Spore, Can It Live Up To The Hype?

Daniel Terdiman has written an interesting article over at Cnet. The highly awaited game, Spore, is only 6 weeks away and already talks has sprouted up about how it will perform. If history proves with game developer Will Wright, then I’d say Spore is in for some success, indeed.

I think that if you were to look at video game developers like important historical figures, then Will Wright is probably the Ben Franklin of gaming. Meaning, not only is Will Wright smart and thinks up genius ideas, but also knows how to implement them practically. Along with Will Wright, one of the lead designers for Civilization IV (a great game) is on Spore’s development team. Will Wright’s track record stems all the way back to 1989 with the official release of SimCity. An interesting fact about the game is that many publishers didn’t want to produce the game because there was no winning or losing. Oh, were they wrong.

SimCity sprouted numerous sequels and spin-offs that started the entire “Sim” genre of gaming. What’s funny is that the SimCity series isn’t Wright’s most successful franchise. When ‘The Sims’ released back in 2000, many gamers didn’t know how to view the odd-ball title. After its initial “WTF” stage, all kinds of people began picking up the sim-life style game. I mean everyone played the Sims, little girls, older people, 20-year olds. You name a demographic, and those people played the Sims.

So, how will Spore make its mark in the video game world? So far the game has been receiving tremendous hype from gaming sites, and people who are already addicted to the create-a-creature download. In the game, you create a creature and take it through its various forms of life as it evolves. When you get to its different times of life, you are able to customize even further. From designing cities, to vehicles, and eventually spacecraft. Probably the biggest obstacle to overcome with Spore, is making the game more different than Wright’s previous titles. Spore is based around creating, and simulating life much like SimCity and The Sims. But combining the two isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I’m sure Wright has a trick or two up his sleeve to keep the gameplay fresh.

Is That The Pinta, Nina, or Santa Maria?

The question for the next remaining six weeks will be ‘Can Spore match up to the popular releases of SimCity and The Sims?’. EA is sure hoping so, as they’re dropping a lot of dough in their Spore investment. In Terdiman’s article, EA states that they have 92 members on the Spore staff, which is a sizeable expenditure as is. Of course with the initial hype of the create-a-creature download, and Will Wright’s track record; I wouldn’t be too worried.

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