Spore
UK: Top 20 PC Games Chart ending February 20, 2010
Feb 22nd
Well done, Sims! You finally were able to surpass Football 2010…it looks like it is starting to lose steam! However Aliens vs. Predator just released and that took the #1 spot, so maybe next week you’ll get back to your normal position. As for The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff, it is still hanging on to its #1 spot in the budget price list.
Source: Chart-track
Touch My Apps – Spore Creatures iPhone review
Feb 16th
Let me note that compared to Origins, Spore Creatures is more challenging. There are 20 levels spread out in 4 different environments, and to complete each level successfully the player needs to collect a certain number of points or fulfill quests. There are boss battles for example, that require some ingenuity in order to emerge victorious.
The game is unstructured enough to allow the player freedom to explore the environment. Because the environment is populated with flora and fauna, it’s more difficult to move around especially using accelerometer controls. While the tilt controls run quite smoothly and can even be calibrated to suit one’s preference, the small physical space to work with makes it difficult to move around freely.
AppModo – Spore Creatures iPhone review
Feb 15th
The second in the series takes us to land this time, you start off with a basic Spore on the sandy beach and it just gets wild from there. As you play the game you can create new Spores based on your actions in the game, there are over 40 different things you can add to your Spore to make it different there are so many possibilities of what it could look like. As you play the game and explore around on one of the 20 different levels you can find and collect different items that can then be later added to your Spore all while slowly evolving the DNA of your spore. You also have the option the change the color and shape of your Spore. One of the really fun features is how you can chose to interact with other creatures; you will sometimes have the choice of communicating or attacking and both will lead you down different paths in the game. This all makes for a unique game play with high replay value.
Spore Creatures iPhone trailer
Feb 15th
I had this on my YouTube profile but I never did post about it. Luckily SimOperations is there to remind me that I should! If you’ve yet to grab the game then fire up iTunes and pick it up! Its a great time-waster in between games of Bejeweled :P
EAmobile’s Spore Creatures Creature Creator Contest
Feb 15th
If you follow EAmobile on Twitter and would like to win a copy of both Mass Effect 2 and The Sims 3 World Adventures then enter their Spore Creatures Creator Contest! All you need to do is create a creature in your iPhone/iPod Touch version of Spore Creatures and then twitpic a screenshot of you creature to EAmobile. At the end of this week they’ll pick a winner. Good luck if you decide to enter!
UK: Top 20 PC Games Chart ending February 13, 2010
Feb 15th
Brits…care to explain why The Sims 3 Design & Hi-Tech Stuff didn’t make it on the list this week? Have you gotten fed up with Stuff Packs? You’re doing your job in the fact that both The Sims 3 and World Adventures have moved up…I just find it odd that the Stuff Pack isn’t on this….
update – wow, thanks to a mention from ConnorJack, the Stuff Pack is on the Budget Price list, and took #1 in that listing. Okay, so congrats EA for #1
Source: Chart-Track
“How Will You Create The Universe” – an animated short based on Spore
Feb 12th
I want this. Want it now – will cut off an arm and a leg to get it (don’t worry, it won’t be any of mine). Sadly it is just an animated short that was shown at TED2010 in California. If Spore 2 ever looks like this…damn…
This spot was inspired by, and is a new take on life and evolution simulated video games. It was a labor of love, animated by the wonderfully talented staff at Tippett Studios in Berkeley, CA.
All the characters are CG, modeled and painted after drawings by Daren and Isaiah. The swarms are particle simulations, with creatures exported from a game and attached as sprites. The backgrounds are all digital matte paintings, created by Isaiah and Daren.
Source: Ghostrobot
Spore’s Stegavaar Template Challenge
Feb 9th
One thing I love about MaxisCactus is her enthusiasm for Spore contests. Every week she thinks of another fantastic idea for one. As much I enjoy reading and posting them, I kind of hope that we’d get something different for once. I don’t know, perhaps a sneak peak video around their office, random discussions with their developers, talks about their upcoming projects. But I suppose having a contest is better then nothing…we’ll soon find out what they have been up to anyways.
This week’s contest is the Stegavaar Template Challenge.
Challenge Details
In this fixed morphology challenge it’s up to you to modify our template creature to fit the bio provided below. Entries will be judged on creativity, adherence to creature bio, and how well they animate. Show us what this creature should look like in the Stegavaar Template Challenge!
