Spore Series

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

PC Exclusive Released Worldwide From April 26

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Dive into epic levels of customization, vast hero collection, and intense combat where every choice changes the fight! Maxis^TM, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) studio, today announced that Darkspore^TM is available at retail on Windows PC in stores throughout North America and via digital download. Darkspore is an online* action RPG in which players battle co-operatively across alien worlds against a deadly foe, as well as test their skills in multiplayer matches against players around the globe.

“The team set out with the goal of bringing something new and unique to the action RPG genre, and Darkspore has accomplished that,” said Lucy Bradshaw, General Manager of Maxis Studio. “Darkspore’s Creature Creator technology, a first for the genre, provides players with unprecedented creative control over the look of their heroes while also determining in-game strengths and weaknesses. The gameplay experience is different for each person based on the individual choices that are made. The Creature Creator technology, combined with dynamic enemy AI and both co-op multiplayer and a number of PvP options, has resulted in one our most exciting offerings to date. We can’t wait to see what players do with the game now that it’s in their hands.”

Unlike any other action RPG, Darkspore enables players to collect an arsenal of living weapons – genetic heroes with different combat abilities – and upgrade them with tens of thousands of collectible body parts and armor. With three distinct classes, five different genetic hero types, and an almost limitless number of customization options based on loot collected throughout the campaign, players can create any number of awesome Heroes with which to do battle. Utilizing technology from the award-winning Spore Creature Editor, players can modify heroes and their respective stats, in order to improve skill sets as well as changing the overall look of the three-Hero squad.

Join forces with up to three friends to play co-operatively through the campaign, or challenge other online players in 1v1 or 2v2 player vs. player modes. Developed by Maxis, Darkspore is now available for Windows PC.

*Conditions and Restrictions apply. Please see back of pack for details.

Visit the official Darkspore site at www.darkspore.com!

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

My time with Darkspore was brief and beguiling, but largely enjoyable. Aside from the visually stimulating interface and menus, one of the first things I noticed was the controls. I found them slightly difficult to manage. Darkspore is a click-to-move game, and since there is a crucial dodging aspect to combat, accurate movement is important. Targeting is also crucial – especially in heated PvP combat – and it’s done manually by holding down the right mouse button or the left while hovering over an enemy. I found the right-button option more helpful, as keeping the cursor trained on an enemy can be difficult. Overall, I think the controls are Darkspore’s weakest point, but they may just take some practice. I slowly became more adept at moving, dodging, and attacking over the course of the day, but I was far from mastering these basic actions.

full preview here

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

Want more parts for your Spore game? Darkspore’s editior is just a heavily modified version of Spore’s creator editor, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the files are roughly similar. In fact, so similar that you can actually transfer the parts and pieces from Darkspore over to Spore! Davopotamus figured out the method to display Darkspore parts in your game:

INSTRUCTIONS: First you need to know a few things.

These parts come from your own Darkspore/Data folder.

You must copy the file Arenas_RDX9.package, Arenas_Textures.package & Other.package from your Darkspore/Data into your current Spore/Data directory. If you use Galactic Adventures, then its in the Spore_EP1/Data folder

You must have latest patches for everything to work properly.
I will not answer ‘Doesn’t work’ anythings!

Via DavoOnline - See the thread on the official Sporum

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

If you love the music from Darkspore, then you will be pleased to know that iTunes has the original videogame soundtrack available for purchase for the low price of $3.99 with 10 tracks.

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

Join Darkspore developer Paul Sottosanti as the folks behind On the Spot put him in the interview spotlight. Fun begins at 32:57 minutes in!

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

Latest hero spotlight from EA for their upcoming title Darkspore. This time we get to meet the cloaking and backstabbing — somewhat rogue-like — Skar.

Posted via IronHammers.org

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

Only two more days until Maxis shuts off the last (or presume to be) Darkspore beta as it’ll be releasing on April 29th! They pumped out a small patch which fixes a few minor bugs within the game:

GENERAL

Fixed a bug where some purchased upgrades were not available until after restarting the game.

Fixed a bug where full screen resolution was not being set correctly for some refresh rates.

OBJECTIVES

Removed objective “Defeat same species in a row”.

Temporarily removed the “Destroy all Destructibles” objective.

Lowered threshold for “Destroy all Destructibles” objective to 90%.

Lowered threshold for “Defeat all Darkspore” objective to 95%.

Changed objective “Do damage often” to better scale with difficulty.

“Do damage often” and “Do huge damage” now only daily objectives.

“Destroy all Darkspore” and “Obelisks” no longer daily objectives.

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

Another big patch for the Darkspore beta has been released! What all did it fix? Maxis provides the details on their Darkspore forum:

PERFORMANCE / CRASHES

Fixed an issue where lag/stability would occur after completing several mission in a chain. We are continuing to monitor this fix, any feedback is welcome.

