SPORE FINALLY GETS A RELEASE DATE

Yup, you read that right, Electronic Arts has finally stuck a date on Will Wright's highly anticipated god-game Spore. While there's always room for another delay or ten, if all holds to plan, gamers will be taking their creations from microbes to rulers of the galaxy on September 7th of this year.

While I've seen the descriptions of each stage of creature evolution, I'm still a little fuzzy on exactly how the game will play out across them. My hope is that more details will be forthcoming now that the game has been dated.

• Spore – Official website 

ELECTRONIC ARTS DELAYS SPORE UNTIL FISCAL YEAR 2009

Say it isn’t so! – Kotaku is reporting that Electronic Arts has confirmed that Spore’s release date has been pushed back from fiscal year 2008 to 2009, meaning the game will be hitting sometime after September 30th 2008. While that news is extremely disappointing for those of us who have been waiting for this game with baited breath, it’s at least better than the report that lead to Kotaku looking into the matter – a report in Game Informer magazine that stated that the game had been postponed “indefinitely”

Now, I’m a huge proponent of not rushing a game, so I can’t sit here and gripe about how long it’s taking for Will Wright and crew to get the game done – especially considering that based on what I’ve seen of the game so far, I’m still not clear on just what exactly the game will have to make it a truly unique experience. Sure, you can create your own creature from scratch, but just how much of that creation process will really matter in the long run? We’ve seen the game in the early ages of a race’s existence and a few snippets towards the end, but there’s been precious little about that all important middle.

Anyway, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that this is at least the last delay notice we’ll hear about Spore and that the game will be something just as addictive as Wright’s other works. Still, it’s time to take Spore off my “most anticipated” list as it’s just too far off now for me to feel any kind of real excitement over.

• Spore – Official Website
• Spore Slip Sliding Away – Kotaku

LAZY DAY TRAILERS: SPORE AT GDC’07

Seeing how Spore is one of those games that everyone wants despite not really knowing how exactly the game will play, I’ve decided to post another short video on it from this year’s Game Developer’s Conference.

The video you’re about to watch seems to break down how each phase of your creation’s existence will play out from the cellular level to space exploration. There’s no dialog or explanation to go along with the video, so you’re going to be on your own as far as putting it into context. One thing I will say is that it definitely looks like some strategic elements are being added to the game, and I really do like the apparent feature of designing your own civilizations weapons as well. Check it out below;

• Spore – Official website
• Spore videos shown at GDC’07 – YouTube

AOL GAMES FATHER’S DAY SPECIAL

In honor of Father’s Day, AOL Games ran a short feature on 7 game designers and the games they play with their children. Included in the feature are such prominent names as Sid Meier, Brian Reynolds and Will Wright. It’s not exactly the most in depth look into the home life of game developers, but it’s always nice to see a pro-gaming article that refers to families playing games together.

ROBIN WILLIAMS PLAYS SPORE AT E3

Normally, I try to stay away from all the fluff news a lot of sites carry, because I figure you can get that anywhere and one of the benefits of actually coming to a smaller site like this is that it’s easier to find the big news of the day. Well, I’m breaking with that tradition for today, for two reasons. First, it’s been slow on the news front and I figure I need to add something to make you keep coming back, and secondly, not only is the video a riot, but it gives a very nice look at the character creation process in Will Wright‘s upcoming game “Spore“.

So without further delay, click here and head on over to Devil Ducky to see the video and be sure to hang around for the end of it when Mr. Williams talks gaming in general, and unlike so many other celebrities, comes off as knowing what he’s talking about.