Spore to 360?

[Vandenh]

Looks like Spore is on its way to the XBox 360. Steve Ballmer spilled the beans. Eurogamer has the story (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=59423).
In an interview with Joystiq.com, Ballmer discussed the importance of showcasing innovation when it comes to seeing off the 360's rivals. "We've got to be there telling the story and showing those things which are more interesting," he said, "Whether it's a Spore or a Kameo, which is a different kind of game for the console world."
On Live this could be a 360 killer app!

[bapenguin]

Sounds good..but the game was MADE for a PC. I can't wait to see what kind of mods/tweaks/etc come out for it.

[Varsity]

Spore on a controller would have to be severely crippled. Perhaps they could do it by plugging the console database into the PC one, but that still means dropping a good deal of the player-driven theory behind the game.

Or he could just be making it up. :p

[Inverarity]

Varsity, I'm not sure that Spore would be all that 'crippled' on a console controller. Will Wright's games tend to have admirably simple interfaces that can translate to a number of input devices.

As for the user-created content - my impression of Spore wasn't that the user builds new things as such. It seems more like the user sets down the parameters for interesting things to evolve (through the game's internal procedures) and perhaps tweaks the process along the way. Likewise, when you share your creations with the rest of the Spore 'universe', what you're actually sharing is a set of parameters, not sprites or complex models. That's a great model for sharing huge numbers of worlds efficiently.

Boy, I'm looking forward to this game. On any platform...

[Savok]

If MS don't eventually release a wireless keyboard/mouse for the 360, I'm gonna be pissy.

[Heretic Machine]

If MS don't eventually release a wireless keyboard/mouse for the 360, I'm gonna be pissy.

In theory you should be able to plug up your own mouse and keyboard via the USB ports, but it's unlikely that they will be usable in a game.

[jeffool]

Sounds good..but the game was MADE for a PC. I can't wait to see what kind of mods/tweaks/etc come out for it.

Ah, but let's not forget the "user-created in-game items in the Xbox Live Marketplace." Hopefully they will provide the ability for suers to add appendages and whatever they're calling single things that one can add to a character to further functionality. (Evolites?) And new types of terrain, etc.

(And let's not get too crazy with this. I'm imagining that most user-created content will have a price of $0. I know anything I make will. So let's not derail this about being ripped off in the Marketplace. Just yet anyway.)

But I doubt it.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

I saw the presenatation Live on GDC for spore, and I was really really impressed , and this can be really really big. Another thing, the menues wouldn´t be hard to adapt to consoles either as it was. This game was really really innovative , both how it´s meant to be played as well as how it was developed. This could very well be a killer app for Xbox 360.

[Varsity]

I'm thinking mostly of the designer. It's going to be considerably harder to make designs in there that aren't either on rails or simplistic with a controller than a mouse.

[yellowoystercult]

i'm with you, inverarity. no matter what the game's released for, i'll be picking it up.

although chances are i'll lean more towards pc. the last pc game i bought was warcraft III, and before that, it was black & white. gotta expand my library.

[Scaryboy]

It might be a little slower to knock up a design with the controller, but the mouse isn't exactly the dream device for freeform doodling either. From what I've read, your initial design would just be a bunch of squiggles so I doubt the controller would be that much of a deficit.
Also there was a similar but more limited fighting game (the name escapes me) for the PS2 released a year or two ago where you could design your fighter with freeform doodles which the game would then "translate" into a 3d model, and that seemed to work OK.

[normyk]

This is just such an amazingly cool looking game. I'm stunned by the level of complexity and scale. Each time I think that he reached the final level of game evolution he pulled back and revealed yet another level and each one looks equally interesting. If they really build on the shared content aspect then this could be an amazing experience and brutally addictive.

I also agree that a console controller will cripple the game. I can't imagine that the 360 won't have support for keyboard and mouse. I would think that a game would have to support the peripherals or allow for controller mapping. At least these are the sort of things that I have been hoping for (haven't been following the hype enough so I have no idea whether they have said anything either way). If they can get the controller issues out of the way and make proper use of Live then this could be a big deal for the 360. Not a killer app though. I don't see this appealing to joe gamer. Maybe I don't have a lot of respect for the general gaming audience but I just don't see this being a killer app.

Whatever platform this presents itself on I am looking forward to it.

[Snowmit]

I don't think that the controller would be that big a barrier to the content creation stuff. If you've watched the demo, you know that it's all made up of primitives that you attach to a skeleton and that you can scale and shape as you like. You aren't drawing new shapes, you are manipulating already existing shapes and combining them This lends itself pretty well to a controller configuration I think.

See here (http://tabwin.com/forza.htm) for an example of some of the amazing things that you can do with an well-designed editor that uses primitives as its base using only your controller-S.

On the other hand, I don't know how the RTS stuff will play out using a xbox controller.

[Roc Ingersol]

Sounds good..but the game was MADE for a PC. I can't wait to see what kind of mods/tweaks/etc come out for it.
Actually, if you read up on Microsoft's dev vision for the 360, Spore sounds like it's a glorified tech demo for the hardware.

