New species of game aims to take over world

The 'Spore' computer game, from the wizard behind 'The Sims', allows players to create their own species

AFTER YEARS of delays, the universe began last weekend - and it's about time.

Last Friday marked the Irish launch of Spore, an ambitious and long-awaited computer game that takes on the broad topics of life, the universe and everything. For publisher Electronic Arts, the unusual game is one of the biggest debuts of the year.

Expectations for Sporeare high because the game's lead creator is Will Wright, an innovator in the industry who is known for taking unlikely topics and turning them into addictive experiences.

Wright's previous hit, The Sims, is the best-selling computer game of all time and was a cultural phenomenon that drew many of its biggest fans from outside the industry's stereotypical young, male demographic. As a fixture at the top of software sales charts for two years after its release in 2000, the franchise sold more than 100 million titles - bringing in billions of dollars in sales.

Whereas The Simslet players control daily routines of human-like characters as they went about their careers and social lives in a suburban setting, Wright's new title, which has been in development for six years, ranges a bit wider in its subject matter.

In Spore, players oversee the evolution and development of a species, starting from its earliest moments as a multicellular organism floating in a puddle.

With the right guidance, a player's virtual life form gains sentience, develops technology and eventually travels into space.

The game's design tools allow players to follow their imaginations and create a giant race of friendly-looking teddy bears, if they like, or monsters that look as though they might have been plucked from a horror movie.

If certain games are about giving players a sense of control and power, Sporeis the ultimate expression of the urge to play god.

"We wanted to impose as few limitations as possible," Wright says. "If you want to make a creature without a mouth, you can; they just starve off the bat."

Frank Gibeau, president of EA Games, the division of Electronic Arts that owns Wright's studio, says the firm sees many possibilities for this new franchise.

"This is going to be a long-term business for the company," he says. "I think of Sporeas a platform that we want to build over multiple years."

Besides a version designed to run on Windows PCs and Macs, EA is launching versions for the iPhone and the portable Nintendo DS. Versions for game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii are in the early stages of research and development, though the company is not ready to say when those might become available.

A version that can be played in a browser window is also under consideration.

It would be something of a feat for Sporeto live up to the hype surrounding it. Wright's fans expected it years ago, but its release was put off as it was tweaked and new features were added.

Although Gibeau would not comment on the size of EA's investment, industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities says he believes Spore'sdevelopment cost about $50 million (€35.6 million).

Even at such a price, Pachter says, he expects Sporeto be "wildly profitable".

In theory, every Sporeplayer will encounter a unique of mix of species in the game. That's because as a player's creations evolve, they are periodically uploaded to the web and added to an online database - the Sporepedia. Players can either choose which species they want downloaded to their virtual universe or let the game automatically download a range of life forms.

Wright says his new game is closer to social networking websites such as Facebook than to online multiplayer games like World of Warcraftas Sporedepends on its users to create much of the content.

Since its launch last week, Wright says he was amused to note that some players have already created virtual life forms that look like Care Bears.

Pachter agrees that the shared-user-creativity aspect of the game might be its most intriguing feature: "What is interesting here is not the fact that Will Wright made another game, but that he made a game that has an element that has never been in any game, ever."

Spore'ssoftware leaves it largely up to the player whether a species will thrive as a result of befriending neighbours on its home planet - or, alternatively, as a result of hunting them for food.

As a species begins to thrive, players earn "DNA points" that can be spent on developing better versions of next-generation creatures. A certain type of leg or foot might make a player's creature run faster or jump higher.

The development options a player is shown are based on his or her previous rounds of choices; in other words, that teddy-bear species wouldn't be able to evolve quickly into a two-headed-snake species.

As with The Sims, there isn't exactly a way to "win" the game. As a player's pet species develops the technology to venture into space, Sporeusers can keep exploring the virtual universe for as long as they wish.

EA released a bite-sized version of the game this summer to early players eager to try out its creature-creation tools.

As of yesterday, there were about 12 million virtual species listed on the Sporepedia. So in a way, Sporeisn't complete yet, even if it has reached retail shelves.

"It feels good to get it out the door," Wright says. "[But] this is the point where the fans pick up the game and finish it for us."

- (Washington Post service)

A SPORE NEAR YOU: Game's Irish debut

SPOREMADE its Irish debut last Friday, three days before it hit the shops in the US.

According to Michael Finucane, managing director of Ireland's largest chain of computer-game shops, Gamestop, "for a brand new franchise, Sporehas performed extremely well".

The limited Galactic edition of Spore, complete with additional footage, a "making of" documentary, and special packaging, was exclusively available through Gamestop and Finucane says it had sold out by Saturday morning.

Although PC-based games sell in smaller numbers than those for consoles, Finucane has high hopes for Spore: "We are expecting big things over a long period of time, in the same way that The Simshas grown and grown with new additions and add-ons to the franchise."

John Collins