After all the delays and the setbacks, publisher Electronic Arts has finally raised the green flag on its upcoming life simulation game, Spore (PC, Nintendo Wii, DS, Mac, and Mobile), and is ready to ship the much awaited title by next month. The company earlier announced that Spore has finally gone gold is now currently in the manufacturing process. Check out further statements issued by EA after the jump.

If you live near or in San Francisco and have some free time on your hands tonight, you may want to head over to San Francisco's Apple Store to watch an hour-long demo of the full game of Spore (PC, Nintendo Wii, DS, Mac, and Mobile), as hosted by Will Wright. The full details after the jump!

This issue is another one of those weeks where you could selectively stave off from spending hard-earned cash, but then there are millions of gamers who need their gaming fix. Gladly enough, third-party publishers on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii have addressed the casual gaming populace, and that pretty much sums up this week's retail release line up. On second thought, no - we still have an MMO, EA Maxis' pre-Spore sampler, a formerly retail, now PSN game, plus the release of Rock Band on the Nintendo Wii. Check the full story for details.

Gamers, here's good news: Will Wright's Spore (PC, Mac, Wii, Nintendo DS, Mobile) now has a definite release date, and we can now finally stop guessing when the game will come out. Sure, the date may be several months away but at least we now have a something real to look forward to. Find out Spore's actual release date in the full article!

When the god of god games himself speaks, the world has no choice but to listen. Will Wright, the creator behind some of the biggest "god games" like Populous and SimCity, talks about the development of his upcoming life sim, Spore (PC, Wii, DS, Mobile), as well as the changing trend on how society adapts to games in general.

As a game designer, Wright wanted his games to appeal to a wider range of people. While gamers were busy killing off each other in all manner of shooter games, he was busy making games which created stuff - thus the birth of the SimCity and The Sims franchise. With most of his games having a strong scientific element, he enjoys making and playing games which call for a lot of innovation in the gaming industry.

He said that games today need to "culturally disconnect the concepts of play and education", only then will can we say that people as a whole have developed in an evolutionary sense. Wright said that when society gains interest and get emotionally involved with games, that's the only time that it becomes culturally acceptable and the next phase of evolution can set in for the industry.

He had his on take on how the gaming industry can be used to focus this movement:

I think the game industry could use spokespeople that try to represent the potential of gaming. The industry hasn't even begun to realise its potential – we're getting there very slowly – but in the meantime we need to be educating the public as to what this can eventually become. If we have more discussion about what games could be versus what they are right now, we might get there sooner.

With the finishing touches on Spore all prepared for its debut six months from now, Wright admitted that there were so many things that he and the developers at Maxis want to include in the game. However, they're still trying to find the "sweet spot" between what they want for both the game and the gamers. While Maxis is known for a lot of its games taking its roots on the PC, Spore will also see versions for both the handheld and console platform. Wright noted specifically that everyone will be seeing Spore on the Wii just as with their previous release, MySims.

Spore (PC, Nintendo DS, Mobile) creator Will Wright has revealed that gamers can get their hands on Maxis' ambitious life sim title in roughly six months' time. This according to video game news website CVG.

In an interview with Radio 5 Live, Wright said: "We have the game fully playable at this point and it's in final testing." This coincides with Electronic Arts' tentative Spring 2008 release date for Spore. Last month, Amazon.com had the game listed for a March 3, 2008 release.

Wright is also looking towards getting not only the hardcore gaming audience to play the game but the more casual gamers as well.

"We've had to do a lot of testing to make sure that the game is accessible by a wide group of people", said Wright. "I want the people who have played The Sims to be able to play Spore - I don't want it to be some thing just hardcore gamers play."

Electronic Arts and Maxis' Spore (PC, Nintendo DS, Mobile) has players creating creatures and guiding them up the evolutionary ladder. Yes, it is as fun as it sounds and you don't have to wait a million years for your creations to evolve as the trailer for the game illustrates.

The video showcases the growth of a civilization from a single celled organism all the way up to space traveling race complete with laser guns. From all indications the amount of control a player will have is amazing, with almost every aspect of your creations being made available for customization. If you're good enough to get these creatures building stuff, you can even influence the architectural style of their buildings as well as their vehicles.

So far no specific release date has been given for the game, but it is expected to come out early next year. Watch the video and be amazed at the wonder that is Spore.

 

One of the more anticipated games of this generation is Will Wright's Spore (PC, DS) - a title that promises not only the insane level of customization that Will Wright masterpieces have been known for, but also the ability of making your own unique life-form, starting right down to the cellular level.

And while current updates about the game have been less than optimistic - with a delay that sees us nabbing copies next year at the earliest - this one about Maxis planning console versions of the game should brighten things up considerably.

Yes, you read that right. Maxis is planning to port the game over to consoles. This means we won't just be playing and showing off our creations on our PCs and Dual Screens, but also on our favorite next-gen behemoths of gaming goodness.

This delicious bit of news comes directly from Maxis Executive Patrick Buechener, during a closed-doors demo of Spore in Leipzig GC. When asked about a console version of Spore, his statement, verbatim, goes:

Not right now, but we see this as a franchise. It just won't be at launch.

It's to note that he didn't single out nor exclude any of today's next-gen consoles - which could mean great news for all owners, as we just might see a console-wide release of the game that lets you create your very own species. That said, it'll definitely be interesting as to what sort of creatures we'll be seeing from the different versions of Spore, and how their platform affects the creatures produced.

Electronic Arts has cobbled together a new trailer for MySims, an upcoming title for the Nintendo Wii and DS video game platforms based on Maxis' The Sims series.

The trailer essentially gives players a quick preview of how the gameplay goes in both the Wii and DS version of MySims. Everything from building a house to designing your character in the Wii version is included in the trailer. The DS preview isn't as in-depth, though.

Anyway, check out the video below. MySims will be available for both platforms on September 18.

If you want to play creator in your own little world, then Spore is the game for you. From primordial sludge, err - unicellular creatures to your very own creature.

Will Wright from Maxis looks like he's created another Sims, only bigger. At the South by Southwest (SXSW - an interactive festival held annually at Austin, Texas), Wright gave a keynote and showed a demo of Spore. The shaky footage shows how creatures are made, how NOT to eat something that's bigger than you are, and how to create (or destroy) your own virtual world with a little help from a laser mounted on a UFO.

Anyway, we hope to see more of Spore as it's shaping up to be another uber-addicting title from the Sims master. Watch the video as there are some interesting bits there - including Wright's creatures getting gobbled up and mangled by bigger things. Enjoy!