(Console) Spore Hero

Poor Japan, they have been waiting to get their hands on EA’s Spore Hero for the Wii and DS due to the amount of time it takes to localize the game for their region.  Have no worries, the game should be out for release during the first week of April.  Here are your boxarts for both versions along with screens.  You can also check out the trailers at the official site (which won’t let me embed here).

Thanks to reader Jucimar for sending me a note!

DS Screens

Wii Screens

If you’re a parent and you’re deciding on getting Spore Hero as a last minute Christmas gift, then check out the following review from Five Hens:

There is some educational value to Spore Hero.  First and foremost is reading and reading comprehension.  Although the characters in Spore Hero do speak, it’s not a language that you’d recognize.  The silly language is actually quite funny sounding, but it also means that every character interaction in Spore Hero is text-based and that means your kiddos will have to read and retain what they’ve read to understand and solve their quests and challenges.

Review here

Spore Heroes Arena may call to you, like a mythological Siren, as you wander through Best Buy. “Look,” it says, “I’m a Spore game, developed by Maxis. Come feast on my Creature Creator and gooey nougat center.” Like that cursed temptress, Spore Heroes Arena will only pull your ship to a rocky doom. Save yourself, dear readers! Heed my tale of woe, ignore the Siren’s song, and move on to better games.

full review over at Nintendo World Report

I’m not music-savvy by any means, so it was a delight to have read the following interview with Spore Hero and SimAnimals composer Winifred Phillips.  You can catch the whole interview at Gamezone!

Have you ever turned down a game?

Winifred Phillips: Yes. Sometimes a really fantastic game will be offered to me while I’m in ‘crunch mode’ for another project. If there is a possibility that I’d have to sacrifice quality in order to get the work done on time, then I can’t in good conscience accept the gig. While I’ve worked on more than one project at a time before, it’s always a delicate juggling act, and deciding to turn down a gig is an excruciatingly hard decision to make.

Timing can be difficult to manage in this industry. Development cycles can stretch over years, and sometimes that initial, speculative ‘get-to-know-you’ first contact with a developer happens a full year before the developer is actually ready to contract me for the project. When that time comes I just have to hope that the stars align in my favor and it turns out that my schedule can accommodate the assignment. But the sad truth is that sometimes I’m just too busy. There is nothing more frustrating than turning down a gig when I really wanted to work on it.

interview here