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Spore: Definitely coming to Wii
Will "I love Wii" Wright, daddy of The Sims and Sim City, has revealed what we've all long suspected: Maxis is bringing life simulation Spore to the Wii. Wright didn't expand on when the Wii version would be ready, merely telling the Guardian that "We're doing Spore on the Wii." As many of you will know, a DS version is already in the works.On an entirely unrelated note, turns out Wright is also something of a DS strategy fan. "With the exception of Advance Wars on my DS, there's no one game that I spend a huge amount of time playing," he said, managing to make us like him even more. Dude just loves his Nintendo.
Will Wright reckons Wii is the only 'next-gen' system
And before you get all uppity and start hurling stacks of duct-taped Gamecubes at the poor man, consider that his opinion isn't based entirely on console innards. In an interview with Guardian Unlimited, Will Wright gives us some insight into what goes on beneath the television in his living room. While the renowned designer confesses a love for Guitar Hero (Wright is a human: confirmed), he notes that the Xbox 360 is left to gather dust while the Wii and PC keep him occupied.Wright believes the Wii is worthy of the "next-gen" moniker because it's, well, getting another generation to play games. "The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii – the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement," says Wright. "But the Wii feels like a major jump – not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic." We know Peter Molyneux thinks differently, but we'll leave them be until we've recreated them in Spore and set them at each other's throats. Wright goes on to reiterate that Wii owners will be able to tinker with everything sim Spore, presumably after work on the PC and DS versions has been completed (sometime in the next 6 months, as Wright stated elsewhere). Click the "Read" link to learn more about Wright's stance on education in games, society's blame game and "direct neural connections."
Will Wright most impressed by Wii this generation
Well, here's a change. Instead of putting the Wii on the level of last-gen consoles, which some developers have done recently, Will Wright believes that the Wii is the only console deserving of a "next-gen" title. The Spore creator recently told CVG, "Somebody asked me what I thought next generation meant and what about the PlayStation 3 was next generation. The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii - the PS3 and Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement." To Wright, next-gen consoles must reach a new demographic, which the Wii has done. Furthermore, it's Wright's Xbox 360 that sits unused, collecting dust, while his Wii gets played constantly. We don't completely agree with Wright's assessment, since we think that the Xbox 360 and PS3 bring more than graphics to the table. Still, it's nice to hear a well-known developer praising the merits of the Wii rather than dismissing it because of its weaker graphics.
Will Wright says Spore around six months out
We're still not getting our hopes up too high, but we thought that you should know that Will Wright told the BBC's Radio 5 Live that Spore was fully playable, in final testing and was "roughly" six months away from release. Considering that we already knew the game wasn't due until at least April of 2008, this news doesn't come as a huge surprise, signs have been pointing to Spring of 2008 for quite some time.But who knows what could go wrong between now and then, right? It's a simulation of everything that's ever happened, for crying out loud. Your entire life story is contained within, as well as the life story and memories of everyone you've ever known. Forget about looking forward to playing it, we're just hoping Wright finishes it before it becomes sentient and kills us all.
Wright rocks the Enterprise in Spore video
We don't know if we're alone in this, but Spore videos have ceased to be game previews to us. They're more like transmissions from some sort of alternate dimension where the word "game" has taken on a whole other meaning. It's a world where arguments of a game's superiority are less about polygon counts than how many millions of different species are available at retail. Rather than debate weapon strength, they debate the aesthetic values of entire species.Unfortunately, it also seems to be a world where development cycles aren't spoken of in terms of months but rather in decades. This new video, which shows Will Wright creating a non-flying bird and zipping around in what appears to be the U.S.S. Enterprise, certainly doesn't help make waiting any easier. Luckily, if human evolution has taught us anything, it's that we're good at waiting.[Via GameStooge]
Spore coming to the Wii
Even though its developers might not love the Wii, the game still has the likelihood to come to the Wii. During a closed-door session with the game at Leipzig, Maxis exec Patrick Buechener commented on the possibility of the game coming to consoles. "Not right now, but we see this as a franchise," he said, further adding "It just won't be at launch." Apparently, their resources are focused solely on the DS and PC versions, at the moment.[Via Joystiq]
LGC07: Spore for consoles ... after PC, DS versions
During a Leipzig GC closed-door demo of Spore, Maxis reaffirmed plans to develop console versions of the ever-evolving sim game, but stressed that current resources were limited to the PC and DS builds. "Not right now, but we see this as a franchise," Maxis exec Patrick Buechener told Eurogamer when asked about console releases, adding, "It just won't be at launch." So when is launch?