Creature Bio:
Name: StegavaarA solitary, dangerous creature, Stegavaar burrows through the eternal rock of its planet’s mantle and crust seeking the loren, the rare and precious underground rivers in which to spawn millions of creatures like itself in hopes of one day conquering the surface.
Stegavaar has the power of devastating bio-electron beams–living lightning. Charging at speeds that belie its cumbersome appearance, and protected by its impenetrable bio-armour, Stegavaar is nothing less than a living tank. Should Stegavaar ever fall in battle, its final act will be an electron explosion of vengeance that slaughters all who are nearby.
Stegavaar’s adaptations:
- Lightning based creature.
- Charges at its enemies.
- Tendrils emit electric current.
- Explodes in electricity on death.
Suggested colors: White, red, and/or blue. This is just a starting point. Feel free to deviate if you come up with a color scheme that better suits your creation.
To use template:
- Right click on either image above and choose Save as. (The second is for non-C&C players)
- Open your Spore Creature Creator and drag the png into the editor.
- Add parts and paint to flesh out the character of this creature. All parts including accessory, mech, C&C, and base game parts are allowed. You may not scale, remove or move any parts of the original template, with the exception that the feet may be swapped out for other feet.
What will the challenge winner(s) get?
A chance to be featured on Spore.com! Maxis will hand pick the winner in this challenge. Finalists will be posted before the 1st place creation is announced.Challenge Rules:
- Your creature must use the provided template
- To submit a creation, just publish and tag it with: mcStegavaarChallenge
- You can submit as many creations as you’d like
- All submissions must be in by 11:00am PDT Mar 1, 2010
- Optional: Post screenshots or YouTube movies of your creation on the forum
Feature Criteria
- Creation must not have any parent authored by a different creator (other than MaxisCactus)
- Creation must not have any offensive creation in its lineage (any parent or child creations)
- Creation must not have any links or references to other sites in the submission’s tags, name, or description
UK: Top 20 PC Games Chart ending February 6, 2010
Feb 8th
All 3 EA games – The Sims 3, World Adventures and Spore fell from their normal positions in the UK charts. At first I was wondering where was The Sims 3 Design & Hi-Tech Stuff…then I realized it was only out for a day in the UK, so that is understandable. Hopefully next week will provide better results. It doesn’t help when there are new games bumping them down as well :P
Source: Chart-Track
Spore π (Pi) Day Challenge
Feb 2nd
I love Pie! But in this case, we are talking about the numerical pi. You know the one that never ends – 3.14159265358979323846264 33832795028841971693993751058 20974944592307816406286208998 62803482534211706798214808651 32823066470938446095505822317 25359408128481117450284102701 93852110555964462294895493038 19644288109756659334461284756 48233786783165271201909145648 56692346038610454326648213393 60726024914127372458700660631 55817488152092096282925409171 53643678925903600113305305488 20466521384146951941511609 and so on…
Pi day is fast approaching, March 14th to be exact! The Spore team would like for you to celebrate the love by sharing a Pi creation of your own. Here are the details from MaxisCactus. Good luck and have fun!
Challenge Details
Give some irrational love to the number pi. Pi day is coming on March 14th, and to celebrate, we want you to help us pay homage to the wonderful constant.
Make a pi related creation (or cook up an exquisite pie in the editor) in the Pi Day Challenge and you may be featured on 3/14!
Resources:
Some themes to get you started:
Archimedes, pi, pie, geometry, piems, Feynman pointWhat will the challenge winner(s) get?
A chance to be featured on Spore.com! We’re going to choose a few of the top voted creations to share the glory here.
We’ll post our favorite submissions here, then YOU get to vote for which one is your top pick! The winner(s) may be featured if they meet our criteria for featured creations
- Creation must not have any parent authored by a different creator
- Creation must not have any offensive creation in its lineage (any parent or child creations)
- Creation must not have any links or references to other sites in the submission’s tags, name, or description
Submissions that do not meet the above criteria will not be considered for the poll
Rules:
- Your creation must be related to pi (or pie
)
- Your creation may be made in any editor, including the adventure editor
- To submit a creation, just publish and tag it with: mcpichallenge
- You can submit as many creations as you’d like
- All submissions must be in by 11:00am PDT Mar 9, 2010
- Optional: Post screenshots or YouTube movies of your creation on the forum
Example creations:
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Master Suite Stuff
Sims 3 Showtime
