A slate of EA's titles at the Games Convention 2007 in Leipzig shows Spore will be playable by journalists at the event, the first time that it has been.
So they're far enough along to bring a demo of the game, but not far enough to let the general public have a crack at it. This is fairly common in the industry, but still frustrating for gamers waiting for this particular title.
Spore is, tentatively, scheduled for a summer/fall 2008 release.
This is good news. I've been worried that Spore would end up one of those ideas that seem great on a bar napkin but prove very hard to turn into an entertaining, compelling product.
Dr. Fingers, what an oddly dumb qualifier to put at the end of the blurb. There's a very good reason not to let the general public play a demo for a game that isn't finished. At least some journalists understand what unfinished software looks and plays like, what bugs can crop up and what missing gameplay elements can do to change gameplay.
The general public can't and doesn't and ends up screaming on the internet the game sucks because of two missing textures and an obvious spelling error on the main menu that will be corrected when the game goes gold.
The worst thing is, you know that, Dr. Fingers (or at least you should); you shouldn't be so disengenuous.
And, yeah, I too agree with the sentiment that it is better for hgames to be delayed a couple of months than to release a game when it just isn't done yet.
This is good news. I've been worried that Spore would end up one of those ideas that seem great on a bar napkin but prove very hard to turn into an entertaining, compelling product.
Ladies and gentlemen, here we observe the quite rare and unusual Devil's Advocate Troll in his natural habitat.
This species thrives on debates where there is only one sane, logical perspective by entering the fray with bass-ackwards arguments delivered in a confrontational manner.
Commonly seen defending huge multinational corporations, excesses of the Capitalist system, Sony and game developers who sit on their arse for 5 years.
The worst thing is, you know that, Dr. Fingers (or at least you should); you shouldn't be so disengenuous.
Screw oddly dumb, your entire post is just plain stupid. Quit making up reasons to act superior. Damn, it's frustrating when people like to prove how much of an asshole they are.
Anyways, so playable demo, huh? That's pretty cool. Up until now I kept thinking of Spore as nowhere near completion just so I can keep the hype level from building up in my mind.
Dr. Fingers, what an oddly dumb qualifier to put at the end of the blurb. There's a very good reason not to let the general public play a demo for a game that isn't finished. At least some journalists understand what unfinished software looks and plays like, what bugs can crop up and what missing gameplay elements can do to change gameplay.
The general public can't and doesn't and ends up screaming on the internet the game sucks because of two missing textures and an obvious spelling error on the main menu that will be corrected when the game goes gold.
The worst thing is, you know that, Dr. Fingers (or at least you should); you shouldn't be so disengenuous.
And, yeah, I too agree with the sentiment that it is better for hgames to be delayed a couple of months than to release a game when it just isn't done yet.
I'm not saying that they should show the demo to the public. I'm wishing they were showing it to the public. I want to play this game and I'm disappointed that I as of yet cannot. And a ton of 'unfinished' demos are shown to the public, just look at the old E3 and similar shows, and the instances of 'screaming on the internet the game sucks because of two missing textures' from those demos are less common than you seem to believe.
This game better be fucking amazing or I am going to bitch so much...
This game better be fucking amazing or my ex is going to bitch so much…
Actually, she'll probably go on and on and on about it if it's good, so there's a strange tradeoff. But after a few shots of vodka, I can kind of tune her out.
Ladies and gentlemen, here we observe the quite rare and unusual Devil's Advocate Troll in his natural habitat.
This species thrives on debates where there is only one sane, logical perspective by entering the fray with bass-ackwards arguments delivered in a confrontational manner.
Commonly seen defending huge multinational corporations, excesses of the Capitalist system, Sony and game developers who sit on their arse for 5 years.
WTF is this, easi? The guy makes a simple, *reasonable* statement and you accuse him of being a troll? If you're looking for trolling, check a mirror.
As much as I usually disagree with 51|Random, he makes a good point. Spore often showed a possibility of being a great concept, but a poor game. Any proof that they've actually got something to *play* is a good sign.
