Much-delayed game lets you play God

Tag : Electronic Game

Whereas The Sims let players control the daily routines ofhuman-like characters as they went about their careers and sociallives in a suburban setting, Wright's new title, which has been indevelopment for six years, ranges a bit wider in its subjectmatter.
In Spore, players oversee the evolution and development of aspecies, starting from its earliest moments as a multicellularorganism floating in a puddle. With the right guidance, a player'svirtual life form gains sentience, develops technology andeventually travels into space. The game's powerful design toolsallow players to follow their imaginations and create a giant raceof friendly-looking teddy bears, if they like, or monsters thatlook as if they might have been plucked from a horror movie.
If certain games are about giving players a sense of control andpower, then Spore is the ultimate expression of the urge to playGod.
"We wanted to impose as few limitations as possible," Wright said."If you want to make a creature without a mouth, you can; they juststarve off the bat."
Frank Gibeau, president of EA Games, the division of ElectronicArts that owns Wright's studio, said the company sees manypossibilities for this new franchise. "This is going to be along-term business for the company," he said. "I think of Spore asa platform that we want to build over multiple years."
In addition to a version designed to run on computers with Windowsor the Mac operating system, EA is also launching versions for theiPhone and the portable Nintendo DS game system this weekend.Versions for game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii are in theearly stages of research and development, though the company isn'tready to say when those might become available. A version thatcould be played in a browser window is also under consideration.
But it would be something of a feat for Spore to live up to thehype surrounding it. Wright's fans expected this game years ago,but its release was put off as the design team tweaked it andincorporated new features. Although Gibeau would not comment on thesize of EA's investment in the game, industry analyst MichaelPachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities said he believes Spore'sdevelopment cost in the neighborhood of $50 million. Even at such aprice tag, Pachter said, he expects Spore to be "wildlyprofitable."
In theory, every Spore player will encounter a unique of mix ofspecies over the course of the game. That's because as a player'screations evolve, they are periodically uploaded to the Web andadded to a comprehensive online roster called the Sporepedia.Players can either choose which species they want downloaded totheir virtual universe or let the game automatically download arange of life forms.
Wright said his new game is closer to social networking sites suchas Facebook than to online multiplayer games like World of Warcraftin the way Spore depends on its users to create much of thecompelling content. The game went on sale in Europe last week, andWright was amused to note that some players there have alreadycreated virtual life forms that look like Care Bears.
Pachter agreed that the shared-user-creativity aspect of the gamemight be its most intriguing feature. "What is interesting here isnot the fact that Will Wright made another game but that he made agame that has an element that has never been in any game ever," hesaid.
Spore's software leaves it largely up to the player whether aspecies will thrive as a result of befriending neighbors on itshome planet -- or, alternately, hunting them down for food.
As a species begins to thrive, players earn "DNA points" that canbe spent on developing better versions of next-generationcreatures. A certain type of leg or foot might make a player'screature run faster or jump higher. The development options aplayer is shown are based on his or her previous rounds of choices;that teddy-bear species wouldn't be able to quickly evolve into atwo-headed-snake species, in other words.
As with The Sims, there isn't exactly a way to "win" the game. As aplayer's pet species develops the technology to venture into space,Spore users can keep exploring the virtual universe for as long asthey wish. There's already plenty to see. EA released a bite-sizeversion of the game this summer to early players eager to try outthe game's creature-creation tools. As of Friday afternoon, therewere about 4 million virtual species listed on the Sporepedia.
So in a way, Spore isn't done yet, even if it is finally about toreach retail shelves.
"It feels good to get it out the door," Wright said. "(But) this isthe point where the fans pick up the game and finish it for us."