Spore

[avad]

Now, May the Force Be ... Us
VIDEOGAMES: Will Wright's Spore lets players simulate the creation itself, starting from a single cell. What kind of deity would you be?
"..For most of us, "Powers of Ten" was a welcome respite from our droning high-school science teachers. To Wright's wonderfully unhinged mind, the film turned out to be the foundation on which he could build a new computer game. Spore starts you off as a single cell inside a tide pool, consuming harmless cells and avoiding hostile ones, accumulating points all the while. Eventually you'll be able to develop your single cell into a stronger multicelled organism, then a complex reptile or mammal—which can mate, create offspring and evolve into an intelligent tribe that must compete and cooperate with other tribes developing independently on other parts of the planet. (Sound familiar?) Once your tribe develops the technology, you can travel to other planets, solar systems and galaxies, colonizing your way through the universe as benevolently or maliciously as you see fit."
Article in Newsweek

"The important thing to take away from this is not "Will Wright is making a cool game," but the way that he is making the game. He's sidestepped the whole idea of massive teams of content creators in favor of a system of building games based on player-content and emergence. The results are stunning."
Article: Gamespy: Will Wright Presents Spore... and a New Way to Think About Games

Official Site: spore.ea.com

Comments

[babayada.livejournal.com]

It's great to see that you're enthusiastic about this. :)

A lot of people in the gaming community are in awe of Will Wright.

[mein.livejournal.com]

Add me?

[anztac.livejournal.com]

I'd heard about this before, and thought it was awesome. Now that I know the details it's a whole new level of awesome!

Something I will definitly have to play, but furthermore, something I'd give my kids to play someday.

I love it because it evolves through at least 5 of the stages of human consciousness: survival, tribal, mythic, mystic (religous), and industrial.. or at least that's how it seems to me from the game description. So good for a child, give him that framework from a very early age.

[avad.livejournal.com]

done. looks fascinating:)

[mein.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I found you through the Ayn Rand interest search, incase you were wondering.

[mein.livejournal.com]

Woops, I didn't meant to say Ayn Rand. Avalokitesvara*, sorry. [I was speaking to someone else about Ayn Rand while I was writing this comment]

[shivasmojo.livejournal.com]

ive been waiting so long for this.

here's video of his 1 hour-ish presentation at the game developer's conference, about halfway down, viewable after a short registration. it really, really is worth watching.

[avad.livejournal.com]

I really like games that are not just games...the open-ended, petri-dish, potentially educational simulations that welcome creativity and create a space for it...and where there are many other possibilities than success by destruction/violence. It all can lead to somewhere pretty important in Our evolution..:)

[avad.livejournal.com]

hehe. I assumed the Avalokitesvara link when browsing your interests. My very limited knowledge of Ayn Rand makes me curious as to what aspects of her philosophy you relate to and why. love to learn, I may have a misimpression of her

[babayada.livejournal.com]

Did you hear anything about Richard Bartle's keynote on virtual worlds at the Austin Game Conference last year? It was pretty amazing.

It was about how virtual worlds educate people about true freedom and help them explore identity ... among other things. He's a fascinating man. I am sure if you google it, you can get a slide-by-slide presentation with commentary.... :)

Here is one link:

http://eladhari.blogspot.com/2005/10/live-blogging-fr-agc-why-are-we-here.html

[rokkitz.livejournal.com]

wow is that ever microCosmic!