The Spore franchise continues to evolve as Maxis, an Electronic Arts studio, today revealed details about Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena – two games built from the ground up exclusively for the Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. Building on the franchise's core tenets of creativity, exploration and adventure, Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena will immerse Nintendo fans into all-new experiences when the games launch this year.
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Gamasutra writes:

"Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet leads the nominees for the ninth annual Game Developers Choice Awards with seven nominations, organizers have revealed.

Number None's Braid follows closely with five nominations. Among the nominations for LittleBigPlanet is the coveted Game of the Year award.

Other nominees for that category include Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead, each of which received a total of four award nominations; Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto IV, which earned a total of three nominations, and Lionhead Studios' Fable 2. Winners will be honored at an awards show taking place during the 2009 Game Developers Conference."
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Gamerdeals.net writes:

"Well... what can we say... the week of Christmas is not the best time to release a new game apparently..."
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"Now it has become apparent that for all EA's reputation destroying efforts to ensure punters bought Spore, they may have actually acted to entice gamers to pirate the game. Forced between a choice of downloading the game for free, or effectively renting it from EA, punters voted with their clicking finger." - gameplayer reports
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The freshly-launched Spore video game that lets people play God has been hit with a lawsuit accusing its publisher of slipping devilish anti-piracy software onto players' machines.

The lawsuit filed this week in a federal court in Northern California contends that players weren't warned about tenacious digital rights management (DRM) software that stays in computers even if game programs are removed.

Spore publisher Electronic Arts told buyers that there are anti-piracy safeguards but didn't advise people the SecuROM program it used "is essentially a virus that installs itself without warning," the lawsuit alleges.

The DRM software attaches itself to the "command and control centers" of computers and can track activities, block certain operations and even disrupt hardware, according to the suit filed this week.

A US woman was named as the plaintiff in the lawsuit, which is seeking class action status to represent all Spore buyers.

The filing demands a jury trial and wants Electronic Arts forced to pay unspecified damages as well as turn over money it has made from Spore, which went on sale in Europe, Asia, Australia and the US this month.

Electronic Arts said it does not discuss pending litigation.
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Kombo writes, "It is a widely held belief that used game retailers are screwing game publishers and developers out of millions upon millions of dollars annually. While this may be the case, there have been some that have made the argument that the game industry would be in worse shape without these retailers selling games at discount prices.

One such individual is Soren Johnson, a programmer on both the Civilization and Spore franchises. On his blog, Johnson spoke in the defense of GameStop saying..."
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Boomtown reports: "Electronic Arts has quickly denied that Spore owners will have their accounts terminated for discussing DRM issues on the official forum.

Yesterday we reported on forum posts from moderators which threatened to bring the banhammer down.

Now EA has stated that banning users is not an official policy.

"These comments are absolutely not true or in-line with EA's moderation policy," EA told Kotaku. "They were made by an over-zealous community volunteer who does not work for EA. Anyone who looks at the boards will clearly see that DRM and other issues are freely discussed on the Spore forums, alongside other topics about the game."
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Will Wright's universe sim Spore has sold over one million copies since its launch earlier this month, EA has just announced. Since hitting store shelves on September 7th for the PC, Mac and Nintendo DS, gamers have created over 25 million creatures, vehicles and buildings, all viewable online over at Sporepedia.
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Eurogamer reports: "EA has threatened to ban the Spore accounts of members discussing DRM issues on the official game forum.

"SecuROM has been discussed and discussed so much and it causes arguments in threads," barked a moderator. "If you want to talk about DRM SecuROM then please use another fan site forum.

"Please do not continue to post these threads or you account may be at risk of banning, which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore."
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Today, Electronic Arts have announced their UK Christmas 2008 family gaming line-up. While many of these titles will already be familiar to both Casual and Hardcore Gamers, there may also be one or two surprises...
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The Angry Pixel writes: "On Tuesday afternoon, EA India unleashed the icky-galacticness that is SPORE upon unsuspecting press attendees at the game's official launch event held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Delhi. General Manager Ajay Khanna was armed to the teeth with PowerPoint presentations that could apparently freeze time itself, as he went on and on trying to convince the mainstream news representatives that they were staring at something that was sheer 'fantastic' incarnate (one of Mr. Khanna's favorite words). But much like the evolutionary process itself, these things can take time. Which is exactly why you've got to bait these groups of 20-something-year-olds with a free lunch, a fancy press kit (nice job with that one, PR dudes), review copies, and a limited edition EA 2GB pendrive! Well played, indeed."
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Gamerdeals.net writes:

"The highlights this week include Spore (PC/Mac), NHL 09 (Xbox 360, PS3), NHL 2K9 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2), Spore Creatures (DS), and The Price is Right (Wii, DS).

Check out the full list of new video game releases (USA) for the week of September 7, 2008 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS, and PC!"
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IGN reports: "IGN will post its Spore review at 12:01am, Pacific Daylight Time, Thursday, or basically tonight. So come back then to find out what we think about the highly-awaited game from EA and Maxis. In fact, all you have to do is refresh this very story at a minute after midnight to read the review."
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After an award winning showcase of titles at E3 in July, Electronic Arts today announced its product line up for the Leipzig Games Convention. EA will demonstrate the innovation and creativity of its portfolio for seasoned gamers and newcomers alike, as it leads the way with great interactive entertainment offerings for broad consumer tastes this year. On show in Leipzig are Europe's best selling franchises and consumer favourites like FIFA, Need For Speed, The Sims and Harry Potter, a wide range of casual and family titles for Nintendo platforms including LITTLEST PET SHOP, Boogie SuperStar, Zubo and MONOPOLY, brand new IP like SimAnimals, Mirror's Edge, Dead Space...
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WorthPlaying writes: "Begin your odyssey at the dawn of life as a simple microbe just trying to survive, then evolve the creature from its microscopic origins into an intelligent, tool-using race, becoming a global civilization and choose whether to hunt or forage, attack or trade.Spore will be available on PC Sept. 5 in Europe and September 7 in North America and Asia Pacific. The NDS version will also be available on Sept. 7, 2008."
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MCV: New title can have same 'long tail' effect as Will Wright's last smash, says publisher
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Gamernode reports: "Brendon has rigged up a live stream of his experience with the early version of EA's Spore Creature Creator. He's in there making stuff now, so I'm going to quit my commentary and get to posting. Enjoy!"
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MCV: As a major celebrity's son or daughter, you're due a few more perks than your average playground dweller.

And that's exactly what BBC presenter Jonathan Ross's son Harvey discovered when EA sent him an advanced copy of Will Wright's Spore.
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TVGB: "The stage begins with your tribe being the first on their planet to discover tools. With these tools you can pick fruit or go on a hunt with your fellow tribesmen and, while you're at it, you can also capture and ultimately domesticate animals."
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From Gizmodod:

"I've got good news and better news. The good news is that the iPhone is getting multitouch games that use the accelerometer and every bell and whistle of the iPhone for controls. The better news? Developers such as EA are on board and they're bringing the insanely anticipated game Spore to it. All 18 levels. Yes, this is real. Oh mercy."
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