2008-02-12, 18:55 | Link #1 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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Spore
Release date has finally been announced for September 7,2008! Can't wait for it to come out.
For those who have no clue (Certain fanboys *cough cough*), Spore is the new game from Will Wright in which you create a species and help it survive and evolve, similar to The Sims series, but on a much more epic level in which you create the species, lead it through civilizations and war, and finally take over a solar system/galaxy. And the engine for the game is pretty cool too. Spore Press Release Spore Teaser Trailer (GT) |
2008-04-26, 21:19 | Link #6 |
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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This thread should be merged with this one.
I liked the idea of Spore when I first heard of it. It sounded like Black & White, only there were more scenarios to control over. I felt a bit disappointed by a video showing it, but I'm not too sure why. Anyway, the good news (which I'm sure only a small group of us care about) is that it'll be released for Mac OS X as well. Better yet, the Mac OS X release is due to occur on the same day that the Windows version will be released! Should be fun.
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2008-04-27, 09:09 | Link #7 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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Well, if we hadn't seen Spore in a video in the first place, you could've let your imagination run wild. Sometimes things seem better if you think about it, rather than seeing it in person.
And about Spore, the creature editor is gonna be released with the SimCity package this summer I believe. |
2008-05-06, 19:07 | Link #9 |
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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That is a terrible idea, arguably one of the worst anti-piracy measures I've ever heard of. Aside from the ever-present fear that their servers will go offline and render this game completely useless within a few years, I can envision a few scenarios where you'd be offline for 10+ days but would want to play.
My guess is that this'll cause enough of an outcry that they'll either remove it, or lengthen it to a monthly (or more) verification check. 10 days is ridiculous. Edit: I note that they say "the PC version" - isn't this game only coming out for Mac and Windows? If so, I wonder if that only applies to the Windows version of the game... lucky me, I was planning to get the OSX version (if they aren't doing like Blizzard and putting the OSX and Windows versions on the same disc).
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2008-05-06, 19:14 | Link #10 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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2008-05-06, 19:42 | Link #11 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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First thing's first, Spore REQUIRES at least one connection in order to populate your universe of planets with creatures and worlds that other people online have created.
Well now, there are (obviously) pros and cons to the argument of whether this validation is good or bad but, the most appealing thing is that there is validation for anti-piracy measures. However, the most unappealing thing about this new feature is the: a) the time alloted and b) the fact that you need to connect to the internet in order to validate the game, as there are those people who have flaky internet connections. But, EA is not liable for one having crappy internet or the such, but are surely responsible if their server goes down (which will probably uncommonly happen as they have many, many, MANY servers up to go anyway; in which case there is no national/international blackout). Well, all of that is for the PC. As for console, handheld, and err, iPhone, a game and the hardware itself can form a bond when used on the internet. |
2008-05-07, 04:55 | Link #12 | |
Urusai~Urusai~Urusai~
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Location
Age: 31
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But yea, it's a terrible anti-piracy idea. Why are there so many dumb*ss in the corporate world? I knew this game were to be released on the Wii as well but didn't know on what other platforms it would be on. Without doubt, the PC/Mac versions should be the best to go, though.
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2008-05-07, 12:19 | Link #13 |
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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I wouldn't call it dumb, just... short-sighted, and perhaps disrespectful to the customer. I'm not familiar with Mass Effect, although I'd read that it was going to have this, too. In the case of Spore, it sounds like a lot of the game will rely on an internet connection. That is, the other creatures and races that you go up against will be races created by other "real" people. Your own race will also be uploaded to the Spore servers, and other people will get to face off against it in their own games. Very neat idea, unless you get skeptical and wonder if the developers became lazy about creativity and figured they'd let the users do that work for them.