Joystiq's Kevin Kelly talks delays on G4
Have all the game delays got you down? Put a relaxing cap on your Tuesday workday by watching Joystiq's own Kevin Kelly explain why Uncle Niko won't be able to visit this Halloween, why Blacksite might be here for Thanksgiving and why nothing short of a Christmas miracle will get Spore out the door before the end of linear time, generally speaking.If you're still not cheered, you can thrill as Kelly storms into the G4 studios and beats the intellectual bejeezus out of Rebecca Swanner, Senior Videogames Editor for Penthouse Magazine! ... And by "beats the intellectual bejeezus out of" we mean "politely disagrees with." Sorry for any confusion. Check the small-ish video out after the jump.
Will Wright's Spore to be playable at Leipzig
Though absent at this year's E3 media summit, Spore is still reportedly on track for a 2008 release. According to GameSpot, Will Wright's simulation of Life, the Universe and Everything will be shown behind closed doors at this years Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany.How far along will the game be? Will we get to try all of it or just select portions? We'll find out soon enough; the Leipzig Games Convention takes place August 23 to 26.[Via Evil Avatar; thanks, Sam]
EA bigwigs playing Spore, sticking with '08 release
EA CEO John Riccitiello and EA Games president Frank Gibeau not only are sticking to the fiscal 2009 release date for Spore (meaning April '08 to Mar. '09), but they even rubbed it in that they're actually playing it and "enjoying it a great deal." Well, at least somebody is playing the next Will Wright game.Guess this means Soren Johnson, lead designer of Civilization IV, who left Firaxis to go work on Spore works really quick. From starting at the company in April to getting it into EA bigwig hands in three months. That's impressive. We really have no idea what's going on with Spore. For the first time in years it wasn't at E3, but we'll continue to hope that sometime in 2008 we'll actually get to play it. And hope, and hope.
Today's most delayed-and-ambitious video: TED Spore demo
Video of Will Wright's TED Spore presentation from March has recently appeared online. Wright expands on prior Spore demos, giving an overview of the game and explaining parts of his design process. The information-packed 17-minute video keeps us interested in the total life simulation -- from origins to galactic colonization -- but reconfirms how wildly ambitious the project has been. We've been trying to play over/under on the projected ship date window of April, 2008 and March, 2009, but nobody wants "under." But whenever Spore finally arrives, we hope Wright and the other designers can deliver on the unique concept. [Thanks, Guillaume and Kevin]
Spore, uh, still delayed until fiscal year 2009 [update]
The last we heard from Will Wright's ambitious Spore, it was conspicuously absent from Electronic Arts' fiscal year 2008 plans, which put the release sometime past March 2008. The latest issue of Game Informer (via CVG), which seems to have a wealth of exclusive news lately, has also mentioned that the game has been pushed back into fiscal year 2009, which starts April 2009 2008. [update: fixed a 365-day typo]We aren't sure if the magazine writers are using the same EA fiscal report or if they have different contacts, but the wording implies this is confirmation that the Sim Everything title will be a ways off. We already knew that, but we hate hearing it again.
Next SimCity changes hands
We brought word of the new SimCity title earlier in the week and now 1UP reports that SimCity Societies won't be developed by Maxis, which is presumably swamped with not finishing Spore. The reins will be passed to Tilted Mill Entertainment, which you might know from their work on Caesar IV. Surprising no one, the internet wasted no time in losing its mind. We see some of the first evidence in the hit forum thread "You killed Sim City!". Showing more consideration (or is it cunning?) than we've ever been accused of having, Tilted Mill president Chris Beatrice tried to calm fears in the thread, writing "This SC is not a realistic urban simulation, which I understand, to many, represents the heart of what SC is. No one is blind to that. And if you're just completely turned off, even angered by the mere notion of any game called SimCity that is not a detailed, realistic urban simulator, I absolutely understand that viewpoint, and absolutely respect it." Looks like SCS will be the big game in this month's Games for Windows Magazine, so we'll reserve judgment until we lay our eyes on that. Or, you know, until the game comes out and we actually play it. One of the two. [Via CVG]
Remember Spore? It's not coming in 2007 anymore, we're afraid
If the incredibly ambitious title Spore, from the creators of SimCity, SimWhatever, and SimSimulation, is slated for a 2008 release just for the PC now, when will it appear on consoles? After some earnings reports were issued, Electronic Arts went ahead and said that Spore was removed from their fiscal year calendar (it goes until March 31, 2008) and are expecting a release in late '08.Recently re-appointed CEO John Riccitiello had a few things to say about the project and its progress slash delay. We say slash because putting a slash is just plain foolishness. "Spore is a title we have enormous confidence in. I've had the chance to review the title three times in my short return to the EA, and it looks fantastic. I will also tell you that its release will be right up [to] the bubble in Q4 [of fiscal '08], if not sometime in early fiscal '09, so we don't feel comfortable in forecasting it." But why the delay? QC -- quality control. We want this game to rock, so let's give Will Wright and his team as much time as they need to make this game the best it can be.