Procedurally created content? That's it's thing.

[MrMeatshake]

I think the 360 could be ideal for this, actually, it looks quite fun, accessible and 'toy-like' and I think the controller could improve the interface by comparison with a mouse and keyboard - it it's done well - which I'm sure Will Wright can manage!

[MosBen]

If anyone can make it work on a controller, someone like Will Wright can.

[SPBTooL]

This is great news for me. I believe that this is a game that my whole family can get into and get my wife wanting to play with me more.
Now all I need if for Battlefield 2 too come over to 360 and I wont have to put my money into 2 systems any more.

[riposte101]

Sounds good..but the game was MADE for a PC. I can't wait to see what kind of mods/tweaks/etc come out for it.

XNA and .NET allows flawless ports to the X360. Why not come out on both platforms when it costs virtually nothing and you greatly increase the user base? The modding community should no longer be issolated to the PC in the future anyways. Mods should be transferable to the X360 and sellable through the Marketplace feature.

[Furious Wang]

The game looks pretty lame to me. The graphics look dated and the Play Pacman then Play Final Fight then Play a bad version of warcraft then a bad version of sim City then a bad version of civ then a bad version of orion gameplay just doesn't sound very appealing to me. The jack of all genres concept forgets the fact that the fun of those genres is in the details and balance and this probably won't have much of either. It may, however, be a good gateway for new gamers to become interested in those genres...which can only be good for gaming as a whole.

[[HATE]MyLife]

The game looks pretty lame to me. The graphics look dated and the Play Pacman then Play Final Fight then Play a bad version of warcraft then a bad version of sim City then a bad version of civ then a bad version of orion gameplay just doesn't sound very appealing to me. The jack of all genres concept forgets the fact that the fun of those genres is in the details and balance and this probably won't have much of either. It may, however, be a good gateway for new gamers to become interested in those genres...which can only be good for gaming as a whole.

Look out! Rulebook nazi alert!

[Savok]

Wang you're missing the point entirely.

[Furious Wang]

What is the point? Cuz it seemed to me like the game didn't have one. Or is not having a point actually a point?

[[HATE]MyLife]

What was the point of The Sims?

[Morrolan]

I... will be THE FIRST... to create an intelligent, interstellar species of PENISES!

[eatme]

Wang: you're right. Will Wright has no idea what he's doing. Most of his games before this have looked like total, unplayable train wrecks of high concept design, and then when they come out they're unplayable flops. Who the fuck plays Will Wright games?

[Savok]

What is the point? Cuz it seemed to me like the game didn't have one. Or is not having a point actually a point?

To imagine, to create. Yes it's a load of wank, but it's needed more then ever.

[Tricky Thumb]

The game looks pretty lame to me. The graphics look dated and the Play Pacman then Play Final Fight then Play a bad version of warcraft then a bad version of sim City then a bad version of civ then a bad version of orion gameplay just doesn't sound very appealing to me. The jack of all genres concept forgets the fact that the fun of those genres is in the details and balance and this probably won't have much of either. It may, however, be a good gateway for new gamers to become interested in those genres...which can only be good for gaming as a whole.


Funny, how your post has no grounding whatsoever. All it takes is to watch the video of the demonstration of early Spore at the GDC and you can see how that game is going to make developers and gamers rethink how games could and/or should be.

[Snowmit]

Wang I think that your mistake is in thinking that all game players are competative players. The fact is that there are a huge number of game player for whom competition isn't the main exciting thing.

I lost the article, but there was this very smart analysis of game players that had four types. Competitors, Explorers, Creators and, uh, I forget the last one.

Competitors are your hard core people who want to win. They spend all their time figuring out strategies for victory and winning and then calling people names and such on and having a good time with that. If this was WOW then thse would be the PvP players. If it's Forza, these are the ones at the top of the ranking boards.

Explorers are interested in seeing what the game has to offer. They want tolook around the world and find secrets and find various clever ways of breaking the game or seeing what it can do if you do something crazy. These are the people who stack Warthogs and launch rockets at them to see what'll happen or who filmed the Quake Done Quick videos or who never played GTA past unlocking all the islands.

Creators are more interested in expresing themselves in the game. They are the people who spend more time creating new costumes than levelling up in City of Heroes or who make Neverwinter Nights mods.

I forget the 4th group. Socializers maybe?

Spore is for explorers and creators. We don't care how good the balance is or how detailed the charts are. We want to play with our toys in cool and creative ways.

[Furious Wang]

Same argument could be made for Black & White. How much did the explorers and creators love that one? I just don't see this game being any different. Call me cynical. Would be nice if it is, though.

[Snowmit]

You're cynical.

Also, Will "I keep making really great and popular games" Wright != Peter "I am a visionary who often messes up on the final polish" Molyneux

[MrMeatshake]

me, i wanna explore and create. sweet. cannot WAIT for this!!!