I don't think it's a requirement that Spore players be online, but they'll certainly want to be online. Combine that with the fact that most of us are online or have an active internet connection a good majority of the time, and it seems to make sense. It's one of the more aggressive anti-piracy measures, and there should be barely any collateral damage. The fear that I heard raised was this: what happens if I don't play the game for 10 days, then my internet goes out, and I want to play? That's a very realistic scenario. Will the game note that it's been 10+ days since it last authenticated and not let you play? At this point I've been on both ends of the consumer spectrum - pirate and legit buyer. As a pirate, this sort of stuff doesn't bother you in the slightest. If the game works for 10 days and then stops, you got 10 days' worth of fun (which is already a fairly long period of time if you game obsessively). If the game barely works, then that's to be expected. If the game doesn't work, then oh well - there's always something else to do, perhaps another game to play. But if I'm going to pay $40-60, I want to be able to play whenever and wherever I feel like it, and I expect everything to be nearly perfect (I'm merciful about that - we should all expect perfection, really). "Whenever and wherever" includes five or ten years from now, when most people will probably have forgotten about the game and EA will be looking at that authentication server as a wasteful expense to keep running. Maybe we could compromise. Keep this sort of nonsense into the game, but have the developers agree to release a patch to remove it in six months, maybe even a year. I'm sure it'll be cracked before then anyway, but that way they can feel like piracy isn't eating into their sales, and after they're happy with the initial sales surge we can all feel good about our purchase.
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2008-05-07, 16:41 | Link #14 | |
Urusai~Urusai~Urusai~
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Age: 31
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Yea, I also like the idea of the game, but I will refrain from buying this game until I hear good words about it. I'm cheap so that's what I always do.
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2008-05-07, 18:21 | Link #15 |
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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That's not cheap, that's intelligence. I should do the same, except that I haven't played games in years and I'll soon have a lot of free time. By the time Spore comes out I may be too busy for it.
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2008-05-08, 06:30 | Link #16 |
Human
Join Date: Aug 2004
Age: 37
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Spore seems like one of those games that's great in concept but a chore to play. Frankly, as much as people love touting how "free" their gameplay is and brag about the endless sandbox of procedurally generated content, if they don't bother to make it fun then it fails as a game. And it certainly becomes harder to make a game fun when so much of it is generated by the player. Note to developers: I am a horrible game designer.
That said, I'll give it a chance. Expecting something to flop and it being a pleasant surprise is quite a lot better than the other way around. |
2008-05-08, 19:25 | Link #17 | |
Crux
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: United States
Age: 32
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On the other hand, those that make it online will be able to share data with an entire network of other players' planets and creatures, to be updated regularly. Apparently there is no true interaction with other players, although it is possible to blow other players' planets up and for other players to blow your planets up without one actually affecting the other's gameplay. Instead, it just ends up being a statistic online. What I don't get is: what happens to the other player's data on your game after you blow them up? I mean, you blew up their planet and all, but the other player's is still playing his own copy and then he'd probably continue advancing the creatures of his planet. So the updated information ends eventually gets received by the player who blew up that same planet previously. What happens then? On Spore itself, it sounds fun, but I think it's a little too much for a busybody like me. I get too addicted with other similar games, anyway, so I probably will end up holding myself back from Spore. Especially with The Sims 3 coming out next year from what I've been reading.
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2008-05-08, 21:28 | Link #19 | |
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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One of the best solutions may be to buy the game, and then flood EA with complaints. One of the moderators on the Mass Effect forum responded to someone stating that there'd probably be trouble if you didn't play for 11 days, and then wanted to play when your internet was down. The moderator replied that you should certainly tell EA that you've discovered a problem with the method, at that point. While the executives could interpet a lack of sales in any way they want, repeat complaints from legit customers can only be interpreted in one way. If the company continues with these schemes, despite knowing that people tried the DRM'd game and didn't take it well, then boycotting the game and sending letters expressing discontent over the DRM would be warranted. I don't know that we're ready to jump to the boycotting stage just yet, but it's always an option.
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2008-05-09, 00:51 | Link #20 | |
Urusai~Urusai~Urusai~
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Complaint is probably a good solution, but I honestly only see EA going for minimal or moderate efforts... as in, only change something because it's inevitable, and that it will be very obviously harmful otherwise. And yea, those are pretty negative views, but given what they have been doing, I won't be surprise if any of the above happen. I hope that I'm wrong, though.
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