Spore Is Almost Here

People of all ages have been eagerly looking forward to Spore, the newest project by Maxis, the makers of the hugely popular game, The Sims. The new evolution simulation game has been in development for three or four years, and folks had begun to refer to the project as vaporware. Well, the good news is that they have announced a release date of September 7!

Creator Will Wright promises that the game will be forgiving of non-gamers, allowing them to succeed without requiring hard-core gaming experience. You start out as a cell, gobbling up other creatures and evolving form and abilities, until as a land creature, you get to design your beast to compete for survival.



Maxis is banking on the creature creator being a big attraction, and has lots of plans for this portion of the game, including a separate Nintendo DS release of the creator.

In the tribe stage, you equip your beasts with tools and guide the tribe in warring with other tribes for dominance. Eventually, you'll have a developed civilization which will need your intervention to survive, which ultimately leads to what might be the best part, space travel and exploration of other planets, civilizations, and dominance of the universe.



Wired has provided an interesting preview of Spore, and you can see more screenshots at the Spore website.

It looks to be something fun for kids and adults, but I'm hoping they haven't gone too far in simplifying the game for it to be a challenge to gamers. Either way, it's on my to-buy list.

Of course, evangelical scientists are bound to refute the game's central premise, just as evangelical scientists refuted gravity with new 'Intelligent Falling' Theory.

One for the ladies...

China Miéville, award-winning science fiction and fantasy writer, is interviewed in this first of two parts. I have to admit to not listening to a word he's saying, at least the first time through. He definitely sets new standards for sf writers. Mr. Clean.



Part two is here.