Fixed an issue where Elites were affecting game performance.

BOSSES

Fixed a bug where the Cryos boss attacks were not animating correctly.

CAMPAIGN

Fixed an “out of world” issue on Verdanth 3 that was causing display problems.

Fixed a horde gate on Verdanth 3 that players could not teleport into.

ITEMS

During a mission on a planet, players will now be able to exchange loot by dropping items they’ve won and picking up items dropped by others. Use the new “Recent Items” tab in the inventory to drop items. Only items picked up during a mission can be traded.

The random additional stats on Rarified and Purified items will now focus slightly more on the eight primary stats.

UI

Fixed an issue where the shift key caused the editor sell mode to get stuck.

“Show Special Items” filter no longer hides the slot filters or sort dropdown.

“Create Detail Parts” button no longer displays a popup if no items are selected.

Disabled the Genesis and Slot Type filters in the Detail parts tab.

Hid the Genesis Type icons on Detail parts.

Using a Genesis Type filter no longers clears the search string.

The search field should behave better- no more hidden/leftover text.

Fixed an issue where clicking the upgrade/weapons tabs with buyback items selected caused the inventory to function incorrectly.

Fixed a bug with UI intercepting clicks, which created a dead zone in the upper left portion of the screen.

Fixed a bug with game UI not coming back after boss cinematics.

Rearranged filters to match tab order in editor.

Fixed clickable area of the “Return to Ship” button.

ABILITIES

Fixed a bug where diminishing returns weren’t being applied to taunts.

Reduced the duration of the plasma mines from Kinetic Mines enemies.

Reduced the duration of Seismic Smash’s taunt in PvP.

Fixed a bug where healing done by Reconstructionist wasn’t scaling with threat level.

Fixed for basic DoTs not acting properly in groups of players with different gear scores or levels.

Fixed a bug with Overdrive Duration loot where it was scaling more quickly than intended.

MISC

Tweaked some objective text.

Fixed a size scaling issue with certain destructible objects.

Fixed a bug with objectives reporting the wrong numbers.

NOTES
In rare cases, some users may need to reinstall to avoid a crash when entering the game. You can download from http://darkspore.com/download

Posted by Judhudson in DarkSpore

This week the hosts of TWIMMO wade through the weeks news, much like a fisherman wades through the river, seeking not only the satisfaction of catching the elusive bass but also the calm and serenity of the waters’ gentle trickle. ;

Mike B visits Maxis and plays some Darkspore, Black Prophecy beta is broken down, and World of Tanks officially launches.

Posted by Judhudson in Spore

Keynote speaker Will Wright is the award-winning creator of Spore, The Sims, and SimCity. The head of the entertainment think tank Stupid Fun Club, Wright is widely acknowledged for creating the simulation video game genre.

Innovators in technology and design continually reimagine computer games. User-generated content for commercial games (Spore, Little Big Planet), social network games (Farmville), vast simulation worlds with their own economies (World of Warcraft), games using mobile phones to augment reality (Ghostwire)–ten years ago these were dreams, and now they’re part of the cultural fabric. As the imagined becomes real, the question of “what’s next?” confronts both academic researchers and the game industry.

“Inventing the Future of Games,” a day-long symposium April 15 in Silicon Valley, aims to explore the possibilities of the next decade of gaming innovation and technology. Sponsored by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Games and Playable Media, the symposium will gather some of the brightest minds of academia and industry to discuss the advancement of game design and technology.

The inaugural symposium, which starts at 8:30 a.m. at the India Community Center in Milpitas, Calif., will feature keynote speeches by Sims creator Will Wright, Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble (Second Life), and Michael Mateas, co-creator of Facade and director of the UC Santa Cruz Center for Games and Playable Media. Tickets are $100 for the general public and $30 for UC Santa Cruz students.

“We’re looking forward to starting conversations between academics and industry professionals on where the field of computer games might go,” said Mateas, an associate professor of computer science in the Jack Baskin School of Engineering. “Moving toward games that truly pay attention to the player’s actions and generate dynamic responses would allow games to create new types of experiences. It would open up new approaches in interactive storytelling. Multi-player missions and quests could be adapted to specific social play styles. A whole new world of games waits to be discovered.”

The symposium will include four sessions: exploring the relationship between games and cinema, making self-generating games, the future of games and culture, and creating new forms of character and dialogue.

Session speakers will include Jordan Mechner (Prince of Persia), Emily Short (Galatea), Ian Bogost (Georgia Tech/A Slow Year), Tracey Fullerton (University of Southern California/The Night Journey), Robin Hunicke (thatgamecompany), and UC Santa Cruz game program faculty members Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Marilyn Walker, Arnav Jhala, and Jim Whitehead. UC Santa Cruz’s John Funge, Warren Sack, Soraya Murray, and Sri Kurniawan will moderate the panels.

For more information, visit games.soe.ucsc.edu