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"We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." --James D. Nicoll
When a developer keeps a game behind closed doors, it usually means they are still undecided on certain parts of the game and whether or not they'll make the cut in the final version.
I've read some highlights of Spore. Some of them you'll see mention of "unknowns" like - can you create a flying creature? In the phase where you move to land, are you *forced* to move to land, or can you decide to stay in the water and evolve as something that swims?
If they demo a version of the game that allows flying creatures then someone will write up an article about how cool it is. Which makes it very hard to cut that feature in the final release if they need to because forums like this will be filled with griping and it generates negative PR in general.
I was under the impression that Spore had lots of neat things, but absolutely no "game", as much as it was a simulator with god-tools to interface with the environment. At the same time they hired a designer (or two?) from Firaxis... all good.
It looked fine when it was shown being played like a year ago. He's just being an asshole like 3DRealms with their "when it's done" spiel.
Personally, I think that's the way to go. Put out something a player can get his hands on prematurely and suddenly there's a tremendous wave of "this sucks", even though everybody knows it's not near completion. I say keep it all behind closed doors until it's finished.
Personally I see the game going two ways (mainly becuase its an EA title) I can see it turning into a hit among little kids and girls, like the sims or it could be a Viva Piñata kinda game where its pretty damn fun all round. (you know what I mean if you ever played it) I think the "idea" is good and way out there.. when you think out of the box you think shit like spore! So this "Demo" which is most likely a very bland and ugly version should bring some people to understand what the game is about..
Er....Dr. Fingers...did you edit the last bit of the blurb? If you didn't, I have to apologize for over reacting, having re-read what you wrote. Sorry for the slight harshness.
If you did edit it, I still shouldn't have used 'dumb' in there, even though the rest of my statement stands.
As for you, Goronmon...'s not a question of high and mightiness on my part, but more a feeling that editors/mods on this site should know their industry, and upon first reading of what Fingers wrote (which I think he edited, 'cause reading it now it sound a whole lot less 'gimme the demo!' and even has a qualifier at the end which kinda totally negates the reason for me writing what I wrote) it was something which should be said. So either I misread dramatically (which doesn't happen that often...but it does happen) or I had a valid point.
EA is too afraid to bug Will Wright anymore. With SimCity, it was a shot in the dark and was a massive hit for Maxis. Then he pretty much bombed with SimEarth and laid low for a long time while Maxis cranked out mediocre Sim game after Sim game (before EA bought them).
With Sims, he had to fight and claw and scratch to get the game made and so he actually worked hard to get his team to put out SOMETHING and it was a massive hit. Then he just "exec produced" the sequel Sims 2 which improved the original in every way and was another massive hit. Again, he laid low while EA cranks out mediocre Sims expansion after mediocre Sims expansion.
Now with Spore, they don't want to mess with the "golden goose", so they leave Will to his own devices and the problem is that Will is a perfectionist who will never allow his game to be released unless its "perfect" and that will never happen. He needs a publisher who doesn't give a crap to have the fire and desire to release something and "prove everyone wrong". Without that, we get this wishy-washy "here's a demo, it all works, but there's one pixel that doesn't look right and my devs tell me it requires an engine rewrite to fix, so we're delaying another 2 years."
Raise your hand if you are sooooooooooo sick of hearing about this game and just want it to come out already? I think it's set a record with appearing at 4 different E3's or was it 3?
At least some journalists understand what unfinished software looks and plays like, what bugs can crop up and what missing gameplay elements can do to change gameplay.
The general public can't and doesn't and ends up screaming on the internet the game sucks because of two missing textures and an obvious spelling error on the main menu that will be corrected when the game goes gold.
After Too Human got slaughtered for a beta build that ran poorly, even by the same journalists who had seen an earlier build that was running - by their own impressions - much more smoothly?
Putting aside the problems Too Human has had since then, it did show extremely clearly that game "journalists" these days have no idea what the "beta" part of beta build means any more than the casual gamers do.
