Will The Spore Movie Include Sporn's "Tent In Your Pants" Music Video?

Fox is readying an evolution movie based on the create-your-own-creature video game Spore. But will the new feature also include the Spore-inspired creature fad Sporn, in which genitalia inspired creatures dance for your amusement? (NSFW video.) More »

Can a Video Game Teach Evolution?

Last week Electronic Arts was kind enough to invite me to a demonstration of Spore's creature creator. A few days ago, we told you about Spore, a video game that challenges you to guide a single cell on the bottom of the evolutionary ladder out of the ocean and into civilization. (Here you can see my creature, Chlorophyta complexus chainsawus - AKA the Chlororaptor.) It's not easy for a video game to teach the principles of evolution. Evolutionary games would necessarily be limited to pressing start and watching what happens as mutation and selection occur, without intervention from the player. Spore strikes a good balance between scientific fact and playability. More »

Spore's Creature Creator Lets You Seed the Galaxy with Life

Spore, the upcoming 6+-years-in-the-making project from Will Wright (Sim City, The Sims, and Sim everything else) is releasing its fabulous alien species design tool, the Creator Creator today as a free download. Spore is Sim-Rise-of-Intelligent-Life-In-The-Galaxy, and it is a fountain of scifi awesomeness. I've followed Spore’s development for a long time, and feel licensed to talk about what I’ve seen and speculate irresponsibly about what I haven’t. (I should disclose at this point that periodically I work as a freelance game designer for Electronic Arts, which owns Maxis, which makes Spore.) More »

Will Wright Wants To Control Your Miniature Worlds

Video game designer and visionary Will Wright, inventor of Sim City and The Sims, spoke spoke last night at the Mezzanine Bar in San Francisco, but not about his upcoming evolution game Spore. But he did have a geekgasm about science fiction, miniature worlds, and the future of the user/viewer/gamer experience. Plus he referenced Godzilla, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, and Phillip K. Dick during his 45 minute speech, complete with slides. So we weren't complaining. Check out some highlights in the gallery and the list below. More »