SPORE video

[Jackal]

WOW, this game looks so damn cool and amazing. Of course that's only if your into this type of God game.

36 mins, worth every min of it too.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&q=spore

 

[[Ci]Mazza]

I watched this the other day and it does indeed look excellent. Whenever they decide to release it I think I'm pretty much guaranteed to have a pre-order in.

</marketing post>

 

[Airmoran]

Like the rest of the world, I can't get over how potentially cool this game can be. The fluidity of the animations generated based on your creations is flat-out amazing. They match or exceed most hand-crafted animations, and that's very impressive and cool.

But in the end I've got to remember that it's Will Wright that is presenting the game. If there's one thing he's really good at, it's creating good games. The second thing he's really good at is hyping them. I remember The Sims being promoted as a totally free-form sandbox for simulating every path in life, but in the end it turned out to be very much just a strategy game in a new environment. Jobs, for example, didn’t have nearly as much impact on your life as the hype suggested. Sure, it's not as cool, but it was still very fun.

Spore, I suspect, will be nowhere as "cool" in its final form. For example, it's possible that many of the creature creation aspects are purely aesthetic, but I’ll still be waiting in line with my 50 bucks.

The other thing I already know Spore will be is that it won't be nearly as endlessly playable as the presentation implies. SimCity, Sims, basically all of Wright's games become boring once you've built a successful town or family despite each game never being the same. Once there's no more new content to explore, things quickly slow down.

 

[Angel_Mapper]

New drinking game: Take a shot every time he says "procedurally generated".

 

[Jackal]

New drinking game: Take a shot every time he says "procedurally generated".

or "and um"

 

[shoptroll]

Heh. I was there for that presentation (probably the only time I'll ever be in the general vicinity of something like this). It's a shame they cut out the first part of his talk. That room was dead silent the whole time. No rustling in the chairs, no pins dropping. The audience was captivated.

Oh and the room was absolutely packed. And the line covered about 1/2-3/4 of the perimeter of the hall space.

Some really cool ideas were presented along with the live-demonstration (which actually worked unlike many a live demo).

This is on my to pre-order list provided EA doesn't muck it up and throw a connection fee onto the whole principle of the game. And the game play is simple enough that it might bring me back to the time when I would play Simcity or SC2000 for hours on end. I just haven't been able to do that with The Sims or Simcity 4 for some reason.

My main fear with this game is that EA will find someway to whore it out through expansions or sequalitis. Although I can't see how they could do that fairly in this game. But it is encouraging to see the Sims 2 expansions rolling out less frequently...

 

[Otej]

I can see sequels being easy:

Spore would only come with land based creatures on earth like planets

Any sequels can be variations of sea, air, space etc based creatures

 

[shoptroll]

That's what I thought originally, but I think it's been stated that sea and air options are already in the game.

Space faring creatures? Yay for Zerg and Starfox thingies.

I can see sequels being easy:

Spore would only come with land based creatures on earth like planets

Any sequels can be variations of sea, air, space etc based creatures

 

[K]

This game is going to be so insane.
I can't believe the levels and the options you have to play with. You basicly get to play god with the whole universe. And its "semi" Multiplayer. I think he sayed its not real time multiplayer though. That would be the only thing that would take this game over the top.
It is amazeing what you are still able to do though. I cant wait to play this game!

 

[Fluid]

Oh. My.

Gonna molest my computer though, and possibly my future computer.

 

[shoptroll]

I don't understand recently why everyone is linking to stuff on Google Video that's been hosted on other sites for a while.

From what I saw of this so far it looks like the same video that was first put up on GDC TV following last year's conference. Of course you did have to register to use it... but it was free.

Oh well, the submitter for the video is "Maxis" on Google Video... maybe they're starting a viral press/hype thing?

EDIT (to delete my double post) (and later edit to fix the URL):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-262774490184348066

Uploaded by "Will Wright" has the entire presentation.

 

[Cap'n Beeb]

Oh. My. jizz.gif

Gonna molest my computer though, and possibly my future computer.

WATCH OUT SIR THAT IS TOTALLY NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY AND IT'S OVER THE TOP HURRRR.

Yeah, I blew my load into orbit around Jupiter several times while watching this video. At first I wasn't very interested in Spore, but now... christ.

 

[Dave the Insane]

WATCH OUT SIR THAT IS TOTALLY NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY AND IT'S OVER THE TOP HURRRR.

Yeah, I blew my load into orbit around Jupiter several times while watching this video. At first I wasn't very interested in Spore, but now... christ.

IT IS ALSO A SA SMILEY NO SA BUN HURRR.

 

[SanitysEdge]

I don't understand recently why everyone is linking to stuff on Google Video that's been hosted on other sites for a while.

From what I saw of this so far it looks like the same video that was first put up on GDC TV following last year's conference. Of course you did have to register to use it... but it was free.

Oh well, the submitter for the video is "Maxis" on Google Video... maybe they're starting a viral press/hype thing?

EDIT (to delete my double post):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...74490184348066

Uploaded by "Will Wright" has the entire presentation.

They still have the presentation on GDC TV, and the google link doesnt work, something to do with the "..."'s in the middle.

http://www.pqhp.com/cmp/gdctv/
Search for Will Wright, put in "SanitysEdge.Spam@gmail.com" as the email address when it wants you to log in.

 

[BobCobb]

From what I hear it will be coming out on handhelds, so I will be buying it for the PSP to be sure! It looks damned fun and sexy.

 

[jevus]

I just hope the game doesn't get repetetive because it looks great. :tup:

 

[BobCobb]

From the looks it appears to be mostly randomly generated, so every game will be different. With ample room for customization, I could put many an hour beind a game like that.

 

[Airmoran]

From what I hear it will be coming out on handhelds, so I will be buying it for the PSP to be sure! It looks damned fun and sexy.

Other thing to remember is that console (and handheld) versions of Sims were very different from the PC version.

For example, Sims became... uhh... not-Sims on consoles, and for handhelds the game was a linear (and finite) RPG.

Both the PSP and the DS have some graphical hardware under the hood, but I'm guessing there will be problems with the number crunching needed for what Wright is hyping. Also, imagine the size of the save files. PSP saves are designed to fit well on a the included 32-meg memory stick and the DS, well, you can put somewhat sizable saves on there, but chances are they won't when they can redesign the game to "fit on handhelds" better.

Anyways, I'm still convinced that the final game won't be nearly as elaborate as the demonstration. In a way, Maxis's hype runs a pretty similar path with Playstation 2 pre-release hype. Sure each "level" will never be identical, but if the gameplay is identical across each one, it won't matter. Silent Storm, anyone?

But it is encouraging to see the Sims 2 expansions rolling out less frequently...

Sims 2 has been out for less than 18 months and we've seen 3 expansions, so it's still following the "every 6 months" pattern Sims 1 established. Admittantly, the quality of the expansions have improved greatly beyond "one new feature plus a buncha items," but like all EA expansions, with each purchase the game has become increasingly buggy and load times have shot up. BF2's has the same problem.

Also, EA can stuff new features into expansions instead of patches. Fun stuff.

 

[Jackal]

I just used the GoogleVideo because it's fast, you don't have to wait, and it's free.

I don't know what you mean by the "..." in the link. It works just fine for me when I click on it.

 

[BobCobb]

Well, regardless of the limitations of the PSP, I believe that with the hardware they can create a pretty good game. As long as the idea of the game is maintained, I don't mind a little more linear environment.