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Spore Coming to Consoles? 61

Posted by Zonk from the spore'd-in-the-living-room dept.
Wowzer writes "EA was previously planning to bring Spore from PC to handhelds. In an interview this week Spore creator Will Wright was quoted as saying they are looking at bringing Spore to all platforms. From the article: 'You might be playing part of the game on a handheld platform, you might be playing the entire game but maybe more avatar-based on a console. The consoles are getting kind of different now, I think there's a really interesting distinction between the Wii and the Xbox 360 and PS3. Something like the Wii offers a lot of interesting creative opportunities for the editors, with the controller.'"
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Spore Coming to Consoles? More

Spore Coming to Consoles?

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  • Stocking up on rubber gloves.
  • I think a Wii version (maybe even a DS version?) of Spore could be amazing. But as it stands now, I hope they wait until after the PC version is released to work on console versions. If they're developing for the consoles simultaneously then we can expect to see the game's release date pushed back by another year.
    • Plus if they do simultaneous releases then the PC version will become consolified: over-simplified UI, smaller areas (if they exist in Spore), etc. Think "Invisible War" all over again.
    • well said, plus the games interface will be 'consoled' to fit a tiny res TV screen, despite the fact that PC monitors are getting bigger, and most of us are running 1024 or 1280 desktops.
      It won't happen though, the beancounters will estimate a 7.24% revenue rise from simultaneous release, and the game will look like all games do when they are ported from a console to the PC.
      Grrrrrrrrrrr.
      • "Shut up! Fuck you! You fuckin' dick! Always naysaying! Everything I create! You piece of shit! You create something! Like Spore! You fuckin' shit! You fuckin' sit in your tower! Ya fuckin' nap-- ".... My appologies to Tenacious D, but I get tired of all the 'naysaying' when a company announces they are going to be releasing a game on both console and PC....
      • most people are not running 1024 or 1280 desktops...most are still running 800 or at most 1024.

        Most people are still running windows 98 or ME as well...
        • "Most people" and "Most people who will be playing Spore" are two very different groups. ...and if you think "most people" are still using Windows 98 or ME, you're sadly out of touch. ME has become almost noexistent over the years due to its thankfully short lifespan, and 98SE is now unsupported, meaning that those last few people clinging to it will drop it as soon as unpatched vulnerabilities start presenting themselves.
        • most people are not running 1024 or 1280 desktops...most are still running 800 or at most 1024.

          let's correct your statement for you...
          This here rather large poll of PC gamers (courtesy of steam) returns that most gamers use either 1024 or 1280.
          http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html [steampowered.com]
          A nice poll on over 700k users.
  • A friggin release date already!
  • This isn't news.. It was reported at about E3, or the week after. It was on that other news site..
  • The title says it all (stupid comment rules).

  • Nice, but.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by The Living Fractal ( 162153 ) <banantarr@hot m a i l.com> on Wednesday August 02, 2006 @01:05PM (#15833123) Homepage
    One of the really intriguing things about Spore, at least to me, was the way it used a random sample of species from a worldwide depository (via the net) to populate the game and create a unique experience every time you played it. I got all sorts of chills thinking about it, sort of like this kind of evolutionary programming might some day lead to an accidental AI (yes I know, very pseudo-science Sci-Fi.. but hey I'm a dreamer)

    So, while I applaud the game being released on the consoles, if it doesn't have the same net-based populating code I think something will be lost. But hey, it'll probably still be cool.

    TLF
    • With a bit of luck, they'll treat each thing as a seperate incarnation, rather than try to release the same version across the scope. What really interests me is if they would be able to make use of the predicted DS/Wii connection. To be able to go hands on and build your creature on the DS, and then to run him around on the Wii would amazing, in my opinion.

      The hard part will, as is said in the article, making it work for the PS3 / 360. If done improperly, it'll be like Starcraft 64 all over again.
      • Not improperly. Improperly implies that it could be done properly in the first place. A console RTS can't be done properly unless they give you a mouse...
    • Well, speaking purely from the perspective of the big three of the "next generation" of gaming, all have some form of internet connectivity. I would imagine they'd find a way to integrate the same net-based population code into any of those versions, at least. If they port to handhelds (PSP and DS, specifically), both also have internet access.

    • So, while I applaud the game being released on the consoles, if it doesn't have the same net-based populating code I think something will be lost. But hey, it'll probably still be cool.

      Why shouldn't it? The consoles all have network connectivity.. it could seamlessly detect if there is internet access in the background, and if so, download a bunch of creatures/worlds/whatever. I don't see why being on PC vs Console would affect this ability at all, except perhaps that there are more PCs than consoles connec

    • Thou shall remember that all 3 of the next gen consoles will have online services and connectivity (up to permanent for Wii's Connect24).
    • Why shouldn't it? All the consoles do have networking support.

  • The Console Plague (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Puff of Logic ( 895805 ) on Wednesday August 02, 2006 @01:14PM (#15833177)
    I'm really looking forward to Spore, so please don't screw it up by designing it to be "console-friendly". TFA seems to imply that the PC game will be developed first, followed by console ports. Fair enough, if that's the case. But designing games simultaneously for both consoles and PCs seems to result in console gamers saying "wow, this game is much deeper/better than most games!" while PC gamers are shaking their heads at the moronic interface while lamenting what could have been. Oblivion is a prime example of this. Grrr.
    • Deus Ex: Invisible War. That is all >.
    • I don't see how making it playable on a console would ruin Spore.

