<div align=center>Spore Preview</div>
<div align=center>written by CeaselessMedik</div>

Developer: Maxis
Publisher: EA
Release Date: Q3 PC, TBD 360


(NOTE: these screenshots and this information are from the PC version; the 360 version has only been annnounced, and no other information regarding it has been released.)

In Spore, from the creator of the Sim series, you will create an organism out of DNA and raise it from a single-celled amoeba in the so-called "primordial ooze" to an intergalactic superpower. The game looks very promising, beating Gears of War, F.E.A.R., and Twilight Princess at E3 '05 for Best of Show, as well as being awarded Best Original Game, PC Game, and Simulation Game.

As an amoeba, you'll wander around a puddle of mucky water eating anything smaller than you and avoiding anything bigger in Pac-man-esque gameplay until you get your first opportunity to evolve, where you can add cilia, flagella, spikes, and other organelles.

<div align=center>
Look, mom! No nucleus!</div>

Eventually, your organism will become multicellular. The example at E3 2005 was a similar to a three-eyed alligator-thing that swam around about 10 generations after the amoeba. It is definitely worth noting that the clumsy thing swam just like that - clumsy. The game will sport a "procedural animation system" that will figure out how your creature should move, depending on its structure and shape, and then make it move that way. For example, at the E3 demo a short-legged, bulky creature almost flipped over when it turned.

After earning points as either a herbivore or carnivore by such means as eating, your little eukaryote will lay an egg that, when selected, will allow you to plan the next evolutionary step. In the example of the alligator-thing's next egg, Will Wright, the game's creator, curved the tail over the head and gave it two hind legs and a front leg. From there it sank to the sea floor and took its first steps onto land. The level of customizability in the evolution editor is tremendous, and with each evolutionary step you can not only add new parts, but change your creature's shape, size, textures, and color patterns, among other things. The player can also choose to stay in blobland and keep playing as an amorphous sac of cytoplasm (similarly, you can halt evolution at any stage and keep going when you want to).

One of the most interesting features about the game is that there is an option that when chosen, will place other players' creations on your species' planet's food web. This is not a massively multiplayer game, however - players' creations are simply loaded to a database, from which they will be transplanted onto your world's food web. If you need a huge, land-roving predator, the game will search the database for one and place it in your ecosystem. Will Wright, says this will "bring together the best aspects of massively multiplayer games without the restrictions." Different creatures will have different strengths and weaknesses, and your creature will need to learn how to survive against (or with) them.

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My spider-thing's dad could beat up your alligator-thing's dad.</div>

In the game, you'll be able to teach your creature new behaviors. The E3 example was combining the "eat" command while telling your creature to move to make it drag its food along the ground. After you attain more points, you will have the option to let out a mating call and get another egg. At E3, the alligator-thing let out a warble and some white rings and was met with a mate and a R&B tune. After this humorous occurence, you will be able to add more features, like natural weaponry or brainpower.

The more points you put into brainpower, the smarter your creature will get. They will form a tribe, which the player is then put in control of. The tribe will begin to compete not only with other species, but other tribes of the same species, as well. At this point, you can buy such things as crude weaponry or war drums. At E3, Placing things near the creatures led to a jump and a frenzied rush to figure it out. Placing a weapon rack down led to the alligator-things picking them up with their tails and carrying them around their little hut, which will act as the center of the player's tribe. The hut can be made newer and nicer to unlock new technologies. War drums, in another example, that will throw your species into a frenzied war-dance. Both these things affect your tribe, making it more agressive or even leading to the beginnings of religion.

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MAN, hands would sure help here.</div>

Eventually, the game will become more like traditional "Sims" games; you will be able to upgrade your tribe's dwelling until you have a full-blown city. Will Wright compared it to the "Civilization" games - your species can build its civilization with military, economics, or culture. It's still unanounced if this stage will be a typical resource-gathering RTS. It is known, however, that the buildings and their shape are almost as customizable as the creatures and will be loaded onto the database, as well. Thus, when your civilization begins to build, the database will be automatically searched for building types that suit your civilization's characteristics. At E3, a whimsical pastel town with fighter jets conflicted with a city of steel skyscrapers and tanks (both also customizable, as are all basic units).

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There once was a species of alligators who lived in the small town of Squaloopiators.</div>

After you take over the whole planet, you'll unlock the highest technology you'll be able to research on your home planet, the UFO (very expensive), in which you can skim around your planet and "pick up" samples of creatures plants, and other objects abduction-style. You can then zoom out to view the entire solar system and visit other planets. Not all environents are inhabitable, though, and a mistake (or an action that's not so mistaken laugh.gif) drop could lead to your creature exploding in an inhospitable atmosphere.

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And I think to myself...what another wonderful world...</div>

The best way to check out planets is to drop canisters that will make the atmosphere breathable (I wonder what will happen to the life already there?). Even if you don't, you can still start making air-bubble colonies, or, if you chose to make a race of multi-eyes intelligent sea bass, water-filled colonies. The UFO can even be upgraded to activate volcanoes to create an atmosphere. The biggest upgrade, however, will be the Genesis Device, which can terraform an entire planet.

Eventually you'll be able to zoom out to the entire galaxy and travel to systems created by other players, which you can search for life and conquer or make contact and cooperate with in gameplay Wright described as "Grand Theft Auto"-like. You can even create a federation of planets a la just about every sci-fi show out there. At E3, after contacting another planet, it fired upon the UFO, which began to engage. When its bacsic weapons didn't work, Wright backed into an orbital view and blew the planet up with a super-weapon. With a few million screams, viola! A new asteroid field!

The game promises to be as simple or complex as you want it, as the game will calculate almost everything, so you won't have to edit your buildings or creatures manually unless you want to.

Check out SPORE for a fun video and more info.
Sources:
www.IGN.com
www.Gamespot.com
SPORE

Antic-o-meter: 5 out of 5

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this game looks like it'll be the next big thing

Not really for me
I prefer sports and action games

I like sims. This game looks pretty cool... Any idea of when it'll come out? Even like the year?

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This game looks neat, but i dont see why everything gets 5/5. Like, does anticipated mean how many people want it, or how good you think this game will be?

sort of like how excited people are for it. By chance the first three previews are all of really hyped up and anticipated games so that is why they all are 5's. Upcoming ones aren't all though

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Yeah, so far only ther really anticipated games' previews have been posted. Chromehounds got a four, I think. Maybe a three. The innate problem is that people don't want to write previews for games no one's waiting for. The way we decide the antic-o-meter rating is a poll in the Staff section, so we get a few diverse opinions. W don't open it the the members because that would mean releasing the preview before it's complete.

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I mean, honestly, spore is not one of the most highly anticipated games in general....

after the announcement video a lot of the media got very excited about it

the screenshots probably don't do it justice, if you see a video for it, it is awsome. You have a whole galaxy to explor and planets to see, cultivate, and destory if you choose

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Yeah, that's the thing I'm excited about. And even if the graphics aren't as good as Oblivion's, the technology is incredible, like how it will look at your creature's model and figure out a way for it to move realistically.

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Sorry for the double post, but if I didn't post it here I'd just post it in another topic, and I think it goes here:

Booyah! It would be nice if it was PC and 360 only, but I'll take what I can get. Anyway, more consoles probably means more stuff in the database (if each version shares the same database, which I think would be smart).

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Personally I can't wait for this game.
I think that the best part will be when your civilisation is at its peak and you can form alliances and help to destroy other nations and that.

This game appeals to a broad concensus of gamers: shooters (see above), those who like role playing, and those who enjoy building up civilisations (Sims, Civ series).

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This thread is two years old.

Lol... this thread is closed.

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