Spielberg's Wii project to be released before April 2008
Electronic Arts said in a conference call today that the Steven Spielberg-helmed Wii project will be released during the upcoming fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2008. This would likely make the Wii project, dubbed "Wii Spielberg" in the conference call, his first of three games planned to be released.Regarding Spore's delay, EA's recently-returned CEO John Riccitiello said that though it might come out at the end of the fiscal year, it is more likely to be pushed until the following quarter, which puts the release date sometime before July 1, 2008.The Spielberg Wii project is said to join other Army of Two, SKATE, EA Playground and Boogie as original IPs being released this fiscal year. In terms of quantity of release, EA said that they are planning around 20-23 games for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, 10-13 for Nintendo DS and 10-13 for the Wii.
No Spore until Q2 2008 ... no, seriously
It's worth noting that Spore isn't in the 2008 fiscal year plans for EA. This means that Spore is not expected to release until, at a minimum, April of 2008. Observant readers probably saw this coming when last month Soren Johnson, lead designer for Civ IV, joined the Spore development team, meaning that there's probably still a little way to go. We'll just make the pain of this post come to a abrupt end by saying that Spore has been in development since 2000 and only prescient aliens evolving on some other planet know when it'll actually release.
From Firaxis to Maxis: Civ IV designer leaves to work on Spore
Soren Johnson, lead designer for Civilization IV, has left his nearly seven-year gig at Firaxis to work on Will Wright's Spore. Johnson had previously worked with Spore publisher Electronic Arts when he interned there and programmed for the PlayStation titles Knockout Kings 2000 and 2001. The news originally surfaced earlier today on Civilization site Apolyton and was later confirmed by Electronic Arts, according to GameSpot. The decision requires Johnson to move from Maryland to California. There is no indication as to why Johnson left Firaxis or in what facet he is helping with Spore this late in the game's development cycle. (The title, having been in development since 2000, is scheduled for release by the end of this year.) Of course, there's the obvious possibility he'll be helping out with the civilization phase of the game. Johnson's personal blog has not been updated since this year's Game Developers Conference. As Gamasutra notes, Johnson had been working on an original IP for Firaxis; its fate is currently unknown.
SXSW: Joystiq live at the Will Wright keynote [Update 1]
We're live in Austin, front and center for the Will Wright keynote speech, where the attendees seem a lot more excited for this one than they did for the Dan Rather speech yesterday. I guess that might change if Dan Rather was actually working on a groundbreaking new game that has almost as much buzz around it as the Apple iPhone.Will Wright is wandering around visiting with peeps, and he his arm in a sling for some reason. As we find out, we'll let you know. Maybe he's been spending too much time Spore-ing.1:56pm: They've started playing celestial new-agey Yanni-type music and showing slides of the solar system. Maybe Will Wright has decided to become the new Carl Sagan. Now the music sounds like a twangy version of the Firefly theme song. Browncoats, FTW! The slides keep pulling farther back and showing beelyuns and beelyuns of galaxies and stars.2:06pm: Will Wright is sitting right in front of us and talking with a Tucker Carlson lookalike, complete with floppy hair and bow-tie. Wright is wearing a sort of muscle-shirt combo with the sling. It's very steampunk and aggro. We snuck a look at his XPS laptop on the stage .... no screensaver.%Gallery-2103%
Spore's power struggle: freedom vs. beauty
What is a magic crayon? If you're envisioning Harold and his purple outlet of creativity, you wouldn't be far off from the intended metaphor. Chaim Gingold, design lead for Spore's editors and cell game, described the magic crayon as a toy that is simple to use and yet gives the user enough power to create something they'll appreciate. Gingold kicked off his presentation, one of the last after a marathon of lectures and roundtables at this year's Game Developers Conference, by defining a magic crayon through example. Photoshop is not a good magic crayon, for example, because it is very hard for most people to use. Neither is Super Mario Bros., since you are not changing anything in the world. Kid Pix fits the schema for a magic crayon, as does the Mii creator, which is an "absolutely beautiful, wonderful magic crayon," he said.
Spore developer rants on Wii
Chris Hecker didn't pull any punches at GDC's "Game Publisher's Rant" session. The Maxis developer began his "Fear of a Wii Planet" diatribe by declaring, "The Wii is a piece of sh*t."He went on to describe the console as being vastly underpowered, citing low graphical standards and an inability to process complicated AI. According to Hecker's exaggerations, "The way you manufacture a Wii is you take two GameCubes and duct tape." As if that wasn't already enough to break a fanboy's heart, he called on Nintendo to "make a console that doesn't suck ass." His complaints weren't limited to hardware gripes -- he also criticized Nintendo for not pushing games as an art form. Maybe he hasn't seen Electroplankton or the bit Generations games?Hecker's rants from previous years were just as brutally harsh on Sony and Microsoft, but we're sure that will do little to tame the wrath of offended gamers. Bringing Spore to the DS might have earned him enough good will to make it out of the session unharmed, but he might want to avoid walking around GDC alone at night until this cools down.