      For most games, I heartily agree with you, but it seems to me that every thing in Spore (at least from all the demos that I've seen) is controlled entirely by a cursor and one button. They have yet to show us anything that indicates any thing more than point and click. While I think it would be kind of a pain to use a standard controller to play it, the Wii-mote would be perfect for that kind of thing.
    • Oblivion PC has an almost identical interface to Morrowind, and yet nobody complained about Morrowind being "dumbed down." (Morrowind appeared on original Xbox, if you remember.) I think it's just trendy for PC gamers to gripe about that in some futile effort to make people believe that playing games on a $1200 PC is a more "pure" experience than on a $400 console. Or something.
      • Bingo. It is fashionable to complain about the "dumbification" of a game if it happens to be on a console.
        • Not entirely. We have learned that some things just don't work the same on both, and trying to do both at once is a disaster.

          FPS have to be dumbed down for console play. Overbearing auto aim, turning speed limits, limited control options, deeply-nested graphical menus for issuing complex commands because you only have a dozen buttons at most. If you did a simultaneous, identical release on both console and PC with a FPS, the PC version would be an utter flop because it was so crippled compared with other ga
      • Morrowwind appeared on the xbox after the PC launch. It was not simultaneously developed like oblivion. Oblivion had lots of dumbed down gameplay (Several skills and other things missing from Morrowwind) and the AI was absolutely garbage, which after reading Chris Hecker's comments on the processors being used in the Xbox 360 (in order processing rather than out of order processing on the PC) I can only surmise the AI sucked because of that, either that or the programmer's were lazy. Neither one inspires ap

      • Oblivion PC has an almost identical interface to Morrowind

        Either you've never played Morrowind or you need better spectacles.

        Both the interface and the whole game feeling are extremely dumbed down, awkward to use with keyboard & mouse and just not taking advantage of PC's interfaces (input and output alike).

        Oblivion is prettier and much "fuller" than Morrowind (as in you don't have huge empty spaces), but boy does the Xbox360ification suck compared to Morrowind...

      • I has to do with the mindset of the player who they are trying to sell to. Look at oblivion, Huge fonts huge interface, kind of like it was made for playing on TV. The built in walkthrough type messages and the objective pointers are clues to whom the game was supposed to appeal.

        We PCers expected a epic RPG with depth, what we got is a kickass middleages FPS geared for playing with joysticks. Not what I signed on for, but the modders seem to have a better idea of what the game should have been and are ma
    • Oblivion is a prime example of this. Grrr.

      Download BTMod [beider.org] to de-consolify Oblivion, it's great. You get fonts suitable for monitors rather than TVs, larger viewing areas on maps and inventories, plus lots of new abilities to tweak stuff via config files (you can disable the location hints on the compass for instance if you want a hardcore roleplaying experience).

      You will get the game it was ment to be on the PC.
  • I hope this doesnt delay development or release for PC. Many people, including me are very eager to start playing this game after only seeing a few demos.
  • the Wright to Life [vgcats.com]

    And the redux [vgcats.com].

  • The original article (Score:3, Informative)

    by TyrionEagle ( 458561 ) on Wednesday August 02, 2006 @01:24PM (#15833244) Homepage
    Why link to the original article [spong.com] when you can link to some blog that quotes it?
  • Am I the only one skeptical about how well this game would control on a console? Ah well, so long as the PC version doesn't suffer because of a simplified system for consoles, it doesn't bother me.
  • such as the Sims and Sims 2 console versions, we'll see that he normally allows a smaller subset of images (such as clothing styles, hair styles, body platforms) than in the PC versions, and that they're less modifiable.

    My guess, based on his other console versions, would be that the version of Spore on a console may or may not have an online component (based on platform, most likely) but it will have a standard stock set of planet types and creature parts, which may not be quite as rich and adaptable as th
  • I'd like to know exactly what the Wii can offer to this game over the PC version. As far as I can tell it offers nothing, at least not without fundamentally changing gameplay to accomodate the Wii controller. As far as I'm concerned, the mouse will be just as good, if not superior to the Wii, at least for Spore. The Wii certainly will have the advantage over other consoles, but I think people really have unrealistic expectations about that controller.

    My main concern here is that this is going to be yet anot
    • This would make sense if we were talking about a PC version of a Sega game, which have always been awful, but it's Will Wright. The PC versions of his games have simply blown the console ports away: SimCity/SimLife on SNES, The Sims on PS2/Gamecube have all paled in comparison. Wright and Maxis are always focused on the PC experience first, so I don't think you have anything to worry about.
  • does all platformes include Linux?

    • Re:All Platformes (Score:3, Interesting)

      by cloricus ( 691063 )
      That is what I'd like to know... Though now that Wines dx7/8 is semi decent and I own a Mac (ppc) as well as my usual Linux boxen I'm hopeful I can play this game 0 day. It's at the top of the list of games I'm paying for this year/next which is impressive as its knocked ut2k7 from that position. And note I'm not one for paying for games that aren't worth it, unlike the last uber hype period (d3, hl2) I cannot wait for this set of games coming up and I've already saved up the monies to buy them all! ^_^

    • Re:All Platformes (Score:2, Interesting)

      by TwoBit ( 515585 )
      It probably won't unless it is very popular. However, a large majority of the code compiles and runs on Linux and MacOSX now.

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