they must be pretty confident in their Creature Creator, right? I'll be the judge of that, thank you, and it'll take more than just some eye candy and cute little animals to impress THIS jaded gamer. First of all...can I have that galaxy intro screen as a screensaver, pretty please? /drool
Creating a creature is incredibly easy, and it's not at all necessary to have something in mind ahead of time - just jump into the sandbox! My 2 year-old had NO trouble understanding that the creature we were making was composed of the body parts she pointed out, and had a blast putting together the beast in the video below. Once you've built your critter (which is virtually guaranteed to look cool), you can choose from a wide range of colors and body patterning, then take it for a test drive.
In the test drive phase, you can put your creature through various animation paces with the click of a button. Make it dance, flex, and confront it with up to 3 "mini-me" hatchlings. Adorable. Want a screenshot? Click a button. Want to film your creature? Click a button. Add your video to Youtube? Click a button. Send a postcard to a friend? Create an animated gif avatar? Everything is SO easy to do, and as the insert puts it, "This is just the beginning of your Spore adventure."
This game is going to take full advantage of the online social space. There's already a Facebook app going live in a few days, a Youtube creature dance-off contest, and talk of all sorts of blog embeds and online functionality, not to mention the automatic "MySpore" page that comes with your account, and the collective community Sporepedia your creatures will be added to (over 900,000 added already). Oh, and did I mention customizing coffee cups, t-shirts, and postage stamps with your favorite creation? Yeah.
I thought I'd escaped the ultimate timesink when I broke free of MMO addiction. This has the potential to be much, much worse, and the real game isn't even out yet. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
PS - 6/27/08 Oh, I am SO upgrading my pre-order to Spore Galactic Edition! For $80 - the new price point of deluxe editions it seems, shared by Guitar Hero Aerosmith - you get the game, a special handbook, a 'Making of Spore' DVD video, the 'How to Build a Better Being' DVD video by National Geographic, and a couple other nice though less exciting items in the form of an art book and a fold-out poster. Definitely worth the extra cash from what I've seen so far.
Yes, Will Wright, so far you're doing a great job wining and dining me after the rough breakup I had with Peter Molyneux. Peter, I will ALWAYS love you for The Movies, and for the opening sequence to Dungeon Keeper 1, but Black and White 2, and Fable, just didn't have the magic. I hope we can stay friends, maybe with B.C. for the XBox...
So today the big buzz about Spore was regarding a creationist website called Antispore.com protesting the game and attacking Spore for it's evolutionary teachings.
